Many organizations are moving to DevOps, an ethos that integrates software developers and IT professionals who manage production operations for a smoother, more productive workflow. That means that DevOps engineers are more in demand than ever before.
DevOps isa combination of Development and Operations—is a workflow that emphasizes communication between software developers and IT professionals managing production environments, while automating the deployment of software and infrastructure changes. At its core, DevOps involves combining development and operations into one continuous process.
The idea grew out of the Agile methodology, and first gained attention at a conference in 2009.
Many IT departments are siloed between development, operations, support, and management, but a DevOps system seeks to integrate them all for better productivity and a smoother overall workflow. The system allows companies to quickly deliver software and security updates both internally and to customers. The ultimate goal is to bring products to market faster, deliver software and security updates more quickly, and make the entire process more reliable.
What skills does a DevOps engineer need to have?
DevOps engineers need a variety of tech and soft skills to be successful, experts say.
New technologies and tools crop up continuously on the DevOps landscape, so ideally, DevOps professionals are curious and willing to keep up. It’s important for a DevOps engineer to have a broad understanding of tech and tools in the following areas, Karthiga Sadasivan, director and head of DevOps at Happiest Minds Technologies, told TechRepublic:
- Source control (like Git, Bitbucket, VSTS, etc.)
- Continuous integration (like Jenkins, Bamboo, VSTS )
- Infrastructure automation (like Puppet, Chef, Ansible)
- Deployment automation and orchestration (like Jenkins, VSTS, Octopus Deploy)
- Container concepts (LXD, Docker)
- Orchestration (Kubernetes, Mesos, Swarm)
- Cloud (like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, OpenStack)
Since automation is driven by testing, strong testing skills are also needed to be a successful DevOps engineer, said Andrae Raymond, founder and full-stack developer at Steward Software Solutions.
Where can I find DevOps online courses, training, certifications, and resources?
There is no formal career path to becoming a DevOps engineer, according to Puppet. Typically, these professionals are either developers who become interested in deployment and network operations, or system administrators with an interest in scripting and coding and move into the development side to improve the planning of tests and deployment. These tend to be professionals who are interested in breaking out of their defined spaces and gaining a more holistic view of the technical environment, Puppet noted.
Those interested in a DevOps job should begin expanding their skills and experience to compete for these roles, Puppet recommended. This means amping up your coding skills, getting familiar with automation tools, and seeking out projects and roles that allow you to exercise soft skills like leadership and collaboration between teams.
There are also a number of online courses available that focus on different DevOps skills from Coursera, Udacity, EdX, and other providers.
