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The information technology industry is constantly evolving in various areas, including DevOps. It is undeniably one of the trending topics in the information technology industry that has significantly impacted all critical sector areas.
DevOps is a universal concept nowadays and can speed up the delivery of applications and provide high-quality services. It also provides automation that reduces human effort and costs for the company. However, a new term is trending nowadays – “DevOps Engineer.”
If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry because, in our next section, we will provide you with the definition of this term for better understanding.
What is a DevOps Engineer?
In simple terms, a person who introduces several tools, methodologies and processes to balance the requirements in the software development cycle are DevOps engineers. They are responsible for maintenance and updates to coding and deployment. If you still need clarification, let’s dive deeply to figure out what it means.
The DevOps engineer is a versatile IT professional who should have a vast knowledge of both development and operations. They must also have expertise in system administration, coding, infrastructure management, and DevOps toolchains.
Apart from the technical aspects, these engineers must also showcase strong interpersonal skills because they work across company boundaries to create a unified environment.
Also, they must have a strong understanding of provisioning, system architecture, and administration. Additionally, they should have decent experience with the developer toolset and practices, which includes conducting code reviews, employing source control, embracing agile principles, and writing unit tests.
So, this is the complete definition of these engineers. If you belong to the IT sector, you can pursue a career in this field. Let’s jump to our next section, where we will inform you about the skills required for this job role.
Skills Required for a DevOps Engineer
Undoubtedly, it is one of the best professions in the information technology industry because these engineers hold the power to operate both team development and operations.
This work contains a great responsibility, and this is why it is a must for a DevOps engineer to have expertise in the below-mentioned skills:
1. Technical Skills
This job requires technical skills because, first and foremost, it is an engineering job. Also, these engineers are expected to have a decent knowledge of math and analytical thinking.
Production Infrastructure
A good DevOps professional must understand the planning, execution, monitoring, and initiation of everything to fix minor bugs and massive updates. Continuous delivery and continuous integration are necessary aspects of this DevOps approach to software development.
Coding
It is also one of the mandatory technical skills required for the DevOps engineer role. However, everyone doesn’t need to write code; they must have a basic understanding of programming languages.
Project Management
When a person gets appointed to this role, he is responsible for ensuring that business software is updated, secure, or free from bugs and errors. An engineer in the field of DevOps is required to implement relevant changes or improvements constantly.
Server Administration
DevOps engineer has to administer the server that hosts created software and the business networks. Therefore, he has to create accounts, update permissions, and ensure everything is backed up regularly. Also, they must set the procedure that junior IT professionals will follow while debugging, troubleshooting, or making other changes.
2. Soft Skills
These skills are helpful when these DevOps professionals work in the office and spend most of their time with several company teams. It includes some basic soft skills such as:
Flexibility
Software issues can happen anytime in the office. Therefore, these engineers have to work irregular hours to resolve the problems; sometimes, they must stay on the call to eliminate the organisational issues.
Leadership
When working in this profession, an individual should always motivate his team and find the best alternatives to enhance the software quality.
As a leader, he also has to give training to his team on several topics like DevOps lifecycle, the latest tools and technologies in DevOps, etc. This process will fill the team gap, and they will work collaboratively.
Communication
It does not matter whether an IT professional holds DevOps engineer certification or is starting his career as a beginner in this industry. Undoubtedly, communication skills are mandatory if someone is interested in these engineering roles.
They must be able to explain the software development life cycle situation to the other team members who come from different backgrounds, from marketing managers to software engineers.
After learning about the skills required for this job role, it is essential to know about the roles and responsibilities of this profession.
Read More:
Top 20 DevOps Engineer Skills You Must Know About
Roles and Responsibilities of DevOps Engineer
DevOps engineering is an excellent job opportunity in the DevOps field, in which an individual has to reduce the complexity or help to balance the requirements throughout the software development life cycle.
In the points mentioned below, we will highlight the points that will help you gain in-depth knowledge about the DevOps engineer roles and responsibilities.
1. Diverse Responsibilities
DevOps engineers’ role varies among companies, but this job involves a blend of infrastructure provisioning, release engineering, security engineering, automation, system administration and DevOps advocacy.
2. Release Engineering
Release engineering includes building and deploying the application code. Several DevOps tools and methods depend on factors like pipeline automation level, programming language, and the nature of infrastructure. This process helps manage CI/CD tools or build the deploy scripts.
3. System Administration and Infrastructure Provisioning
DevOps engineer is responsible for maintaining servers, storage, and resources to host the applications and encompass deploying them. In the on-premise settings, he has to observe storage devices, physical servers, virtualization software, and switches. His focus shifts to managing virtual instances and provisioning for hybrid and cloud-based setups.
4. DevOps Evangelist
It is an excellent job where the DevOps engineer’s role is to develop and promote DevOps practices across the company. Here, the DevOps evangelist comes from a solid technical background, but the main focus of this role is on process improvement and improving interpersonal communication in the organisation.
5. Automation Expert
In the IT sector, DevOps experts are expected to specialise in automation. However, it benefits the DevOps trainees because multiple companies hire automation experts for their organisations. This person focuses on maintaining the automated test suites or managing the CI/CD tools.
6. DevOps Advocacy
It is underestimated yet crucial in this profession. DevOps advocacy involves promoting this methodology in the organization. The shift to DevOps culture can confuse the engineering teammates and be disruptive.
As the subject matter expert, these DevOps engineers must educate and guide the other team members. He should also help facilitate the smooth transition of the DevOps mindset in the company.
Summing Up
As we wrap up, it is clear that a DevOps engineer is the helping hand for the IT companies who implement this methodology and support to improve their software development life cycle.
It is one of the best job roles in the IT industry, and it can manage development and operations to efficiently utilise the cost and resources of the business efficiently.
This job role is growing tremendously and will be in high demand in the upcoming years. If you are interested in this job role or wish to make a career change, you can contact S2 Labs to get DevOps training to help you grab exciting opportunities in this field.
