In the dynamic realm of IT, where technological evolution sets the pace, the demand for professionals adept at securing digital landscapes has surged exponentially. Consider this: according to recent industry reports, cyberattacks have increased by 67% in the past year alone, underscoring the critical need for robust security practices. It is within this context that the world of DevSecOps comes to the forefront. In this post, we’ll not only explore the dynamic opportunities within DevSecOps but also decipher why this field stands as a formidable fortress against the rising tide of cyber threats.
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Understanding DevSecOps
DevSecOps, a portmanteau of Development, Security, and Operations, represents a paradigm shift in how organizations approach software development. Unlike traditional methodologies where security was often an afterthought, DevSecOps integrates security practices seamlessly into the development and operational processes. This proactive approach ensures that security is ingrained in every phase of the software development lifecycle, fostering a more resilient and secure product.
1. Addressing Growing Cybersecurity Concerns: Firstly, in the face of growing cybersecurity concerns, organizations are placing greater emphasis on securing their applications and infrastructure. DevSecOps professionals play a crucial role in fortifying systems against vulnerabilities and mitigating risks before they escalate.
2. Navigating Regulatory Compliance: Secondly, with the implementation of stringent data protection regulations globally, businesses are compelled to adhere to compliance standards. DevSecOps, with its focus on continuous security, aids organizations in meeting regulatory requirements, making it an indispensable part of the development process.
3. Cloud Services Integration: Moreover, the increased adoption of cloud services has necessitated a shift in security practices. DevSecOps professionals are instrumental in designing and implementing security measures specific to cloud environments, ensuring the safety of data and applications in the cloud.
4. Promoting Collaboration and Integration: Additionally, DevSecOps promotes collaboration among development, security, and operations teams, fostering a culture of shared responsibility. This holistic approach accelerates the development lifecycle while maintaining a robust security posture.
If you want to know more about DevSecOps job opportunities, don’t miss our DevSecOps Engineer job description. You will find a detailed list of the main tasks and responsibilities, education and salary expectation of this professional.
1. Cultivate a Diverse Skill Set: To begin with, equip yourself with a diverse skill set that includes expertise in software development, security protocols, and operations. Certifications such as Certified DevSecOps Engineer can enhance your credibility.
2. Stay Informed Amidst Dynamism: Furthermore, the IT landscape is dynamic, with new technologies and tools emerging regularly. Stay abreast of industry trends, attend webinars, and participate in relevant forums to stay informed and enhance your knowledge.
3. Network, Network, Network: Lastly, networking is key in the IT industry. Attend industry events, join online communities, and connect with professionals in the DevSecOps space. Building a robust professional network can open doors to exciting job opportunities.
In the fast-paced world of IT, DevSecOps emerges as a beacon of opportunity for those seeking a challenging and rewarding career. As businesses prioritize security in their development processes, the demand for skilled DevSecOps professionals continues to grow. By staying informed, acquiring the right skills, and building a strong network, you can position yourself to seize the abundant DevSecOps job opportunities available in the ever-expanding IT job market. So, embark on this exciting journey, and unlock the doors to a fulfilling career in DevSecOps.
Dive into our latest infographic for an illuminating visual journey through the key statistics and benefits of adopting DevSecOps practices.
One must often showcase a specialized skill set through certifications to stay ahead of the curve in the dynamic realm of DevSecOps. Here is a guide to the most in-demand certifications that can not only strengthen your skills, but also open doors to exciting career opportunities.
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Certified DevSecOps Professional (CDP)
Firstly, the CDP certification is a comprehensive program covering key DevSecOps principles, automation, and security practices. It also validates your ability to integrate security into the entire software development lifecycle.
Benefits:Enhances your credibility as a well-rounded DevSecOps professional, showcasing your proficiency in securing applications from inception to deployment.
Then, offered by Amazon Web Services, this certification focuses on the integration of security practices into DevOps workflows within the AWS environment.
Benefits:Demonstrates your expertise in managing and implementing secure DevOps practices on the AWS platform, making you a valuable asset for organizations utilizing cloud services.
Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
Moreover, as Kubernetes becomes a staple in container orchestration, the CKS certification validates your knowledge of securing containerized applications in a Kubernetes environment.
Benefits:Positions you as a specialist in Kubernetes security, a critical skill as more organizations adopt containerization for their applications.
(ISC)² Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)
While not DevSecOps-specific, the CCSP certification is highly relevant. This is because it focuses on cloud security, an essential aspect of securing modern DevOps pipelines.
Benefits: Establishes your expertise in cloud security, showcasing your ability to secure cloud environments integral to contemporary DevSecOps practices.
Docker Certified Security Associate (DCSA)
Last but not least, Docker is widely used in DevOps for containerization. Moreover, the DCSA certification focuses on securing Docker containers and the Docker Enterprise platform.
Benefits: Validates your proficiency in securing containerized applications using Docker, making you a sought-after candidate for organizations leveraging container technology.
Certainly, DevSecOps certifications have emerged as powerful catalysts, propelling individuals into the forefront of the evolving tech landscape. Beyond serving as mere credentials, these certifications act as gateways to enhanced skill sets, elevated credibility, and a world of opportunities.
In this exploration, we unravel the transformative impact of these certifications.
Enhanced Skill Set
Acquiring DevSecOps certifications is not just about adding acronyms to your resume; it’s a testament to your dedication to continuous learning and the mastery of cutting-edge practices. Also, these certifications equip you with in-depth knowledge, hands-on experience, and a skill set that evolves with the dynamic landscape of DevSecOps.
Credibility and Recognition
Certifications from reputable organizations serve as a badge of honor, elevating your professional credibility in the eyes of employers. Then, they provide tangible evidence of your proficiency in DevSecOps. This reassuring hiring managers that you possess a standardized level of expertise. Also, in a crowded job market, these certifications act as a recognized stamp of approval, instilling confidence in potential employers and reinforcing your position as a top-tier candidate.
Access to Opportunities
In addition, the demand for DevSecOps professionals is on the rise, and certified individuals are often at the top of recruiters’ lists. Many organizations actively seek candidates with recognized certifications, viewing them as ready-made contributors to their DevSecOps initiatives. By holding these credentials, you increase your visibility and desirability to employers.
Global Recognition
Also, DevSecOps certifications have global recognition, transcending geographical boundaries. This opens up opportunities to collaborate with diverse teams, contribute to international projects, and engage with a broad spectrum of professionals. Whether you aspire to work with Silicon Valley startups, European enterprises, or Asian tech giants, these certifications provide a universally understood language of expertise, facilitating your integration into global tech ecosystems.
Career Advancement
In an era where security is paramount in the development process, certified DevSecOps professionals stand out as leaders. These certifications serve as a springboard for career advancement. Propelling you into positions where you can influence and shape the security practices of entire DevSecOps teams. This contributing to the success and resilience of the organizations you serve.
In conclusion, investing in these certifications is not just about earning a credential; it’s about positioning yourself as a security-conscious, forward-thinking IT professional ready to meet the challenges of the evolving tech landscape. As you embark on this certification journey, remember that continuous learning is key to staying relevant and thriving in the exciting field of DevSecOps.
Dive into our latest infographic for an illuminating visual journey through the key statistics and benefits of adopting DevSecOps practices.
Use our template to create a compelling and comprehensive DevSecOps Engineer job description to attract top talent.
The field of DevSecOps is experiencing rapid growth, underscored by its commitment to integrating security throughout the entire application lifecycle. This approach leads to the development of higher-quality, more secure code that can be delivered quickly and cost-effectively. Consequently, there is a rising demand for proficient DevSecOps engineers among companies.
This job description aims to present a thorough career path as DevSecOps Engineer, offering guidance for aspiring and current IT professionals seeking to become skilled DevSecOps engineers.
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DevSecOps Engineer Role Overview
The DevSecOps Engineer plays a pivotal role in guiding organizations through the integration of security practices into their software development and operations processes. This professional also brings a wealth of expertise to foster a culture of collaboration, continuous security, and efficiency.
The DevSecOps Engineer collaborates closely with cross-functional teams, offering strategic insights to enhance security measures across the entire software development lifecycle. This role requires a profound understanding of DevSecOps principles, a hands-on approach to implementation, and the ability to navigate the evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats.
The Engineer assesses existing development pipelines, identifying opportunities to embed security measures seamlessly. They work closely with development and operations teams to implement automated security testing, code analysis, and deployment processes. Incident response planning and execution form a critical aspect of the role, ensuring swift and effective resolution in case of security breaches.
Moreover, the Engineer serves as an educator within the organization, providing training sessions and workshops to disseminate DevSecOps best practices. They actively contribute to the development of security policies, ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements.
Dive into our latest infographic for an illuminating visual journey through the key statistics and benefits of adopting DevSecOps practices.
Education and Experience
A successful candidate for the DevSecOps Engineer role typically holds a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or a related field. Professional certifications such as Certified DevSecOps Professional (CDP) or Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) are often preferred.
Candidates should possess a robust background in software development and operations, coupled with extensive experience in implementing DevSecOps practices. Strong knowledge of cloud environments, containerization technologies, and security frameworks is essential. You can discover here the Top DevSecOps Certifications to Elevate Your Career.
The salary range for a DevSecOps Engineer varies based on factors such as experience, location, and the organization’s size. On average, salaries for this role typically range from $90,000 to $120,000 per annum. Senior-level engineerwith significant experience and expertise may command higher compensation packages, often exceeding $150,000 annually. Additionally, benefits such as bonuses, healthcare, and retirement plans are commonly offered as part of the overall compensation package.
Summary
In summary, in this DevSecOps Engineer job description we saw how this profile plays a crucial role in shaping the security posture of organizations, combining technical proficiency with strategic insight to fortify software development practices against cybersecurity threats.
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In the hectic world of technology, integrating security into every stage of the development process has become more than a best practice, it is a necessity. Therefore, DevSecOps, the fusion of development, security, and operations, is reshaping the IT recruiting landscape and creating a surge in demand for professionals with DevSecOps skills.
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Understanding the DevSecOps paradigm
DevSecOpsrepresents a cultural shift in the approach to software development. Thus, it emphasizes collaboration, communication, and shared responsibility for security throughout the entire development lifecycle. This departure from traditional methodologies makes security an integral and proactive part of the process, rather than a reactive afterthought.
Certainly, in an era rife with cyber threats and breaches, organizations are increasingly adopting a security-oriented mindset. DevSecOps offers a proactive approach to identifying and mitigating security risks early in development, minimizing the impact of potential vulnerabilities, and improving overall cybersecurity.
Impact on development pipelines
DevSecOps transforms the traditional software development lifecycle by incorporating security practices at every stage. From planning to coding to testing and deployment, this approach streamlines processes, improves efficiency, and ensures that security is not a bottleneck but an integral part of the development pipeline.
To thrive in the DevSecOps era, professionals need a specific skill set. These include experience in automation, knowledge of security best practices, and the ability to collaborate seamlessly with development and operations teams. Organizations are looking for people who can bridge the gap between traditionally isolated departments, promoting a holistic approach to security.
Recruiting in the DevSecOps era
As organizations move toward DevSecOps, IT recruiting strategies must evolve accordingly. Recruiters and hiring managers now look for candidates with a comprehensive understanding of DevSecOps practices. The ability to assess how candidates integrate security into their mindset and workflows becomes a crucial aspect of the hiring process.
Certifications and continuous learning
For professionals who wish to thrive in the DevSecOps industry, certifications play a critical role. Certifications validate skills and demonstrate a commitment to staying current on industry best practices. From the Certified DevSecOps Professional (CDP) to the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, these certifications can enhance a candidate’s marketability and make them more attractive to employers.
In conclusion, the rise of DevSecOps is not merely a technological evolution but a cultural one. The demand for DevSecOps skills is indicative of a shift towards a more secure, collaborative, and efficient development environment. As the IT recruitment landscape adapts to this change, organizations and professionals alike must invest in continuous learning, collaboration, and a security-first mindset to thrive in the era of DevSecOps.
Dive into our latest infographic for an illuminating visual journey through the key statistics and benefits of adopting DevSecOps practices.
DevSecOps is a collaborative approach to software development that integrates security practices into every phase of the development lifecycle. It emphasizes a cultural shift, breaking down silos between development, security, and operations teams to create a more secure and efficient software delivery process.
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What does DevSecOps stand for?
DevSecOps stands for Development, Security, and Operations. And it signifies the convergence of these three domains to ensure that security is not an isolated concern but an integral part of the entire development and deployment process.
Why is DevSecOps important in software development ?
DevSecOps is crucial because it addresses security challenges early in the development process, reducing vulnerabilities and enhancing the overall security posture of software. Moreover, it promotes a proactive approach, fostering collaboration and communication between traditionally segregated teams.
The benefits of DevSecOps include improved security, faster delivery of software, enhanced collaboration, early detection of vulnerabilities, and a more streamlined and automated development pipeline. Also, it ultimately leads to increased efficiency, reduced risk, and a culture of continuous improvement. More in details:
1. Enhanced Security Posture
Firstly, DevSecOps fundamentally strengthens the security posture of software by integrating security measures at every stage of the development lifecycle. This proactive approach minimizes vulnerabilities, reducing the risk of security breaches and data compromises. It ensures that security is not an afterthought but an integral part of the software’s DNA.
Beyond security, DevSecOps expedites the delivery of software. By automating processes, minimizing manual interventions, and streamlining workflows, development teams can release software faster without compromising on quality. This agility is essential in meeting the demands of a rapidly evolving market.
3. Fostered Collaboration
Then, DevSecOps promotes a collaborative environment by breaking down traditional silos between development, security, and operations teams. Communication flows seamlessly, and teams work together towards common goals. This collaborative spirit not only enhances the quality of the software but also contributes to a positive and innovative organizational culture.
4. Early Detection of Vulnerabilities
One of the standout benefits is the early identification and remediation of vulnerabilities. Through automated testing and continuous monitoring, DevSecOps allows teams to catch and address security issues in their infancy. This prevents security flaws from escalating and reaching production environments, saving both time and resources.
5. Streamlined and Automated Development Pipeline
Also, DevSecOps relies heavily on automation, resulting in a more efficient and streamlined development pipeline. Automated testing, deployment, and monitoring significantly reduce manual efforts and potential errors. This not only accelerates the development process but also ensures a consistent and reliable deployment pipeline.
6. Increased Efficiency and Resource Optimization
Moreover, efficiency is a cornerstone of DevSecOps. By automating repetitive tasks and minimizing bottlenecks, organizations can optimize resource utilization. This efficiency extends beyond the development team to the entire organization, allowing for a more agile response to market demands and a better allocation of human resources.
7. Risk Reduction
Through its security-first approach, DevSecOps actively mitigates risks associated with software development. By addressing security concerns early and continuously monitoring for potential threats, the likelihood of security incidents and their subsequent impacts is significantly reduced. This risk reduction is a critical factor in maintaining the trust of users and stakeholders.
8. Cultural Shift Towards Continuous Improvement
Last but not least, DevSecOps instills a culture of continuous improvement within organizations. Therefore, teams are encouraged to learn from each iteration, share insights, and implement feedback promptly. This cultural shift fosters a mindset of adaptability, innovation, and a commitment to refining processes for ongoing success.
Dive into our latest infographic for an illuminating visual journey through the key statistics and benefits of adopting DevSecOps practices. Image
How does DevSecOps work?
DevSecOps works by integrating security practices seamlessly into the development pipeline. This involves automation of security checks, continuous monitoring, and collaboration between development, security, and operations teams. The goal is to identify and address security issues early, ensuring that security is not a hindrance but an enabler of innovation.
What does a DevSecOps Consultant do?
A DevSecOps Consultant is responsible for guiding organizations in adopting DevSecOps practices. This includes assessing current processes, recommending improvements, implementing security measures, and educating teams on best practices. Also, consultants play a pivotal role in creating a security-conscious culture and ensuring the successful implementation of DevSecOps. Read the entire job description of the DevSecOps Engineer.
What is the DevSecOps culture in software development ?
The DevSecOps culture revolves around collaboration, communication, and shared responsibility for security. Thus, it encourages a proactive mindset, where security is integrated into the daily workflows of all team members. Continuous learning, adaptability, and a commitment to improving security practices are key aspects of the DevSecOps culture.
Best practices of DevSecOps include integrating security early in the development process, automating security checks, fostering collaboration between teams, implementing continuous monitoring, and prioritizing a proactive approach to security. Regular training and knowledge sharing also contribute to a successful DevSecOps implementation.
Following we listed our 10 best DevSecOps best practices:
1. Security as Code
Going beyond merely integrating security, DevSecOps embraces the concept of “Security as Code.” This involves treating security policies, configurations, and controls as integral parts of the codebase. By codifying security measures, teams ensure consistency and traceability throughout the development lifecycle.
2. Shift-Left Approach
The best practices of DevSecOps advocate for a “Shift-Left” approach, meaning that security is introduced as early as possible in the development process. By addressing security considerations from the project’s inception, teams can identify and rectify potential vulnerabilities at a stage when corrections are less resource-intensive.
3. Automation of Security Checks
Also, automation is a cornerstone of DevSecOps best practices. Security checks, including code analysis, vulnerability scanning, and compliance assessments, are automated throughout the development pipeline. This not only accelerates the feedback loop but also ensures that security measures are consistently applied without reliance on manual interventions.
4. Collaboration Across Teams
The essence of DevSecOps lies in breaking down silos between development, security, and operations teams. The consequently best practices emphasize fostering collaboration and communication across these traditionally segregated domains. Also, cross-functional teams collaborate seamlessly, ensuring that security considerations are understood and implemented cohesively.
5. Continuous Monitoring and Feedback
Moreover, DevSecOps emphasizes continuous monitoring of applications and infrastructure in real-time. This involves implementing monitoring tools that detect security incidents, track compliance, and provide feedback to development teams promptly. Also, continuous monitoring ensures a proactive stance against emerging threats.
6. Proactive Threat Modeling
Best practices encourage proactive threat modeling during the design phase. Teams systematically identify and assess potential security threats and vulnerabilities before a single line of code is written. Consequently, this proactive approach allows for the implementation of preventive measures, reducing the likelihood of security issues in the final product.
7. Container Security
With the rise of containerization, DevSecOps best practices extend to securing containerized applications. This involves implementing container security measures, such as scanning container images for vulnerabilities, ensuring secure container orchestration, and applying access controls within containerized environments.
8. Incident Response Readiness
Then, DevSecOps best practices emphasize the importance of being prepared for security incidents. Thus creating and regularly testing incident response plans, ensuring that teams are equipped to respond swiftly and effectively to security breaches. Also, preparedness is key to minimizing the impact of security incidents.
9. Regular Training and Knowledge Sharing
Beyond technology, the human element is critical in DevSecOps. Therefore, regular training sessions and knowledge-sharing initiatives are best practices to keep teams updated on the latest security trends, tools, and techniques. And this continuous learning culture ensures that teams remain well-equipped to address evolving security challenges.
10. Compliance as Code
Compliance requirements are integrated into the development process through the concept of “Compliance as Code.” This approach ensures that regulatory and compliance measures are embedded within the codebase, reducing the burden of compliance checks during later stages of development.
What are the components of DevSecOps?
The components of DevSecOps include people, processes, and technology. Thus, it involves a cultural shift, changes in development and deployment processes, and the implementation of security technologies and practices throughout the software development lifecycle.
What are common DevSecOps tools for software development?
Common DevSecOps tools include version control systems (e.g., Git), continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) tools (e.g., Jenkins), containerization tools (e.g., Docker), security scanning tools (e.g., SonarQube, OWASP ZAP), and monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus).
What is DevSecOps in agile development?
In agile development, DevSecOps aligns seamlessly with the principles of iterative and collaborative development. So it ensures that security is not a bottleneck in the agile workflow, allowing for the continuous delivery of secure and high-quality software.
What are the challenges of implementing DevSecOps?
Challenges of implementing DevSecOps include cultural resistance to change, the need for skills development, integration complexities with existing processes, and the potential for increased upfront costs. In order to overcome these challenges it is important a commitment to cultural transformation, continuous learning, and strategic planning.
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In this article we will discuss 5 very useful DevOps good practices to implement in Continuous Development.
DevOps is a software development methodology that integrates development and system administration teams. This methodology allows developers to focus solely on development and to deploy their code in seconds, as many times as necessary.
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DevOps: the new frontier of software development
Since the early days of client-server applications, development teams and operational and system teams have been incompatible.
This represented a major organizational problem. The people writing the code had no connections with those responsible for its implementation and maintenance. More than that, developers and system administrators had different goals and even conflicting departmental guidelines. They also often did not share a common location. The result was a complex if not inexistent communication.
On the other hand, those responsible for systems maintenance and administration also have their vision. Programmers not following security policies in development/test/production environments, borrowed credentials among team members, and deployment schedules not adhered to. And the results are easy to guess. Delayed deliveries, depleted quality, and the inexcusable consequence: unhappy customers.
In 2008, with Agile methodologies in full swing, a Belgian, Patrick Debois, had the idea of applying Agile to the operational environment of IT. And he did it by integrating development and IT in the same context. That’s how DevOps was born.
In fact, DevOps unifies both departments under one Agile umbrella. In doing so, both share goals, values, and premises.
At this point, it is clear how DevOps is a new way of looking at software development.
Let us now see 5 DevOps good practices to implement Continuous Development. This being based on the standard application development life cycle.
1 Continuous integration (CI)
Continuous Integration (CI) stands as one of the fundamental pillars of DevOps. It fosters collaboration, efficiency, and code quality throughout the development process. At its essence, CI is a practice that revolves around the frequent and automated integration of code changes into a shared repository. The significance of CI lies in its ability to catch integration issues early on. This ensures that code from multiple developers meshes seamlessly, all while promoting a culture of continuous improvement.
By using configuration management (CM) tools alongside specific test and development tools, you can know exactly which parts of the code you are creating are ready to go into production with the minimum number of bugs.
To this end, a fluid exchange of information between the test and development teams is vital. This helps to identify and resolve code issues in an agile manner.
Once we have a bug-free code, continuous delivery allows us to automate the introduction of changes in the code to upload it to the pre-production environment.
Continuous delivery is one of the key DevOps good practices. It accelerates the release cycle, and fosters collaboration among development and operations teams. Moreover, it enhances the overall reliability and stability of your software. By automating the introduction of changes, you reduce the risk of human errors and ensure that the latest features and improvements reach your users faster, enhancing their experience.
As with continuous delivery, continuous deployment allows us to automate the release of new code to the production environment, minimizing the risks involved.
This allows to publish code changes several times a day without problems thanks to container technologies, such as Docker and Kubernetes, which make it possible to isolate environments while maintaining code consistency between different staging platforms.
Now, we still need to talk about two practices that, although being the least implemented, are still important: continuous monitoring and infrastructure as code.
4 Continuous monitoring
Continuous monitoring encompasses not only your code but also the infrastructure that sustains it. This ongoing surveillance, often likened to a loop, plays a pivotal role in maintaining the health and performance of your software.
This allows the code to be monitored at all times, even in production, including the infrastructure that maintains it. By means of a loop, errors are detected and notified immediately, allowing the damaged code to return to the development phase and start the CI/CD cycle again.
5 Infrastructure as Code
Infrastructure-as-Code is a very useful practice that cuts across the DevOps phases. It allows automating the infrastructure needs to enable the correct operation of the software. Using machine-readable definition files, instead of physical hardware configuration, it is possible to dynamically scale published software infrastructure requirements. A typical case is the dynamic creation of a new storage volume using Docker or Kubernetes. Which you can remove as soon as you don’t longer need it.
This not only provides an agility in hardware scalability never seen before, it also allows IT teams to monitor the configurations of active environments, record changes and simplify the rollback of configurations by adjusting costs to the real needs of the moment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that DevOps is here to stay, and it is a productive collaboration, and good intentions between developers and system administrators to achieve a common good. The delivery of error-free software in the shortest possible time.
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Jake Furlong, Technical Lab Developer at AWS tells us about his DevOps career and how we went from US Marine to becoming an all-around DevOps specialist.
From US Marines to AWS, a DevOps Career. Jake Furlong is a Technical Lab Developer at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and a self-taught DevOps expert, Site Reliability Engineer and cloud architect. He tells us how he went from being in the US Marine Corps to DevOps Career and to becoming an all-around DevOps specialist. And shares DevOps career tips and insights.
You spent several years with the US Marines and your educational background is in business. How did you transition into tech and devops career?
I got out of the US Marine Corps and, honestly, I just took the first job that I could find. I started training new employees on how to use an Avaya telecom system; which I myself had no idea what that was. I did that for a few months and then they moved me into another role; as director of admissions systems and analytics. I had access to some free courses. So I took calculus and some computer architecture classes because that was kind of was interested in.
Then I stumbled across a CompTIA certification road map online and picked up an A+ book. I started reading through that and I stumbled across a book called Automate The Boring Stuffand started learning some Python. And most of my job was done through CRM and a lot of Excel, a lot of functions. I just started converting it to Python to automate my job and then I automated my friends’ jobs. And before you know it, it was all just running Python.
And I was talking about it while playing World of Warcraft, of all things. I had a friend in my WoW guild who worked for an SAP company and said “hey, we’re hiring if you want to switch into tech”. I talked to my family about doing a complete and total career switch.
The interview went horrible, but they were very very nice. I was willing to learn and they had seen how much I had learned in such a short time at my previous job and gave me a chance. I got an offer and that was the beginning.
You have quite a portfolio of certifications. Is that how you learned the most?
As I said, I read through that A+ book, but mostly for the knowledge. Based on what I wanted to do in IT, I didn’t really want a hardware-related certification. Because I think that, for hiring managers, sometimes it’s easy to misconstrue a person’s skills based on what certifications they have. So I wanted to make sure I was marketing myself in a way I thought was relevant for the things that I wanted to do.
That’s when I found AWS and I kind of looked at the state of IT at the time and figured that cloud was really the way forward. I got AWS certified and then my company was getting really hands-on with GCP. So I got GCP certified and all of that was through free online courses and a paid Linux Academy subscription. I thought about getting an IT degree but it was just too expensive and there wasn’t enough hands-on. It was mostly theory. So I kind of took the theory from the books that I had, and then once I found Linux Academy, I just did every course.
Anything operating systems, Windows, Linux, database programming, web stuff, web development, cloud — whatever I could find. Then I found a site called Open Source Society University, and they have a GitHub page that basically gives you a list of courses from edX, Coursera or other free online tools that teach you the equivalent of a computer science degree.
That was very, very helpful. Then I just took that information and volunteered for every project at work. I took any ticket and tried to automate it, stuff like that. And the whole time, I was told that certs aren’t important to all the people that I worked with. But I think that hiring managers and HR might disagree. And let’s be honest, it’s kind of hard to get jobs without proving you have the knowledge and.
Since I don’t have a degree in anything technology related, I felt I needed to kind of differentiate myself a little bit. So I got those to kind of compensate for not having a degree.
What’s your opinion on free courses vs bootcamps or official certifications?
I always go with free stuff or at least like the inexpensive Udemy sales. I think bootcamps are great for entry-level, but they don’t really allow you to work past that and most of the content online will get you through the basics. Try to solve a problem or find a problem to solve and really get your hands dirty with development or cloud engineering.
Certs are fine if you need them for a specific position or career goal. But I wouldn’t do one to learn. I might take the study guide and use that, but I think certs are a huge market and there’s a lot of money to be made from people that are looking to get certified.
I honestly just went to a lot of meetups. And I pretty much changed my podcasts to tech podcasts and just listened to those all the time.
I also focused on vendor documentation as opposed to online learning. Whether that’s the Kubernetes administrator guides or AWS or GCP documentation. Because you’re getting it straight from the horse’s mouth, and, as a musician (I studied jazz) we always go back to who was the original musician and study their technique and their ideas. So I kind of took the same approach to tech. Where did JavaScript come from? Where did Python come from? And try to study the root of where that came from.
How was the experience of being with the Marines. What’s your biggest takeaway from your time with them?
I had a great time in the Marine corps. Believe it or not, I thought it was a lot of fun.
My biggest takeaway was really about how to work on a team. As much as there’s a lot of technical things I learned and things like that.
There’s just something about being humble and being a life-long learner and always striving to be better. About knowing your weaknesses and seeking self-improvement and being self-reliant and self-disciplined.
In tech, you have to because nobody is going to force you to hone your skills or learn a new programming language or how to administer Docker containers. You know, just that whole self-reliant aspect of being a continuous learner.
You design and implement technical labs, which are training programs for AWS customers. What does that involve?
I work on the training and curriculum team, and we deliver content to our AWS customers. We have an awesome team.
I work with them to help build and design labs and lab instructions. So, if you were to go to AWS, and want to take a course to learn how to be an architect, for example, we have designers and curriculum developers, architects, managers and product managers that we worked together with to formulate a plan to build a course.
And my job day-to-day is to go through and support them so that, when they get to the hands-on portion, that a student can click start lab and that everything underneath the hood is provisioned and ready, works every time, and is repeatable across multiple devices or operating systems. I also ensure that the lab instructions are clear and easy to understand, from people who may have a lot of experience to people for whom this is their first time working with the cloud.
So it’s a technical role, but there’s a lot of human aspect to it. Understanding how people learn and how people learn technology – as a person who is basically self-taught, I use that a lot in this role.
First in DevOps career, now DataOps. The DevOps philosophy seems to be permeating all areas of IT. What do you think is the success behind this way of thinking? What will be the next “Ops”?
I will start by saying that I don’t think DevOps is a real thing. As a community, we can’t even agree on what it is. We’ve been doing this since the 70s, the 80s? Really since the 60s. With Deming, and all of the work he did toward continuous improvement, total quality management, things like that.
And I think what we’re going to see is that we’ll revisit value stream mapping. How can we best automate and streamline value stream maps. Right now, we’re automating everything, and it’s all about pipelines and getting the developers close.
I think that’ll be short lived. We should have always been doing that, and I think connecting development to automation and ops problems is good. I think DevOps, the core of it, we want the developer problems and ops problems to kind of be the same problems, right? Where ops informs development workflows.
Developers use that workflow to produce either new tools or better tools, or even more consistent infrastructure. But sometimes ops doesn’t want things to change. And, as somebody who’s worked in the ops world, I totally respect that and I completely understand. As somebody who’s worked on the devish side of DevOps, I understand needing to get new versions of things out and upgrading things and patching things so that there’s a balance between it.
But I think what we’re really going to see is that, as you get to DataOps and really anything that needs to inform ops, is that everything is going to be data-driven. But it’s going to have to be value streamed.
So, what is the most important? What do you get the most benefit from as far as value? How much money are we really making or saving by approving X project or making Y operations a department priority?
I think, eventually, and once you start finding an efficient way and accurate way to attach dollars or time to these things, you may have some time and value attached to them as it pertains to the business and not just how many commits you made last month or something
DevOps career: What’s the day-to-day of a DevOps team like
A lot of it is requests for automation, declarative infrastructure, tons of monitoring, moving into containerization or modernizing orchestration tools, stuff like that.
I think a lot of it is also developer advocacy and just DevOps evangelism. Because it’s been around for a while, but it’s still relatively new. It hasn’t really permeated all the cultures yet. So, while a lot of people have a DevOps team, the cultural side I think needs a lot of work. So a lot of time is spent explaining why we’re doing this.
It sounds like the value is obvious, but it still takes up a lot of time to describe why we need resources, why we need time, why we should be doing certain projects.
A lot of the time is spent researching new tech, building up labs on your workstation or in the cloud somewhere, and testing a deployment meeting with ops teams to discuss their pain points.
And then, of course, all the pipeline things, so it’s a very collaborative job. You’re not going to see a DevOps person in a silo.
On a given day, you never know what you’re going to do. But it’s always going to be automating something or fixing something or updating something or monitoring something, justifying what it is that you’re doing.
What’s the best career advice you have ever been given?
Ironically, it actually came from a conductor of a music organization. He said “find something you love and do that because, no matter what you do or where you go, you’ll always be doing something that you enjoy.
Just do what you know is right and provide value to everyone around you and don’t worry too much about certifications. If you have the knowledge, it will all come together.
Just always be learning.
For more tips about DevOps career, make sure to follow Jake on LinkedIn.
I’d rather go to the dentist, tbh – what devs hate most
What do you enjoy doing the most on a daily basis? How about spending a whole afternoon paying your bills?
Well, not entirely surprisingly. Over a quarter of developers (26%) would prefer doing exactly that; instead of devoting the same amount of time to identifying and fixing code bugs. And that’s not all. Over a fifth of coders (21%) would rather pay a visit to the dentist than debug a section of code. All according to a new survey by software firm Rollbar.
Existing error monitoring methods are far from perfect and often fail to detect vital errors. That results in a third of all software developers having to spend up to 10 hours a week manually fixing bugs; instead of producing new code. And that’s only so that some Internet crusader can kindly let you know you’ve missed a critical flaw just after releasing the product.
As with many things tech, automation has a vital role in helping developers address this issue. Next-generation, AI-powered debugging tools are bound to become the programmer’s best friend.
A new badge of reports by various tech industry actors has prompted Visual Studio Magazine to comb through the data to reveal the top-paying .NET and Microsoft-centric skills of the moment.
Visual Basic occupies the fifth position in the list of top 10 programming languages of 2021, with C# being number 8.
Microsoft’s take on the SQL standard, Transact-SQL, is the top Microsoft-focused programming skill, with TypeScript, the company’s open-source take on JavaScript following next.
When it comes to certifications, the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) badge is the second-most popular certification, right behind CompTIA’s A+.
In today’s rapidly moving software development space, implementing a solid DevOps strategy has become a must for any team aspiring to be at the industry’s forefront.
Automating and streamlining processes throughout the software life cycle permits greater agility in developing the product and ensures higher levels of quality. But that’s not the only area in which Agile and CI/CD philosophies can help.
With 70% of companies using more than one database in their stack thanks to cloud hybridisation, automating database changes and deployments is attracting growing attention.
51% of businesses are already using some level of automation in their database deployments. These are lower adoption numbers compared to DevOps in software development, but a majority of companies plan on stepping up their continuous delivery efforts in the coming months.
The Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) is an increasingly coveted function, based on the implementation of synergies between development and operations.
Use our template to create a compelling and comprehensive Site Reliability Engineer job description to attract top talent.
The Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) is an increasingly coveted function within IT departments.
The Site Reliability Engineer role stems from an approach to production systems management created within Google in 2003. As well as from the expansion of the DevOps mentality. The function is based on the implementation of synergies between development and operations to accelerate the creation and deployment of applications.
The first mission of an SRE is to analyze all security and operational problems of an application. Figuring then out what works and what doesn’t to optimize it.
Work in collaboration with developers and salespeople
The SRE regularly meets with developers and salespeople to benefit from their feedback and do a better job. The opinion of both sides is important to understand user experience and what the users criticize in terms of safety/reliability. They must understand what the developers have do at the technical level to assess problems more effectively.
Deploy automation
In order to save time and be more efficient, the site reliability engineer should be able to set up automated processes for recurring tasks.
The SRE should also be able to write and program all types of applications. And should also be comfortable with the most used coding languages including JavaScript, Java and .NET. More recent tools, like Node.js or Golang, are also a plus.
Translate business language into technical language
In addition, when the SRE receives the specifications, they must be able to understand the app’s business goal and then put in place the technical means to resolve the problem.
Understand all points of view
The site reliability engineer will also have to put himself in the shoes of the developers. But also of the end users to understand what roadblocks may arise and how to overcome them.
Within the industry
In general, an SRE is first and foremost a developer, who, in addition, has knowledge of operational infrastructure and performance issues.
Salary of the SRE
The average daily rate of a Site Reliability Engineer fluctuates between €550 and €750.
Training to become an SRE
To become a Site Reliability Engineer, it is best to have a background in computer science and a focus in language and programming.
Fishing for Data, data storage, data center, AI, cloud gaming and DevOps, discover latest news with Mission Control Center by Mindquest.
Fishing for Data, cloud storage, data center, AI, cloud gaming and DevOps, discover latest news with Mission Control Center by Mindquest.
Data storage & Liquid cooling
Some weeks ago we
learnt how a future where cloud gaming was the norm could see emissions rise by
30%.
Maintaining a data centre and a data storage is a costly endeavour. Especially because of how much power is devoted to cooling the hardware. But Microsoft has a solution.
Earlier this week, the company retrieved a cylinder-shaped data centre it had sunk off the Scotland coast two years ago. Albeit covered by algae and barnacles,; the data centre is in perfect working order and has in fact proven to be more reliable and efficient than traditional server rack environments.
Researchers attribute the positive results to a combination of less human interaction and cooler temperatures; as well as to the nitrogen that was used for ventilation instead of the usual oxygen. Which reduces corrosion.
Although one could wonder how an ocean floor full of servers would affect global water temperatures.
An international coalition of medical experts has introduced the
world’s first standards for clinical trials involving artificial
intelligence.
The standards, which were published on Nature Medicine and The
Lancet, are aimed at tackling the current hype around AI and preventing
interested parties from leveraging the media attention to sell dubious
research.
The move comes at a time when the entire world is laser-focused on Covid vaccine clinical trials. An area in which AI can help speed up things immensely. Applied wrongly, however, the technology could endanger millions of people.
In an interview with
SiliconANGLE, Gene Kim, the DevOps guru behind books like “The Phoenix
Project” stressed how vital DevOps is to the future of the
enterprise.
At a time when ensuring effective data storage, management and
analytics is so pressing, businesses are prioritising developer operations to
make informed business decisions.
Kim argues that DevOps not only helps organisations’ bottom
line; it is the new bottom line.
A focus on empowering developers, Kim says, will undoubtedly reward companies with unprecedented freedom and agility.
