In a world of technical evolution, the latest buzzworthy career to make its way up the list of most sought-after job profiles is in the field of DevOps. DevOps career has a promising future with the high demand for such professionals. So what is DevOps? Are you wondering about the big hype around this latest entrant in the IT industry?

The current IT industry is in a state of constant flux. With an increased demand in the market, the applications and the mode of the platforms have transformed entirely. Today, you can witness changes evident in the development methodologies such as Agile, Scrum, and DevOps. Therefore, the need for DevOps experts is experiencing a constant demand and are among the highest-paid professionals in the job industry.

It still doesn’t cover what exactly DevOps is all about? Yes, you have guessed it right. Now we deep dive into the topic of DevOps’ world and provide you the crucial information to get you started in the industry.

What is DevOps?

DevOps is the amalgamation of software development and operations. Combining the philosophies, practices, technologies, and tools enables an organization to respond better to customer needs. By constant coordination among teams and collaboration, the organization can deliver high-quality and reliable applications and services. Such an approach highlights the core of the DevOps culture, allowing the organization to achieve the business goals faster than traditional approaches. Therefore, to meet the DevOps expectations, the call for experienced professionals to fill the specialized roles in this industry.

Benefits of DevOps

Faster Delivery

The benefits of adopting DevOps culture lead to faster innovations and better adaptation to the market’s changing needs. Due to the developers and operations team’s collaboration, the organizations become better equipped to deliver faster with efficient business operations and productivity to achieve the desired results.

Reliable Services

With continuous integration, monitoring and logging, and continuous delivery, there is a test at each step to ensure every update is safe to implement to deliver reliable products continually.

Quicker Innovations

From building to deployment, regular updates, tests, and cooperation allow innovating at a faster rate. The possibility of releasing new features and bug fixes enables an organization to stay ahead in the competitive market.

Improved Work Environment

The DevOps approach emphasizes a collaborative approach, ensuring that the teams share responsibility and workflow. This creates a healthier working environment where each individual is aware of their progress and responsibilities.

Better Security

The DevOps model enables automated compliance policies and configuration techniques that ensure all the applications are highly secured.

What is a DevOps Engineer?

A DevOps engineer is a professional who has a clear understanding and experience of the software development lifecycle. Such professionals understand the organizational needs, switching from one model to another, identifying the shortcomings of the existing models, and the benefits of the new model to achieve efficiency in the production environment. Typically, a DevOps engineer must be aware of the continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines. The essential stages that form the continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines are the following

• Planning
• Testing
• Monitoring
• Building
• Deployment

DevOps Engineer: Roles and Responsibilities

You are probably wondering why DevOps engineer job roles are considered lucrative career opportunities. A DevOps engineer handles technical and management responsibilities simultaneously.  Before we proceed onto the responsibilities, let’s look at the key roles existing today.

DevOps Principal Officer: Responsible for implementing DevOps.

Release Manager: Identified by the role of releasing new features and ensuring their stability throughout.

Automation Professional: Mainly deals with the automation of processes and orchestration tools.

Software Developer: Associated with the development of code and testing.

Quality Assurance Professional: Ensuring the quality of the product to meet the requirements.

Security Engineer: Responsible for monitoring the product security.

Some of the core responsibilities are:

•   A clear understanding of customer requirements.
•   Knowledge of various development, testing, and automation tools and their implementation.
•   Involved with project planning and management activities within the team.
•   Analyzing the existing technology and identifying the areas of improvement.
•   Develop codes, install and configure IT solutions.
•   Use of configuration tools for updates and bug fixes in the production environment for deployment.
•   Perform routine checks for application maintenance purposes.
•   Excellent project management skills.
•   Monitoring the processes of the product life cycle.
•   Deployment of security solutions by performing vulnerability assessment.
•   Constant communication with the team members and the customers.
•   Continuous improvement of the CI/CD pipeline.

The Skillset of a DevOps Engineer

As you have observed, a DevOps engineer has multiple responsibilities. Strong technical skills, operational skills, and soft skills are essential for a DevOps professional. Here is a look at some of the skills required for a DevOps engineer

•   Understanding of Linux-based infrastructure.
•   Programming languages such as Python. Java, Ruby, and Perl.
•   Experience in managing databases.
•   Troubleshooting experience.
•   In-depth understanding of various open-source technologies and cloud computing services.
•   Agile and DevOps principles.
•   Docker and Kubernetes for containerization.
•   Monitoring tools such as Zabbix, Splunk, and Nagios.
•   Testing tools like selenium and TestingWhiz.
•   Configuration management and deployment tools- Puppet, Chef.
•   Jenkins for automation server and developing CI/CD pipelines.
•   Git and GitHub for source code management.
•   Soft skills are as critical as the technical skills for a DevOps engineer. Some of the skills are empathy, communication, analytical, problem-solving capabilities.

Possible Job Roles in the DevOps Industry

• DevOps Architect
• Automation Engineer
• Software Developer and Testing Expert
• Integration Specialist
• Security Engineer
• Release Manager

As reported by Glassdoor, the average base pay of a DevOps engineer in the US is $115,000.

Some of the top companies hiring DevOps engineers: IBM, Salesforce, Amazon, Accenture, SAP, Oracle, Apple, NVIDIA.

Best Courses to Get You Started with DevOps Career

There are numerous courses available on the online platform. However, it is essential to select the right one with a comprehensive curriculum and offer a certificate that holds industrial recognition. For all the aspirants, here are some of the courses that will help to navigate your career path in the field of DevOps.

Introduction to Containers w/Docker, Kubernetes and OpenShift

• Offered by: IBM on Coursera
• Level: Beginner
• Duration: Flexible Deadlines
• Certification: Shareable Certificate
• Rating: 4.4/5

Architecting with Google Kubernetes Engine Specialization

• Offered by: Google on Coursera
• Level: Beginner
• Duration: Flexible Deadlines
• Certification: Shareable Certificate
• Rating: 4.7/5

DevOps Culture and Mindset

• Offered by: UC Davis on Coursera
• Level: Intermediate
• Duration: Flexible Deadlines
• Certification: Shareable Certificate
• Rating: 4.8/5

Learn DevOps: The Complete Kubernetes Course

• Offered by: Udemy
• Level: Beginner
• Duration: Flexible Deadlines
• Certification: Shareable Certificate
• Rating: 4.3/5 (Listed as Bestseller on the platform)

AWS Developer: Deploying on AWS

• Offered by: AWS on edX
• Level: Advanced
• Duration: 6 weeks
• Certification: Available

Professional Certificate in Introduction to DevOps: Practices and Tools

• Offered by: The Linux Foundation on edX
• Level: Beginner
• Duration: 7 months
• Certification: Available
•  Post-Graduate 

Program in DevOps

• Offered by: Caltech on Simplilearn
• Level: Beginner/Intermediate
• Duration: 9 months
• Certification: Available
• Rating: 4.7/5

 Now that you have gained some idea of how DevOps works and the possible responsibilities and roles involved in the field, you are on the right path to embark on a career growth journey and success journey. For those who are still debating on a career as a DevOps engineer, look no further as there is a constant demand for such professionals, you are assured of a future-proof job. Suppose you are among the seasoned professionals looking for a switch of career field or an aspirant. In that case, it is the opportune moment to deep dive into a rapidly evolving field and produce excellent opportunities.