Job Description
In recent years, companies have understood the need for greater cooperation and understanding between development and operations teams. Out of that, the concept of DevOps was born. A DevOps Engineer works with IT developers and business operations professionals to improve communications between the people who create software and IT solutions and those who figure out how those solutions and software will be used in the business.
A DevOps Engineer has to manage the creation, improvement and development of software and coordinate how those solutions are deployed to users. DevOps Engineers help organizations release software updates quickly and incorporate the feedback their departments receive from users. In addition to technical skills, a DevOps Engineer must also have a strong understanding of the need for cooperative information exchange in an organization.
Since DevOps involves a culture change for most organizations, soft skills are crucial for DevOps Engineers. They must be evangelists for the spirit of cooperation, and have the communication skills to keep both development and operations teams on the same page throughout the lifecycle of a particular project.
Typical Duties and Responsibilities
- Implement and manage continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) systems and methodologies
- Design and maintain tools to automate operational processes
- Assist with the creation of automation scripts and declarative templates for provisioning cloud resources, rolling out tools and new features
- Help with monitoring systems and providing support
- Work with all teams to achieve business objectives
- Collaborate with engineering team members to detect, to resolve, and to enhance infrastructure problems
- Perform ongoing routine DevOps maintenance tasks
Education and Background
A bachelor’s degree in information systems or computer science, or a related field, as well as experience working with automated server configuration and deployment tools, are required for this position.
Proficiency working in Unix/Linux environments and experience with tools like Jenkins, Puppet, Chef, Gitlab, and Azure DevOps are strongly preferred.
Skills and Competencies
- Expertise in infrastructure automation and testing via shell scripting and tools such as Chef, Puppet or Ansible
- Understanding of agile and other development processes and methodologies
- Effective verbal and written communication skills with management and peers
- Development expertise in Python, C#, Java, Node.js or similar
Compensation
According to Payscale the median annual salary of a DevOps Engineer with
1 Year of Experience:
- Orlando, Florida: $110,000
- Tampa, Florida: $121,000
- Jacksonville, Florida: $120,000
- Miami, Florida: $121,000
- Atlanta, Georgia: $114,000
- Chicago, Illinois: $125,000
- Houston, Texas: $125,000
- Los Angeles, California: $131,000
- New York City, New York: $120,000
- Seattle, Washington: $120,000
- Overall: $121,000
5 Years of Experience:
- Orlando, Florida: $112,000
- Tampa, Florida: $125,000
- Jacksonville, Florida: $124,000
- Miami, Florida: $125,000
- Atlanta, Georgia: $120,000
- Chicago, Illinois: $130,000
- Houston, Texas: $130,000
- Los Angeles, California: $135,000
- New York City, New York: $122,000
- Seattle, Washington: $135,000
- Overall: $126,000
Similar Job Titles
- DevOps Synergist
- Synergy Engineer
- DevOps Liaison
- DevOps Automation Engineer
- DevOps Architect
- DevOps Manager
- DevOps Consultant
- DevOps System Administrator
- Site Reliability Engineer
- Reliability Engineer
- Automation Architect
- CI/CD Engineer
- Infrastructure Engineer
- Test Engineer
Career Path
DevOps Engineers come from a variety of backgrounds in the IT field, but many are software developers who have an interest in software deployment and network operations. Others are system administrators who have an interest in coding and move into the software development discipline to try to improve the process. Because DevOps is a collaborative philosophy, a DevOps Engineer needs to have a wide breadth of knowledge and experience.
Most DevOps Engineers should know at least one scripting language, like Linux, Python, Ruby or Pearl. It’s also essential for a DevOps Engineer to develop soft skills like relationship building, communication, and negotiation. Many DevOps Engineers will have to cultivate positive relationships between developers and their customers or stakeholders.
Certification in cloud platforms like AWS, Azure or Google Cloud is also considered attractive for candidates for DevOps Engineer positions. Experience in CI/CD pipelines is also desired in this field.
Position Trends
The DevOps philosophy is relatively new, and according to the industry publication The Enterprisers Project, many leaders in the IT field haven’t settled on the DevOps Engineer title as the final one for this position. That means people pursuing DevOps Engineer positions should pay more attention to the qualifications and requirements of a job posting, and less to the title itself.
DevOps Engineers should also focus on cultivating a full breadth of skills. Many companies are looking for people with broad expertise to cap off their specialization in a particular IT discipline. DevOps, by definition, is meant to unite departments with different specialties. Companies are primarily looking for DevOps Engineers with knowledge of IT operations, IT security, and application delivery.
Many organizations are critically concerned about security. That means they are especially looking for DevOps Engineer candidates who build security into the development workflow from the start. This approach is often called DevSecOps or SecDevOps.
Job Outlook
DevOps Engineer is a relatively new title, and as more organizations adopt the DevOps philosophy, more companies will likely add professionals who can embody that vision.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the DevOps Engineer field is expected to grow by 21 percent between 2018 and 2028. That’s considered much faster than average.
Typical Hours
The typical work hours in an office setting for a DevOps Engineer are usually from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Additional work hours could be common to troubleshoot specific issues.
Where You Can Find Jobs
- 4 Corner Resources
- Career Builder
- Glassdoor
- Indeed
- Monster
- Zip Recruiter
- IT Career Finder
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