Who is and what does a DevOps Engineer do? What does working as a DevOps Engineer look like?

DevOps is the name of a methodology for running projects, which was created by combining the English words development and operations. The DevOps Engineer position was created to maintain collaboration between software development and systems management departments. An appropriately managed DevOps department fosters collaboration between the two departments in a company, which helps avoid conflicts and, as a result, enables a product to come to market faster.

The DevOps methodology is based on building software from a big-picture perspective. This means that all decisions made by DevOps are based on reliable, documented data and not just on predictions. This ensures that the final products are developed faster and more in line with market trends while relying on hard data minimises the risk of releasing software that is not useful to users.

 

What skills should a DevOps professional have?

A specialist in this position is someone proficient in the software development cycle and can streamline it using automation tools. Some of the most commonly used tools in a DevOps position include:

• Git – a tool that allows different versions of source code to be saved. It is used for collaboration and experimentation as it allows the creation of separate branches to implement new features.
• Puppet – a tool that allows the management of infrastructure as code. Automating management enables software to be delivered faster and more securely. It provides features such as real-time reports, multi-team and resource management.
• Kubernetes – a tool to help manage, scale and automate so-called containerised applications.
• Jenkins – an open-source CI/CD server that allows you to automate various stages of the product delivery process. This tool’s popularity is due to the over a thousand plugins it has, which makes it integrate with all DevOps tools. of which there are more than a thousand, and this makes it integrate with virtually all DevOps tools.

When it comes to hard skills, the most typical requirements appearing in job offers for this position include knowledge of Python, Linux and Docker, as well as .NET and AWS. Moreover, skills are just as needed as the hard ones. Fluency in English, communication skills, the ability to work under time pressure and to multitask efficiently and openness to continuous learning can be considered essential.

Job opportunities for DevOps

Job offers for the position of DevOps Engineer are plentiful. Many employers offer their employees benefits. The most common ones declared in job adverts for DevOps include a high salary, online recruitment or a fixed contract length. In addition, some offers propose retraining budgets, paid holidays on a B2B contract and the possibility to start work immediately.

The average salaries for DevOps, employed on a contract basis, depending on the position, are PLN 6,700 – 10,000 for a junior, PLN 14,000 – 20,000 for a mids and PLN 16,000 – 23,200 for a senior.

Is experience in DevOps necessary while applying for a job? Of course. As in any industry, you can expect that of all the professionals applying for a position, the person with knowledge will be seen more favourably. However, this doesn’t mean that those with no prior experience are without a chance. What matters most is the knowledge the candidate has, which the company may want to test through recruitment tasks in the technology.

Career path – from developer to DevOps