DevOps is a culture, methodology and set of practices that improve collaboration between development and operations and enable faster and more reliable delivery of software and IT infrastructures. DevOps professionals are responsible for implementing DevOps practices and methodologies in organisations, working closely with developers, operations teams and other IT departments. This article explains the skills and responsibilities of DevOps professionals to help IT recruiters identify qualified candidates.

What DevOps experts do

DevOps experts are responsible for improving collaboration, integration and automation between development and operations. The tasks include:

• Planning and implementation of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD): DevOps professionals implement CI/CD pipelines to enable the automation of build, test and deployment processes. They use tools such as Jenkins, GitLab and CircleCI to create and manage the CI/CD pipelines.
• Automation: DevOps experts automate repetitive tasks and processes to improve the efficiency and scalability of IT infrastructures and applications. They use tools such as Ansible, Puppet and Chef to enable the automation of configuration, provisioning and management tasks.
• Cloud computing: DevOps experts use cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure and GCP to create and manage scalable and flexible IT infrastructures and applications. They have knowledge of cloud architectures, security, scaling and availability to fully utilise the benefits of cloud technology.
• Monitoring and logging: DevOps experts monitor and analyse the performance and availability of IT infrastructures and applications. They use tools such as Prometheus, Grafana and ELK-Stack to collect, analyse and visualise log data.
• Collaboration: they work closely with developers, operations teams and other IT departments to ensure seamless integration of development and operations. They promote a culture of collaboration, transparency and openness.

What skills DevOps experts need

DevOps professionals need a combination of technical and soft skills to be successful. The most important skills include:

• Programming experience: DevOps experts should have knowledge of at least one programming language in order to write scripts and automate tools.
• Automation and configuration management skills: DevOps professionals should have experience in using automation and configuration management tools such as Ansible, Puppet and Chef to improve the scalability and efficiency of IT infrastructures and applications.
• Cloud computing skills: DevOps professionals should have knowledge of cloud architectures, security, scaling and availability to build and manage IT infrastructures and applications in the cloud.
• Experience with CI/CD methods and tools: DevOps professionals should have experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and using tools such as Jenkins, GitLab and CircleCI.
• Knowledge of monitoring and logging: DevOps professionals should have knowledge of monitoring and analysing log data and using tools such as Prometheus, Grafana and ELK stack.
• Soft skills: DevOps professionals should be able to communicate and collaborate effectively to ensure seamless integration of development and operations. They should be able to identify problems, develop solutions and make decisions.

DevOps experts play an important role in improving collaboration, integration and automation between development and operations. They are responsible for implementing DevOps practices and methodologies in organisations and work closely with developers, operations teams and other IT departments. DevOps professionals need a combination of technical and soft skills to be successful, including knowledge of programming, automation and configuration management, cloud computing, CI/CD methodologies and tools, and monitoring and logging. IT recruiters should look for these skills to identify qualified DevOps candidates.