DevOps is a hot topic in today's industry. Over the past fifteen years, there has been a massive spike in job opportunities in the DevOps space, and in the upcoming years, we have reason to believe it will only continue to expand.
In short, DevOps brings together teams from development (Dev) and operations (Ops), enabling cross-functional collaboration and the tearing down of team silos to make software release/ deployment more effective & stable.
Who is DevOps engineer?
A DevOps engineer is an IT engineer who demonstrates extensive knowledge in both development and operations including expertise in coding, infrastructure management, system administration, and DevOps toolchains to keep the balance throughout the software development life cycle (SDLC). DevOps engineers should also possess strong interpersonal abilities to work effectively across different teams to foster more collaborative work.
What difference does it make?
As part of a unified DevOps team, members from the development and operation teams are merged into a single team that shares a common goal. By working collaboratively, teams can accelerate delivery through automation, collaboration, and iterative improvement.
DevOps teams leverage tools that are essential to streamlining processes. These tools not only help eliminate manual tasks but also provide administrators with effortless control over the product environment. This leads administrators to fine-tune configurations, address potential issues, and optimise resource allocation, resulting in an improved software development process.
When was the concept of DevOps introduced?
The term "DevOps" was first coined in 2009 by Belgian IT consultant Patrick Debois, who also hosted the first DevOps Days conference in Ghent, Belgium.
This conference brought together software engineers and operations specialists to discuss ways to improve collaboration and communication between them.
This discussion gained momentum and received positive feedback from members of the development and operations teams; they were convinced that this strategy might improve software delivery and operations. This marked the beginning of DevOps.
Since that time, the DevOps movement has accelerated, and DevOps tools and technologies have become widely popular in every organisation.
What are the challenges that led to the creation of DevOps?
DevOps was developed to deliver better software faster. In the past, there were limitations in the way software was deployed, and teams worked in silos, resulting in little communication and poor collaboration, thus leading to manual workflows, project delays, and slow delivery of software.
To fix these issues, DevOps was created. Helping organisations reap numerous benefits and make improvements to their IT operations and software development processes.
In some DevOps processes, quality assurance and security teams will interact more closely with development and operations throughout the product life cycle. When security is a top priority for everyone on a DevOps team, it is referred to as DevSecOps.
What is DevSecOps? And how is DevSecOps related to DevOps?
DevSecOps is all about integrating security best practices throughout the software development lifecycle.
DevSecOps is just an extension of DevOps; the "Sec" in DevSecOps stands for ‘security’. DevSecOps helps identify vulnerabilities and security issues sooner, reducing the possibility of security breaches and data leaks. Since it reduces the probability of vulnerability, it ultimately leads to more secure software.
I hope the explanation given thus far reflects the growing demand for DevOps professionals. But the actual question that needs addressing is, how can an individual equip himself/ herself with the right skills to become a DevOps engineer?
DevOps career path:
While DevOps has revolutionised the way software is deployed and maintained, implementing DevOps processes is much more complex than it seems. But if well understood, it can be the ultimate career booster, putting you on the fast track to success.
However, before you become a professional in DevOps, there are some concepts and tools that you need to master.
The skills needed for a successful DevOps career are:
To have a successful career in DevOps, you need to improve both your technical and non-technical skills. Learning these skills will help you demonstrate a foundational understanding of the various principles and underlying concepts that make up DevOps.
This is essential for career advancement, both inside the organisation and outside of it. Among other benefits, this career progression also results in better pay. Below are the non-technical and technical skills required for DevOps:
Non-technical skills required for DevOps:
· Being able to work collaboratively in cross-functional teams
· Ability to adapt and change quickly in response to new requirements.
· Soft skills such as collaboration, leadership, and effective communication
Technical skills required for DevOps:
Ability to write clean code that is easy to read, maintain, and modify.
Working knowledge of Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools like GitLab, Jenkins, Bamboo, and GitHub Actions
Experience with Containerization and orchestration tools like Docker, Kubernetes, and Docker Compose
Know-how of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform and Configuration Management tools like Ansible and Puppet
Ability to leverage Monitoring and logging tools like Prometheus, Grafana, Nagios, ELK, New Relic, etc.
Ability to work with Version Control system tools like Git and GitHub
Expertise in Collaboration and Communication tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack
Various DevOps processes to know:
The must-know processes for DevOps professionals are:
Continuous Integration
Continuous Delivery
Constant Automation
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
Monitoring and Logging
Communication and Collaboration
Now, let me explain each of these in detail.
Continuous Integration:
Continuous Integration is a part of software development practice where developers frequently merge their code changes into a central repository for building and testing the code. The key aspects of CI are early identification of bugs, improving software quality, and speeding up the process of validating and releasing new software upgrades.
Continuous Delivery:
Continuous Delivery is an approach to software development practice that automatically releases code into a production (or other) environment. When continuous delivery is performed effectively, it enables teams to deliver stable code in a streamlined manner resulting in a greater response to user feedback and market demands.
Constant Automation:
Along with CI/CD, integrating automated testing, monitoring, and remediation into the DevOps life cycle reduces errors, accelerates application delivery, and shortens innovation cycles.
Infrastructure as code (IaC):
Infrastructure as code (IaC) refers to the management and provisioning of infrastructure through code instead of manual processes. This enables your organisation to develop, deploy, and scale cloud applications with greater speed, less risk, and reduced cost.
Communication and Collaboration:
Improving communication and collaboration between teams is a key cultural aspect of DevOps. Teams establish clear cultural norms for information sharing, smooth communication using chat applications, ensuring the elimination of silos, providing constant feedback, reducing software errors, problem-solving, supporting agile practices, and enabling prompt issue resolution.
Monitoring and Logging:
DevOps benefits organisations with monitoring and logging tools that are important for identifying security threats. By monitoring your applications continuously, you can watch out for any strange activity that might indicate a threat. Logging enables you to locate the cause of the attack and take the necessary measures to prevent further damage. By leveraging these tools proactively, teams can deliver high-quality software to end users.
A good understanding of such practices and the ability to leverage these tools will not only make you a precious resource within the org, it will also bring several benefits to the organization. The below points show how beneficial DevOps is to organisations.
Benefits of DevOps for an organisation:
Organizations can reap incredible benefits when they adopt DevOps principles, practices, and tools, such as:
Speed
The prominent factor in DevOps is speed. It accelerates team productivity by removing obstacles between development and operations. Tasks are automated, procedures are simplified, and code is continuously merged and distributed. Software can now be released quickly, getting it to customers faster.
Automation
Automation is a key component of DevOps. Automating tasks like infrastructure testing, deployment, and provisioning reduces human error, enabling teams to complete the development and deployment of high-quality software more quickly.
Risk reduction
DevOps techniques like continuous monitoring and automated testing aid in finding problems early in the development process resulting in a decrease in the likelihood of major failures in the organisation. Thus, it will lead to better software and a more reliable user experience.
Improved Collaboration and Communication
DevOps engineers are required to collaborate with employees from other departments. This helps break down silos, foster team communication, and lead to better problem-solving and decision-making.
Quality and reliability
Practices like Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery ensure that modifications are secure, reliable, and functional, thus resulting in faster feedback cycles and reduced integration challenges, ultimately leading to a better software product that meets user expectations.
Increases customer satisfaction
DevOps enables organisations to deliver software more quickly, with higher quality, and with better responsiveness to client requests. This ensures customers will receive more beneficial products and services that satisfy their needs and provide value quickly, increasing their level of customer satisfaction.
Faster time to market
Organisations can speed up their software release cycles by implementing DevOps practices like continuous integration, continuous delivery, and automated testing. As a result, organisations can release new features, make bug fixes, and provide enhancements more quickly to the market, giving them a competitive advantage.
Conclusion:
DevOps emphasises collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement in software development and IT operations. DevOps also increases organisational efficiency by streamlining procedures, accelerating software delivery, and bridging the gap between development and operations teams.
This helps companies deliver high-quality software, foster an innovative culture, and quickly respond to market needs. Adopting DevOps can result in several positive outcomes, such as greater output, improved software quality, accelerated time to market, and increased client happiness. DevOps will continue to be a crucial success facilitator as organisations develop and manage the always-changing technology landscape, enabling businesses to remain competitive, adaptable, and resilient in the digital era.
If you would like to learn DevOps, then I urge you to reach out to Skill Up Right’s DevOps Training programme here: https://www.skillupright.com/devops-practitioner-training-8
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