How to Become a DevOps Engineer
Wondering what it takes to be a successful DevOps engineer? Here’s how to get started.
DevOps engineers are the link between software development and IT operations teams. At their core, they’re IT jacks-of-all-trades and use a variety of skills every day—from script coding to infrastructure automation. If you learn how to become a DevOps engineer, you’ll work in a dynamic Agile environment where you’ll oversee the software development lifecycle.
DevOps engineers are in high demand and opportunities in DevOps will only grow as more businesses invest in cloud computing and automation. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 25% increase in new jobs for software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers over the next 10 years.
Want to find out how to become a DevOps engineer? Read on to learn what a DevOps engineer is, how it differs from other IT jobs, and which credentials and skills you’ll need to land a job in DevOps.
What Is DevOps?
DevOps is a software development methodology that emphasizes collaboration and communication between software developers and IT operations teams. The term “DevOps” is a combination of “development” and “operations.”
The goal of DevOps is to create an environment where software development and operations work in tandem to deliver software. Together, they test, integrate, and deploy code to reduce errors and boost efficiency.
The goals of a DevOps team include:
- Increased collaboration between developers and IT operations.
- Faster time-to-market.
- Improved software quality and reliability.
DevOps vs. Site Reliability Engineering
DevOps and site reliability engineering (SRE) often work together and share a similar goal—to ensure that software development runs smoothly. However, there are some key differences between SRE vs. DevOps:
- DevOps focuses on collaboration between development and operations teams, while SRE emphasizes software reliability and availability. To accomplish this, SRE uses:
- Incident response tools to detect software issues and respond to them promptly.
- Configuration management tools to automate software workflows.
- Container orchestrators to run and scale applications on various platforms.
- On-call management tools to address and respond to reported software issues.
- DevOps teams focus on product development, while SRE teams focus on operations.
DevOps vs. Agile
Both the DevOps and Agile methodologies use continuous improvement, cross-functional collaboration, and automation to achieve customer-focused results. While DevOps and Agile are often used interchangeably, each methodology has a different focus:
- Agile focuses on software development in short release cycles, while DevOps focuses on speed and efficiency throughout the entire software development cycle.
- DevOps prioritizes continuous software deployment, while Agile prioritizes continuous software delivery.
- Agile is typically used by teams of 10 or fewer people, while DevOps is a company-wide approach to software development.
DevOps vs. DevSecOps
DevSecOps is an extension of DevOps that focuses on integrating security requirements early on in the software development process. It also addresses potential vulnerabilities throughout the software development lifecycle.
Industries that store and manage sensitive data are more likely to use DevSecOps over DevOps. These industries include:
- Finance
- Energy and utilities
- Government
- Healthcare
- Retail and wholesale
What Is a DevOps Engineer?
A DevOps engineer is an IT generalist who works with software developers, IT operators, QA testers, and other technical staff to build and maintain software systems. They’re responsible for the entire software development lifecycle, including design, deployment, monitoring, and maintenance.
DevOps Engineer vs. Cloud Engineer
DevOps engineers and cloud engineers both work with cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. Cloud engineers are a subset of DevOps engineers that focus on building, managing, and maintaining cloud infrastructures.
DevOps vs. Software Engineer
Software engineers are an integral part of DevOps teams, but they have a narrower focus than DevOps engineers. Software engineers program, design, and develop software and write, test, and debug code.
DevOps engineers have a broader set of skills and responsibilities such as infrastructure management, operations, automation, and continuous deployment.
What Does a DevOps Engineer Do?
DevOps engineers bridge the gap between software development and IT operations teams, enabling them to work together to deliver software products faster and more efficiently.
Day-to-day DevOps engineer roles and responsibilities include:
- Designing, implementing, maintaining, and deploying software development operations.
- Developing, installing, configuring, testing, and maintaining IT solutions.
- Ensuring scalability, availability, and security throughout the software development lifecycle.
- Identifying and addressing infrastructure and software issues.
- Building tools to reduce software development errors.
How to Become a DevOps Engineer
Ready to learn how to become a DevOps engineer? Here are the education, skills, and credentials you’ll need before you can start applying to jobs in DevOps.
DevOps Educational Requirements
A bachelor’s degree in computer science, software development, or a related field is typically required to become a DevOps engineer.
To start learning how to become a DevOps engineer, take courses in mathematics, cloud computing, data structures, computer programming, machine learning, software engineering, and software security.
DevOps Engineer Skills
To be successful as a DevOps engineer, you’ll need these skills and qualities:
- Proficiency in the Agile and Scrum methodologies.
- Familiarity with coding languages such as Python, Ruby, and Perl.
- Proficiency in infrastructure automation tools such as Chef, Puppet, and Ansible.
- An understanding of source control technologies such as Git and SVN.
- Knowledge of scripting languages such as PowerShell and Bash.
- An understanding of software development procedures.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
- The ability to test software programs.
- Strong analytical skills.
- Problem-solving and decision-making skills.
- Attention to detail.
DevOps Engineer Certification
Some employers prefer candidates who have DevOps certification in addition to a bachelor’s degree. Below, you’ll find the most popular certification programs for DevOps engineers.
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
Want to learn how to become a DevOps engineer on the AWS platform? The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer credential validates your knowledge of DevOps best practices and principles such as continuous integration and deployment, infrastructure automation, security, and monitoring and logging.
To be eligible for this credential, you’ll need to pass the AWS Certified DevOps - Professional exam, which covers AWS CloudFormation, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, AWS CodeDeploy, and many other AWS tools and services.
Additionally, you’ll need to demonstrate your ability to build and deploy scalable, highly available, and fault-tolerant systems on AWS.
Google Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer
The Google Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer credential demonstrates your proficiency in Google Cloud application design, deployment, and management. It requires an in-depth understanding of DevOps principles, software engineering, containerization, continuous integration, continuous delivery, Infrastructure as a Code (IaC), and application performance monitoring (APM).
You’ll need a passing score of 70% on a two-hour online exam to be eligible for this certification. The exam contains 50 multiple-choice and scenario-based questions.
Microsoft: DevOps Engineer Expert
The Microsoft: DevOps Engineer Expert certificate is ideal for IT professionals with competency in Azure administration, automation, and scripting. It demonstrates your ability to apply source control, continuous integration, continuous delivery and deployment, and other DevOps practices on the Azure platform.
To earn this certificate, you’ll need to pass two exams: Azure DevOps Solutions (AZ-400) and Azure DevOps Development Processes (AZ-400T04). These exams gauge your ability to complete certain technical tasks such as:
- Process and communication configuration.
- Source control design and implementation.
- Build and release pipeline design and implementation.
- Security and compliance plan development.
- Instrumentation strategies.
To be eligible to take the two exams, you’ll first need to obtain the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate or Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate certification.
DevOps Career Path
Many DevOps engineers start out in other technical positions such as system administrators, software developers, or quality assurance (QA) testers. Once you gain experience and acquire new skills, you can advance into other DevOps roles.
Below, you’ll find common DevOps job titles to consider along your career path.
- Entry-Level DevOps Engineer
- DevOps System Administrator
- DevOps Test Engineer
- DevOps Cloud Engineer
- DevOps Manager
- DevOps Architect
1. Entry-Level DevOps Engineer
Once you’ve learned how to become a DevOps engineer and gained the required skills and experience, you’ll be well-equipped for an entry-level DevOps position.
This role typically involves working on a team to ensure smooth code releases, implement integrations requested by clients, deploy software fixes and updates, and provide level two tech support. You’ll also perform root cause analysis for production issues, develop automation scripts, and devise strategies to troubleshoot and maintain software development systems.
2. DevOps System Administrator
DevOps system administrators are responsible for configuring, managing, and maintaining the infrastructure, software, and tools used by operations teams.
Gaining experience as an IT system administrator and getting certified is a good place to start. Many DevOps system administrator jobs require two to six years of experience in a DevOps engineer role or a similar IT position.
Some certificate programs for system administrators include:
3. DevOps Test Engineer
DevOps test engineers focus primarily on ensuring software efficiency, reliability, and cost-effectiveness during the development and deployment processes. They employ business analysis and testing strategies to address product problems and devise effective solutions.
Many DevOps test engineers start out as software QA testers or engineers and have at least five or six years of experience in DevOps or a similar position. To learn how to become a DevOps engineer that specializes in testing, the DevOps Test Engineer Training program offered by ZeoLearn can show you the strategies, automation tools, and results analysis tactics required for this position.
4. DevOps Cloud Engineer
DevOps cloud engineers specialize in the development of cloud-based applications and programs. To land a job as a DevOps cloud engineer, you’ll need a strong understanding of cloud computing and cloud-based solutions.
You’ll also need proficiency in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, automation tools, configuration management tools, and scripting languages. The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, Google Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer, and Microsoft: DevOps Engineer Expert credentials can help you demonstrate your competency in DevOps cloud engineering.
To be eligible for this position, you’ll need to know how to become a DevOps engineer in the cloud realm. Most employers look for candidates with 5-10 years of DevOps or IT experience.
5. DevOps Manager
DevOps managers oversee all DevOps processes, including development, quality assurance, automation, and culture. To advance to a DevOps manager role, you’ll need at least 5-10 years of DevOps experience along with demonstrated proficiency in continuous integration, continuous development, automation, source control, scripting, and database deployment.
6. DevOps Architect
DevOps architects are responsible for planning, designing, and monitoring the stages of IT development. Additionally, DevOps architects create the frameworks that DevOps engineers use to oversee a software development lifecycle.
DevOps architect jobs typically require 8-10 years of experience working on a cloud or SaaS team and proficiency in infrastructure management, DevOps platform tools (e.g., Chef and Puppet), and automation tools, continuous integration, and continuous development.
The International DevOps Certification Academy offers the DevOps Architect Certification Program. To obtain this credential, you’ll need to pass a 50-question exam, which you can take online at any time.
How Much Do DevOps Engineers Make?
According to Monster’s salary findings, the median DevOps engineer salary is range about $99,000 to $145,000 per year.
- Entry-Level DevOps Engineer Salary: Around $100,000 per year
- Mid-Career DevOps Engineer Salary: $120,756 per year
- Senior DevOps Engineer Salary: Around $150,000 per year
- Cloud DevOps Engineer Salary: $75,000 to $154,000 per year
Your location will likely play a part when new employers calculate your DevOps salary as well. Use Monster’s Salary Tool to find out how much DevOps engineers make in your area.
How to Find DevOps Engineer Jobs
Learning how to become a DevOps engineer is the first step toward landing your dream software development job. Before applying for jobs, create a DevOps resume that shows potential employers how you can drive efficiency during software development lifecycles.
Your resume should also highlight relevant core competencies (e.g., Agile, code testing, and project deployment) and credentials (e.g., AWS and Google Cloud certifications). If you have previous DevOps experience, outline your key accomplishments in the work history section. For example, talk about how much money and/or downtime you’ve saved your previous employer.
Then, state your case for why you’re a good fit for the job by sending a cover letter with your resume. A cover letter gives you more space to discuss your previous accomplishments and highlight relevant skills.
Start your search for DevOps positions in these five cities where DevOps engineers are in high demand:
Guide the Lifecycle of Your DevOps Career
Now that you’ve learned how to become a DevOps engineer, complete your free profile and build a successful framework for your job search. Monster will work with you every step of the way—from your application to your first day on the job. We offer free job notifications, so you can stay in the loop about new and exciting DevOps positions. Plus, we’ll get your resume seen by hiring managers in the IT industry, so they can contact you with DevOps job offers.