Meghan Neville 12/20/24 Meghan Neville 12/20/24

The Essential Skills Every DevOps Engineer Needs to Succeed in 2025

To stand out in 2025, DevOps engineers must master both technical skills and soft skills. We've gathered a breakdown of the essential skills every DevOps engineer should focus on.

1. Cloud Proficiency (AWS, Azure, GCP)

Understanding Cloud Platforms

Proficiency in cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is critical for any DevOps engineer. This includes tasks such as deploying infrastructure, managing services, and monitoring cloud environments.

Why Cloud Skills Matter

With companies shifting to the cloud, being skilled in cloud platforms is no longer optional. Engineers need hands-on experience with infrastructure-as-code, serverless applications, and cloud monitoring to ensure efficiency and scalability.

Brookee’s cloud-based DevOps assessments give engineers real-world, hands-on experience with AWS, Azure, and GCP preparing them for the tasks they’ll face on the job. Try it for free.

2. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)

Mastering CI/CD Tools

CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, and GitHub Actions allow for automating code integration and deployment. Engineers should be proficient in setting up and maintaining pipelines to streamline the software delivery process.

Why CI/CD Skills Matter

CI/CD practices reduce deployment risks, accelerate feedback loops, and help deliver software updates frequently and reliably.

3. Containerization and Orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)

Building and Orchestrating Containers

With the rise of microservices and cloud-native architectures, engineers need to be skilled in Docker for containerization and Kubernetes for orchestrating and scaling these containers.

Why Containerization Skills Matter

Containers allow consistent deployment across environments, and Kubernetes automates the scaling and management of these containers, ensuring uptime and reliability.

4. Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Automating Infrastructure

Using Terraform and Ansible, engineers can automate infrastructure provisioning and management. This approach ensures consistency and makes it easy to manage infrastructure at scale.

Why IaC Skills Matter

By treating infrastructure as code, you can automate deployment and ensure version control, which leads to more predictable and reliable systems.

5. Monitoring and Observability

Implementing Monitoring Tools

Proficiency with tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and ELK Stack is essential for setting up monitoring and observability frameworks. Engineers need to track performance metrics and respond to incidents before they become critical.

Why Monitoring Matters

Proactive monitoring ensures system reliability and reduces downtime by identifying issues early.

6. Automation and Scripting

Automating Workflows

Knowing how to script in languages like Python, Bash, or PowerShell is crucial for automating repetitive tasks, configuring systems, and managing cloud environments.

Why Automation Matters

Automation saves time, reduces human error, and frees up engineers to focus on more strategic tasks.

7. Security (DevSecOps)

Embedding Security in DevOps

Security is now a core part of the DevOps process, known as DevSecOps. Engineers must be familiar with security practices, including vulnerability scanning, encryption, and automated security testing to safeguard infrastructure.

Why Security Skills Matter

In a world where breaches can cripple companies, embedding security into the DevOps process is crucial for both compliance and safeguarding sensitive data.

8. Soft Skills: Communication and Collaboration

Working Across Teams

Beyond technical expertise, DevOps engineers need excellent communication and collaboration skills. This ensures that operations and development teams work smoothly together to solve problems and meet objectives.

Why Soft Skills Matter

DevOps is about breaking down silos. Engineers who can communicate effectively and collaborate with cross-functional teams will thrive in complex, fast-paced environments.

Ready for DevOps Success?

In 2025, successful DevOps engineers will need a blend of technical expertise and communication skills to thrive. By mastering cloud platforms, CI/CD, automation, and security, engineers will be ready to make a significant impact from day one.

If you’re looking to sharpen your skills, consider Brokee as your secret weapon. Brokee’s DevOps assessments mirror real-world cloud environments, giving engineers and companies the hands-on experience they need to succeed.

Meghan Neville 12/20/24 Meghan Neville 12/20/24

The Best DevOps Tools to Streamline Software Development in 2025

DevOps tools are essential components in modern software development practices, bridging the gap between development and operations teams. Read about the top DevOps tools for 2025.

What are DevOps Tools and Their Importance?

DevOps tools are essential components in modern software development practices, bridging the gap between development and operations teams.

These tools automate and streamline various aspects of the software delivery process, enhancing collaboration and efficiency within organizations. The importance of DevOps tools lies in their ability to accelerate deployment, improve code quality, and facilitate continuous integration and delivery.

Integrating DevOps tools allows teams to automate repetitive tasks, reduce human errors, and maintain consistency throughout the development lifecycle. By incorporating these tools, organizations can achieve faster time-to-market, increased productivity, and better overall software quality.

Role of DevOps Tools in Improving Software Development Practices

DevOps tools serve as enablers for implementing DevOps practices effectively. These tools automate manual processes, enable version control, and enhance workflow visibility, promoting a collaborative and efficient development environment. By leveraging tools that support automation, organizations can achieve faster delivery cycles and improved software quality.

Benefits of Using DevOps Tools for Software Development

The benefits of utilizing DevOps tools in software development are manifold. These tools promote collaboration, automation, and efficiency, leading to faster delivery cycles, reduced time-to-market, and enhanced product quality. By incorporating DevOps tools into development workflows, organizations can streamline processes, eliminate manual errors, and enhance team productivity.

DevOps tools also enable organizations to adopt best practices in software development, such as continuous integration, continuous delivery, and automated testing. These practices contribute to increased code quality, faster feedback loops, and overall project success.

Key Features to Look for in DevOps Tools

When selecting DevOps tools for your organization, it's essential to consider key features that align with your specific requirements and objectives. Features such as automation capabilities, integrations with popular platforms like AWS and Azure, scalability, and flexibility are crucial for optimizing development workflows.

Configuration management tools play a vital role in managing infrastructure as code, ensuring consistency across environments, and enabling quick provisioning of resources. Additionally, collaboration features, reporting capabilities, and user-friendly interfaces are key aspects to consider when evaluating DevOps tools for your organization.

Choosing the Right DevOps Tools for Your Project

When selecting DevOps tools for a project, consider the following factors:

Integration Capabilities: Ensure the tool integrates seamlessly with your existing technology stack and other DevOps tools.
Scalability: Choose tools that can scale with your project as it grows.
Community and Support: Opt for tools with active community support and comprehensive documentation.
Ease of Use: Select tools that are user-friendly and require minimal learning curve.
Cost: Evaluate the cost of the tool relative to your budget and the value it provides.

Factors to Consider When Selecting a DevOps Management Tool

When selecting a DevOps management tool, it's crucial to consider the following key aspects:

Integration Capabilities: Ensure the tool integrates seamlessly with your existing technology stack, other DevOps tools, and services to maintain a cohesive workflow.
Scalability and Flexibility: Choose a tool that can easily scale with your project’s growth and adapt to changing requirements without significant reconfiguration.
User Community and Support: Opt for tools with an active community, comprehensive documentation, and robust support channels to aid in troubleshooting and best practices.
Ease of Use and Learning Curve: Evaluate how user-friendly the tool is, considering the skill level of your team, and how quickly they can get up to speed.
Cost and Licensing: Assess the total cost of ownership, including initial investment, maintenance, and potential licensing fees, to ensure it aligns with your budget and provides good value.

List of Best DevOps Tools for 2025

As we look ahead to 2025, the landscape of DevOps tools continues to evolve, offering a plethora of options to streamline development processes and enhance productivity.

Exploring Automation in DevOps Tools

Automation plays a pivotal role in DevOps practices, allowing teams to streamline workflows, reduce manual errors, and accelerate software delivery. Automation tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, and Bamboo enable teams to automate build, test, and deployment processes, enhancing efficiency and reliability.

By automating repetitive tasks, teams can free up resources, focus on high-impact activities, and iterate quickly on software updates. Automation tools also support continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices, ensuring that code changes are tested, integrated, and deployed in a timely manner.

CI/CD Automation Tools

Bamboo helps practice continuous delivery by tying automated builds, tests, and releases into a single workflow. Features include multi-stage build plans, triggers for starting builds upon commits, parallel automated tests, and tight integration with Jira and Bitbucket.

Jenkins is essential for automating CI/CD pipelines, building, testing, and deploying code changes efficiently. Its flexibility and extensive plugin library make it adaptable to diverse development environments, supporting seamless automation and delivery.

CodeFresh is a Kubernetes-native CI/CD platform that streamlines the building, testing, and deployment of applications. It offers advanced features like built-in GitOps, support for multiple pipelines, and robust integration with popular DevOps tools. CodeFresh excels in managing microservices and complex workflows, making it ideal for cloud-native environments.

ArgoCD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. It automates the deployment of desired application states from a Git repository, ensuring consistency and reliability. ArgoCD supports multiple deployment strategies, integrates seamlessly with other Kubernetes tools, and provides a rich UI for managing application deployments and rollbacks.

Configuration Management in DevOps Tools

Ansible stands out for its simplicity and versatility in automating repetitive tasks, provisioning infrastructure, and managing configurations. Its agentless architecture, using SSH for communication, and declarative language make it accessible for both beginners and seasoned professionals. Ansible's extensive library of pre-built modules supports diverse environments, enabling efficient, scalable, and rapid deployment of applications and services while minimizing manual errors and enhancing security.

Chef automates server provisioning, configuration, and maintenance, enhancing efficiency and consistency across infrastructure. Its integration with cloud providers and containerization technologies makes it adaptable to evolving tech landscapes. It features “cookbooks” for infrastructure coding, integration with cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP, and configuration as code.

Puppet automates and simplifies critical manual tasks by managing and extracting configuration details across various operating systems and platforms, helping scale and maintain servers efficiently.

Version Control Tools

GitHub is one of the largest and most advanced development platforms globally, enabling millions of developers and companies to build, ship, and maintain their software. Its key features include collaborative coding, automation for CI/CD, enhanced security for enterprise customers, and project management capabilities.

GitLab is an all-in-one DevOps tool for rapid software delivery, supporting tasks from planning to SCM, delivery, monitoring, and security. It features a single interface for project management, CI/CD for automation, and built-in functionality for automated security, code quality, and vulnerability management.

Bitbucket is popular with over 10 million registered users, offering a platform for hosting code and beyond. It enables teams to plan projects, collaborate, test, and deploy from a single interface. Notable features are tight integration with Jira and Trello, built-in CI/CD, efficient pull requests and code reviews, and robust cloud security with IP whitelisting and two-step verification.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Terraform brings consistency, version control, and automation to infrastructure operations, reducing manual errors and streamlining DevOps workflows. Its ability to define and deploy infrastructure as code ensures efficient and reliable application deployment.

Pulumi allows you to write Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using familiar programming languages like Python, Go, and JavaScript. It offers flexibility and ease of use, especially for developers already familiar with these languages. Pulumi integrates seamlessly with existing development workflows and tools, making it ideal for software development teams adopting IaC practices.

Monitoring and Logging Tools in DevOps

Prometheus is renowned for its robust metric collection and analysis capabilities, crucial for dynamic scaling and cloud-native environments. Its open-source nature and active community support make it an adaptable solution for diverse infrastructure needs, providing visibility into containerized and microservices architectures.

Grafana is a powerful open-source platform for monitoring and observability, offering rich visualizations and dashboards. It integrates seamlessly with various data sources, including Prometheus, Elasticsearch, and InfluxDB, providing a unified view of metrics and logs for better analysis and alerting.

ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) ELK is essential for effective log management, real-time data indexing, and visualization. Elasticsearch’s scalability, combined with Logstash’s data processing and Kibana’s user-friendly interface, offers comprehensive insights, enabling quick problem resolution and proactive monitoring.

EFK (Elasticsearch, Fluentd, Kibana) is a robust logging solution that enables efficient log collection, storage, and visualization. Fluentd aggregates logs from various sources, Elasticsearch indexes and stores them, and Kibana provides an intuitive interface for searching and visualizing log data, enhancing troubleshooting and monitoring.

SignalFx excels in real-time monitoring and observability, allowing organizations to proactively detect anomalies and trace issues across microservices. Its advanced alerting and incident response capabilities ensure high availability and optimal resource utilization, addressing performance issues before they impact end-users.

Raygun focuses on application performance monitoring and error tracking. It provides actionable insights into application errors and performance bottlenecks, enabling proactive issue resolution and enhancing user satisfaction through improved software quality.

Security DevOps Tools

Splunk is used for monitoring and exploring SaaS and on-premises infrastructure. Features include monitoring across physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructures, modernizing applications for better customer experiences, predictive alerting and auto-remediation with AIOps and machine learning, and improved MTTA with automated incident response.

Phantom Phantom enhances security automation and incident response, reducing response times and increasing consistency in incident handling. It automates security workflows, from threat detection to risk mitigation, freeing up resources from repetitive tasks.

Security features offered by tools like SonarQube, Fortify, and Checkmarx are critical for protecting applications from vulnerabilities, ensuring code quality, and adhering to security best practices. By integrating security tools into the development pipeline, organizations can identify and remediate security threats early in the software development lifecycle.

Container Management Tools

Docker is a lightweight tool designed to simplify and accelerate various workflows in the SDLC with an integrated approach. Docker container images include everything needed to run an application, offering standardized packaging, container runtime for multiple OSs, collaborative development, and Docker Hub for exploring millions of images.

Kubernetes is an open-source tool for automating the deployment and management of containerized applications. Its features include automated rollouts and rollbacks, service delivery and load balancing, storage orchestration, and self-healing capabilities.

Mesos is a tool for managing computer clusters, functioning as a distributed systems kernel for resource management across datacenter and cloud environments. It supports launching containers with Docker and AppC images, running cloud-native and legacy applications in the same cluster, and scaling to tens of thousands of nodes.

Nomad is a flexible, easy-to-use container orchestration tool that simplifies the deployment and management of containerized and non-containerized applications. It supports diverse workloads, offers native integrations with Consul and Vault, and provides a single, consistent workflow for deploying applications across multiple datacenters and cloud environments.

Build Tools

Maven is a pivotal tool for managing project dependencies, building, and lifecycle management in Java-based development environments. It simplifies complex build processes by streamlining compilation, testing, packaging, and distribution. Maven ensures consistent and reproducible builds, making it easier for development teams to collaborate efficiently and deliver high-quality software.

Gradle Build Tool is the most popular build tool for open source JVM projects on GitHub. Many popular projects, including Spring Boot, have migrated from Maven to Gradle.

Application Lifecycle Management

Jira is a well-known platform for tracking issues and managing projects, available as both a SaaS and on-premises solution. It allows for agile software development with drag-and-drop interface for creating automation rules.

Cloud Computing and Storage (AWS)

AWS offers a robust set of tools for implementing DevOps practices, focusing on continuous integration, deployment, and cloud solutions. Here are the top AWS DevOps tools:

AWS Cloud Development Kit: An open-source tool for modeling and provisioning cloud application resources.

AWS CodePipeline: Continuously delivers code, providing a visual representation of the entire delivery process.

AWS CodeCommit: Allows developers to create and clone repositories locally, facilitating efficient code management.

AWS CodeBuild: A cloud-based integration service that scales builds, runs tests, and prepares software packages for deployment, automating various processes.

AWS Device Farm: Ensures the quality of web and mobile apps by testing across different devices and AWS cloud desktop versions.

AWS CodeStar: Provides a user-friendly interface for building, developing, and deploying applications in AWS.

Other notable AWS microservices include AWS Lambda, Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, AWS Fargate, Amazon Elastic Container Service, Amazon CloudWatch, AWS X-Ray, AWS CloudTrail, and AWS Elastic Beanstalk. These tools support various DevOps tasks and enhance cloud solutions.

Best Test Orchestration Tools

Katalon TestOps is an orchestration platform for automated testing that unites test management, planning, execution, and quality analytics. TestOps connects the team with feedback loops that are instant, actionable, and insightful for both QA, product, and DevOps teams.

Application Performance Monitoring Tools

Dynatrace covers application performance, digital experience, business analytics, AIOps, and infrastructure monitoring. Key features are automated orchestration with open APIs, extensive cloud support, automatic quality checks and KPIs, and AI-driven problem detection and resolution.

AppDynamics provides real-time insights into application performance, monitoring all transactions flowing through applications. Features include intelligent agents, analytics-driven performance problem solving, automatic performance normalization, and system-wide data recording.

Deployment & Server Monitoring Tools

Datadog is a SaaS-based tool for server and app monitoring in hybrid cloud environments, including Docker containers. Its features include seamless aggregation of metrics and events across the DevOps stack, end-to-end user experience visibility, prioritization of business and engineering decisions with user metrics, and visibility across teams.

Sensu is an open-source tool for monitoring cloud environments, easily deployable through Puppet and Chef. Features include the Sensu Observability Pipeline for integrated, secure, and scalable monitoring, declarative configurations, and a service-based approach to automating workflows.

Test Automation Tools

Test.ai is an AI-powered automation testing tool that builds tests without coding, accelerates testing to match DevOps speed, scales testing across platforms, and maintains tests automatically to improve quality.

Ranorex offers an all-in-one solution for automated testing across browsers and devices, with tools included in a single license, support for real devices or simulators, and integration with CI servers and issue tracking tools.

Selenium automates web applications for testing with components like WebDriver for browser-based regression automation, IDE for simple record-and-playback, and Grid for scaling tests across multiple machines and environments.

Artifact Management Tools

Sonatype Nexus efficiently distributes parts and containers to developers as a single source of truth for all components, binaries, and build artifacts. Features include universal support for popular build tools and flexibility to empower development teams.

JFrog Artifactory serves as a single source of truth for container images, packages, and Helm charts, with features like active/active clustering, multi-site replication, tool stack integration, and pipeline automation via powerful REST APIs.

CloudRepo manages and shares private Maven and Python repositories, ensuring high availability with multi-server storage, client access control, and integration with major CI tools.

AI and Codeless Test Automation Tools

AccelQ leads in codeless test automation, allowing testers to develop test logic without programming syntax concerns. It supports a design-first approach, handles dynamic controls, and supports advanced interactions for robust test development.

QuerySurge is a continuous data testing solution with a robust API, seamless DevOps pipeline integration, quick data verification, transformation rule validation, and detailed data intelligence and analytics.

Appvance is an AI and ML-powered autonomous testing platform that performs end-to-end testing with self-healing scripts, AI-generated tests, and continuous testing capabilities.

Testim.io is an AI-based UI testing tool that integrates with Saucelabs, Jira, and GitHub, eliminates flaky tests, pinpoints root causes of bugs, and efficiently expands testing operations with control, management, and insights.

DevOps Training Tools

Brokee offers hands-on cloud labs designed to provide real-world DevOps training experiences. Unlike traditional learning platforms that focus on theoretical knowledge, Brokee emphasizes practical skills through interactive labs. These labs simulate real-world scenarios, allowing engineers to tackle challenges they would face in their daily work. This makes it an excellent choice for both beginners and seasoned professionals looking to stay ahead in the industry.

In the rapidly evolving field of DevOps, continuous learning and hands-on practice are crucial for keeping up with the latest technologies and methodologies.

Final Word: Explore the Capabilities of Top DevOps Tools

As we move into 2025, the landscape of DevOps tools continues to evolve and expand, offering more sophisticated and integrated solutions to streamline the software development process.

The future of DevOps tools lies in greater automation, more seamless integrations, and enhanced capabilities that address the complexities of modern software development.

Stay ahead of the curve by continually exploring and adopting the latest DevOps tools, thereby expanding and refining your arsenal to meet the demands of modern software development.

Maksym Lushpenko 12/3/24 Maksym Lushpenko 12/3/24

How We Reduced Our Google Cloud Bill by 65%

Learn how we reduced our Google Cloud costs by 65% using Kubernetes optimizations, workload consolidation, and smarter logging strategies. Perfect for startups aiming to extend their runway and save money.

Introduction

No matter if you are running a startup or working at a big corporation, keeping infrastructure costs under control is always a good practice. But it’s especially important for startups to extend their runway. This was our goal.

We just got a bill from Google Cloud for the month of November and are happy to see that we reduced our costs by ~65%, from $687/month to $247/month.

Most of our infrastructure is running on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), so most savings tips are related to that. This is one of those situations on how to optimize at a small scale, but most of the things can be applied to big-scale setups as well.

TLDR

Here’s what we did, sorted from the biggest impact to the least amount of savings:

Almost got rid of stable on-demand instances by moving part of the setup to spot instances and reducing the amount of time stable nodes have to be running to the bare minimum.
Consolidated dev and prod environments
Optimized logging
Optimized workload scheduling

Some of these steps are interrelated, but they have a specific impact on your cloud bill. Let’s dive in.

Stable Instances

The biggest impact on our cloud costs was running stable servers. We needed them for several purposes:

some services didn’t have a highly available (HA) setup (multiple instances of the same service)
some of our skills assessments are running inside a single Kubernetes pod and we can’t allow pod restarts or the progress of the test will be lost
we weren’t sure if all of our backend services could handle a shutdown gracefully in case of a node restart

For services that didn’t have a HA setup, we had the option to explore HA setup were possible (this often requires installing additional infrastructure components, especially for stateful applications, which in turn drives infrastructure costs up); migrating the service to a managed solution (e.g. offload Postgres setup to Google Cloud instead of managing it ourselves); accept that service may be down for 1-2 minutes a day if it’s not critical for the user experience.

For instance, we are running a small Postgres instance on Google Cloud and the load on this instance is very small. So, when some other backend component needs Postgres, we create a new database on the same instance instead of spinning up another instance on Google Cloud or running a Postgres pod on our Kubernetes cluster.

I know this approach is not for everyone, but it works for us as several Postgres databases all have a very light load. And remember, it’s not only about cost savings, this also allows us not to think about node restarts or basic database management.

At the same time, we are running a single instance of Grafana (monitoring tool). It’s not a big deal if it goes down during node restart as it is our internal tool and we can wait a few minutes before it comes back to life if we need to check some dashboards. A similar approach to the ArgoCD server that handles our deployments - it doesn’t have to be up all the time.

High Availability Setup

Here’s what we did for HA of our services on Kubernetes to be able to get rid of stable nodes, this can be applied to the majority of services:

created multiple replicas of our services (at least 2), so if one pod goes down, another one can serve traffic
configured pod anti-affinity based on the node name, so our service replicas are always running on different nodes:

affinity:
  podAntiAffinity:
    requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
    - labelSelector:
        matchExpressions:
        - key: app.kubernetes.io/name
          operator: In
          values:
          - pgbouncer
      topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname

added PodDistributionBudget with a minimum of 1 available pod (for services with 2 replicas). This doesn’t guarantee protection, but as we have automated node upgrades enabled, it can prevent GKE from killing our nodes when we don’t have a spare replica ready
reviewed terminationGracePeriodSeconds settings for each service to make sure applications have enough time to shut down properly
updated code in some apps to make sure they could be shut down unexpectedly. This is a separate topic, but you need to make sure no critical data is lost and you can recover from whatever happens during node shutdown
moved these services to spot instances (the main cost-savings step, the other steps were just needed for reliable service operations)

Experienced Kubernetes engineers can suggest a few more improvements, but this is enough for us right now.

Temporary Stable Instances

Now we come to the part about our skills assessments that need stable nodes. We can’t easily circumvent this requirement (yet, we have some ideas for the future).

We decided to try node auto-provisioning on GKE. Instead of having always available stable servers, we would dynamically create node pools with specific characteristics to run our skills assessments.

This comes with certain drawbacks - candidates who start our skills assessments have to wait an extra minute while the server is being provisioned compared to the past setup where stable servers were just waiting for Kubernetes pods to start. It’s not ideal, but considering it saves us a lot of money, it’s acceptable.

As we want to make sure no other workloads are running on those stable nodes, we use node taints and tolerations for our tests. Here’s what we add to our deployment spec:

nodeSelector:
  type: stable
tolerations:
  - effect: NoSchedule
    key: type
    operator: Equal
    value: stable

We also add resource requests (and limits, where needed), so auto-provisioning can select the right-sized node pool for our workloads. So, when there is a pending pod, auto-provisioning creates a new node pool of specific size with correct labels and tolerations:

GKE Node Taints and Labels from node auto-provisioning — Node Taints and Labels

Our skills assessment are running a maximum of 3 hours at a time and then automatically removed, which allows Kubernetes autoscaler to scale down our nodes.

There are a few more important things to mention. You need to actively manage resources for you workloads or pods may get evicted by Kubernetes (kicked out of the node because they are using more resources than they should).

In our case, we are going through each skill assessment we develop and take a note of resource usage to define how much we need. If this was an always-on type of workload, we could have deployed vertical pod autscaler that can provide automatic recommendations of how much resources you need based on resource usage metrics.

Another important point, is that sometimes autoscaler can kick in and remove the node if the usage if quite low, so we had to add the following annotation to our deployments to make sure we don’t get accidental pod restarts:

spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      annotations:
        cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict: "false"

All of this allows us to have temporary stable nodes for our workloads. We use backend service to remove deployments after 3 hours maximum, but GKE auto-provisioning has its own mechanism where you can define how long these nodes can stay alive.

Optimizations

While testing this setup, we noticed that auto-provisioning was not perfect - it was choosing a little too big nodes for our liking.

Another problem, as expected, creating new node pools for every new workload takes some extra time, e.g. it takes 1m53s for a pending pod to start on an existing node pool vs 2m11s on a new node pool.

So, here’s what we did to save a bit more money:

pre-created node pools of multiple sizes with 0 nodes by default and autoscaling enabled. All of these have the same labels and taints, so autoscaler chooses the most optimal one. This saves us a bit of money vs node auto-provisioning
choose older instance types, e.g. N1 family vs N2 which is newer but a bit more expensive. Saved some more money

Plus, got faster test provisioning as node pools are already created, and we still have auto-provisioning as a backup option in case we forget to create a new node pool for future tests.

The last thing I wanted to mention here, we were considering 1-node per test semantics for resource-hungry tests, e.g. ReactJS environments. This can be achieved with additional labels and pod anti-affinity as discussed previously. We might add this on a case-by-case basis.

Consolidated Dev and Prod

We have a relatively simple setup for a small team: dev and prod. Each environment consists of a GKE cluster and a Postgres database (and some other things not related to cost savings).

I went to a Kubernetes meetup in San Franciso in September and discovered a cool tool called vcluster. It allows you to create virtual Kubernetes clusters within the same Kubernetes cluster, so developers can get access to fully isolated Kubernetes clusters and install whatever they want inside without messing up the main cluster.

They have nice documentation, so I will just share how it impacted our cost savings. We moved from a separate GKE cluster in another project for our dev environment to a virtual cluster inside our prod GKE cluster. What that means:

We got rid of a full GKE cluster. Even not taking into account actual nodes, Google started charging a fee for cluster management recently.
We can share nodes between dev and prod clusters. Even empty nodes require around 0.5 CPU and 0.5 GB RAM to operate, so the fewer nodes, the better.
We save money on shared infrastructure, e.g. we don’t need two Grafana instances, Prometheus Operators, etc. because it is the same “physical” infrastructure and we can monitor it together. The isolation between virtual clusters happens on the namespace level and some smart renaming mechanics.
We save money by avoiding paying for extra load balancers. Vcluster allows you to share ingress controllers (and other resources you’d like to share) between clusters, a kind of parent-child relationship.
We don’t need another cloud database, we moved our dev database to the prod database instance. You don’t have to do this step, but our goal was aggressive cost savings.

We had some struggles with Identity and Access Management (IAM) set up during this migration as some functionality required a subscription to vcluster, but we found a workaround.

We understand that there are certain risks with such a setup, but we are small-scale for now and we can always improve isolation and availability concerns as we grow.

Cloud Logging

I was reviewing our billing last month and noticed something strange - daily charges for Cloud Logging even though I couldn’t remember enabling anything special like Managed Prometheus service.

I got worried as this would mean spending almost $100/month for I don’t know what. I was also baffled why it started in the middle of the month, I thought maybe one of the developers enabled something and forgot.

After some investigation, I found what it was:

GKE Control Plane components were generating 100GB of logs every month. The reason I saw some charges in the middle of the month is there is a free tier of 50GB, so for the first two weeks there wouldn’t be any charges, and once you cross the threshold, you start seeing it in billing.

We already had somewhat optimized setup by disabling logging for user worklods:

We want to have control plane logs in case there are some issues, but this was way too much. I started investigating deeper and found that the vast majority of logs are info-level logs from the API Server. Those are often very basic and don’t help much with troubleshooting.

To solve this, we added an exclusion rule to the _Default Log Router Sink to exclude info logs from the API server:

As you can see on one of the previous images, the logging generation flattened out after applying this filter and we now have GKE logging under control. I’ve also added a budget alert specifically for Cloud Logging to catch this earlier in the future.

Conclusion & Next Steps

I wanted to see how much we can achieve without relying on any committed-use discounts or reserved instances as those approaches still cost money and are associated with extra risks, depending on if you buy 1 or 3-year commitments. Now, that we reduced our costs a lot, we can consider applying committed use discounts as those will be a pretty low risk at this level of costs.

I hope this will give you a few fresh ideas on how to optimize your own infrastructure as most of these decisions can be applied to all major cloud providers.

Meghan Neville 11/20/24 Meghan Neville 11/20/24

The Best DevOps Bootcamps in 2025

Find the best DevOps bootcamps and courses in 2025 to level up your career. Explore online training programs and find the right bootcamp to learn and practice DevOps theories, tools, and hands-on work.

We've compiled this article to help you discover the best DevOps bootcamps and courses in 2025 to level up your career.

Explore online training programs and find the right bootcamp to learn and practice DevOps theories, tools, and hands-on work.

The Significance of DevOps

DevOps, or developmental operations, combines philosophies, practices, and tools to enhance a company's ability to deliver high-quality and efficient applications and services.

This field is crucial in today's tech landscape and offers robust career opportunities for both novices and experienced professionals.

With the average salary for a DevOps engineer at $151,100 annually, according to Glassdoor, those who undergo training can access higher salaries and expanded career options, even without prior experience.

What is a DevOps Bootcamp?

A DevOps bootcamp is a training program designed to provide individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge to excel in the field of DevOps, which focuses on collaboration, automation, and integration between software developers and IT operations teams.

Why Attend a DevOps Bootcamp?

Acquiring Skills and Knowledge

DevOps bootcamps offer a structured learning environment focused on real-world skills applicable immediately in the tech field. These programs often include building a professional portfolio and enhancing soft skills, key for a successful career in technology. With courses tailored to teach practical and theoretical aspects, attendees leave with a solid understanding of DevOps practices and tools.

Career Advancement Opportunities

Bootcamps are geared towards career advancement, providing the technical skills needed in the rapidly growing field of DevOps. Many participants secure employment shortly after completion, with bootcamps significantly enhancing employability. The intense focus on current industry standards and practices makes bootcamp graduates highly attractive to potential employers.

Networking Opportunities

Attending a DevOps bootcamp opens up numerous networking opportunities within the community. Participants connect with professionals, instructors, and fellow students who are active in the field, providing valuable contacts that can lead to job opportunities and collaborations.

Additional Benefits of DevOps Bootcamps

Flexibility: Many DevOps bootcamps offer self-paced and part-time options, allowing students to learn at their own pace and schedule, which is ideal for those who are working or have other commitments.
Affordability: Compared to traditional degrees, bootcamps are more affordable and offer various payment plans. This makes them an accessible option for those looking to break into the tech industry without incurring significant debt.
Accessibility: Bootcamps often require no previous experience in the field, making them a viable option for career changers or individuals starting their tech journey.

Selecting the ideal DevOps bootcamp involves careful consideration of several key factors to ensure it aligns with your career goals and learning style. Here’s a streamlined guide to help you make an informed decision:

Key Considerations for Selecting a DevOps Bootcamp

Hands-on Learning: Prioritize bootcamps that emphasize practical exercises, projects, and labs. This should be your top priority when selecting a DevOps bootcamp; real-world experience is crucial for mastering DevOps tools and practices.
Instructor Expertise: Ensure that the instructors are experienced DevOps practitioners. Instructors who are active in the field can offer up-to-date insights and best practices.
Certification Preparation: If obtaining a certification is a goal, choose a bootcamp that prepares you for recognized DevOps certifications such as Azure DevOps or AWS DevOps Engineer.
Flexible Pacing: Consider bootcamps that offer flexible scheduling options, such as self-paced online courses. This is particularly important if you need to balance learning with other commitments.
Alumni Reviews: Research what past students say about their experiences. Alumni reviews can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the bootcamp and its relevance to current industry demands.

By evaluating each of these factors, you can select a DevOps bootcamp that not only meets your educational needs but also enhances your professional opportunities in the tech industry.

Our Selection of Top 10 DevOps Bootcamps

We've selected the following ten DevOps bootcamps due to many criteria, including the availability of hands-on labs and DevOps playgrounds, course projects, one-on-one instructor and mentor time, skills tested, certificate offerings, time of program, and value of the program. Here are the best DevOps bootcamps we discovered:

Simplilearn Master DevOps Engineer Certification Course

Details of the Program

This 10-week online program is aimed at professionals seeking a comprehensive understanding of DevOps. It covers deployment methodologies, CI/CD pipelines, observability, and uses tools like Git, Docker, and Jenkins.

What You'll Learn

The program promises a deep dive into DevOps engineering with a focus on practical applications and mastering industry-relevant tools and skills.

Pricing

The course fee is $2,000, which includes access to Google Cloud Hands-on Labs and real-life project work.

Pros

Includes certification upon completion.
Intensive interaction and hands-on learning.

Cons

High cost and short duration of course may not suffice for all learners.

CalTech’s Post Graduate Program in DevOps

Details of the Program

This 36-week bootcamp is offered in collaboration with IBM and focuses on bridging the gap between software development and operations using modern DevOps tools.

What You'll Learn

The curriculum includes extensive training in continuous deployment, configuration management tools like Puppet, Chef, SaltStack, and Ansible, and cutting-edge technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.

Pricing

The program fee is $4,849, which includes access to Capstone projects and industry masterclasses.

Pros

Comprehensive and reputable program with a strong emphasis on hands-on projects.
Access to exclusive job portals and career services.

Cons

Relatively long duration commitment required.

Level Up in Tech Cloud Program

Details of the Program

Level Up in Tech offers a comprehensive 6-step process designed to launch careers in tech, focusing on fundamental and advanced cloud and DevOps skills.

What You'll Learn

Participants will learn server configuration, troubleshooting, infrastructure as code, CI/CD, scripting, containerization, and more, with a focus on AWS Cloud.

Pricing

Available upon request.

Pros

Extensive curriculum with hands-on learning and real-world project work.
Strong community support and personalized coaching.
High quality live DevOps labs.

Cons

Pricing information appears to be available upon request.

Fullstack Academy Cloud Computing Bootcamp

Details of the Program

This 26-week program is designed to teach cloud computing and DevOps skills, integrated with job search support and portfolio development. This program is used at many institutions, including The University of Illinois Chicago DevOps Bootcamp and The University of North Florida DevOps Bootcamp.

What You'll Learn

The curriculum includes AWS, Microsoft Azure technologies, and a comprehensive set of cloud computing fundamentals and advanced concepts.

Pricing

The tuition for the bootcamp is $14,495, which includes extensive hands-on project work and career services.

Pros

Comprehensive and immersive program with excellent job preparation.
High level of student support and industry recognition.

Cons

One of the more expensive options without including certifications.

WeCloudData DevOps Engineering Bootcamp

Details of the Program

WeCloudData offers a flexible learning experience that combines self-paced materials with mentor sessions. This bootcamp focuses on equipping participants with real-world DevOps skills through practical, industry-relevant scenarios.

What You'll Learn

The bootcamp covers an array of DevOps tools and systems, emphasizing real-world applications and hands-on project work to ensure job readiness.

Pricing

$4,000 (self-paced materials + 30-hour mentor support) to $6,000 (adds 6-month career services to the Standard Package).

Pros

Capstone project provides hands-on learning experience.
In-depth mentorship and career services available.

Cons

Higher price point for the packages offered.
Lacks structured, real-time lab environments.

Cloud Academy

Details of the Program

Cloud Academy offers a platform for upskilling in cloud technologies and DevOps, utilizing AI-assisted training solutions to enhance learning outcomes.

What You'll Learn

The training spans multiple cloud platforms, including AWS, Google Cloud, and more, focusing on practical skills through hands-on exercises.

Pricing

Annual membership is priced at $199.

Pros

one of the more affordable options available.
AI-assisted personalized training enhances learning efficiency.

Cons

Less focused on DevOps specifically, more broad in scope covering general cloud skills.
Some details on hands-on learning specifics are unclear, so it may lack sufficient labs and playgrounds.

KodeKloud DevOps Courses and Labs

Details of the Program

KodeKloud offers a unique approach to learning DevOps by providing a platform that combines theory with hands-on practical experience. With over 75 courses and more than 600 hands-on labs, KodeKloud allows users to engage in real-world scenarios through its DevOps and Cloud Playgrounds. These environments are ideal for experimentation and learning without the risk of impacting real systems.

What You'll Learn

Participants gain experience in AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud platforms through sandboxed environments, alongside a comprehensive list of DevOps practices and tools.

Pricing

KODEKLOUD PRO is available at $21 per month, billed annually at $250. This subscription includes access to all standard features like 60+ DevOps playgrounds, three cloud playgrounds, all courses, and hands-on labs.

Pros

Extensive labs and sandboxes for hands-on learning.
Affordable and flexible pricing with easy cancellation.

Cons

Lacks structured coursework, more suitable for self-directed learners.

A Cloud Guru DevOps Courses and Labs

Details of the Program

A Cloud Guru has served over 2.2 million engineers, offering courses designed using proven adult learning principles. The program includes fresh courses and labs that cover a range of cloud platforms and DevOps tools.

What You'll Learn

The curriculum spans across AWS, Azure, and GCP, featuring cloud playgrounds, practice exams, and hands-on labs. This diverse toolkit helps users prepare for and pass certification exams while gaining practical cloud skills.

Pricing

Pricing varies between $350 and $588 per person, depending on individual or business use.

Pros

Comprehensive learning tools and fresh course content.
Suitable for all skill levels from novice to expert.

Cons

More expensive than some alternatives.
Primarily focuses on cloud platforms with a broad approach to DevOps.
Lacks structured coursework, more suitable for self-directed learners.

Nucamp ‘Become a Back End, SQL, and DevOps Developer with Python’ Bootcamp

Details of the Program

Over 16 weeks, this bootcamp focuses on Python programming, SQL databases, and the use of major cloud services. The program includes weekly live workshops and project work.

What You'll Learn

Students gain skills in Python, Postgres SQL, Docker, Flask, Django, and various DevOps practices, preparing them to deploy applications across major cloud platforms.

Pricing

The monthly cost ranges from $150 to $170, depending on the payment plan.

Pros

Interactive with live instruction.
Covers a broad range of technologies and tools.

Cons

Lacks more intensive, hands-on lab experiences.

Clarusway AWS & DevOps Course

Details of the Program

Spanning 37 weeks, this course prepares students for a career in AWS DevOps, focusing on practical skills and certification preparation.

What You'll Learn

The course offers extensive hands-on learning through labs, projects, and includes mentorship and career services.

Pricing

Total course fee is $7,950, reflecting the depth and duration of the program.

Pros

Highly rated with extensive curriculum and support services.

Cons

High cost and long duration may be barriers for some students.
No certifications are included with this cost.

Final Word

DevOps bootcamps provide a compelling pathway for those looking to enter or advance in the fast-evolving tech landscape. By offering focused, practical training in key areas of cloud, CI/CD, and system operations, these programs equip participants with the skills necessary to excel in DevOps roles.

Whether you're a beginner looking to break into the field or an experienced professional aiming to upgrade your skills, the right DevOps bootcamp can significantly influence your career trajectory, making it a worthwhile investment in today’s digital economy.

DevOps Bootcamp FAQs

What can I learn in a DevOps bootcamp?

In a DevOps bootcamp, you will acquire skills such as tool proficiency, project management, cloud technologies like AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure, Ansible, as well as coding practices, software development principles, pipeline orchestration, and realtime system reliability.

Are there free DevOps bootcamps available online?

Yes, some platforms offer free online DevOps bootcamp programs to help individuals kickstart their journey into becoming a DevOps engineer, providing practice exercises and video instructions. Often, these free courses don't have hands-on labs, which can be good for beginners, but not recommended for those trying to start a career.

What are Alternatives to DevOps Bootcamps?

For those considering alternatives to DevOps bootcamps, there are several other effective ways to learn and develop necessary skills in this field. Here are some popular options:

1. Online Courses and Tutorials

Platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning offer a wide range of courses that cover specific DevOps tools and methodologies. These platforms allow for a more self-directed approach, enabling learners to focus on particular areas of interest or need.

2. University Degrees and DevOps Academies

Pursuing a degree in computer science, information technology, or a related field can provide a more comprehensive education. University programs offer in-depth studies in programming, systems administration, and network management, which are foundational to a career in DevOps.

3. Professional Certifications

Certifications from organizations like the Linux Foundation, AWS, Microsoft, or Google can validate your skills and knowledge in DevOps practices. Preparing for these certifications often involves rigorous study, which can be done through self-study, guided online courses, or official training programs.

4. Apprenticeships and Internships

Gaining hands-on experience through an apprenticeship or an internship with a tech company can provide practical knowledge and insights into the day-to-day responsibilities of DevOps roles. This path also helps in building professional networks and can often lead to full-time employment.

5. Industry Conferences and Workshops

Attending industry-specific events like DevOpsDays, AWS re:Invent, or Microsoft Ignite can offer opportunities to learn from leading experts and practitioners. Workshops and seminars provide both theoretical knowledge and practical skills, along with the latest trends and tools in the industry.

6. Meetups and Community Groups

Joining local or online DevOps communities can be an excellent way to learn informally. These groups often host regular meetups, hackathons, and discussion forums where members share insights, best practices, and challenges.

7. Self-Learning through Open Source Projects

Contributing to open source projects can be a practical way to learn DevOps tools and practices. This involves real-world problem-solving and collaboration, which are critical components of DevOps work.

Meghan Neville 10/16/24 Meghan Neville 10/16/24

Mastering Azure DevOps: Top Training Resources and Certifications to Kickstart Your Career

As businesses increasingly move to cloud-native solutions, mastering Azure DevOps has become essential for engineers aiming to boost their careers.

Whether you're starting your journey or looking to advance your skills, here’s a guide to the best Azure DevOps training resources and certifications that will help you stand out in this fast-growing field.

As businesses increasingly move to cloud-native solutions, mastering Azure DevOps has become essential for engineers aiming to boost their careers.

1. Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert

What It Is

The Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert certification is one of the most recognized credentials for Azure DevOps engineers. It validates your ability to combine people, processes, and technologies to deliver continuously improved products and services.

What You’ll Learn

How to design and implement DevOps processes
Using version control systems like Git
Implementing CI/CD pipelines
Managing infrastructure using Azure DevOps and tools like Terraform and Ansible

Why It’s Important

This certification proves you can create and implement strategies that improve software development lifecycles, a critical skill for Azure DevOps engineers.

Recommended Resources:

Microsoft Learning Path: Free modules on the official Microsoft site provide a structured learning path to pass the certification.
Whizlabs and Udemy Courses: These platforms offer in-depth preparation courses for this certification.

2. AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions

What It Is

AZ-400 is the exam required to earn the Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert certification. It covers designing and implementing DevOps practices for infrastructure, CI/CD, security, and compliance.

What You’ll Learn

How to integrate source control and implement continuous integration
Strategies for automating deployments and scaling infrastructure
Monitoring cloud environments and managing incidents effectively

Why It’s Important

Passing this exam is crucial for anyone aiming to specialize in Azure DevOps. It showcases your ability to manage full lifecycle DevOps processes in Azure environments.

Recommended Resources:

Microsoft Learn: This free resource offers structured modules and practice tests.
Udemy: The AZ-400 Exam Preparation Course is a highly rated resource for detailed exam preparation.

3. LinkedIn Learning: Azure DevOps for Beginners

What It Is

This LinkedIn Learning course is an excellent introduction for beginners to Azure DevOps, covering the basics of using the platform for continuous delivery, infrastructure management, and monitoring.

What You’ll Learn

Setting up an Azure DevOps environment
Managing code repositories with Git
Implementing CI/CD pipelines using Azure Pipelines

Why It’s Important

If you’re new to DevOps or just getting started with Azure, this course provides a solid foundation for understanding the tools and practices needed to succeed.

Recommended Resources:

LinkedIn Learning Subscription: Offers access to this and thousands of other related courses.

4. Pluralsight: Azure DevOps Fundamentals

What It Is

Pluralsight offers an in-depth course that covers core Azure DevOps concepts, including project management, version control, and pipeline automation.

What You’ll Learn

How to manage Azure DevOps organizations, projects, and teams
Configuring CI/CD pipelines for automated builds and deployments
Automating infrastructure with Terraform and Azure Resource Manager

Why It’s Important

For those who already have a basic understanding of DevOps, this course dives deeper into Azure-specific functionalities, preparing you for hands-on work with Azure projects.

Recommended Resources:

Pluralsight Subscription: Provides unlimited access to this course and other DevOps-related content.

5. Azure DevOps Hands-On Labs

What It Is

Hands-on labs offer practical, real-world experience by simulating real tasks and challenges within Azure DevOps environments. Labs allow engineers to practice and test their knowledge in controlled scenarios that mirror actual job tasks.

Why It’s Important

Nothing beats hands-on experience when learning new tools. Labs allow engineers to practice and refine their skills by working on real-world problems, making them invaluable for both beginners and those preparing for certifications.

Recommended Resources:

Brokee DevOps Assessments: Brokee offers real-world cloud-based assessments that simulate job environments, helping engineers practice hands-on Azure DevOps tasks and allowing companies to assess candidates' proficiency in real-time.

6. GitHub Learning Lab: CI/CD with GitHub Actions and Azure

What It Is

GitHub Learning Lab provides an interactive guide to integrating GitHub Actions with Azure for CI/CD pipelines. It's a great way to learn how to automate workflows and deployments using GitHub alongside Azure DevOps.

What You’ll Learn

Automating code builds and deployments with GitHub Actions
Integrating GitHub repositories with Azure environments
Best practices for implementing automated workflows in cloud environments

Why It’s Important

With many organizations using GitHub for code management, this course equips you with the skills to merge GitHub's powerful automation tools with Azure's cloud infrastructure.

Recommended Resources:

GitHub Learning Lab: Free access to interactive, self-paced courses.

Conclusion

Azure DevOps is a critical skill set for anyone entering the cloud engineering space, and mastering it requires both theoretical knowledge and practical experience.

By leveraging the right training resources and certifications, you can position yourself for success in a competitive job market.

Meghan Neville 10/9/24 Meghan Neville 10/9/24

Top 10 SRE Tools Every DevOps Engineer Should Know About

As a DevOps engineer, knowing the right tools for the job is essential to managing and optimizing complex infrastructures.

Let's explore the top 10 SRE tools every DevOps engineer should be familiar with.

Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) plays a crucial role in ensuring systems are reliable, scalable, and performant.

Automating routine tasks and operational procedures with Rundeck reduces human error, speeds up incident resolution, and allows SREs to focus on more strategic tasks, all while maintaining system reliability.

Conclusion

Mastering these tools will equip any DevOps engineer or SRE to manage and scale infrastructures with confidence.

From monitoring and observability with Prometheus and Grafana, to automating infrastructure and workflows with Terraform and Ansible, each tool plays a pivotal role in ensuring system reliability and efficiency.

Want to hone your ability to use SRE tools? Brokee’s assessments incorporate real-world tasks using these essential SRE tools, helping engineers hone their skills and allowing companies to evaluate candidates’ hands-on proficiency.

Meghan Neville 5/23/24 Meghan Neville 5/23/24

Platform Engineering vs DevOps: Understanding the Difference Between DevOps and Platform Engineer Roles

Explore the key differences between Platform Engineering and DevOps in software development. We'll explore how DevOps teams and Platform Engineers optimize operations and ensure reliability in modern software development.

In the rapidly evolving world of technology, the roles within software development and IT operations are continually adapting to meet the demands of modern businesses.

Two of the most prominent roles that often come up in discussions are DevOps and Platform Engineering. While these roles share some similarities, they are distinct in their focus, responsibilities, and the value they bring to an organization.

This article will explore the differences between DevOps and Platform Engineer roles, delve into their unique responsibilities, and highlight the benefits of integrating platform engineering within a DevOps environment.

What is DevOps and Platform Engineering?

Definition and Overview

DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to shorten the development lifecycle and deliver high-quality software continuously. It emphasizes collaboration, communication, and integration between developers and IT operations professionals, aiming to automate and streamline the software delivery process.

Platform Engineering, on the other hand, involves building and maintaining the underlying infrastructure and tools that support the entire software development lifecycle. Platform engineers focus on creating scalable, reliable, and efficient platforms that development and operations teams can use to build, test, deploy, and monitor applications.

Main Responsibilities

DevOps Engineers typically focus on:

Automating software delivery and infrastructure changes
Implementing and managing CI/CD pipelines
Monitoring and maintaining system performance
Ensuring security and compliance
Facilitating collaboration between development and operations teams

Platform Engineers are responsible for:

Designing and maintaining the core infrastructure
Developing and managing internal tools and platforms
Implementing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices
Ensuring system reliability and scalability
Providing support and guidance to development and operations teams

Key Differences Between DevOps and Platform Engineering

Team Structure and Collaboration

In a DevOps environment, the team structure is highly collaborative, with developers and operations working closely together throughout the software development lifecycle. This close collaboration aims to break down silos and foster a culture of shared responsibility for the success of the software.

Platform engineering teams, however, are often more specialized and may work somewhat independently from the development and operations teams. Their primary focus is on creating and maintaining the platforms and tools that these teams use, ensuring they have the infrastructure needed to work efficiently and effectively.

Focus Areas in Software Development

DevOps engineers primarily focus on the software development process, including code integration, testing, deployment, and monitoring. Their goal is to streamline and automate these processes to enable continuous delivery and quick feedback loops.

Platform engineers, on the other hand, concentrate on the broader infrastructure and tooling that support the software development lifecycle. This includes everything from cloud infrastructure and container orchestration to internal developer tools and services that make it easier for development and operations teams to do their jobs.

Infrastructure Management Approach

DevOps engineers often take a more hands-on approach to infrastructure management, leveraging tools like Terraform, Ansible, and Kubernetes to automate and manage infrastructure as part of the CI/CD pipeline. Their focus is on ensuring that the infrastructure can support continuous delivery and deployment processes.

Platform engineers take a broader view of infrastructure management, focusing on designing and maintaining robust, scalable, and reliable platforms. They implement best practices for infrastructure as code (IaC) and often work on building custom tools and solutions to meet the specific needs of their organization.

Benefits of Platform Engineering in DevOps Environment

Enhancing System Reliability

One of the primary benefits of integrating platform engineering into a DevOps environment is the enhanced reliability it brings to the system. Platform engineers focus on building resilient and scalable infrastructure, ensuring that the platforms used by development and operations teams are robust and can handle the demands of modern software development.

Implementing Continuous Integration and Deployment

Platform engineering plays a crucial role in supporting continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) practices. By developing and maintaining the tools and platforms that automate these processes, platform engineers enable DevOps teams to deploy code changes more frequently and with greater confidence. This leads to faster delivery times, improved software quality, and more efficient feedback loops.

Benefits of DevOps

The benefits of DevOps are numerous and can significantly impact an organization’s efficiency and software quality. Some of the key benefits include:

Faster Delivery Times: By automating and streamlining the software development lifecycle, DevOps practices enable quicker release cycles and more frequent updates, ensuring that new features and bug fixes reach users faster.
Improved Collaboration: DevOps fosters a culture of collaboration between development and operations teams, breaking down silos and promoting shared responsibility for the success of the software.
Higher Quality Software: Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices ensure that code changes are tested and deployed quickly, reducing the risk of bugs and improving overall software quality.
Enhanced Security: DevOps practices integrate security into the development process, ensuring that security measures are implemented early and continuously throughout the lifecycle. A DevSecOps approach can extend this to integrate security early into the development process.
Greater Efficiency: Automation of repetitive tasks and infrastructure management frees up time for engineers to focus on more strategic work, improving overall efficiency.
Scalability and Reliability: By implementing robust infrastructure and monitoring practices, DevOps teams can ensure that systems are scalable and reliable, capable of handling increased loads and maintaining high performance.

Understanding the Role of a Platform Engineer

Development and Operations Team Collaboration

Platform engineers work closely with both development and operations teams to understand their needs and provide the tools and infrastructure necessary for them to succeed. This collaboration ensures that the platforms and tools developed are aligned with the requirements of the teams that use them, fostering a more efficient and effective software development lifecycle.

Implementing Infrastructure as Code Practices

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a key practice within platform engineering, allowing infrastructure to be managed and provisioned through code rather than manual processes. Platform engineers implement IaC practices to ensure that infrastructure is consistent, repeatable, and easily scalable. This approach not only improves efficiency but also reduces the risk of human error and enhances the overall reliability of the system.

DevOps Vs Platform Engineering: Which is Right for Your Career?

Which DevOps Career is Right for Me?

Deciding between a career in DevOps and platform engineering depends on your interests, skills, and career goals. If you enjoy working closely with both development and operations teams, focusing on automating processes, and improving the overall software development lifecycle, a career in DevOps might be the right fit for you.

DevOps roles require strong problem-solving skills, a deep understanding of CI/CD processes, and the ability to collaborate effectively across teams.

On the other hand, if you have a passion for infrastructure, enjoy building and maintaining tools and platforms, and prefer a more specialized role focused on system reliability and scalability, platform engineering could be a better match.

Platform engineers need to have a strong background in infrastructure as code (IaC), cloud technologies, and system architecture, as well as the ability to work independently and provide support to other teams.

DevOps and Platform Engineer Salaries

When considering a career in DevOps or platform engineering, salary is an important factor. Generally, both roles offer competitive salaries, reflecting their critical importance in modern IT environments.

DevOps engineers typically command salaries that range from $90,000 to $140,000 annually, depending on experience, location, and the specific technologies they work with. Senior DevOps roles, especially those involving leadership or extensive cloud experience, can reach upwards of $160,000.

Platform engineers, given their specialized focus on infrastructure and internal tooling, often have similar salary ranges. Entry-level platform engineers might start at around $80,000, but with experience, salaries can quickly rise to between $120,000 and $150,000. Senior platform engineers, particularly those with expertise in cloud architecture or large-scale system design, can earn $160,000 or more.

Platform Engineering vs DevOps: Which is Right for Your Team?

When You Need Platform Engineering and DevOps for Your Site

Deciding whether your team needs DevOps engineers, platform engineers, or both depends on your organization’s specific needs and goals.

If your primary objective is to improve the efficiency of your software development lifecycle, streamline deployments, and ensure quick feedback loops, DevOps engineers are essential. They will help automate processes, manage CI/CD pipelines, and foster a collaborative culture.

However, if your organization requires robust, scalable infrastructure and specialized tools to support the development and operations teams, platform engineers are crucial. They focus on building and maintaining the platforms that underpin your software development efforts, ensuring reliability and scalability.

In many cases, having both DevOps and platform engineers can provide the best of both worlds: streamlined software delivery and a strong, reliable infrastructure foundation.

How to Hire DevOps and Platform Engineers

Hiring DevOps and platform engineers involves looking for specific skills and experiences that match your organization’s needs. For DevOps engineers, key skills include:

Proficiency in CI/CD tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI)
Experience with configuration management tools (e.g., Ansible, Puppet, Chef)
Knowledge of containerization and orchestration (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes)
Strong scripting and automation skills (e.g., Python, Bash)

For platform engineers, important skills include:

Expertise in cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP)
Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation)
Experience with monitoring and logging tools (e.g., Prometheus, ELK stack)
Strong understanding of system architecture and scalability

In addition to technical skills, look for candidates who demonstrate strong problem-solving abilities, effective communication skills, and a collaborative mindset. To qualify candidates, we recommend using live DevOps Assessments to ensure you'll hire the right talent.

Other Roles for Your Team: Software Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), and Developers

While DevOps and platform engineering are critical, other roles also play essential parts in a well-rounded IT team:

Software Engineers focus on designing, developing, and maintaining software applications. They work closely with DevOps and platform engineers to ensure their code integrates seamlessly with the infrastructure and deployment pipelines.

Site Reliability Engineers (SRE) bridge the gap between development and operations, much like DevOps engineers, but with a stronger emphasis on maintaining service reliability and performance. SREs use software engineering approaches to solve operational problems, often working with monitoring, alerting, and incident response systems.

Developers are primarily responsible for writing code and building features for applications. While they might not be directly involved in infrastructure management, their work is crucial for creating the software that DevOps and platform engineers deploy and support. There is a key ratio of DevOps to Developer ratio to consider for most teams as well.

Final Word

Understanding the differences between DevOps and Platform Engineering roles is crucial for organizations looking to optimize their software development and IT operations.

While DevOps engineers focus on automating and streamlining the software delivery process, platform engineers concentrate on building and maintaining the robust infrastructure and tools that support these processes.

By integrating platform engineering into a DevOps environment, organizations can achieve greater system reliability, faster delivery times, and a more efficient software development lifecycle.

FAQs

Q: What is the difference between Platform Engineering and DevOps?

A: Platform Engineering focuses on building and maintaining the internal developer platform, while DevOps is more about the culture, tools, and practices that enable collaboration and automation in software development and deployment.

Q: How do DevOps tools differ from Platform Engineering tools?

A: DevOps tools like CI/CD pipelines are used to automate the software delivery process, while Platform Engineering tools are designed to create and manage the infrastructure that supports software systems.

Q: Can you give an example of a developer platform?

A: An internal developer platform could be a shared platform where software engineering teams can collaborate, manage and deliver software efficiently.

Q: How does Platform Engineering contribute to the developer experience?

A: Platform Engineering plays a key role in creating a smooth developer experience by providing the necessary tools and infrastructure for software development and deployment.

Q: What is the goal of Platform Engineering within an organization?

A: The goal of Platform Engineering is to build a platform that enables developers to focus on writing code and delivering software, without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure and operational aspects.

Q: How has DevOps evolved over time?

A: DevOps has evolved from the introduction of practices that promote collaboration between development and operations teams to a culture that emphasizes automation, continuous integration, and continuous delivery.

Q: Why is the concept of an internal developer platform important in the realm of software development?

A: An internal developer platform is crucial as it provides a shared platform where software engineering teams can work together efficiently, enabling them to deliver high-quality software at a faster pace.

Meghan Neville 5/15/24 Meghan Neville 5/15/24

Exploring the Key Differences Between SRE vs DevOps Engineers

Uncover the differences between SRE and DevOps engineers, their team roles, and how they collaborate for enhanced system reliability and software development.

In the evolving landscape of tech industry practices, understanding the distinctions between SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) and DevOps is crucial for organizations striving to enhance their software development and operational efficiencies.

While both methodologies aim to bridge gaps between development and operations, they embody distinct philosophies and practices that cater to specific organizational needs.

This article delves into the definitions, roles, responsibilities, and key differences between SRE and DevOps, providing a clear differentiation to help you select the right roles for your team.

What is the Difference Between SRE and DevOps?

Definition and Overview

SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) and DevOps are two distinct but interrelated approaches in the tech industry. While both aim to improve software development and operations, they have different focal points and methodologies.

SRE combines aspects of software engineering with operational tasks to enhance system reliability. On the other hand, DevOps is more focused on collaboration and communication between development and operations teams to streamline software delivery processes.

Key Responsibilities of SRE and DevOps Engineers

SRE teams primarily concentrate on ensuring the reliability and performance of systems by implementing automation and monitoring tools. In contrast, DevOps engineers focus on continuous integration and delivery, aiming to accelerate the development cycle and improve deployment frequency.

Main Differences in Job Roles of SRE and DevOps

SRE teams often operate as a specialized group within an organization, focusing on system reliability. DevOps, however, emphasizes a cross-functional approach, with team members from development, operations, and sometimes security working together towards common goals.

Role and Responsibilities of SRE vs DevOps Engineers

Difference Between DevOps and SRE in Software Development

SRE engineers typically have a stronger background in software development and are skilled in coding and automation. On the other hand, DevOps engineers are proficient in a wide range of tools and technologies, facilitating collaboration between different teams.

SRE engineers integrate more deeply with development teams, focusing on long-term code stability and reliability from a software engineering perspective. This involves extensive code reviews and implementing automated testing frameworks that are robust and scalable.

In contrast, DevOps engineers might not always delve as deep into code but rather focus on the processes and practices that support both development and operations teams. They work to improve the collaboration and communication within and across teams to ensure smooth and efficient deployment cycles. This often involves setting up and maintaining CI/CD pipelines that facilitate quick iterations and frequent deployments, which are crucial for agile development environments.

Tool Utilization in SRE and DevOps

SRE teams heavily rely on automation tools and monitoring systems to maintain system reliability. In contrast, DevOps engineers utilize various tools for configuration management, deployment, and orchestration to enhance collaboration and efficiency.

For SREs, tools like Prometheus for monitoring and alerting and Ansible for configuration management are often critical, as they help maintain and improve the reliability and robustness of services.

DevOps teams, meanwhile, might leverage tools like Jenkins for continuous integration and Kubernetes for orchestration to streamline and optimize the development pipeline. The choice of tools in DevOps is directed towards enhancing speed and efficiency in building, testing, and deploying applications, ensuring that the entire process is as seamless as possible.

How Do SRE and DevOps Teams Differ?

Automation and Structuring Practices

SRE teams tend to prioritize automating repetitive tasks to ensure system stability. DevOps teams, on the other hand, focus on automating the entire software delivery pipeline, from development to production.

This focus enables SREs to maintain high service levels through robust automation and monitoring, while DevOps aims to reduce lead time and increase the frequency of deployments, promoting a faster cycle of feedback and improvement.

While SREs might focus on automation that directly impacts reliability and system stability, DevOps approaches automation as a means to facilitate and enhance collaboration between development, QA, and operations.

This broadens the scope of automation beyond mere system uptime to include aspects like automated testing, deployment strategies, and rollback mechanisms that ensure continuous service delivery and quality.

Deployment and Operations Management

SRE teams are more involved in managing production deployments and ensuring system reliability. DevOps teams have a broader scope, managing both deployment processes and overall operational efficiency. This broader scope allows DevOps to have a significant impact on the organization's ability to respond to market changes and deploy new features rapidly, without sacrificing operational performance.

Additionally, while SREs often focus on the technical details and operational aspects of system stability, DevOps engineers strive to optimize the deployment process itself. This includes improving deployment frequency, reducing deployment failures, and shortening the lead time between fixes. By managing and refining these processes, DevOps teams help organizations achieve higher operational agility and responsiveness to business needs.

Exploring the Similarities Between SRE and DevOps

Shared Responsibility for DevSecOps

Both SRE and DevOps teams share responsibility for integrating security practices into the software development lifecycle, leading to the concept of DevSecOps. This shared focus ensures that security considerations are not an afterthought but are integrated throughout the development, deployment, and maintenance phases.

Skillsets in Development and Operations

SRE and DevOps engineers both possess a hybrid skillset that spans development and operational disciplines. This enables them to effectively manage code releases and operational stability, making them invaluable for maintaining high system availability and performance.

Their ability to navigate both coding and system operations helps reduce silos within tech departments, fostering a more unified approach to tackling software challenges.

Common Goals in Software Development

Despite their differences, both SRE and DevOps teams aim to enhance software development processes, improve system reliability, and increase operational efficiency through collaborative efforts.

These common objectives underscore the importance of both roles in modern IT infrastructure and the need for continuous improvement and adaptation in technology practices.

DevOps Tool Usage

Both disciplines heavily rely on a suite of tools designed to automate processes, enhance communication, and streamline operations. Tools such as Jenkins for continuous integration, Docker for containerization, and Kubernetes for orchestration are integral to both SRE and DevOps practices.

The selection of tools is often dictated by the specific needs of the project and the existing infrastructure, highlighting the adaptable and dynamic nature of both fields.

Key Differences Between SRE vs DevOps Culture

Emphasizing Site Reliability in SRE

SRE teams prioritize system reliability and performance, focusing on maintaining service uptime and ensuring seamless operations.

DevOps Focus on Full Automation

DevOps culture revolves around full automation of software development processes, from code integration and testing to deployment and monitoring, aiming to streamline workflows and increase efficiency.

Recognizing the nuanced differences between SRE and DevOps is essential for companies looking to optimize their software delivery and system reliability.

Response to Incidents

SRE teams often adopt a more proactive approach to incident management, employing robust post-mortem analyses and implementing preventative measures to mitigate future disruptions. In contrast, DevOps teams may focus more on rapid response and recovery to ensure continuous operation and delivery.

Organizational Impact

SRE typically functions as a distinct entity within the organization with a clear mandate to maintain service reliability above all else. DevOps, however, is more about embedding a collaborative culture across all teams involved in the development and operational lifecycle, promoting agility and quicker adaptations to change.

Distinguishing SRE and DevOps Engineers from Platform Engineers

Now that we understand the role of SRE and DevOps roles, let's expand the team roles farther and consider another role that is often confused with DevOps and SRE: Platform Engineers.

Similarities Between SRE, DevOps, and Platform Engineers

Platform Engineers are primarily responsible for developing and maintaining the underlying platforms that support software applications. This includes designing the infrastructure architecture, building and maintaining cloud environments, and ensuring the platforms can efficiently scale according to the application’s needs.

Differences Between SRE, DevOps, and Platform Engineers

While SREs and DevOps engineers often work within the frameworks and platforms set by Platform Engineers, their focus extends to optimizing existing systems and processes for better reliability and efficiency in software deployment. Platform Engineers, on the other hand, delve deeper into the technical specifics of infrastructure and platform services, providing a robust foundation upon which both SRE and DevOps strategies are implemented.

This separation of concerns allows Platform Engineers to concentrate on infrastructure as a product, enhancing the tools and systems that SRE and DevOps teams utilize to achieve their goals.

Site Reliability vs Platform Engineering Focus

SRE teams concentrate on ensuring the reliability and performance of systems, focusing on uptime, latency, and error rates. DevOps engineers, on the other hand, are more concerned with overall system efficiency and optimizing development workflows. SREs are tasked with setting strict service level objectives (SLOs) and implementing policies that minimize downtime and performance degradation.

Furthermore, while SRE focuses on service stability and the technical aspects of system performance, DevOps addresses broader organizational challenges. This includes fostering a culture that eliminates silos between developers and operators, promoting a more integrated and proactive approach to handling system issues and enhancements.

man sitting on chair wearing gray crew-neck long-sleeved shirt using Apple Magic Keyboard

Hiring DevOps and Site Reliability Engineers for Your Team

Whether your organization needs a more robust focus on system uptime and reliability or seeks to enhance collaboration across development and operational teams, understanding these roles can significantly impact your operational success.

At Brokee, we specialize in qualifying DevOps, SRE, and Platform engineers through our interactive assessments, ensuring that your team is equipped with top-tier professionals adept in modern technological demands.

Connect with us today to see how we can assist in elevating your team's capabilities and achieving your technical objectives.

FAQs

Q: What is the difference between SRE and DevOps engineers?

A: The primary difference lies in their focus and responsibilities. SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) focuses on ensuring system reliability and availability, while DevOps engineers focus on collaboration between development and operations teams to speed up software delivery.

Q: How do DevOps and SRE teams work together?

A: DevOps and SRE teams collaborate to ensure seamless software development and deployment processes. They share common goals like reliability, scalability, and efficiency, working together to achieve these objectives.

Q: What are the similarities between SRE and DevOps?

A: Both SRE and DevOps teams emphasize collaboration between development and operations, aim to improve software development and deployment processes, and focus on system reliability and performance.

Q: What is the role of a DevOps engineer?

A: A DevOps engineer is responsible for implementing and maintaining DevOps practices, tools, and processes that facilitate collaboration between development and operations teams, ensuring a smooth software delivery pipeline.

Q: How do DevOps and SRE roles contribute to operations teams?

A: DevOps teams are responsible for breaking down silos between development and operations, focusing on the development, deployment, and maintenance of software in production environments. SRE teams aim to ensure system reliability, availability, and performance by implementing best practices and monitoring systems closely.

Q: What are some major differences between SRE and DevOps?

A: One major difference is that DevOps focuses on the entire software development lifecycle, from coding to deployment, while SRE focuses more on system reliability and performance. Another key difference is the specific roles within the operations team that each discipline fulfills.

Q: How do DevOps tools and practices differ from traditional development and operations approaches?

A: DevOps tools and practices emphasize automation, collaboration, and integration across the software development and deployment lifecycle, aiming to improve efficiency, reliability, and scalability compared to traditional approaches.

Meghan Neville 5/2/24 Meghan Neville 5/2/24

Understanding the Key Differences Between DevOps vs DevSecOps

Explore the key differences between DevOps and DevSecOps to understand how security integration transforms software development. Discover whether DevOps vs DevSecOps is right for your team.

You may hear the terms "DevOps" and "DevSecOps" and wonder: Are these the same thing? What is the difference? and Which is Better?

Understanding the key differences between DevOps and DevSecOps is essential for navigating today's software development landscape.

In this article, we will focus on what's the difference between DevOps and DevSecOps, how to navigate selecting which is better, and what team composition for each will look like.

Defining DevOps and DevSecOps

DevOps is a software development approach focused on collaboration between Development (Dev) and Operations (Ops) teams throughout the software development lifecycle.

On the other hand, DevSecOps extends DevOps by integrating security practices early in the development process to ensure secure software delivery. DevOps emphasizes fast and frequent delivery of software updates, while DevSecOps incorporates security checks at every stage to address vulnerabilities proactively.

What is the Meaning of DevOps?

DevOps, a combination of "Development" and "Operations," is a set of practices that integrates software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops). It aims to shorten the software development lifecycle and deliver features, fixes, and updates more frequently in close alignment with business objectives.

Key features of DevOps include:

Collaboration: Breaking down silos between development and operations teams to improve communication and collaboration.
Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Automating the process of building, testing, and deploying code to reduce the time it takes to get changes into production.
Automation: Leveraging tools and scripts to automate repetitive tasks, such as testing, building, and deploying software.
Monitoring and Logging: Continuously monitoring systems and applications to detect issues early and ensure performance and reliability.
Agility and Speed: Reducing the time from development to deployment to respond quickly to market demands and changes.

By implementing DevOps practices, organizations aim to increase efficiency, reduce errors, and deliver high-quality software more rapidly.

What is the Meaning of DevSecOps?

DevSecOps, short for Development, Security, and Operations, is an approach that integrates security practices into the DevOps workflow. This methodology aims to address security challenges early in the software development lifecycle, instead of treating them as an afterthought.

By incorporating security measures throughout the development and operational phases, DevSecOps seeks to deliver secure software more quickly and efficiently.

The primary goals of DevSecOps are:

Automating Security: Embedding security checks and controls into automated processes like CI/CD pipelines to ensure consistent application of security policies.
Shift-Left Security: Implementing security practices early in the development process to identify and fix vulnerabilities before they become significant issues.
Collaboration: Encouraging collaboration between development, security, and operations teams to create a shared responsibility for security.
Continuous Monitoring and Testing: Regularly assessing code and infrastructure for vulnerabilities and compliance through automated tests and scans.

By aligning development, security, and operations, DevSecOps ensures that applications are delivered quickly without compromising security.

Key Variances in the Approaches

One of the main differences between DevOps and DevSecOps is the inclusion of security as an integral part of the development process in DevSecOps.

DevOps focuses on collaboration and communication between different teams, and DevSecOps integrates security into every phase of development. DevOps aims for continuous delivery and automation in the software development pipeline, while DevSecOps adds security measures like dynamic application security testing (DAST) and static application security testing (SAST) to ensure secure code deployment.

Integrating Security Into the Development Lifecycle

DevSecOps requires a shift-left approach where security is considered from the initial stages of development. By incorporating security practices in the early stages, vulnerabilities can be identified and mitigated before deployment, leading to a more secure software development process.

For DevSecOps, the integration of security tools and practices in the development lifecycle ensures that security is not an afterthought but an essential component of the software development process.

How Does Security Play a Role in DevOps vs DevSecOps?

Importance of Security Practices in DevOps

In DevOps, security practices often come into play during the later stages of development or even post-deployment. While security is essential, it may not be prioritized as much as speed and efficiency in the delivery process, leading to potential vulnerabilities.

Incorporating security early in the development stages ensures that security practices are not overlooked, enhancing the overall security posture of the software being developed.

Security Practices Within the DevSecOps Model

DevSecOps, on the other hand, places security at the forefront by automating security testing, implementing secure coding practices, and continuously monitoring for vulnerabilities.

This proactive approach ensures that security is ingrained in every aspect of the software development lifecycle.

By incorporating security practices within the DevSecOps model, organizations can build a strong security foundation and mitigate risks effectively throughout the development process.

Incorporating Application Security in Both Methodologies

Both DevOps and DevSecOps recognize the importance of application security. However, while DevOps may focus more on speed and agility in software delivery, DevSecOps emphasizes the importance of secure coding practices, regular security testing, and monitoring to address security concerns proactively.

In DevSecOps, application security is integrated seamlessly into the development lifecycle to ensure that security is not an afterthought but a continuous priority in software development.

What are the Differences in Team Structure and Workflow Between DevOps and DevSecOps?

Team Collaboration in DevOps vs DevSecOps

DevOps teams typically consist of developers, DevOps and cloud engineers, and quality assurance professionals working together to streamline the software development process.

In contrast, DevSecOps teams have security professionals integrated throughout the development pipeline to ensure that security measures are implemented from the outset.

The collaboration between different teams in DevSecOps ensures that security considerations are addressed at every stage of the software development process, leading to more secure and resilient applications.

Workflow Differences in the Software Development Process

DevOps workflows focus on continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices to deliver software updates rapidly, often using agile practices.

In contrast, DevSecOps workflows incorporate security checkpoints along the development pipeline to identify and remediate security vulnerabilities before deployment.

Aligning workflow processes with security practices can help DevSecOps teams ensure that security issues are not bottlenecks but a seamless part of the software development lifecycle.

Implementing Security in the Development Lifecycle

In DevOps, security is often seen as a checkpoint rather than an embedded practice in the development lifecycle. This can lead to potential security gaps and vulnerabilities that may go unnoticed until later stages of development.

By implementing security practices within the development lifecycle in DevSecOps, organizations can proactively address security concerns, reduce risks, and deliver more secure software solutions to end-users.

How to Transition From DevOps to DevSecOps?

Can DevSecOps Replace DevOps?

DevSecOps is not designed to replace DevOps but rather to enhance and extend its principles by integrating security into every stage of the development and operations process.

While DevOps emphasizes collaboration between development and operations teams to achieve faster and more reliable software delivery, DevSecOps adds a crucial focus on security.

Here’s why DevSecOps complements rather than replaces DevOps:

Security Integration: DevSecOps ensures that security is not an afterthought but a fundamental part of the development lifecycle. This inclusion helps identify and address vulnerabilities early.
Maintaining Speed and Agility: The core principles of DevOps, such as speed, collaboration, and automation, remain intact in DevSecOps. The added security processes are designed to minimize disruption to development workflows.
Shared Responsibility: DevSecOps encourages shared responsibility for security across development, operations, and security teams, fostering a culture of collaboration similar to DevOps.

Steps to Integrate Security Into the DevOps Model

Transitioning from DevOps to DevSecOps involves incorporating security practices early in the development process, automating security testing, and fostering a culture of security awareness among team members.

By gradually integrating security measures into existing DevOps workflows, organizations can transition seamlessly to a DevSecOps model.

Expanding on the steps to integrate security into the DevOps model, organizations can leverage automation tools for security testing, implement secure coding practices, and conduct regular security assessments to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities effectively.

Challenges Faced During the Transition Process

One of the key challenges in transitioning from DevOps to DevSecOps is the cultural shift required to prioritize security alongside speed and efficiency.

Teams may face resistance to change, lack of security expertise, or difficulties in aligning security practices with existing workflows.

Overcoming these challenges involves promoting security awareness, providing training on secure coding practices, and fostering collaboration between development, operations, and security teams to ensure a smooth transition to DevSecOps.

Adopting Automation Tools for Security Testing

Automation plays a crucial role in DevSecOps by enabling continuous security testing, vulnerability assessments, and compliance checks throughout the development lifecycle.

By adopting automation tools like static analysis security testing (SAST) and dynamic application security testing (DAST), organizations can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of security practices in DevSecOps.

Expanding on the adoption of automation tools for security testing, organizations can streamline security processes, identify vulnerabilities in real-time, and ensure consistent security standards across all stages of software development.

Final Word

With the knowledge of DevOps vs DevSecOps, and understanding which is better for your process, you should feel more confident on selecting DevOps and DevSecOps engineers.

By gradually integrating security into the DevOps model through automation, training, and collaboration, organizations can better protect their software and deliver secure, reliable applications.

If you are looking to make the technical hiring process easier, Brokee has several DevOps and DevSecOps assessments that will help you determine whether a candidate is skilled enough to help you improve your DevOps or DevSecOps process. Try our tests for free today!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the Difference Between DevOps and DevSecOps?

A: DevOps focuses on the collaboration between development and operations teams to automate and streamline the software delivery process, while DevSecOps incorporates security practices into each stage of the development lifecycle.

Q: How does DevSecOps Differ from Traditional DevOps?

A: DevSecOps also integrates security practices throughout the software development lifecycle, whereas traditional DevOps primarily focuses on the collaboration between development and operations teams.

Q: Is DevSecOps Better than DevOps?

This depends on the organization's needs:

Security Requirements: If your organization operates in a highly regulated industry or handles sensitive data, DevSecOps could be essential. It ensures that security measures are an integral part of the development process rather than an afterthought.
Application Complexity: For simple applications with minimal security risks, traditional DevOps might suffice. However, for complex, distributed applications, embedding security into every stage of development through DevSecOps can help mitigate risks effectively.
Cultural Readiness: DevSecOps requires a cultural shift where security is a shared responsibility. If your team is prepared for this shift, it can be beneficial. Otherwise, starting with DevOps Engineers and gradually integrating security practices might be a better approach.

Q: What Stage of the Development Lifecycle does DevSecOps take place?

A: DevSecOps takes place at every stage of the development lifecycle, from planning and coding to testing and deployment. This is also true for DevOps.

Q: How do I Choose Between DevOps and DevSecOps for my Business?

A: The choice between DevOps and DevSecOps depends on the organization's priorities, level of security awareness, and the importance placed on integrating security practices into the development process.

Meghan Neville 3/22/24 Meghan Neville 3/22/24

The Top 10 DevOps and Cloud Conferences to Attend in 2024

Whether you're aiming to advance your knowledge or connect with industry leaders, mark your calendar for these must-attend DevOps and cloud conferences.

In an era where the DevOps and cloud computing landscapes are rapidly evolving, staying ahead with the latest trends, technologies, and practices is essential.

Whether you are an engineer looking to gain experience, a recruiter seeking tech talent, or a business leader wanting to expand your company’s DevOps capabilities, DevOps conferences are pivotal, offering rich opportunities for networking, innovation, and education.

What are the Best DevOps Conferences to go to in 2024?

Choosing the Best DevOps Conferences for 2024 can be a daunting task, given the factors to consider: the quality of content and speakers, the event's reputation and history, and the cost required to attend.

Recognizing that different conferences may cater more effectively to specific audiences—be it DevOps engineers, technical recruiters, or business leaders—we've tried to include events across a spectrum of price points and technical levels. This approach aims to ensure that every DevOps professional can find an event that aligns perfectly with their objectives and budgetary constraints.

The conferences we’ve highlighted in our selection stand out due to their exceptional quality, legacy, and diverse cost structures. So, buy your tickets, mark the dates on your calendar, and prepare to embark on an enlightening journey through the best DevOps events of 2024!

PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit

When & Where:

Dates: April 8-11

Location: Bellevue, WA, U.S.A.

Price:

Price:

Details to be announced.

Why attend?

AGILE + DEVOPS 2024 consolidates insights from the Agile and DevOps communities, offering a comprehensive exploration of methodologies that enhance software delivery and operational efficiency. Participants will benefit from expert-led sessions, practical workshops, and networking opportunities with industry leaders.

DevOpsDays 2024 Series

Why Attend DevOps Days 2024?

DevOpsDays is a renowned series for its community-driven approach, covering software development, IT infrastructure operations, and their nexus. Each event offers a blend of curated talks and space for open discussion on topics like automation, testing, security, and organizational culture.

2024 Locations & Dates:

DevOpsDays Raleigh, NC: Apr 10-11

DevOpsDays Austin, TX: May 2-3

DevOpsDays Seattle, WA & Philadelphia, PA: May 14-15

DevOpsDays Kansas City, MO: May 15-16

DevOpsDays Baltimore, MD: May 21-22

DevOpsDays Houston, TX: Jun 4-5

DevOpsDays Nashville, TN: Jul 10-11

DevOpsDays Minneapolis, MN: Aug 6-7

DevOpsDays Birmingham, AL: Aug 19-21

DevOpsDays Denver, CO: Sep 16-17

DevOpsDays Tampa Bay, FL: Sep 19

DevOpsDays Washington, D.C.: Sep 25-26

DevOpsDays Dallas, TX: Oct 9-10

DevOpsDays Des Moines, IA: Oct 10-11

DevOpsDays Salt Lake City, UT: Oct 17-18

Prices:

Ranging from $100-250

Will We See You at Upcoming DevOps Conferences in 2024?

Attending one of these exceptional conferences offers an unparalleled opportunity to engage with the latest ideas in DevOps and cloud computing. Whether you're looking to deepen your understanding of specific technologies, explore strategic insights, or network with industry leaders, these events promise to propel your professional journey forward.

Mark your calendars for these top DevOps conferences, cloud computing conferences, and cybersecurity conferences in 2024, and take a significant step toward leading in the tech domain. We hope to see you there!