DevOps market volume reached $7 billion a few years ago, and it is forecasted to grow more than 20% by 2028. Nowadays, DevOps is one of the main buzzwords in the IT domain and one of the top software development methodologies in the world, according to Statista. Last year, 38% of recruiters were looking for DevOps candidates, and 28% of recruiting specialists were struggling to hire professionals with DevOps skills.
This position is complicated and covers various responsibility areas. That is why it can be challenging to find the perfect fit for your project. In most cases, DevOps tasks are carried out by at least two or more engineers with a particular skill set.
Who is a DevOps engineer?
It is the software development best practice that combines the roles of implementing, IT operations, quality assurance, and security.
The DevOps team automates the processes that used to be manual and slow. They utilize different tools and a tech stack that allow them to operate faster and achieve their goals more effectively without involving other teams.
As a result, it enhances the common velocity and product delivery.
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The DevOps approach covers various sub-specializations, for example:
- InfraOps/SysOps refers to the process of streamlining and automating cloud infrastructure operations. Also, it includes activities such as forecasting future capacity needs, deploying new workloads to the cloud, and planning resource shutdowns.
- DevSecOps stands for the approach when the security measures are integrated earlier in the software development life cycle, including activities such as ensuring PCI compliance for secure credit card transactions, adhering to CIS benchmarks for safeguarding company systems and data against cyberattacks, and applying timely patching practices, among others.
- CloudOps is the process of enhancing the performance of applications and infrastructure in the cloud by implementing automated continuous compliance measures and establishing centralized control, agility, and scalability across all environments.
- and others.
How Can DevOps Bring You Profit?
Deliver faster than competitors
Utilizing a CI/CD pipeline to automate slow and manual processes DevOps teams can accelerate software release from build to deployment. That enables to implement the innovations and test a product much more quickly. As a result, business better responds to customer needs and adapts to changing market conditions, and it ultimately leads to a competitive advantage.
Ensure software reliability to reach positive UX
DevOps engineers use real-time monitoring and logging to stay informed of software performance. By adopting CI/CD best practices, they guarantee the safety and functionality of each software update and infrastructure change. As a result, the end users don’t see the process behind the scenes and don’t suffer from system bugs. They are just enjoying your stable-working product.
Grow your business securely and easily
To support business growth, DevOps engineers leverage microservices architecture that helps scale software smoothly. In addition, they employ Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to automate repetitive manual processes and manage development, testing, and production environments. By using IaC, complex systems can be efficiently managed with reduced risk.
Ensure software security to justify the users’ trust
DevOps plays a crucial role in creating software products with minimal bugs and vulnerabilities that leads to increased user satisfaction and a positive brand image. DevOps engineers utilize automated compliance policies, fine-grained controls, and configuration management techniques to maintain the system.
Encourage collaboration to show higher performance
The DevOps model helps create more efficient teams with a focus on cooperation and accountability. DevOps engineers collaborate closely, share job functions and responsibilities, and integrate their workflows. This approach saves time by reducing long handover periods between developers and operations.
What DevOps Skills and Duties are Must-Have?
It doesn’t matter which product you create, the software development cycle is equal and includes the main stages: planning, developing, delivering, and maintaining, which also means monitoring and troubleshooting.
In DevOps teams, engineers work across the entire development lifecycle, including creating, quality assurance, deployment, and operations, which differ from traditional software development. That means that each engineer in a DevOps team acquires a diverse skill set with multiple job functions instead of a single role.
Experts from Belitsoft recommend ensuring that your DevOps team possesses the necessary core skills and responsibilities to perform effectively at each stage of the software development cycle.
The following hard skills are valuable for a DevOps engineer:
- Linux administration expertise
- Familiarity with open-source services like Apache, PHP, Nginx, and others
- Good understanding of network protocols, including TCP, UDP, and HTTPS
- Proficiency in using AWS tools and services
- Ability to script in Bash or Python
- Experience working with web application stacks
- Understanding of CI/CD pipelines
- etc.
In addition to the core hard skills, the following skills are also desirable for a DevOps engineer:
- Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools
- Experience in Kubernetes clustering
- Understanding of Multi-tenant architecture
- Expertise in creating highly scalable systems in the cloud.
Soft skills are also important for a DevOps engineer. These include:
- Strong communication skills
- Ability to work effectively in a team
- Adaptability to changing requirements and environments
- Leadership skills.
Conclusion
While DevOps approaches may not always be necessary, there are cases where they can be extremely beneficial. For instance, when working on a minimal viable product (MVP), you may be able to manage without DevOps. However, for a full-scale project, even a relatively small one, the DevOps model is a must. It is also helpful when updating an existing product or adding new features and functionality, as the DevOps approach can optimize every stage of your product lifecycle.
