The DevOps domain is getting attention for its role in building better communication, collaboration, and agility between software development and operations teams. The role of a DevOps engineer is hard to understand because it is the product of a dynamic workforce which has not yet stopped evolving.
DevOps is a software development strategy that bridges the gap between developers and their IT counterparts. It is a practice that aims to merge software development, quality assurance, and deployment and integration operations into a consolidated and continuous set of processes.
DevOps is a natural extension for Agile and other continuous delivery approaches. With DevOps, organizations can release tiny features quickly and incorporate the feedback they receive from stakeholders rapidly.
It’s good to note that DevOps is not merely a set of actions, but more a philosophy that facilitates cross-functional team communication.
What is DevOps Engineer?
DevOps engineers work with the software developers and IT professionals to track code releases. They are the people who wear multiple hats – software development, deployment, network operations, and system admins. Teamwork stands at the core of a DevOps practice and the overall success of a process depends on the same.
As such, DevOps engineers are expected to have a thorough understanding of various concepts such as version control, serverless computing, integration, testing, and deployment.
The role of a DevOps engineer is formed out of the need of businesses to get hold of their cloud infrastructure in a hybrid environment. Organizations who work with DevOps spend relatively less time on managing configurations, deploying applications, and making tweaks and updates.
The Skills Needed for a Successful DevOps Engineering Career
According to Puppet, the most critical skills for a DevOps engineer are:
– Coding and scripting
– Process re-engineering
– Communication and collaboration
*Out of these, process re-engineering is the most selling skill.
Other skills that can enhance a DevOps engineering career are:
– Software development, system administration, and an understanding of all basic IT operations.
– Besides knowing off-the-shelf tools a DevOps engineer should also be well-versed with the basic coding and scripting languages such as Bash, PowerShell, C#, C++, Python, PHP, Ruby, Java, and so on.
– An understanding of database systems such as SQL and NoSQL database models.
– Communication and interpersonal skills are critical for a DevOps engineer since they have to ensure that the entire team behind a software works effectively and share and appreciate feedback to support continuous delivery.
The Roles and Responsibilities of a DevOps Engineer
In DevOps, there are frequent changes made to any software system which automatically entail testing and deployment. A DevOps Engineer is responsible to handle the IT infrastructure according to the business needs of the code deployed in a hybrid multi-tenant environment, needing continuous performance monitoring.
Therefore, a DevOps engineer must be aware of the various development tools which are used by software developers to write new code or enhance the existing code.
A DevOps engineer needs to collaborate with the team to handle challenges that spring up in the coding or scripting part including libraries and SDKs. A DevOps engineer handles code that needs to fit across multi-tenant environments, including the cloud.
Here are the roles and responsibilities of a DevOps engineer, in a nutshell:
– Apply cloud computing skills to deploy upgrades and bug fixes across AWS, Azure, or GCP.
– Design, develop, and implement software integrations on the basis of user feedback and reviews.
– Troubleshoot and resolve production issues and coordinate with the development team to simplify and streamline code deployment.
– Implement automation frameworks and tools – CI/CD pipelines.
– Manage the IT infrastructure, which comprises of the network, software, hardware, storage, virtual and remote assets, and control over data cloud storage.
– Continuously monitor software environments for any loopholes.
– Analyze code continuously and communicate detailed feedback to software development teams to ensure improvement in software and timely completion of projects.
– Collaborate with team members to improve engineering tools, systems, procedures, and security arrangements.
– Optimize and enhance the business’ computing architecture.
– Conduct system checks for security, availability, and performance.
– Develop and maintain troubleshooting documentation to keep up with past and future fixes.
Apart from these explicit set of actions, DevOps engineers are also expected to follow the essential DevOps principles:
– Culture inherent in the need for communication, collaboration, and technical processes and tools.
– Automation of processes
– Measurement of the Key Performance Indicators
– Sharing feedback, knowledge, and best practices.
How Much Does a DevOps Engineer Earn?
The job of a DevOps engineer ranks #2 on Glassdoor’s Top 50 Jobs in America. Also, the role of a DevOps engineer has witnessed a jump of 225 per cent in postings on Indeed. An important question that occurs among the DevOps aspirants is What is DevOps Engineer Salary?
Glassdoor mentions that the average salary of a DevOps engineer in India starts from INR 5.65 lacs per annum for an average of two years experience. For the same set, PayScale suggests that the average salary of a DevOps engineer is around INR 6.6 lacs per annum. PayScale also mentions that pay is also a function of the skill sets acquired by a DevOps Engineer. Also, most of the professionals in DevOps move to other related roles in a span of 10 years.
It is safe to say that a DevOps engineer’s job is quite in demand as businesses try to become more agile and take on continuous delivery approaches over long development cycles.
If you are considering a career as a DevOps engineer, upskill yourself with Great Learning’s DevOps Engineer Certificate Program
Vaishali is a content marketer and has generated content for a wide range of industries including hospitality, e-commerce, events, and IT. In her current stint, she is a tech-buff writing about innovations in technology and its professional impact. Personally, she loves to write on abstract concepts that challenge her imagination.
