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Jagpreet
30 October, 2024
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“To infinity and beyond” is a legendary line from Toy Story. It might be the perfect motto for a career as a DevOps Engineer. They always push the boundaries of speed, reliability, and automation. Undeniably, for DevOps engineers, the sky is the limit. Do you know that the DevOps job market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 24.7% between 2022-28? This shows the surging demand for DevOps Engineer skills in the market. Therefore, every second counts for you in this high-stakes world of DevOps. Similarly, having the right skillsets is crucial to being a DevOps Engineer. Your skills could be the only difference between your smooth launch and a production nightmare.
So, are you ready to know what DevOps Engineer skills shall set you apart in 2024? Let’s explore the top 5 DevOps engineer skills you need in 2024 for a thriving career. Also, learn how these skills can help you advance in this ever-evolving tech landscape.
Do you know why DevOps engineers are known as DevOps? You might have given it a thought, as DevOps seems like a unique yet intriguing name. Every IT sector has two departments: Development and Operations. Individuals who work in these departments possess different skill sets. However, DevOps Engineers fill the gap between these two departments. They own a broad skill set, combining the skills of both departments.
DevOps engineers are entrusted with multiple responsibilities. These responsibilities require expertise in the software lifecycle’s “development” and “operations” parts. This includes an understanding of programming languages, configuration, and system setup. Profound knowledge of DevOps tools is also essential.
To understand the responsibilities of DevOps engineers, let’s explore their role in detail. Here are several key roles that you must fulfill as a DevOps Engineer:
Projecting KPIs according to the needs of your clients.
Setting up the needed infrastructure and essential tools.
Executing multiple automations and tools.
Implementing different IT infrastructure and development devices.
Managing the tasks for DevOps operation, such as setting up the update and release processes.
Building the automated operations and empowering them when needed.
Planning the team based on the requirements of the project and activities.
Dealing with stakeholders and other external associates.
Reviewing, authenticating, and supporting projects’ software codes with the help of technical skills.
Analyzing and managing the root cause of errors during the project’s lifecycle.
Troubleshooting the developed code and fixing bugs.
Overseeing the entire process for enhancement and reducing the waste.
Applying and evaluating ideal CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous deployment) tools.
Mentoring your team members for project improvement purposes.
Overseeing and understanding user experience and KPIs.
Project Engineer Career Path: Skills, Specialisations, and Growth Prospects
A DevOps Engineer accompanies a project from beginning to end. You would apply technical skills in the software development phase as a DevOps Engineer. Your operation skills would come into effect during the maintenance and support aspects.
Being a DevOps Engineer, you own many skill sets, setting you apart from other professionals. However, some exceptional skills, among others, make you a sui generis DevOps Engineer. Here are the top 5 DevOps Engineer skills you need in 2024 for a thriving career.
Create a bubble chart around “Top 5 DevOps Engineer Skills in 2024.”
Also Read: Becoming a Blockchain Engineer: Your Guide to Education, Skills, Salary & Career Path
Information technology (IT) is packed with high-tech services and tools. These are multiple tools that develop, support, and evaluate applications or software. Stacks often go through multi-skilling. Therefore, as a DevOps Engineer, you must have expertise in coping with the stacks that your organisation or business is currently functioning with. Mainly, businesses use three critical stacks:
Microsoft Windows Server, such as Windows Server 2022.
Linux Server Distributions like Ubuntu and Debian.
Cloud structures like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
Being a DevOps Engineer, you must have an understanding of them all. As a DevOps Engineer, you must have:
Familiarity with cloud platforms like Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud for substantial solutions.
Use of Kubernetes and Docker for structured deployment.
Expertise in IaC tools such as Ansible and Terraform.
Strong command of multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud strategies.
As a DevOps Engineer, you get programmed code through the development phase. Writing the code in low-level language is often the role of development teams. You are just required to understand the source code in the meantime. Therefore, whether you write or understand code, having an expert knowledge of programming languages is a must in this career.
Furthermore, as a DevOps Engineer, you would develop scripts from scratch. Resolving integration might be your other task. All of these processes demand practical experience with different high-level programming languages, such as:
Python
C/C++
Java
Ruby
PHP and more
For instance, you must get code to connect with the SQL database. Without prior knowledge of coding, you simply can’t connect with it. The following are some essential aspects of programming skills for DevOps engineers:
Proficient scripting skills in languages like Python, Bash, and Go for automation.
Effective use of languages for custom tool development and enhancing DevOps workflow.
Use of version control systems like GitHub to manage the seamless code modification.
Supporting team operations by emphasizing code maintenance.
Being a DevOps Engineer, you would be crucial for maintaining an organisation’s security in development and operation. Hence, you must know how to manage strong security and take essential privacy measures. Therefore, your team of DevOps would be responsible for developing security code on the development side. You will ensure the open-source software’s potential risks, threats, and vulnerabilities. However, you would be in charge of implementing security practices such as data abstraction and data encryption on the operations side.
However, the journey of security measures doesn’t end here. With the increasing risks of cyber crimes and fraud, DevOps engineers also handle anti-malware and intrusion protection platforms. Moving on, you need to configure the systems from time to time. Systems need to be updated based on user requirements and marketing trends. Hence, the code is a setup of ever-changing infrastructure. You would work with various tools like Git, GitHub, and Perforce to elevate the version launch of different software.
Executing configuration management with tools like Ansible, Puppet, and Chef.
Consolidating the security practices at the earliest in the development cycle.
Handling the credentials securely with the help of tools like HashiCorp Vault.
Conducting regular vulnerability checks to maintain the integrity of the system.
Generally, a DevOps engineer’s presence is invaluable and required for everyday operations. As a DevOps Engineer, you would effectively support your team members and help desk staff with your problem-solving skills. You would also lead your team for various troubleshooting purposes, such as in the deployment pipelines.
It also includes providing support for remote deployment. Remote deployment support includes evaluating and troubleshooting workloads and managing other remote tasks. Troubleshooting is a skill that allows you to configure or access even the older parts of an organisation’s infrastructure, such as servers and storage.
Building diagnostic skills to identify and resolve system issues.
Overseeing logs and alerts with the help of tools like Grafana, Splunk, and ELK Stack.
Associating with teams to detach bugs and ensure smooth running of software.
Take preventive measures and analyse root causes to maintain strength and durability.
Network security and resources decide the workload of businesses in today’s realm. Most business workloads have network-centred client architecture. A network is inevitable when accessing portals on the web and other applications. These aspects make the network the key segment of DevOps workloads’ deployment and management processes. In short, having a solid understanding of network interfaces and architecture is an essential skill for you as a DevOps Engineer.
Understanding of network protocols like TCP/IP and HTTP to enhance system performance.
Enhancing network configurations to minimise response time and improve reliability.
Ensuring security with the help of firewalls and network segmentation.
Monitoring the network health to prevent bottlenecks.
Also Read: Your Guide to Becoming a Quality Engineer: Skills, Education & Career Path
Mastering these top 5 DevOps Engineers skills in 2024 is like unlocking a treasure chest of career possibilities. With these skills, you could be the Tony Stark of IT, easily automating workflows. You can secure systems and keep networks as fast as “The Flash.” With the right blend of skills, you’re all set to tackle any real-world challenge as a DevOps Engineer.
If you wish to dive deeper into these skills to master them, it’s time for you to take a hands-on approach. Start experimenting with new tools and exploring the cloud platforms. Engage in coding communities like Stack Overflow, GitHub, and DevOps hackathons. Here, you can put your skills to real-world scenarios and gain expertise.
Explore essential DevOps engineer skills on GeeksforGeeks
Learn about the roles and responsibilities of a DevOps engineer on Simplilearn
