In the contemporary global business landscape, DevOps stands as a pivotal element in businesses achieving success. Considering how competitive the tech environment is, it’s not enough to simply possess a superior product, but the pace of development is equally crucial to maintaining a leading position. Knowing this, many organizations have turned to DevOps in order to streamline the creation and delivery of high-quality software products.
DevOps has proved to be an effective methodology for companies who are looking for rapid and efficient software solutions. DevOps practices foster collaboration and communication among various teams, including developers, testers and IT operations. Through increasing collaboration, companies minimize errors, better mitigate conflict, and expedite the overall process of software delivery. DevOps has become a staple to modern tech, and anyone working in the industry should be familiar with the methodology.
Understanding DevOps
DevOps, short for development and operations, is a set of practices, cultural philosophies, and tools that aim to automate and improve the process of software development and IT operations. The main goal of DevOps is to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of software delivery by fostering better communication and collaboration between development and operations teams. The goal is to break down traditional solos between development and operations, creating a culture of shared responsibility and collaboration throughout the entire development process.
Key aspects of DevOps include:
Culture: DevOps emphasizes a cultural shift that promotes collaboration, communication, and shared goals between development and operations teams.
Automation: automation is a core principle of DevOps. It involves automating repetitive tasks, such as code integration, testing, and deployment, to improve efficiency and reduce the likelihood of errors.
Collaboration: DevOps promotes collaboration not only between development and operations teams, but also across different functional areas like security (DevSecOps).
Feedback loops: DevOps establishes feedback loops throughout the development lifecycle, incorporating feedback from end-users, monitoring, and retrospectives to drive continuous improvement.
Security (DevSecOps): DevSecOps is an integral part of the DevOps processes, as shown by the notion of DevSecOps. DevSecOps involves integrating security practices throughout the development lifecycle to identify and address security issues early on.
DevOps and its Role in Modern Tech
DevOps is a holistic approach to software development and operations that emphasizes collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement. It aims to deliver high-quality software more rapidly and reliably, enabling organizations to respond quickly to market demands and changes. It’s become a core part of modern technology, utilizing the following practices:
Continuous integration (CI): involves the practice of frequently integrating code changes into a shared repository. This ensures that code is consistently tested and validated, leading to early detection and resolution of integration issues.
Continuous delivery (CD): CD extends CI by automatically deploying code changes to production-like environments. This allows for rapid and reliable delivery of software updates, ensuring that software can be released at any time.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC): IaC involves managing and provisioning infrastructure through machine-readable script files. This enables the automation of infrastructure deployment, making it more reliable, repeatable, and consistent.
Monitoring and logging: continuous monitoring helps identify issues in real-time, allowing for rapid response and resolution. Logging provides valuable insights into system behavior and helps in troubleshooting.
Microservices and containers: DevOps often aligns with the use of microservices architecture and containerization technologies. Microservices enable modular development and deployment, while containers provide consistency across different environments.
Scalability and flexibility: the DevOps methodology encourages organizations to scale their infrastructure and applications dynamically. Cloud services and automation play a key role in achieving scalability and flexibility in response to changing business needs.
In all, DevOps aims to accelerate the delivery of high-quality software, improve collaboration, and increase the overall efficiency of the software development and delivery process. It has become a crucial approach in the modern IT landscape, supporting organizations in responding more rapidly to market demands and changes.
DevOps Tools
DevOps greatly relies on the assistance of various tech tools in order to facilitate collaboration, automate processes, and streamline the software development lifecycle. These tools can be categorized into different states of the development pipeline. Let's break them down:
Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD)
Jenkins: an open-source automation server for building, testing, and deploying code.
Travis CI: a cloud-based CI/CD service that integrates with GitHib repositories.
GitLab CI/CD: integrates CI/CD features within the GitLab platform.
Configuration management
Ansible: is an open-source automation tool for configuration management, application deployment, and task automation.
Puppet: is a configuration management tool for automating the provisioning and management of infrastructure.
Chef: is a powerful open-source configuration management tool that automates the process of managing and deploying infrastructure.
Containerization
Docker: is a platform for developing, shipping, and running applications in containers.
Kubernetes: is an open-source container orchestration system for automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
Terraform: is an IaC toll that allows the definition and provision of infrastructure in a declarative configuration language.
AWS CloudFormation: is Amazon’s service for defining and provisioning AWS infrastructure as code.
Testing
Security
SonarQube: is an open-source platform for continuous inspection of code quality.
Zed Attack Proxy: is a security tool designed for finding vulnerabilities in web applications.
DevOps Azure
Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, offers a comprehensive set of services that align with the principles of DevOps. Azure DevOps is a set of development tools and services designed to support the entire DevOps lifecycle. It provides a range of features from source code management, continuous integration, continuous delivery, testing, and collaboration.
These tools are just a snapshot of the extensive DevOps tooling panorama. Of course, the choice of tools depends greatly on the specific project requirements, team preferences, and the technology stack being used. Additionally, new tools continue to emerge with the quickly transforming DevOps industry, make sure you stay up-to-date on the latest tools and innovations!
Becoming a DevOps Engineer
So you’re interested in a career as a DevOps engineer? It’s a great place to be. We’ve seen an increase in demand for DevOps talent, with job search platforms like indeed.com witnessing “a 75% rise in listings of DevOps jobs,” and LinkedIn has “recorded a 50% increase in mention of DevOps as a skill.” That said, we want to break down what you can expect from a career in DevOps.
DevOps engineer jobs
DevOps engineer roles are in high demand as organizations increasingly adopt DevOps practices to streamline their software development and IT operations. All DevOps engineer jobs will require the following skills:
Technical skills:
Proficiency in scripting and programming languages such as Python, Ruby and Bash.
Experience with configuration management tools like Ansible, Puppet, and Chef.
Knowledge of CI/CD tools like Jenkins, Travis CI, and GitLab CI.
Familiarity with containerization and orchestration tools like Docker and Kubernetes.
Cloud platform skills:
Experience with one or more cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Knowledge of cloud services, serverless architecture, and cloud security best practices.
Infrastructure skills:
Understanding of IaC principles and experience with tools like Terraform or AWS CloudFormation.
Knowledge or virtualization technologies and server administration.
Monitoring and logging:
Experience with monitoring and logging tools for infrastructure and application performance.
Soft skills:
Strong communication and collaboration skills.
Problem-solving and critical thinking abilities.
Adaptability to a dynamic and fast-paced environment.
DevOps engineer salary
The salary of a DevOps engineer can vary based on several factors, including experience, geographic location, industry, and the size of the organization. Glassdoor reports that in the United States, the average annual salary for a DevOps engineer is $108,549. That said, entry-level DevOps engineers may earn an annual salary ranging from $70,000 to $90,000. Mid-level DevOps Engineers earn closer to what Glassdoor reports, with a range of $90,000 to $120,000 per year. And senior level DevOps engineers can expect an annual salary that exceeds $120,000.
Again, these DevOps engineer salary ranges are general estimates, and the actual figures may vary depending on the job market, the company location, industry, and size, and your own qualifications and certifications.
DevOps certification
If you’re interested in launching your career as a DevOps engineer, or are looking to boost your salary, consider obtaining a relevant DevOps certification to validate your skills. We’d recommend the following DevOps certifications:
In sum, becoming a DevOps engineer involves acquiring a combination of technical and soft skills, as well as adopting a mindset focused on collaboration. It’s a career built upon a constantly evolving terrain, meaning that the responsibilities, technologies, and expectations may differ from company to company or transform from year to year. Thus, DevOps engineers must be committed to continuous learning if they wish to be successful in this field.
Knowing this, enrolling in a DevOps course may make all the difference. Ironhack offers courses in web development that will help you gain the skills, knowledge, and experience in order to become a strong and versatile software developer. Our courses are beginner-friendly, meaning that no experience is necessary. That said, they’ve also proven beneficial for folks looking to brush up on skills or further immerse themselves in the field alongside our committed professors. Check out our course offerings today!
