How the Command Line Transformed My Workflow and Made Me a 10x Developer

As developers, we all know that feeling of staring at our terminals, typing in commands, and waiting for something magical to happen. It’s part of the daily grind, right? But what if I told you that mastering the terminal and automating processes with CLI and shell scripts could save you hours — and help you work smarter, not harder? In this post, I’ll share how optimizing my use of the command line helped me cut deployment times in half and transformed me into a more efficient developer.

The Problem We All Know Too Well: Manual Deployment Fatigue

Imagine this: You’ve just wrapped up a killer feature, and it’s time to deploy. You start with compiling the code, packaging it, pushing the Docker image to the cloud, and then manually logging into the AWS console to update the service. Sounds familiar, right? It was my daily reality.

Let’s break down the steps:

• Write and test the code.
• Compile and build the project.
• Package the code into a Docker image.
• Push that Docker image to the container registry.
• Log into the cloud console (AWS or Azure), and configure the app service to pull the latest image.

It was an unavoidable routine, and doing it multiple times a day added up. With no CI/CD pipeline in place (for various reasons), I was left with a manual deployment process that took a good 30–40 minutes per deployment. And when you’re deploying multiple applications, that’s a lot of time lost.

Developer Tip: “If you’re doing something more than three times, it’s time to automate it.”

Where I Was Losing Time: The Breakdown

Let’s get real here. I started tracking how much time I was spending on each task in the deployment process, and it was eye-opening:

• Compiling the code (npm run build): 10 minutes
• Packaging the app with Docker: 5 minutes
• Pushing Docker image to the registry: 7 minutes
• Configuring cloud service manually: 5 minutes
• Miscellaneous delays (copy-pasting commands, switching between GUI and CLI): 5 minutes

In total, I was spending at least 30–40 minutes on each deployment cycle, time that could’ve been used more efficiently.

The “Aha!” Moment: Optimizing Without Full CI/CD

Here’s where things get interesting. We all know CI/CD pipelines are the gold standard, but when that’s not available, how can you still optimize your workflow?

This is when the power of the command line truly shined for me. Most cloud providers, like AWS, have robust CLI tools that allow you to manage resources without ever opening a browser. After some trial and error, I wrote a shell script that automated the entire deployment process.

Pro Tip: “AWS CLI isn’t just for infrastructure provisioning — use it to deploy apps, restart services, or even automate log analysis.”

The Script That Saved Me Hours

Here’s what the process looked like after I wrote my shell script:

#!/bin/sh

npm run build
docker build -t my-app:latest .
docker push my-registry/my-app:latest
aws ecs update-service --cluster my-cluster --service my-app-service --force-new-deployment

One command, and the whole thing executed sequentially. The result? Deployment times dropped from 30–40 minutes to just 10–15 minutes.

The Impact: Scaling Efficiency Across Teams

Here’s where it gets even better. After optimizing my workflow, I shared the shell script with my team. What was once a bottleneck in our process quickly became streamlined, reducing deployment times not just for me but for everyone.

Think about the implications of this: If you’re a company like Amazon, operating at scale, these optimizations add up exponentially. Instead of one developer saving time, an entire engineering team can leverage these tools to minimize manual work, focus on delivering value, and reduce operational overhead.

Developer Tip: “Efficiency is contagious. Sharing automation scripts with your team can elevate everyone’s game.”

Real-World Results: Time and Cost Savings

To put this into perspective, in one project, these optimizations reduced deployment times by almost 60%. Across three environments (development, QA, and production), that’s 10 hours saved each week. Multiply that over the course of a month or a quarter, and you’re looking at significant cost savings — not to mention the boost in team morale.

When you’re delivering products at scale, especially in fast-paced environments like Amazon, this level of optimization can make the difference between being on time or behind schedule.

How Cloud Integration Took It to the Next Level

What really makes this approach powerful is how seamlessly it integrates with cloud platforms like AWS. Using the AWS CLI, I could automate tasks like updating services, managing containers, and configuring security groups — all from the terminal. This tight integration with cloud services allows for quicker, more reliable deployments and less reliance on manual interventions.

Pro Tip: “Don’t just think of the CLI as a deployment tool — use it to manage the entire lifecycle of your cloud apps.”

Forward Thinking: What’s Next for Automation?

While shell scripts have made a huge difference, I’m always looking ahead. Tools like Terraform and AWS CloudFormation are on my radar for more advanced automation. The idea of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has incredible potential to reduce human error and improve reliability even further. This is where the future is heading, and I’m all in.

If you’re a company like Amazon, having developers who think proactively and constantly seek optimization is key. That’s what allows organizations to stay competitive in an ever-evolving tech landscape.

Wrapping Up: Are You Ready to Work Smarter?

Being a 10x developer isn’t about typing faster or writing more code. It’s about thinking strategically and leveraging the right tools to automate repetitive tasks. The command line, coupled with shell scripts, has allowed me to reduce deployment times by more than 50%, improve team productivity, and deliver projects faster.

If you’re someone who’s spending hours each day on manual deployments, I encourage you to dive into CLI tools and shell scripting.

Developer Tip: “Always be optimizing. The path to becoming a 10x developer lies in the constant pursuit of better workflows.”