25 DevOps Engineer Skills for Building a Successful Career

Skills Required For DevOps Engineer

The DevOps role is in high demand as India’s companies undergo a digital revolution with automation and AI. A DevOps engineer leads and coordinates different teams’ efforts to create and maintain a company's software. He is an IT generalist knowing both development and operations, including coding, infrastructure management, system administration, and DevOps toolchains.

Thriving in this dynamic career requires mastering diverse skill sets. To help you out, in this DevOps Tutorial, we'll try to get into the minds of DevOps professionals. We'll try to understand what makes a DevOps engineer technically proficient with a strategic mindset and collaborative spirit. To learn more about DevOps and its various concepts, enroll yourself in our DevOps Certification Training right now!

Read More: Top 50 DevOps Interview Questions and Answers

What Is DevOps?

DevOps is a combination of two different terms, that are, 'Dev' and 'Ops' which stand for 'Development' and 'Operations' respectively. So, DevOps is an approach that aims for a smooth collaboration between the teams of Software Development and IT Operations. It is a set of practices, principles and cultural philosophies that help in improving the collaboration.

Who is a DevOps Engineer?

A DevOps Engineer is the one who uses those set of practices, principles and cultural philosophies in real time to improve collaboration among development, operations and other teams. The roles and responsibilities of a DevOps Engineer is to combine both software development skills as well as IT operations skills to efficiently communicate and carry out the Software Development Life Cycle smoothly.

25 DevOps engineer skills to boost your resume

There are some set of skills that 'YOU', as a DevOps Engineer must have. We will talk about some of those must have skills (Technical and Soft skills) that will make your resume shine brighter than others in this competitive race.

Technical Skills for DevOps Engineer

First of all, we will go through some of the technical skills that are important for the role of a DevOps Engineer:

1. Coding and Scripting

It is important for a DevOps engineer to be proficient in at least one of the programming language such as Python, Ruby or Java. They must be experienced in using scripting languages like Shel, PowerShell or Bash. It helps them in automating tasks and developing infrastructure as code

2. Linux Fundamentals

DevOps environments use the Linux as its operating system a lot. So it is better to have deep understanding of Linux Fundamentals that will help in managing servers and environments. It is important as most servers and cloud environments run on Linux.

3. Infrastructure Management

Infrastructure Management is also essential like provisioning, configuring and managing infrastructure resources. Some key tools are Terraform, Ansible, Puppet, Chef. It provides consistency in infrastructure  deployments.

4. System Administration

System Administration is required for smooth operation of system and applications. It involves tasks like server management, network configuration and system monitoring and troubleshooting.

5. DevOps Toolchains

For automation and orchestration of CI/CD pipelines, it is important to have experience with DevOps toolchains. DevOps Toolchains are a set of tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD CircleCI and Travis CI, that are used for development, testing, deployment and monitoring.

6. Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is a must to know if you want to become a skilled DevOps Engineer. It involves delivering computing services over the internet like infrastructure, platforms and software. You must have a basic knowledge of platforms such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. It helps in making the infrastructure and services more scalable and flexible.

7. Database and Network Management

It involves the skills in managing databases and networking configurations. Proper database and network management makes sure that the data integrity, and smooth communication between systems is maintained.

8. Testing, Security, and Monitoring

It is better to know how to implement testing practices, security measures and monitor systems so that quality of the software and system health can be maintained and there is protection against threats.

9. Automation

Automation is of high importance in DevOps. It lets you automate tasks and processes with the help of scripts or tools. Automation helps in improving proficiency and it also reduces errors.

10. Software Testing

Testing software for bugs, performance issues or any other kinds of issues makes sure that the software releases are reliable and that there quality is assured.

11. Computer Programming

The skill of computer programming gives you the ability to write, understand and debug code so that you have a good foundation in automating tasks and developing software.

12. Security

One of the most important aspect that makes you a skilled DevOps developer is security. You should be able to implement security measures that will protect the systems and data against cyber threats and also ensure that the security standards are met.

13. Configuration Management

An understanding of tools like Ansible, Puppet or Chef is preferred for managing and maintaining system configurations.

14. Source Code Management

Tools like Git help in managing and versioning source code. These are helpful to have as a skills for smooth collaboration, version control, etc.

15. Continuous Delivery

Automation of processes where delivery code changes to production helps in enabling faster and frequent deployments. It also reduces the risks involved.

Read More: Continuous Delivery vs Continuous Deployment

Soft Skills for DevOps Engineer

Soft skills are also as important as the technical skills are. They promote smooth collaboration and effective outcome. Some of them are discussed below:

16. Interpersonal Skills

DevOps is all about collaboration, so to become a skilled DevOps Engineer, it is important to be able to interact, communicate and build relationships with the team members and stakeholders.

17. Agile Methodologies

An understanding and practice of Agile principles and methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban are helpful for the teams to adapt to changes quickly so they can improve simultaneously.

Read More: How do agile and DevOps interrelate?

18. Organizational Skills

Organizational skills are equally important whether it s any workplace. It is always best to be able to manage tasks, prioritize work and meet deadlines. Same is with DevOps, it helps in timely delivery of tasks and projects and smooth execution of projects.

19. Collaboration

Being a DevOps Engineer, you need to work in teams. Working effectively with others with the same goals improves teamwork and promotes collective problem solving.

20. Communication

It is important to know how to convey ideas clearly and give or receive feedback through both verbal and written means.

21. Customer-Focused Approach

A DevOps engineer must work with a customer-focused approach while making decisions and delivering solutions. This makes sure that the customer's needs and expectations are met.

22. Proactive Problem Solving

The ability to address issues before they get any bigger and finding solutions to them helps in maintaining efficiency of the system.

23. Decision-Making

A good and timely decision making based on available resources and information helps in problem solving ensuring the success of the project you are working on.

24. Documentation and Knowledge Sharing

It is important to be skilled in documenting processes, procedures for consistency in projects. Also sharing them within the team promotes continuous learning.

25. Continuous Learning and Adaptability

Whether it be any workplace your willingness to learn new technologies will never you outdated. A DevOps Engineer must be adaptive to new changes and improve their skills accordingly to stay updated with latest trends and technologies.

Summary

Through this article, you learnt what skills play a part in making a DevOps Engineer skilled and ahead of others. These technical plus soft skills not only improve efficiency of projects but contribute to overall success of a DevOps Engineer. If you are also thinking of becoming a DevOps Engineer, it is always best to take expert help through DevOps Certification Course that will give you a comprehensive guide to kickstart your DevOps Journey the right way.

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