What Does a DevOps Engineer Do? A Career Guide

A DevOps engineer is responsible for leading and coordinating the activities of different teams to create and maintain a company's software. The term 'DevOps' comes from "development and operations" and is a set of practices aiming to increase the efficiency of the software development lifecycle through collaboration.

A DevOps engineer's end goal is to shorten the software development process, increase the frequency of software releases, unite operations teams and development teams, and facilitate more dependable releases.

Learn how to become a DevOps engineer, your expected average annual salary in the role, and the skills you may need to excel in this career.

What does a DevOps engineer do?

DevOps engineers typically work within an organization to streamline efficiency processes by combining the roles of development and operations. 

As a DevOps engineer, you may have different responsibilities depending on the company you work for. Within your role as a DevOps engineer, you may partake in tasks such as making updates and improvements to software applications based on their performance, working alongside other information technology positions, and enhancing the security of software.

DevOps engineer salary

The average base salary for DevOps engineers in the US is $107,991 per year [1]. When acknowledging additional pay like commissions or profit-sharing, Glassdoor estimates the total pay value to be $141,253 [1]. DevOps engineers may work overtime or spend time on call, as software issues can come up at odd hours.

Read more: DevOps Engineer Salary: How Much Can You Make?

DevOps engineering specializations

DevOps engineers may take on specific roles, depending on their interests and the needs of the organizations where they work. A few specialized roles in the DevOps engineering field include:

• A release manager manages ongoing software updates.

• Software developers write code.

• Quality assurance engineers are responsible for reviewing and testing new code.

• Security engineers ensure the security of the software in the system.

Does a DevOps engineer code?

One of the top skills you need as a DevOps engineer is the ability to code and knowledge of programming languages. One of your primary tasks in DevOps engineering involves coding through scripts to develop and eventually deploy functional software. Examples of programming languages a DevOps engineer should know include JavaScript, C++, and Python.

DevOps skills

DevOps engineering requires a mix of technical and workplace skills (also known as soft skills) to succeed.

Technical skills

DevOps engineers are, first and foremost, engineers. In addition to standard engineering skills, like math and analytical thinking, they should understand:

• Project management: As the person responsible for ensuring that a company's software is up to date, secure, and free from bugs and glitches, a DevOps engineer needs to be looking for and implementing any relevant improvements constantly.

• Production infrastructure: A good DevOps engineer must have a strong understanding of the initiation, planning, execution, and monitoring of everything from minor bug fixes to massive updates. Continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) is a crucial aspect of the DevOps approach to software development.

• Coding: Although some DevOps engineers may not always write code, they must still understand the fundamentals of whatever programming languages your company or employer uses.

• Server administration: DevOps engineers administer a company's networks and servers that host any software being created. This means creating accounts, updating permissions, and ensuring that everything is regularly backed up. They also set the procedures junior IT professionals follow when troubleshooting, debugging, or making other changes.

Workplace skills

DevOps professionals are also team players and spend a lot of their days working with people from different professional backgrounds. To be successful, you must understand:

• Communication: Communication skills are essential for DevOps engineering roles. You must be able to effectively explain what's happening in the software development life cycle to people with varying degrees of technical expertise, from software engineers to marketing roles.

• Coaching: An effective DevOps engineer should always be looking to improve their team and software. This means identifying gaps in the skill set and devising ways to fill them, whether training existing staff or hiring new staff.

• Flexibility: Software issues can happen at any hour of the day or night. DevOps engineers often work irregular hours and stay on call to resolve any issues. 

Read more: What Are Job Skills?

How to become a DevOps engineer

To become a DevOps engineer, you should consider pursuing a degree, earning a certification, or starting your career in an entry-level or related role.

Consider a degree.

Many job descriptions for DevOps engineering roles call for at least a bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field, though some employers will accept equivalent work experience. 75 percent of DevOps Engineers have a bachelor's degree, 20 percent have a master's degree, and 2 percent have an associate degree [2].

Earn a certification.

Some companies might look for certifications in subjects like Linux administration and SQL server development to show competency. For example, an aspiring DevOps engineer may earn a certificate in Linux System Administration with IBM Power Systems:

Start in a related role.

DevOps engineers should have experience with software tools and coding languages. You may work in IT, system administration, or software development to gain this experience.

DevOps engineers may start with an entry-level system administrator, support, or help desk role to gain experience with software maintenance.

Read more: 5 Tech Entry-Level Jobs: No Experience Required

Build your DevOps engineer skills on Coursera

DevOps engineers merge a company's or organization's development and operations teams to maximize efficiency and create more effective strategies for software deployment.

You can gain in-demand DevOps skills from an industry leader in technology with IBM's Introduction to DevOps. In this beginner-friendly online course, you'll learn about essential DevOps concepts like CI/CD, automation, and test-driven development (TDD).