DevOps has become the preferred methodology of software development around the world and looks to remain that way for the foreseeable future. The DevOps market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.7% over the next five years as DevOps services are increasingly adopted by businesses that need continuous, fast and efficient application delivery.
This makes the field of DevOps an exciting career choice for IT professionals. For many DevOps engineers, this field isn’t just a means of collaboration within the development process, it’s a competitive career with a lot of potential for continuous learning and professional development opportunities.
Read on to learn more about this fast-growing field, including the steps you can take to become a DevOps engineer.
What Is DevOps?
DevOps is a subfield in the IT industry that acts as an intersection between software development (Dev) and production environment operations (Ops). Before DevOps became a common practice, software development and operations were two distinct processes. Developers would write code and pass it to the operations team who would then deploy it in the production environment.
The issue with having two separate processes was that both teams were isolated and could be focused only on individual team objectives — with developers aiming to push updates while the operations team focused on maintaining platform stability and consistency. The lack of communication and coordination between developers and operations would delay deployment, reduce platform instability and hurt team morale.
DevOps balances the goals of both development and operations by merging them into one integrated approach. In this way, DevOps can:
- Shorten the software development life cycle (SDLC) to reduce the time needed to bring software products to market
- Allow products and applications to efficiently move through the release pipeline to quickly deliver updates for existing software
- Provide a higher level of testing and quality control for all updates and releases, ensuring greater stability and consistency for platforms
- Foster better communication and collaboration between teams to improve the reliability of software development and related operations
What Does a DevOps Engineer Do?
Because they work in both development and operations, the role of DevOps engineer requires a range of technical skills and the ability to work effectively with other teams and departments. Primarily, DevOps engineers need an in-depth understanding of the software development process and how to set up processes and automation tools across the continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines to ensure the reliable delivery of applications and services.
The CI/CD pipeline is iterative, rather than linear, which allows DevOps teams to write code, integrate it, run tests, deliver releases and deploy changes to the software collaboratively and in real-time. The major phases of the CI/CD pipeline are:
- Build — The team builds off of source code to create and compile new code.
- Test — The team runs the code through different tests, including integration tests, unit tests and regression tests.
- Deliver — Once approved, the codebase is sent to the designated production environment.
- Deploy — The team deploys all changes, and the final product moves into production.
Within a CI/CD pipeline, many of these processes can be automated, allowing development teams to increase efficiency, streamline workflows and optimize development time.
Specific DevOps job responsibilities will vary based on the specific job, company or industry. Some example responsibilities include:
- Building managerial tools for software development projects using scripting and programming languages
- Performing gap analysis to identify performance enhancements, identify alternative solutions and assist with modifications
- Vetting, integrating and utilizing various automation tools to further develop the CI/CD pipeline
- Collaborating with software developers, system engineers and other IT professionals on software development projects
- Working with management to maintain an environment suitable for developing high-quality software
What Are DevOps-related Jobs and Average Salaries?
The salaries of a DevOps engineer will vary based on location, experience and company. According to Salary.com* the average DevOps salary will range between $112,943 and $144,078.
Similar careers include:
- Automation engineer — An IT professional who focuses on designing, building and maintaining automated solutions for various processes and tasks. They work across different domains within IT, including system administration, network management, software development and quality assurance. Automation engineers earn an average salary of $85,170.*
- Site reliability engineer — An IT professional who blends aspects of software engineering and IT operations to build and maintain reliable, scalable and efficient systems. Site reliability engineers (SREs) focus on creating and implementing strategies to ensure the reliability and performance of large-scale, complex software systems. SREs earn an average salary of $93,874.*
- Integration specialist — An IT professional who specializes in connecting and integrating different software systems, applications and technologies within an organization. They work to enable seamless communication and data flow between disparate systems, ensuring that they work together efficiently and effectively. Integration specialists earn an average salary of $119,318.*
- Information security engineer — An IT professional who is responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining security measures to protect an organization’s computer systems, networks and data from unauthorized access and attacks. Information security engineers earn an average salary of $72,991.*
*Salary estimates sourced from Salary.com in August 2024.
Who is hiring for DevOps engineers?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for software developers, quality assurance analysts and testers is projected to grow 25% from 2022 to 2032. Zippia shows that DevOps engineers enjoy steady employment, with a low average unemployment rate that has remained under 2.67% since 2012.
A search across different job aggregator sites in August 2024 found thousands of DevOps engineer job postings for both onsite and remote positions, including at the following companies:
- Northrop Grumman
- General Dynamics IT
- Bank of America
- Booz Allen
- Rockstar Games
- Apple
- Capital One
- The Walt Disney Company
- Intel Corporation
- Walgreens
What Skills Are Needed to Start a Career in DevOps?
DevOps engineers need to have a balance of software development skills, experience with scripting languages, an understanding of cloud computing concepts and experience with operations-based tools. However, because the core purpose of DevOps is to streamline the development and operations process, interpersonal skills are of equal importance. Effective DevOps engineers will have strong skills in communication, project management, organization and documentation as well as an understanding of DevOps culture.
Applicable IT Skills and Popular Tools
- Automation — Ansible, Terraform
- CI/CD — GitLab, GitHub, Jenkins, CircleCI
- Cloud computing — AWS, Google Cloud Platform
- Configuration management — Chef, Puppet
- Container management — Kubernetes, Docker
- Databases and SQL
- Operating systems — Linux, Windows, Android, iOS
- Programming languages — Ruby, Bash, JavaScript, Python, C, C++, Golang
- Network management
- Source code management — Git, CVS, Mercurial
- Security best practices
Essential Interpersonal and Self-management Skills
- Communication
- Critical thinking
- Documentation
- Project management
- Time management
Degrees
Most DevOps positions will require a bachelor’s degree in computer science, software design, software engineering, computer programming or related IT field. A master’s degree is usually preferred, if not required, for some positions. While it is possible that some positions will consider hiring a candidate who does not have a bachelor’s degree, that candidate must be able to show an extensive background in development and operations to compensate for their lack of formal education.
According to demographic statistics gathered by Zippia, about 75% of DevOps engineers have earned a bachelor’s degree, while 20% have earned their master’s degree. DevOps engineers with a master’s degree earn an average of $7,811 more in annual salary than those with just an undergraduate degree.
Qualifications
Most positions will also require job applicants to have at least two to three years of experience as a software engineer, build-release engineer, system administrator or other related background. Some positions may also require knowledge of specific tools, programming languages or certifications.
Strong candidates will be able to show that they have built an application for a real-world use case.
Certifications
There are many different certifications applicable to DevOps. It’s recommended that DevOps earn the certifications most relevant to their current or desired position. Some of the more popular certifications include:
See this list from DevOps Cube for details on these and other recommended DevOps Certifications.
What Steps Do I Need to Take to Start a Career in DevOps?
- Start by building your education, knowledge and certifications. Establishing a strong knowledge foundation is essential, so it’s recommended that you earn your bachelor’s degree in a DevOps-related field such as computer science, software design, engineering, information technology or programming. From there, look to supplement your skills by obtaining popular DevOps certifications — such as Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or AWS Certified DevOps Engineer — that are most relevant to the platforms you’ll be working in and tools you’ll be utilizing.
- Gain experience in the field. Work experience is vital, and while you could work on your own as a developer to build applications, remember that DevOps is a collaborative process. You’ll need to find opportunities towork with developers and engineers. Look for training and internship opportunities to build up your resume, and take time to familiarize yourself with the major operating systems, including Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.
- Research job positions and their requirements. Every position will have specific requirements, tools and platforms, so consider which fields and industries you’d like to work in and start looking at different job postings. In your research, make notes of the main responsibilities and platforms that appear on the DevOps engineer job listings that interest you. If you’re lacking in any of those areas, you’ll know that you need to supplement your knowledge and experience.
- Build out your professional network. Finding the right position sometimes means knowing the right people. Connect with your peers and mentors in your educational programs, and join formal communities such as the DevOps Institute or informal coding groups. Leverage those connections to learn more about available opportunities and how to transition into DevOps positions. Utilize platforms like GitHub to showcase your coding projects and build up a professional portfolio.
- Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies. IT is an industry that’s constantly changing and requires continual learning. Even after you’ve earned your degree, it’s important to be informed on the latest tools and processes for both software development and system administration. Consider subscribing to DevOps and Cloud Native mailing lists, newsletters and RSS feeds for news and updates. Get involved with the open source communities on GitHub or GitLab, and look for local or regional networking groups you can join.
- Develop your management and leadership skills. As a DevOps engineer, you’ll need to be able to manage extremely complex systems, which requires a comprehensive understanding of IT fundamentals as well as the ability to collaborate with and direct others. You should be able to critically analyze an organization’s existing IT systems in order to suggest and implement effective solutions. Building your IT leadership skills through education and experience is essential for success as a DevOps engineer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Looking to take the next step in your IT career? Be sure to ask the right questions before choosing a degree program! Start the process on the right foot by downloading our free eBook: 9 Questions to Ask Before Selecting an Information Technology Leadership Master’s Degree.