How to Become a DevOps Engineer?

Detailed Guide on How to Become a DevOps Engineer

Below you will find handy guidelines that can provide a clear understanding of the DevOps engineer landscape, helping you get your foot in the door.

 

Acquiring Necessary DevOps Skills

DevOps skills are wide-ranging and span across coding, infrastructure management, and automation tools. Here are some hands-on steps to acquire these skills:

 

Understanding various coding and scripting languages: Start with programming languages such as Python or Ruby, which are widely used in DevOps for scripting tasks. Many online platforms like Codecademy, Coursera, and Udemy offer comprehensive courses.

 

Familiarity with DevOps tools like Jenkins, Docker, and Kubernetes: These tools are fundamental to modern DevOps practices. You can learn these tools using official documentation and hands-on projects. Websites like Katacoda offer interactive learning scenarios for these tools.

 

Knowledge of continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment pipelines: Jenkins is a good starting point to learn these concepts. Practice by setting up a simple pipeline that takes code from a repository, builds it, and deploys it to a test environment.

 

Strong problem-solving skills and a knack for automation and optimization can be developed through hands-on experience. Try automating simple tasks on your computer or in your job. Every little bit of automation and optimization practice helps.

 

Understanding the Role of a DevOps Engineer in Software Engineering

The role of a “DevOps and software engineer” is crucial in any IT setup. They act as a bridge between the development and operations teams, ensuring the smooth delivery of software products. DevOps engineers and software developers can build effective systems that benefit the entire organization by understanding how code turns into applications.

 

Seeking Relevant DevOps Certifications

While getting certified is important, ensure you have a solid understanding of the concepts before diving into the certification process. Here are some actionable steps:

 

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer: At Amazon, you can follow a learning path that teaches you how to set up a version control system, deploy a sample web application, and create a continuous delivery pipeline. This path emphasizes the importance of building secure and efficient build processes (such as a CI/CD pipeline), measuring relevant metrics by instrumenting code, setting up appropriate alarms for key service metrics, and safely executing operational actions across multiple resources.

 

Google Professional DevOps Engineer: Google Cloud Platform has a learning path where you will learn to bootstrap a Google Cloud organization for DevOps, build and implement CI/CD pipelines for a service, apply site reliability engineering practices to a service, implement service monitoring strategies, and optimize service performance. The certification exam is two hours long and costs $200. You should have 3+ years of industry experience including 1+ years designing and managing production systems using Google Cloud​.

 

Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert: Microsoft Learn offers a learning path where you will learn to configure processes and communications, design and implement source control, design and implement build and release pipelines, develop a security and compliance plan, and implement an instrumentation strategy. To become a Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert, you must earn at least one of the following: Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate, Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate certification. The certification needs to be renewed periodically by passing an online assessment on Microsoft Learn​.

 

Breaking Down the Learning Path

Start your learning journey with a solid foundation on Linux, as it’s the operating system of choice for many DevOps tools. Once you’re comfortable with Linux, move on to learning a scripting language like Python or Ruby. Parallelly, understand the basics of cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. Next, familiarize yourself with containerization technologies like Docker and orchestration tools like Kubernetes. Then, delve into continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) tools such as Jenkins or Travis CI.

 

Gaining Practical Experience

Try to gain as much hands-on experience as you can. This could be through internships, junior roles, or personal projects. You could set up a home lab and try to automate a simple application deployment using tools like Docker and Jenkins. Alternatively, contribute to open-source projects that have a strong focus on DevOps.

 

Soft skills

Successful DevOps engineers possess technical skills and excel in communication and collaboration. Effective communication is crucial given the nature of DevOps, where diverse teams work together. Also, problem-solving skills are equally important, as DevOps engineers frequently encounter complex technical issues requiring innovative solutions.

 

The Role of DevOps Consulting in Career Advancement

As with any profession, consulting can significantly impact the career of a DevOps engineer. Seeking out “DevOps consulting” can offer valuable personalized advice and guidance, aiding in navigating career paths effectively. Additionally, it can provide exposure to various industry practices and tools, expanding horizons while improving skill and programming knowledge.

 

When choosing a DevOps consulting service, ensure they have a proven track record and can provide insights relevant to your career goals and objectives. Remember, becoming a DevOps engineer is not a sprint but a marathon. The best way to learn is by doing, so don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty and start experimenting.

 

Recommend Books, Online Courses, and Resources

If you prefer a more organized approach to the learning process, various online course platforms offer detailed DevOps courses. Coursera, edX, and Udemy are some examples. Additionally, ‘The Phoenix Project‘ by Gene Kim is a highly recommended book to read. For beginners, ‘DevOps for Dummies‘ by Emily Freeman is an excellent resource. Lastly, ‘The DevOps Handbook‘ by Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois, and John Willis provides actionable steps for implementing DevOps in a workplace setting.