DevOps, short for Development and IT Operations, refers to teams of Developers and IT professionals who adopt a set of practices to make application and software development a more streamlined process. Its goal is to shorten the development lifecycle by producing software in short cycles—a process known as continuous delivery—to deliver higher-quality software.
The practices that make up DevOps are important to learn for anyone interested in improving how teams collaborate, as well as the overall culture to support this collaboration. Some examples of organizations that have benefited from a DevOps setup include Amazon, Netflix, Etsy, Target, NASA, and others.
DevOps enthusiasts can feel even more excited about the phenomenon knowing its market is expected to grow to USD 10.31 billion by 2023. This is quite an indication of how in-demand DevOps has shown itself to be in recent years, with those who learn it successfully earning an average of $99,604 in the United States.
Those who seek a rewarding career in DevOps can also look beyond the role of “Developer” to find the right opportunity. With over 40,000 DevOps-related job listings on LinkedIn as of July 2020, learners who seek this career path can work as Copywriters, User Experience Writers, DevOps Engineers, Test Strategists, DevOps Analysts, DevOps Directors, Technical Writers, and others.
DevOps courses offered through Coursera equip learners with knowledge in diagnosing a team’s delivery pipeline and bringing it foward; understanding the skill sets and roles involved in DevOps; delivering automation tests across the development stack; employing key ideas and tactics to improve time-to-market; and more.
Lessons on DevOps are taught by instructors from major tech names and universities, including University of Virgina, University of California at Davis, and other institutions. Learners can enjoy exploring DevOps with instructors specializing in Digital Innovation, Business, E-Commerce, and other topics. Course content on DevOps is delivered via video lectures, hands-on projects, readings, quizzes, and other types of assignments.
A career path for someone in DevOps usually starts in the IT field, often as a developer as well as in operations, especially in cloud infrastructure. After gaining several years of on-the-job experience, a person might move into a role as a junior DevOps engineer and then to a senior DevOps engineer position. While someone may want to stay at the senior DevOps level for the rest of their career, they might also want to move into other niche topics related to their experiences. For example, a DevOps engineer who worked often with network security might transition to a security engineer role. An example of a common career path for someone in DevOps is to start with a role as release manager then move to DevOps test engineer to DevOps cloud engineer and then to DevOps architect.
People best suited for roles in DevOps can work well collaboratively as well as independently. They're skilled at writing concise and clear code and keep up with new technologies. These professionals are also self-motivated and have a desire to continue to create newer and better products. Successful DevOps personnel are skilled at meeting deadlines on time, staying within budget, being in tune with what their clients want, and speaking positively to and about the people they work with, including senior management. People well suited for roles in DevOps have strong leadership skills, excellent communication skills, are problem solvers, make effective decisions quickly, and work well under pressure.
The top industries that hire people with a background in DevOps include e-commerce, aerospace, and analytics. Amazon Web Services, for example, is a large employer of people in DevOps and has developed a DevOps engineer certification. Additional tech giants that hire DevOps professionals include Facebook, Barclays, Accenture, SAP, Salesforce, Adobe, and Apple. Nearly any company that is striving to stay ahead of their competition, however, has a need for someone with skills in DevOps, since people in these roles bridge the gap between their development and operations teams. As technology continues to evolve, the types of places that hire people in DevOps will increase as well.
Since keeping up with new technologies is essential to the success of someone in DevOps, studying the latest software releases and tech trends is important. Any topics that can help you hone your IT skills are related to DevOps as well. You can also study management and people skills, which are an essential part of DevOps roles.