From Project Manager in Iran to DevOps Engineer in Germany: How Moya Rebuilt His Career From Zero
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
No Documents. No Credentials. No Safety Net. How He Got a DevOps Job in Germany Anyway. — Not your typical TechWorld with Nana DevOps Bootcamp review.
Meet Moya 👋
Moya is originally from Iran. He didn't plan to stay in Germany. He came for a short vacation and was not able to get back.
What followed was eight years of rebuilding — from nothing.
No documents, no network, no familiar ground. Jobs he didn't choose, in fields far from where he'd come from.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, a quiet goal that refused to disappear: DevOps.
He was willing to share his difficult journey with us — so that others, wherever they are, keep going.
"I Had to Start Completely from Zero"
Before Germany, Moya had studied IT and had a great career. In Tehran, he worked as a project manager in traffic infrastructure — speed cameras, red-light systems, sensor networks, fiber installations.
Then, because of his involvement in music, he couldn't go home.
So Germany — where he had come only for a short visit — became home by necessity.
With almost nothing to his name, no documents, no stability, no clear path forward. Just a new country, a new language, and years of legal processes stretched out ahead of him.
"Starting over in your 30s in a new country is not easy," he says, with the kind of understatement that only makes sense once you understand what those years actually looked like.
And here's what they looked like: not DevOps. Not IT. Not anything close to what he'd built in Tehran.
Moya took the work that was available. He spent over a year working at a logistics company as a shift supervisor — managing operations, showing up, doing what needed to be done.
Not because it was where he wanted to be, but because that's what building a foundation in a new country sometimes requires.
You take the job in front of you. You keep going.
It's the part of immigration stories that often gets left out.
The years where your past experience feels completely irrelevant. Where the gap between where you were and where you want to be feels almost too wide to cross. Where you're not failing — you're just surviving, and surviving takes everything you have.
DevOps was always in the back of his mind — he says it had been there even before the term became widely used.
But there was no space for it yet. "There were too many fundamental challenges in daily life."
Eight Years for a Residence Permit
This is the part of the story that most career transformation articles skip. The part that doesn't fit neatly into a "tips for job seekers" listicle.
The reality that for many people rebuilding their lives in a new country, the hardest obstacles have nothing to do with technical skills.
They have to do with paperwork, with systems, with closed doors that were never designed with you in mind.
"In Germany especially, the bureaucracy alone can drain you completely. And if your situation comes with extra complications, like mine did, it can genuinely feel like the ground keeps shifting beneath you."
"The idea of job hunting — or doing almost anything career-related — becomes a completely different challenge. Many companies won't even invite you for an interview without a residence permit. That's just the reality."
Moya knew this. And he went forward anyway.
"I also learned that with planning, with understanding the rules, and with the right advice, you can find ways through — even when the path isn't obvious."
The Decision
When he finally had enough stability to invest in himself, he didn't jump in carelessly.
He planned it like an engineer.
First, he saved. He calculated what it would take to cover six months without income: living costs, the bootcamp fee, even the MacBook he knew he'd need.
He'd been following TechWorld with Nana's content for a long time, and when he saw the DevOps Bootcamp, something clicked. Not just the content — the structure.
"I had already been following TechWorld with Nana content for a long time, and when I saw the DevOps program, it felt like the right structure I needed. Not just learning randomly, but following a clear path with real tasks."
When everything was ready, he resigned from his job.
In Germany, if you leave voluntarily — especially under the kind of residency conditions Moya had — you're not entitled to financial support. There was no safety net. No backup plan.
"When I finally resigned from my job, I knew I was making a high-risk investment in myself.”"
Then for six months, he studied up to twelve hours a day.
“I made a very conscious decision: I planned around six months where I would stop working and focus entirely on learning. During that time, I was studying up to 12 hours a day. At the same time, I reached out to companies, explained my situation honestly, and shared what I was learning and building. It wasn’t easy, but it was possible.”
Applying for DevOps Jobs Before He Was "Ready"
From day one of the bootcamp, Moya was already reaching out to companies.
He didn't wait until he had a polished CV or a completed certification.
He researched companies he believed had real DevOps needs and sent formal emails explaining exactly where he was — what he was learning, what he was building, what he was working toward. Honest, direct, specific.
He shared that most never replied. Some rejected him because of the missing ID. Two interviews ended in silence.
"None of that was easy. But none of it changed where I was headed either."
What Moya discovered — and what he considers one of the most valuable parts of his approach — was that his bootcamp learning and his job outreach were happening in parallel.
"What helped enormously was that my bootcamp timeline ran in parallel with my outreach: I was able to tailor my learning directly around what the companies were looking for, and the bootcamp structure gave me exactly the right foundation to move forward in both directions at once."
"It felt aligned in a way I hadn’t planned, but I’m glad it worked out that way."
He also wasn't doing it alone. He consulted people — about applications, about how to communicate his situation, about what companies were really looking for.
"That openness to asking for help was important."
Eventually, real conversations started happening. Two companies engaged seriously. One of them was WOBCOM.
The interview process involved multiple rounds — getting to know each other, technical scenarios, understanding the team and how they work together.
He landed that job. Even before the residence permit came through in February this year.
That detail matters — it shows it was possible even without it.
"Today, I’m working at WOBCOM as a DevOps Engineer, and things are going well. I’m involved in smart city services."
Did you catch that?
In Tehran, Moya spent years working on traffic control systems. In Germany, he's now building and operating smart city infrastructure.
That's not a coincidence. That's strategy, whether conscious or not.
We see this all the time with career switchers breaking into tech. So many people feel like they've wasted years in a previous industry.
But if you spent a decade in banking, that domain knowledge is genuinely valuable to any company building financial software. If you came from healthcare, logistics, or retail — the same applies.
Engineers who actually understand the business they're building for are more valuable.
When you're looking for your first tech role, consider targeting companies in the industry you already know. This way you’re bringing something most junior candidates simply don't have.
Five Hours of Sleep a Night
Getting the job wasn't the finish line though. It was the starting gun.
For the first three or four months, Moya slept around five hours a night.
"There was simply that much to absorb, to deliver, to prove — to myself as much as anyone else."
Today, he's working on smart city infrastructure — ODP projects for cities like Wolfsburg. Real systems. Real impact on how cities operate.
"We are building and operating infrastructure that actually impacts real urban systems, which feels meaningful to me."
What He Wants You to Take From This
Moya has a way of thinking about resilience that stays with you.
"Any goal worth pursuing is achievable — but only if you're still standing when the moment arrives. That means taking care of yourself first. Not just staying motivated, but staying functional — the way a tree stays rooted through storms not by being rigid, but by having deep enough roots to hold."
He's not selling a shortcut. He's not saying it's easy. He's saying it's possible — and there's a difference.
He also didn't have his academic certificates recognized in Germany. He had no formal credentials on paper.
What he had was a real skillset, a clear structure to build on, and an honesty with the people he reached out to that turned out to be more valuable than a polished CV.
For Anyone Reading This in a Hard Season
Moya's story isn't just for DevOps engineers. It's for anyone who is rebuilding — after a move, after a setback, after life took a turn they didn't plan for.
The eight years. The missing documents. The shift supervisor role in logistics that had nothing to do with his background — but paid the bills and kept him moving.
The rejections that came back as silence. The six months of twelve-hour study days on a savings runway with no safety net.
And now: a DevOps Engineer role, smart city infrastructure, meaningful work.
"I had rebuilt something once before, under completely different conditions. I knew I had to do it again — just in harder terrain."
He did.
Ready to Follow Moya's Path?
Moya completed our intense DevOps Bootcamp and went on to land a DevOps Engineer role within months of finishing.
If Moya's story resonates with you — if you're an engineer considering a transition, rebuilding after a setback, or simply looking for a structured path into DevOps — the same bootcamp that gave him his foundation is open for enrollment.