In the last few years, a new delivery model, DevOps, has emerged as an effective and efficient way to build solutions for an increasingly digital world. But what exactly is DevOps, and why is it important for your enterprise?
In its most straightforward description, DevOps is the set of techniques and best practices that make it easier to develop, deploy, and manage applications in an automated manner. It helps an organization develop new applications more quickly and efficiently by coordinating all departments' work and technology resources.
What is DevOps?
DevOps is a set of best practices that aim to automate the software development process and improve communication and collaboration between software developers and IT professionals. DevOps is a relatively new term, but the concept is based on established practices such as continuous integration, continuous delivery, and infrastructure as code.Â
DevOps aims to speed up the software development process and improve the quality of software releases. DevOps practitioners believe that by automating the software development process and improving communication and collaboration between software developers and IT professionals, they can improve the quality of software releases and speed up the software development process.Â
DevOps is not a single tool or technology but a set of best practices that can be implemented using various tools and technologies.Â
- One of the most important aspects of DevOps is automating the software development process. Automation can improve the quality of software releases and speed up the software development process.Â
- Another critical aspect of DevOps is improving communication and collaboration between software developers and IT professionals.Â
By improving communication and cooperation, DevOps practitioners can enhance the quality of software releases and speed up the software development process.
Is DevOps in High Demand?
There's no doubt that DevOps is in high demand. Companies are searching for talented DevOps professionals who can help them streamline their software development and delivery processes. The need for DevOps skills is only increasing as more and more companies adopt DevOps practices.
If you're considering a career in DevOps, know you'll have plenty of opportunities to find work. DevOps is a rapidly growing field, and more qualified professionals must be needed. But, with the right skills and experience, you can find a great job in DevOps.
Future of DevOps
The future of DevOps is bright and full of possibilities. As businesses continue to recognize the value of DevOps and invest more resources into it, the industry will only grow and become more accessible to new players.
Some of the possibilities that the future of DevOps may bring include the following:
- Automation: Automation of DevOps processes can help reduce costs, improve efficiency and enable quicker time-to-market. Automating manual techniques such as monitoring, deployment, and testing can free up resources to focus on more critical tasks. Automation also allows organizations to make more informed decisions faster.
- Cloud Computing: Cloud computing allows organizations to access and leverage the computing power of large distributed networks for their DevOps needs. Cloud computing eliminates the need for physical servers and can scale to meet the changing needs of an organization.
Based on Industry and Location
Industry and location largely determine the future of DevOps. DevOps is becoming increasingly important in some sectors, such as finance, as businesses move to more agile, cloud-based, and automated service solutions. However, DevOps is still a relatively new concept in other sectors, such as healthcare, and the culture is still in the early stages of adoption.
The location also plays a significant role in the future of DevOps. In countries with a well-developed IT infrastructure, DevOps is becoming more widely adopted as organizations recognize the potential benefits it can offer. In developing countries, however, the concept of DevOps is still relatively new and only beginning to be explored. As these countries continue to expand their digital infrastructure, the potential for DevOps to help streamline processes and reduce costs will become increasingly attractive.
Future of DevOps Jobs
Undoubtedly, DevOps jobs will continue to be in high demand. As more and more organizations adopt DevOps principles and practices, the need for qualified DevOps professionals will only grow. So what does the future hold for DevOps jobs?Â
- First, we expect continued demand for DevOps engineers and other technical professionals.Â
- In addition, we can expect to see more demand for DevOps consultants and trainers as organizations look to implement DevOps within their operations.Â
- Finally, we expect to see a continued need for DevOps tools and technologies as organizations strive to automate and improve their development and operations processes.
How Has DevOps Transformed in the Past Decade?
DevOps has transformed from a niche practice to a mainstream software development and delivery approach in the past decade. As a result, DevOps is now recognized as a critical success factor for organizations that want to deliver quality software faster.
There are many reasons for the growing popularity of DevOps.Â
- One is the increasing recognition of the benefits of DevOps, such as faster delivery of software, improved quality, and increased agility.Â
- Another is the rise of cloud computing, which has made it easier to adopt DevOps practices.
Cloud computing has also made it possible to implement DevOps at scale. As a result, organizations that have embraced DevOps have significantly improved their software development and delivery processes. As a result, many of these organizations are now leaders in their respective industries.
The future of DevOps looks bright. As more and more organizations adopt DevOps, it will become even more mainstream. DevOps will continue to evolve, and we can expect to see even more innovation.
Trends That Will Impact the Future of DevOps
DevSecOps
DevSecOps is an approach to software development that integrates security into the development process as early as possible to reduce the risk associated with security vulnerabilities. It emphasizes collaboration between development, operations, and security teams to automate processes and speed deployment.
Serverless Computing
Serverless computing is a cloud computing execution model in which the cloud provider dynamically manages the allocation of machine resources. This eliminates the need for customers to have their servers, resulting in cost savings, improved scalability, and faster development cycles.
Microservice Architecture
Microservice architecture designs an application as a collection of loosely coupled services. This reduces complexity, increases scalability, and makes it easier to develop applications.
AIOps
AIOps stands for Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations and is a platform for IT operations that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate many labor-intensive processes that IT professionals used to do manually. AIOps helps teams detect and remediate IT issues faster, allowing organizations to run more efficiently and cost-effectively.
Low-Code Applications
Low-code applications are created and maintained with minimal coding. Low-code applications allow developers and organizations to develop applications quickly and easily. This reduces the time and cost associated with traditional application development and makes it possible to quickly create, deploy, and update applications with minimal effort.
GitOps
GitOps is an approach to software development and deployment that combines the version control system Git with technologies like Kubernetes. It focuses on automating the deployment and management of applications and infrastructure using a Git-centric workflow.
Kubernetes
Kubernetes is an open-source platform for automating containerized applications' deployment, scaling, and management. Developers use Kubernetes to manage multi-cloud environments, automate deployments, and streamline processes.Â
Docker
Docker is a containerization platform that packages applications into isolated units. Docker allows developers to create and deploy applications in a consistent form quickly.Â
Containerization
Containerization is packaging an application and its dependencies into a container unit. These dependencies allow developers to deploy and manage applications across different environments easily.
Infrastructure as Code
Infrastructure as code (IaC) is a DevOps practice in which infrastructure is managed and provisioned through configuration files instead of manual processes. These configuration files can define and configure computing resources such as networks, storage, and virtual machines. By using IaC, organizations can reduce the time required to provision and maintain infrastructure and improve the accuracy and consistency of the infrastructure configurations.
AIOps/MLOps
AIOps/MLOps is a set of practices for using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to automate IT operations' monitoring, management, and analysis. This can include automated real-time analysis of large datasets to detect anomalies and identify trends and automated remediation of incidents. By using AIOps/MLOps, organizations can reduce manual tasks and improve the accuracy of their operations.
Cloud Platforms
Cloud-based platforms are becoming increasingly important in DevOps. They provide organizations with a platform to deploy applications and services that can scale and be managed from anywhere. This benefit allows teams to focus on developing and delivering their products and services rather than the infrastructure.
Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
SRE is a discipline that combines software engineering and operations to create reliable, high-quality software services and systems. It focuses on building, measuring, and operating resilient systems that can handle high-traffic workloads and give the best user experience.
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerability Management manages and mitigates security vulnerabilities' risks. It involves identifying, classifying, prioritizing, and remediating potential security vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.
Analytical DevOps
Analytical DevOps uses analytics to measure, monitor, and optimize software development processes. It involves collecting and analyzing data from various sources to provide real-time feedback and insights into the development process.
Application Performance Analysis
Application performance analysis is the process of analyzing the performance of an application. It involves using tools and techniques to identify performance issues, such as latency and resource utilization, and to identify and fix bottlenecks. This process can improve the user experience and reduce application costs.
Hybrid Deployment
Hybrid deployment is a DevOps model that combines both on-premises and cloud-based resources to provide a more flexible and agile approach to software development and deployment. It enables organizations to harness the cloud's scalability, agility, and cost savings while maintaining control over their data and applications.
Edge Computing
Edge computing is an emerging computing model that moves computing resources, data, and applications closer to where they are needed most—at the network's edge.
Data Observability
Data observability is becoming increasingly important in DevOps. This trend is driven by an increased focus on understanding and analyzing application performance and improving application reliability, scalability, and availability. By leveraging data observability solutions, DevOps teams have access to comprehensive insights into their applications, enabling them to identify and diagnose problems faster and make better decisions.
Platform Engineering
Platform engineering is a critical driver in the DevOps trend, as it allows organizations to build and operate applications on cloud-native platforms. Platform engineering enables teams to quickly build, deploy, and troubleshoot applications, while also allowing them to take advantage of the latest technology innovations.
Cloud Native Infrastructure
Cloud-native infrastructure will become more critical as teams look to optimize their DevOps processes. Cloud-native platforms such as Kubernetes will make deploying, managing, and scaling applications easier with minimal effort.
Adoption in the Enterprise
Five years ago, there was a radical thought process in IT: "What if we do things differently and embrace DevOps methodology?"
DevOps is a cross-functional approach to developing software across the entire software life cycle, from the coding phase through the testing and deployment process to infrastructure and operations management. Its core principles are freedom, flexibility, agility, and transparency.
There has also been a shift in how business applications development is done, from teams targeting smaller, short-term projects to those targeting long-term revenue. With DevOps teams, these opportunities have been extended in the sense that teams are not restricted to one particular part of the business; they can work on a wide variety of projects that have the potential to increase the bottom line.
Cloud Services
Cloud providers have become both the driving force behind the DevOps concept and the biggest source of frustration for developers. There are many ways that DevOps is continually changing to accommodate cloud-based applications better. Cloud providers have to be able to provide a tool that is responsive to developers' needs. While the following tips offer ways to create a better environment for development, they also show just how vital DevOps is to cloud providers.
As cloud adoption continues to rise, DevOps is only becoming more necessary for modern-day businesses. DevOps is the perfect way for organizations to adapt to change and grow.
Cloud providers offer DevOps tools to create a more professional and seamless experience for their cloud users. The cloud providers that provide DevOps tools often provide advanced capabilities as well, such as support for containers, multi-cloud deployments, and more.
Tools
DevOps teams often rely on tools that make their lives easier while not as central to DevOps as dedicated automation tools. A few of the DevOps tools that we have observed and reported on recently include:
- Monitoring: Tools like JIRA help create DevOps environments. JIRA has enabled organizations to keep track of tasks, projects, and backlogs, but it also allows teams to communicate on a high level. Using cloud providers can make this process easier. However, it is essential to note that while the Cloud Protector component is a functional tool, it doesn't provide the same automation level as JIRA.
- Deployment: Many cloud providers offer native tools that make it easy to deploy applications and services. If a deployment is not automated, teams will need to create and maintain a complicated and tedious toolchain. Setting up this toolchain may seem like a lot of work, but it is often worth the effort.
- Automation: DevOps tools allow teams to automate IT and cloud management tasks. For example, Amazon ECS will enable users to set up complex workflows. It's a useful tool for teams to follow as they make changes to configurations, deploy applications, and make changes to the design itself.
In addition to these categories is an ever-increasing number of Open Source tools, such as Kubernetes, that DevOps teams can leverage.
Training
The demand for DevOps workers is only growing. According to the 2018 State of DevOps Report, which surveyed 4,700 IT professionals from businesses that deploy at least one DevOps-based software release in the past year, respondents expect the need for professionals with DevOps skills to increase by 56 percent from 2017 to 2022.
However, DevOps skills are hard to come by. A 2017 Stack Overflow survey found that while 70 percent of respondents think DevOps skills are increasing in importance, only 2.8 percent of respondents believed that DevOps skills are "filled." A similar survey by DXC Technology found that only 13 percent of businesses have enough DevOps talent to support business objectives.
The good news is that there are ways to learn DevOps skills through certifications and professional development courses such as Simplilearn's DevOps Engineer Master's Program. These courses aren't nearly as expensive as you might think.
Pandemic Effects
Unfortunately, the global COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we work with each other. The demand for digital solution delivery is up significantly due to the need to use tablets and computers to interact with people.
Optimistic expectations show the pandemic easing up in the summer. With that said, expect travel restrictions to stay in place for much of the year. The outcome will be increasing demand for digital solutions and an increasing need for DevOps skills to implement them.
What Does the Future of DevOps Look Like?
The future of DevOps looks very bright. There is a growing demand for DevOps specialists due to the increasing number of companies adopting DevOps strategies. In addition, as businesses become more reliant on technology, DevOps will become an essential part of their business strategy.
No matter how you look at it, DevOps is here to stay. As this shift continues, we will see more and more businesses fully embracing the DevOps methodology to help scale their businesses and enhance their digital transformation efforts. To prepare your enterprise for success, look into upskilling your key application development and deployment team members with courses like the Post Graduate Program in DevOps.
