This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Gimhan Rajapaksha
Ever wondered how deployment practices evolve as you move from student projects → startups → big tech?
This video breaks it down in the most entertaining way possible. Here’s the technical summary:
Student: Manual Deployment
- Uploads files directly to production.
- No CI/CD, no rollback strategy.
- Tools:
scp, FTP, or manual uploads. - Risk: High.
Startup: Structured but Manual
- Environments: Local → Test → Production.
- Backend: Node.js + Express.js.
- Hosting: AWS EC2.
- Workflow: Code pushed → tested manually → deployed manually.
- Better than student level, but still fragile.
Big Tech: Fully Automated
- CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions).
- Every commit triggers automated build + integration tests.
- Auto-deploy to test, then to production if tests pass.
- Rollback if deployment fails.
- Consistent, scalable, reliable.
Key Concepts
- CI/CD for automation.
- Environment separation (local, test, prod).
- Testing & rollback for reliability.
- AWS EC2 + Node.js/Express.js for hosting & backend.
Final Thoughts
The video is not only hilarious but also a practical teaching tool:
- Students see why manual deployments don’t scale.
- Startups learn why staging environments matter.
- Developers get a glimpse of how big tech handles deployments at scale.
As your project grows, automation and testing are no longer optional. They’re essential.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Gimhan Rajapaksha