4 DevOps Skills You Need To Know In 2019

So you want to work on your DevOps skills. First, let’s discuss what DevOps is exactly. It’s concepts and practices that enable developers and IT operations to work more closely together to speed up deployment. In the cloud world it’s very common for the developer of an application to also own all or most of the roles associated with it. So let’s dive into a handful of key skills you need to succeed in DevOps.

We’ll briefly look at broadly understanding tools and technology, flexibility, collaboration, and overall strategy of an organization. These four areas will definitely catapult you into a solid standing in the DevOps and cloud computing world.

1. Understanding DevOps Tools and Technology

There’s a plethora of tools and technologies available to a cloud computing guru. You’ll need to have experience in using a source control repository in most cases. Two examples are Git and SVN. Next, continuous integration and automation tools like Jenkins are very important as cloud computing often changes at a fast rate. Automating these moves is extremely important. Having experience in Puppet, Ansible, Chef and Saltstack are important for infrastructure automation as well. Another need will be to have an understanding of containers such as Docker.

You’ll want to know all the options the cloud world has to offer. There are AWS, Azure, Google and others to choose from. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. Your organization’s unique needs will drive which vendor you plan to use and you may even a use a combination of them.

2. Flexibility

DevOps folks wear a lot of hats. This essential part of the role will require you to be extremely flexible. You will need to multitask at a high level. You will need to stop what you are doing regularly to put out fires. There will always be someone asking for your help with something. Inevitably, you will be asked to get something done “yesterday.” It’s a reality most developers deal with on a daily basis.

3. Collaboration

This is an extremely important skill. You need to be able to communicate! There are going to be a lot of moving parts that you may never have dealt with before. You must work well in a team setting. Although you will be wearing a lot of hats, it’s impossible for you to wear them all. Working well with your peers is important. This is something that takes a lot of work to master, but if you do master it, you will be a top candidate for any employer.

Any high performing company has a team that works like a well-oiled machine. The team is able to work through problems and come up with solutions by working together. The trust level is high on teams like this. It is imperative not only to be able to provide input, but also listen to others’ ideas and thoughts.

4. Overall Strategy

The big picture is important. You must keep in mind the overarching plan of how everything you’re working on will integrate together. Taking into account all the different areas of your organization and the known goals of the company will help you to be a top DevOps engineer. In the cloud world, it’s important to avoid creating redundant systems to save on costs. Knowing what exists already in your organization and how to leverage it for other goals is important. Also, knowing who has the experience already in your organization will greatly help with the speed of churning out new application efforts.

Conclusion

The DevOps world is very large. Knowing these skills will set you up for successful ventures and provide efficiencies for companies. It will also make you very desirable to companies that do cloud computing. The skills of broadly understanding tools and technology, flexibility, collaboration, and overall strategy of an organization are key to a strong DevOps engineer in the cloud computing world. Be sure to work on acquiring and sharpening these skills. Take some time and reach out to FHG to see if we can help guide your organization’s DevOps.