DevOps is a framework based on a set of principles and practices that combine software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops). The goal of DevOps is to automate and shorten the software development lifecycle while delivering features, fixes and updates with more reliability and frequency. DevOps engineers play a vital role in this framework, bridging the gap between development and operations teams. At its core, that role is to ensure that software is created, deployed and maintained as efficiently as possible. In this tutorial, we delve into the roles and responsibilities of a DevOps engineer, look at the skills they need and how they impact an organization.
Jump to:
- What is DevOps engineering?
- What is the role of a DevOps engineer?
- What are the key responsibilities of a DevOps engineer
- What skills and knowledge does a DevOps engineer need?
- How do DevOps engineers benefit an organization?
- What are some DevOps engineer challenges
- Best practices for DevOps engineers
- Final thoughts on DevOps engineers responsibilities
What is DevOps engineering?
DevOps is a cultural and technical approach where the main goal is to break down silos between the software development team and operations. Project managers of DevOps teams use DevOps principles, workflows and methodologies to promote collaboration, automation and monitoring through the SDLC process. The fostering of these DevOps practices helps programmers deliver products faster, more frequently and with more consistent quality.
What is the role of a DevOps engineer
A DevOps engineer’s primary responsibility is to implement and manage the tools, processes, workflows and infrastructure required to support DevOps initiatives. DevOps engineers, in particular, play a critical role in automating manual development processes, facilitating collaboration between teams, and ensuring the quality, reliability and security of software delivery pipelines.
What are the key responsibilities of a DevOps engineer
Below are some of the key responsibilities of a DevOps engineer, including:
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- Continuous Integration (CI)
- Continuous Deployment (CD)
- Testing automation
- Monitoring and logging
- Security and compliance
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
One key responsibility of a DevOps engineer is using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools to automate the provisioning and management of infrastructure. This process ensures that infrastructure can be versioned, tested and deployed in a similar manner to how you would automate code processes.
Continuous Integration (CI)
Any job a DevOps engineer tackles revolves around setting up and maintaining Continuous Integration (CI) pipelines. They achieve this using DevOps tools such as Jenkins, Travis CI and CircleCI. These CI pipelines, in turn, automatically build, test and incorporate code changes into a shared code repository several times per day ensuring code quality, code change integration and mitigating integration issues.
Continuous Deployment (CD)
Continuous Deployment (CD) is the process of automating the process of deploying code changes to production environments. DevOps engineers are responsible for configuring CD pipelines in order to release software to production after the CI process is complete (and successful). Popular Continuous Deployment tools include containerization software such as Kubernetes and Docker.
Testing automation
DevOps engineers are responsible for developing, configuring and maintaining automated testing tools, which perform unit tests, integration testing and end-to-end tests. These tests check code changes to ensure they don’t introduce bugs, defects or regressions.
Monitoring and logging
After the CI, CD and testing phases, DevOps engineers then need to monitor and log software and systems to gain insight into their performance and the health of the software and infrastructure. To accomplish this, DevOps engineers use monitoring and logging tools such as Grafana, Splunk, and ELK Stack.
Security and compliance
The final responsibility of a DevOps engineer revolves around security and compliance. DevOps engineers collaborate with security teams to implement security measures and best practices throughout the software development, build and deployment process. Integrating security policies, compliance and regulatory requirements, and vulnerability assessments into the CI/CD pipeline are all part of this workflow.
What skills and knowledge does a DevOps engineer need?
Below are some of the most important skills and tools a DevOps engineer needs to effectively perform their job, including:
- Scripting and code
- Automation tools
- Version control systems
- Containerization orchestration software
- Cloud platforms and services
- Collaboration
Scripting and code
Ideally, a DevOps engineer will have strong scripting and coding skills. Popular languages such as Python, Bash, Perl, Ruby and Shell scripting are all great options. These languages can help you create automation scripts and configure infrastructure as code.
Automation tools
Being proficient in automation tools and configuration management tools such as Ansible, Chef or Puppet is highly recommended, as they’re key to managing and configuring infrastructure in a DevOps environment.
Version control
As a DevOps engineer, you’ll want to be familiar with version control processes, versioning and version control tools. Git is a popular option for managing and tracking code changes and alteration to infrastructure configurations.
Containerization and orchestration software
Having experience in containerization concepts and tools such as Docker and container orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes will help DevOps engineers better manage and deploy software across multiple platforms more efficiently and reliably.
Cloud platforms and services
Cloud platforms and services such as Amazon Web Services, Azure and Google Cloud are often used by software development organizations. Familiarity with these types of platforms is highly recommended, especially as companies increasingly adopt cloud-based architectures and infrastructures.
Collaboration
DevOps engineers should have strong collaboration and communication skills, as they’ll be working with multiple teams, including (but not limited to) development, operations and security, as well as other key stakeholders. Experience with collaboration tools — especially those targeted toward DevOps professionals, will help you bridge the gaps between these teams and foster better collaboration and communication.
How do DevOps engineers benefit an organization?
DevOps engineers can have a great impact on a software development organization. Here are just a few ways a company can benefit from hiring DevOps engineers:
- Faster development: DevOps engineers help companies release software, software updates and products with greater frequency. This leads to faster time-to-market.
- Enhanced collaboration: By its nature, DevOps practices foster better collaboration between teams and helps break down silos and communication barriers.
- Reliability: By using automation tools and monitoring software, DevOps engineers help increase software quality, enhance performance, reduce downtime and mitigate the impact of system failures.
- Cost efficiency: The DevOps practices used by DevOps engineers help reduce waste and manual labor, as well as optimize resources, resulting in cost savings.
- Increased security: DevOps engineers integrate testing as part of their responsibilities, leading to software and infrastructure that is much more secure and reliable.
What are some DevOps engineer challenges
DevOps engineers may face several challenges when incorporating DevOps practices in an organization, including:
- Resistance to change: Some employees will be resistant to changes in processes, workflows and culture. Overcoming these resistances can be difficult. Always be mindful of this when working in an environment that is new to DevOps frameworks and methodologies.
- Tool overload: DevOps engineers rely on many tools to perform their job. Choosing the right set of tools can be challenging even for veterans in the field. Always be certain the tools you choose integrate together in order to limit the effect of “tool overload.”
- Lack of skills: DevOps engineers may need to fill gaps in knowledge and skills (for themselves and others) in key areas, such as scripting and coding, automation, testing and containerization. Always consider the skills you and the teams you work with possess and prepare to train-up when necessary.
Best practices for DevOps engineers
Below are some of the best practices DevOps engineers should adopt to successfully lead DevOps initiatives:
- Use automation: When possible, automate repetitive tasks using scripts or tools to improve efficiency and reduce human errors.
- Security first: Incorporate security practices at the very beginning of the software development process.
- Practice continuous learning: Stay current on emerging DevOps tools and tactics by practicing continuous learning.
- Collaboration: Foster collaboration between teams. Incorporate collaboration tools to improve communication.
- Measure: Create metrics to track progress and monitor performance to identify areas for improvement in the CI/CD pipeline and other DevOps practices.
Final thoughts on DevOps engineers responsibilities
In this article, we discussed the role of a DevOps engineer in a software development environment that practices the DevOps methodology and framework. We learned that DevOps engineers are tasked with implementing automation, testing, collaboration and security practices in an effort to help organizations deliver high-quality software that’s secure and reliable as quickly as possible. These responsibilities are achieved via a set of best practices and a host of DevOps tools and software, including build and automation tools, application performance monitoring software and CI/CD tools.
