DevOps Engineer Roles and Responsibilities

In today's world, with so much technological advancement, there are a lot of innovative fields, and many new roles are being created in the job market. DevOps Engineer is one such role. A DevOps engineer fully understands the software development lifecycle and completely understands the different automation tools required for developing digital pipelines. It sometimes becomes a little difficult to understand this role exactly because it has come out of a dynamic, evolving workforce. However, it can be said that a DevOps engineer is responsible for the resurgence of cloud infrastructure IT services. DevOps engineers can be from many different backgrounds in IT and may take up this role at various stages of their careers. 

This is so because this role combines different aspects of a technical role and an operational role in IT. A DevOps engineer collaborates with developers and IT people to supervise code releases. The DevOps engineers can be either developers, who may develop an interest in network operations and deployment or system administrators who are passionate about coding and scripting so they shift to the development side where they can take up the improvement of planning of tests and deployment. But what exactly are DevOps engineers' responsibilities? What do they do? We will discuss this in detail in this article. But before that, let us clearly understand what DevOps is.

What is DevOps?

The experience of managing a software development project lifecycle's development, testing, and support processes and the best practices used therein have given rise to DevOps. We can say that DevOps is a methodology that has grown out of these experiences and practices. In simpler terms, DevOps is a software development strategy that fills the gap between the developers and the IT people. DevOps helps organizations quickly release small features and incorporate the feedback they receive. With DevOps, organizations can promote collaboration and communication between teams like development, IT, and quality assurance. The practices used in DevOps help organizations increase their productivity and speed in managing growth, deploying the tools, and integrating testing. 

Normally, development, testing, and support departments are accustomed to working in solos. Since different people manage these functions, it leads to gaps in the process and disputes and disagreements among the teams. This becomes the reason for a lot of misunderstanding, miscommunication, and conflict over setting priorities. This, in turn, negatively affects productivity and leads to customer dissatisfaction. With DevOps evolution and the introduction of the DevOps engineer's role, these gaps have been sought to be bridged. What DevOps does is it merges the routine works involved in the development, quality control, deployment, and integration of software development and makes them one set of processes so that such Devops best practices and Devops principles are created that shorten the development cycle and with which teams can continue to deliver software of the highest quality. DevOps solves the communication and collaboration issues between the development and IT operations teams. In addition to all this, DevOps brings many technical benefits also like helping in detecting problems early and correcting them and aiding easy management of the project. It has advantages for businesses also like faster delivery and increased customer satisfaction.

DevOps roles and responsibilities

We know that DevOps engineering involves a role created to help organizations fully adopt cloud infrastructure in hybrid environments. Now, this role is growing very fast. Let us look at what it encompasses.

1. Team

As we have already seen, a DevOps engineer acts as a bridge between the development and the IT operations teams (where it gets its name from). So, the first thing needed is to be a great communicator. Trouble arises when these two teams don't share each other's vision. The DevOps engineer plays a critical role by liaising between the two teams and helping them have a shared vision. So, the role is similar to that of an IT project manager. The only thing is that he or she works with other professionals in the DevOps team who perform a similar role, and each member plays his or her own part in the overall infrastructure. Although DevOps engineers may be required to work alone sometimes, they have to be excellent collaborators, which is a primary requirement for bringing different teams together on the same page. They need to further enhance the work of their opposite numbers in other teams for scaling cloud programs and creating workflow processes. 

2. Planning, testing, and developing infrastructure

In a day's work, the DevOps engineer role includes examining the individual functions of the cloud environment and scaling them up if there is an urgent need. This may involve adding users to a cloud infrastructure, adding or altering workflow processes, adding permissions, and adding complete objects that work like containers for fulfilling business needs. The main focus is on configuring, documenting, optimizing, and supporting the infrastructure components. This means a DevOps engineer should be able to write code quickly or write excerpts of code in different languages. They should also be quite familiar with testing in a virtual environment. Among all these, DevOps engineers must play a prime role in infrastructure planning. What differentiates a DevOps engineer from a cloud database manager is his or her capability to plan additions and integrations across multiple systems.

3. Security and automation

DevOps engineer is the person who is supposed to achieve automation and orchestration of tools and for this, DevOps engineer needs to have a clear understanding of the automation tools. They must keep up with the latest developments in automation tools that they can employ to enhance efficiency. DevOps engineers know that much of the work done manually by others can be automated. So they can develop and deploy more code than others. Talking of code, writing secure code proves to be a big asset for DevOps engineers since they are supposed to support the people who use the infrastructure they build. They have to ensure the protection of the cloud against hackers and viruses. Therefore, their role becomes critical in writing the code and creating secure software from the very beginning.

Besides the above, DevOps engineers play other roles, too. They work as DevOps evangelists who act as leaders to implement DevOps. They are the ones who ensure that the quality of the product conforms to the requirements. They develop code and test it, And they release new features and make sure that after the release, the product is stable.

We have seen the different roles that a DevOps engineer plays. Let us now discuss the various responsibilities that this role carries.

DevOps engineer responsibilities

A DevOps engineer must work with varied teams to build and implement the software. He or she is a professional with experience and works with other professionals like developers, IT staff, and quality assurance people. So, a major requirement of DevOps engineers is to multitask and handle diverse situations simultaneously. The responsibilities of a DevOps engineer are as follows:

Documentation: 

The DevOps engineer writes specifications and documentation for the server-side features.

Development:

DevOps responsibilities include developing, coding, creating, and configuring IT solutions and maintaining them.

Analyzing the systems:

The DevOps engineer evaluates the technology used in the organization and develops plans and processes for improving and expanding it. 

Setting processes for DevOps operation:

A DevOps engineer is responsible for defining and setting up processes for development, testing, releasing, updating, and supporting the DevOps operation.

Cybersecurity measures: 

He or she is responsible for regularly performing vulnerability assessment and risk management and implementing the required cybersecurity measures.

Project planning:

DevOps engineers participate in project planning meetings to share experience and knowledge about system options, impact, risk, and cost and benefits. They also discuss operations requirements and development forecasts.

Maintenance and troubleshooting:

They are responsible for performing regular maintenance so that the production runs smoothly and to facilitate this they create maintenance requirements and procedures.

Monitoring:

The DevOps engineers track processes throughout their lifecycle to ensure their adherence and, where needed, update them or create new ones to improve them.

Managing the performance:

They analyze performance gaps, identify alternate solutions to enhance performance, and help with alterations and improvements.

Automation:

When possible, DevOps engineers promote automation and develop automated processes.

Reviewing software code:

DevOps engineers possess the technical skills to review, analyze, verify, and validate the code developed in the project.

Coordination:

And lastly, they have the crucial responsibility of coordinating and communicating with different teams, within the team, and the customers to ensure a smooth flow of work.

A DevOps engineer is expected to have people skills because bringing different teams on a common platform is not easy, and continuous communication plays a vital role in its success. They should be capable of conveying their message clearly to all concerned. They should also be able to anticipate the requirements that may arise. It is important for them to expertly fill the gaps in technology used in the organization. They must clearly understand how people, culture, and processes work together. A DevOps engineer should have technical and operational skills to act as a bridge between the development and the IT team. Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail are other qualities that would contribute greatly to your success as a DevOps engineer.  

Also, check: DevOps Trends

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the role of a DevOps engineer is multifaceted and pivotal in modern software development environments. They facilitate collaboration, streamline processes, and drive innovation by bridging the gap between development and IT operations. Their responsibilities encompass various tasks, from infrastructure planning and automation to security and documentation. DevOps engineers play a crucial role in enhancing productivity, ensuring the stability and security of software systems, and facilitating seamless communication among teams. With their technical expertise, problem-solving skills, and ability to adapt to changing environments, DevOps engineers are indispensable assets in organizations striving for agility, efficiency, and continuous improvement in software delivery.
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