Having used Docker and Kubernetes, and also spun up new VM's, I can say that Docker and Kubernetes are _not_ easier, if you're new at it. Spinning up a new VM

Having used Docker and Kubernetes, and also spun up new VM's, I can say that Docker and Kubernetes are _not_ easier, if you're new at it. Spinning up a new VM on Linode or the like is easier, by far. Now, this may sound incredible to you, because if you're accustomed to it, Docker and Kubernetes can be way easier. But, and here's the main point, there are tons of organizations for whom spinning up a new server is a once every year or two activity. That is not often enough to ever become adept at any of these tools. Plus, you probably don't even want to reproduce what you did last time, because you're replacing a server that was spun up several years ago, and things have changed. For a typical devops, this state of affairs is hard to imagine, but it is what most of the internet is like. This isn't to say, by any means, that FAANG and anybody else who spins up servers on a regular basis shouldn't be doing this with the best tools for your needs. I'm just saying, how you experience the relative difficulty of these tasks, is not at all representative of what it's like for most organizations. But, since these organizations are unlikely to ever hire a full-time sysadmin, you may not ever see them.