DevOps is a philosophy of software development. It combines the work of quality assurance engineers (QA), software developers and IT operators (Ops). This combination allows the company to use Continuous Integration and Delivery, and the opportunity to make new releases frequently and increase the speed of development. Companies that want to implement DevOps practices in their workflow usually appeal to DevOps Service provider like IT Svit https://itsvit.com/services/devops/.
DevOps lifecycle bases on the next stages:
- Continuous Development;
- Continuous Integration;
- Continuous Testing;
- Continuous Monitoring;
- Virtualization and Containerization.
Each stage interacts and connects with others, as a result, you have a flexible and efficient workflow. So, now you have a common understanding of DevOps as a methodology, but what is DevOps engineer doing?
DevOps engineers began to appear at the junction of three specializations: software developer, QA engineer, and system administrator. The term “DevOps” consists of two worlds: “development” and “operations”, so this specialist can work with both directions.
The main objective of the DevOps engineer is to increase predictability, efficiency, and security of software development.
Duties of DevOps engineer include:
- standardization of development environment;
- process automation;
- deploying a developer-supplied release to production;
- setting the infrastructure for the features of the developed software;
- preparing the production environment for frequent changes;
- detection and correction of problems.
DevOps engineer uses in his workflow instruments that automate the management and allocation of system resources. These instruments include virtualization on different levels, configuration management tools, operational process automatization, cloud services, etc.
Software developers and system administrators often become DevOps engineers and start to manage the work of developers, operators, and QA teams to make it easier. What challenges does developers and Ops have and how can a DevOps engineer solve them?
Common developers challenge is waiting for code deployment and simultaneously working on old and new code. The DevOps solution is Continuous Integration. It allows making quick improvements by adding new blocks of code to the main repository. It means faster testing, deployment, and feedback. Thus you do not need to wait to deploy and could work with the current code.
Common ops challenges are:
- difficult to maintain uptime of the production environment – this is solved by virtualization and containerization. The simulated environment created to run the software as containers offer great reliability for service uptime;
- automatization tools for management infrastructure are not effective – it’s solved by configuration management. It helps to organize and execute configuration plans, consistently provision, and proactively manage the cloud infrastructure;
- difficulties to diagnose and provide feedback on the product – these are solved with continuous monitoring. Effective monitoring and feedback allow keeping abreast on each project stage.
If you want to become a DevOps engineer or want to train your employees as DevOps engineers, you should pay attention to the next traits:
- stress resistance – because DevOps specialist has a lot of responsibilities and the stressful situation on work;
- analytical mind and ability to not give up in difficult situations – because these specialists often face new tasks and need to find a solution;
- technical background as a software developer, IT operator or QA engineer – you can start training from scratch but the experience will be a plus because DevOps will work with challenges of these areas.
Conclusion: who is DevOps specialist and what does he do?
DevOps engineer manages the work of software developers, system administrators, and quality assurance engineers. They make workflow more flexible and efficient and help multidisciplinary teams work in continuously development rhythm.