How Hands-On Lab Training Accelerates Your DevOps Learning Curve
In this article, we’ll explore why hands-on labs are so effective and how they can drastically improve your DevOps skills.
DevOps is a fast-paced, dynamic field where theoretical knowledge alone is rarely enough to succeed. To truly master the skills needed in this industry, hands-on experience is essential.
Hands-on lab training offers a practical, immersive way for DevOps engineers to accelerate their learning curve and become job-ready faster.
In this article, we’ll explore why hands-on labs are so effective and how they can drastically improve your DevOps skills.
1. Real-World Problem Solving
Learning by Doing
In DevOps, engineers face complex, real-world challenges daily. Hands-on labs simulate these real-life tasks, such as configuring a Kubernetes cluster, troubleshooting cloud infrastructure, or setting up CI/CD pipelines. This experience allows engineers to actively solve problems rather than passively learn concepts.
Why It Matters
Theoretical knowledge can only take you so far. Working on actual infrastructure and handling real problems solidifies what you’ve learned, ensuring you can apply those skills when it matters most—on the job.
Example: Many engineers use Brokee’s hands-on labs to practice AWS, Azure, and DevOps tasks that mirror real job environments.
Whether you’re an entry-level engineer or preparing for a new role, Brokee’s labs provide practical experience that accelerates your job readiness.
Brokee offers several labs and tests to practice DevOps and cloud skills, including Azure: Blob Challenge and Azure: Load Balancer
2. Builds Confidence for Day-One Readiness
Hands-On = Confidence
Many engineers struggle with confidence during their first few months on the job because they’ve never had the chance to apply what they learned in real scenarios. Hands-on labs give engineers the opportunity to practice these skills repeatedly until they are fully confident in their abilities.
Why It Matters
Confidence in your DevOps skills from day one can drastically shorten onboarding time and increase your productivity early in your career.
Companies often prefer candidates who have hands-on experience with the tools and technologies they use.
3. Mastering Tools and Platforms
Get Familiar with Industry-Standard Tools
Hands-on labs allow engineers to get comfortable using critical DevOps tools like Terraform, Ansible, Docker, Jenkins, and cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Lab environments replicate real job tasks, so engineers can focus on mastering specific tools while understanding how they integrate into larger workflows.
Why It Matters
Becoming proficient with tools is crucial for DevOps roles. Hands-on labs provide the chance to not only learn new tools but to also understand how they function in complex environments.
Example: Engineers can practice setting up a continuous integration pipeline using Jenkins, deploy a containerized application with Kubernetes, or automate infrastructure with Terraform in a lab environment before applying these skills in production.
Read More: The Top DevOps Tools in 2024
4. Safe Environment to Make Mistakes
Learning Without the Pressure
One of the greatest advantages of hands-on lab training is the ability to make mistakes without real-world consequences.
In an actual job setting, errors can lead to downtime, security risks, or financial losses. In a lab, engineers can experiment, fail, and learn without the pressure of damaging live environments.
Why It Matters
The freedom to experiment helps engineers learn faster. They can try different approaches, discover what works, and learn from failures—all without impacting actual projects.
Read More: The Best DevOps Bootcamps in 2024
5. Speeds Up the Learning Curve
Accelerating Skill Development
Hands-on labs enable faster learning by giving engineers instant feedback. Instead of reading through documentation and theory, they can immediately see the results of their actions in the lab environment.
This kind of real-time feedback significantly speeds up the learning process, as engineers can adjust their approach on the fly.
Why It Matters
Learning by doing accelerates mastery of concepts and tools. Engineers gain a deep understanding of how different DevOps practices work together, which ultimately helps them become proficient more quickly than with theoretical learning alone.
6. Preparing for Certifications
Practical Experience for Exams
Certifications like AWS DevOps Engineer, Microsoft Azure DevOps, or Google Cloud Professional DevOps Engineer require not just theoretical knowledge, but also practical understanding. Hands-on labs prepare engineers for these exams by allowing them to practice the exact scenarios they’ll be tested on.
Why It Matters
While studying for certifications is important, real-world practice is what truly prepares you to pass the exams and apply the knowledge in the workplace. Hands-on labs give you the confidence and experience to tackle even the most challenging certification questions.
Example: In an AWS hands-on lab, engineers can set up auto-scaling groups, configure CloudWatch for monitoring, and use Lambda for automation—real-world tasks that they’ll likely face on the AWS DevOps Engineer certification exam.
Read More: AWS DevOps Interview Questions and Answers for 2024
7. Gaining Practical Job Experience
Simulate the Job Environment
Hands-on labs not only prepare engineers for exams but also simulate day-to-day job tasks.
These labs mirror the exact work you’ll do in a DevOps role, such as deploying cloud infrastructure, setting up monitoring systems, or configuring secure environments. The more practice you get, the more comfortable you’ll be when performing these tasks in a live environment.
Why It Matters
This kind of real-world experience is what hiring managers look for. By practicing in labs, engineers can demonstrate they are ready to step into a role without needing extensive on-the-job training.
Brokee’s live labs
Conclusion
Hands-on lab training is an invaluable tool for accelerating the DevOps learning curve.
Whether you're mastering tools, preparing for certifications, or gaining real-world job experience, these labs provide the perfect environment to learn by doing.
We currently offer 3 free labs for engineers (no credit card needed!), and after that, you can have access to our unlimited testing library for only $9 per month. Try Brokee risk-free today!
The practical experience gained from our labs will significantly boost your confidence, shorten onboarding time, and make you job-ready from day one.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As a DevOps engineer, knowing the right tools for the job is essential to managing and optimizing complex infrastructures.
Below are the top 10 SRE tools every DevOps engineer should be familiar with, whether they’re focused on monitoring, automation, or incident management.
1. Prometheus
What is Prometheus?
Prometheus is an open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit designed for reliability. It collects metrics from various sources, stores them in a time-series database, and allows engineers to set up powerful alerting based on predefined thresholds.
Why You Need It
Prometheus is widely adopted for system monitoring due to its scalability and flexibility. It integrates seamlessly with Kubernetes and other cloud-native environments, making it an essential tool for SREs and DevOps engineers alike.
Displaying Prometheus Metrics in Grafana
2. Grafana
What is Grafana?
Grafana is an open-source data visualization and analytics tool that integrates with Prometheus and other data sources to provide real-time dashboards.
Why You Need It
Grafana’s customizable dashboards give teams a clear visual overview of system health, performance metrics, and potential bottlenecks. This allows SREs to spot issues quickly and maintain system reliability.
Grafana Dashboard
3. Terraform
What is Terraform?
Terraform by HashiCorp is a powerful tool for Infrastructure as Code (IaC). It enables engineers to define cloud infrastructure resources using declarative code, which can be version-controlled and automated.
Why You Need It
Automating infrastructure provisioning with Terraform reduces human error and ensures consistency across environments. For SREs, this means more reliable deployments and faster recovery from incidents.
High-Level Idea of Terraform
4. Kubernetes
What is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is the most popular container orchestration platform, used to manage and scale containerized applications across clusters.
Why You Need It
Kubernetes automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Its self-healing capabilities, auto-scaling, and robust ecosystem make it an indispensable tool for any SRE or DevOps engineer focused on maintaining reliability.
Kubernetes in a Nutshell
5. PagerDuty
What is PagerDuty?
PagerDuty is an incident management platform designed to help DevOps and SRE teams respond to incidents in real-time.
Why You Need It
PagerDuty integrates with monitoring tools and alerts teams when something goes wrong. It helps organize and escalate incidents, ensuring that the right people respond promptly to minimize downtime and system impact.
The PagerDuty Suite of Tools
6. Ansible
What is Ansible?
Ansible is an open-source tool for automation and configuration management. It allows for the automation of application deployment, cloud provisioning, and system configurations.
Why You Need It
SREs use Ansible to automate repetitive tasks, reducing manual intervention and minimizing configuration drift across environments. It’s essential for maintaining consistent and reliable infrastructure.
Ansible Automation Platform
7. ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana)
What is the ELK Stack?
The ELK Stack is a combination of three tools: Elasticsearch (search and analytics engine), Logstash (log pipeline), and Kibana (visualization).
Why You Need It
This stack is perfect for log management, allowing SREs to collect, analyze, and visualize logs in real-time. With ELK, you can identify and troubleshoot issues across distributed systems, improving reliability and system observability.
Logs Web Traffic and More
8. Jenkins
What is Jenkins?
Jenkins is a popular open-source automation server used to build and manage CI/CD pipelines.
Why You Need It
SREs rely on Jenkins to automate the building, testing, and deployment of code. With its broad plugin ecosystem, Jenkins integrates with many tools and platforms, making it a key player in ensuring smooth and reliable software delivery.
Jenkins Dashboard
9. Datadog
What is Datadog?
Datadog is a monitoring and analytics platform for cloud applications, offering real-time insights into system performance.
Why You Need It
Datadog combines metrics, traces, and logs into a single platform, enabling SREs to monitor cloud infrastructures, troubleshoot issues quickly, and maintain system performance with greater clarity.
DataDog Performance Overview
10. Runbook Automation (Rundeck)
What is Rundeck?
Rundeck is a runbook automation tool that helps SREs create and execute automated procedures to handle system operations and incidents.
Why You Need It
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.
Rundeck Automation Platform Layout
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.
The Essential Skills Every DevOps Engineer Needs to Succeed in 2024
To stand out in 2024, 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 2024, 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.
✨New Features Drop at Brokee
This month, Brokee team releases assesment badges, candidate ranking, Ansible test, and testing insights.
This month, we’ve been feeling inspired. Over the past year, we’ve received invaluable feedback on how to enhance our DevOps assessment platform, and we’ve been hard at work making those improvements a reality.
We'll explore the latest features, which include a new test that many of you have been asking for!
Follow-Up Interview Questions: Save Time on Interviews
Hiring managers can now spend less time preparing for tech interviews. Once candidates complete their tests, our platform automatically generates follow-up questions based on their performance.
These tailored questions help hiring managers dive into the right areas during post-assessment interviews, significantly streamlining the process.
Benchmarking Stats: See How Your Hiring Pipeline Compares
Curious about how your hiring pipeline measures up against industry standards?
We’ve introduced new benchmarking features that provide both global and local test statistics.
You can now see which tests are the most popular, average completion times, and how your candidates perform compared to others. This allows you to gauge the quality of your hiring pipeline with data-driven insights.
Ansible Test: Evaluate Candidates' Skills in Automated Configuration Management
We’re thrilled to introduce our latest test: Ansible!
This test is designed to evaluate candidates' ability to configure and automate systems using Ansible, a widely-adopted configuration management tool.
It’s an excellent way to assess whether candidates have the hands-on experience needed to automate tasks like executing commands and editing files efficiently.
Introducing our latest test: Ansible
Candidate Ranking: Discover How You Stack Up
Our new candidate ranking feature gives both candidates and hiring managers insights into how they compare to others.
Candidates can see where they stand among their peers, while hiring managers can easily identify top performers in the broader talent pool. This makes it easier to spot standout candidates quickly.
Candidate insights now show rankings
Assessment Badges: Showcase Your Testing Achievements
Candidates who successfully pass tests can now earn badges to display proudly on LinkedIn.
These badges serve as a public acknowledgment of their skills and accomplishments, allowing them to showcase their expertise to potential employers and their professional network.
Candidates can show off their test success through badges on LinkedIn
Customized Company Tests: Tailored Assessments for Your Team
In addition to our standard tests, we now offer customized company tests. If your organization has a specific hiring test that works for your team but lacks the time to manage it, we can fully automate it on our platform.
This allows you to enjoy a seamless hiring experience with a tailored solution that meets your unique needs.
Candidate Dashboard: Track Progress with Enhanced Metrics
We’ve improved our candidate dashboard based on user feedback.
Now, instead of just showing the number of questions answered, the dashboard displays a completion percentage, making it easier for HR managers and candidates to assess progress at a glance.
This enhancement provides clearer insights into performance and makes comparisons more straightforward.
Give Brokee a Try: Free Assessments for Companies and Individuals
We’re eager for you to explore all the new features, tests, and improvements we’ve rolled out.
Interested in learning more or requesting a specific test or feature? We’d love to hear from you—reach out today!
And don’t forget, you can try Brokee before you buy! We offer companies 5 free assessments to streamline their hiring process, and individuals can access 3 free assessments to practice and refine their skills.
Empowering Cloud Careers at Level Up in Tech: How Brokee Elevated a Top DevOps Bootcamp
Level Up in Tech wanted to enhance their cloud training program by providing students with more practical, hands-on experience.
About the Client
Level Up in Tech is a Cloud Career Bootcamp dedicated to helping individuals transition and advance their careers in the cloud. They specialize in providing hands-on experience, coaching, and career development for those looking to break into the cloud industry.
Level Up in Tech’s founder, Broadus Palmer, has extensive experience in cloud technologies and education, having taught on platforms like A Cloud Guru. Recently, we named Level Up in Tech one of the top bootcamps for DevOps, highlighting their excellence in the field.
Our relationship with Level Up in Tech began in March, when one of their former students shared Brokee's platform with Broadus. Intrigued by the platform, Broadus engaged in discussions with us about its applications for training his students.
The Challenge
Level Up in Tech aimed to improve their cloud training program by offering students more practical experience. While they already had some hands-on solutions, they were looking for an innovative way to provide cloud experience without the complexities and costs of actual cloud service providers.
They also wanted labs that could simulate real-world IT infrastructure challenges, better preparing their students - many from non-technical backgrounds - for job interviews and the demands of cloud engineering roles.
The Solution
Brokee’s comprehensive and interactive skill-testing platform mirrors real-world IT infrastructure challenges, enabling students to practice and demonstrate their cloud skills in a risk-free environment.
Broadus Palmer, impressed by the platform, decided to integrate it into Level Up in Tech's curriculum. We provided them with credits to test the platform, leading to the development of tailored tests focusing on AWS, Terraform, and other cloud-related topics. The tests range in difficulty, catering to both beginners and more advanced students.
Level Up in Tech used Brokee’s platform to facilitate collaborative group sessions, enabling students to work together on solving problems. They also use Brokee’s assessments at the end of courses to showcase students’ progress and achievements in DevOps.
The Benefits
Integrating Brokee into Level Up in Tech’s curriculum has yielded numerous benefits for both instructors and students. Some of the key advantages include:
Real-World Experience: Students gained hands-on experience in real cloud environments without the risk of incurring costs from cloud service providers.
Enhanced Learning: The platform's randomized test scenarios ensured that each test attempt presented new challenges, promoting deeper learning and problem-solving skills.
Ease of Use for Instructors: Instructors could easily assign tests, monitor student progress, and provide targeted feedback based on detailed performance reports.
Adaptability: Brokee developed easier tests and specific focus areas based on feedback, ensuring that the platform met the varying skill levels of the students.
Collaborative Learning: Group testing sessions facilitated peer learning and collaboration, mimicking real-world team environments.
Automated Feedback: The platform provided automatic feedback and learning materials for students, helping them understand and improve on their mistakes.
Client Feedback
Broadus Palmer has been enthusiastic about Brokee, stating that it's "fantastic for what they do" and that he loves using the platform. He emphasized that Brokee significantly enhances the curriculum.
Students from Level Up in Tech have also shared positive feedback, describing Brokee’s tests as a "great experience," a "rewarding challenge," and noting that they "give you hands-on experience of what fixing a real-world deployment is like."
One student even continued a subscription with Brokee after completing the course to keep practicing with our live labs, highlighting the platform's value in preparing students for entry-level careers.
What's Next?
The partnership between Level Up in Tech and Brokee has proven to be highly beneficial. By integrating Brokee's platform into their curriculum, Level Up in Tech has enhanced the hands-on learning experience for their students, better preparing them for careers in cloud engineering.
Our ongoing collaboration with Level Up in Tech promises continued innovation, with plans to develop more specialized and advanced tests to further enhance DevOps learning for their students.
The Best DevOps Tools to Streamline Software Development in 2024
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 2024.
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.
Read More: Essential DevOps Statistics and Trends for Hiring in 2024
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.
Read More: Hidden Costs of Your Hiring Pipeline
List of Best DevOps Tools for 2024
As we look ahead to 2024, 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.
Read More: We've Added New Tests: Kubernetes and GPC Tests
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.
Read More: AWS DevOps Interview Questions and Answers for 2024
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.
Read More: A Guide to AI Tools in DevOps and Cloud Hiring
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 deeper into 2024, 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.
Read More: Now Providing DevOps Tests for all Major Cloud Providers
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.
Read More: The Best DevOps Bootcamps of 2024
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.
Read More: The Top 10 DevOps and Cloud Conferences to Attend in 2024
Photo by Annie Spratt / Unsplash
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.
Read More: 7 Reasons You Need to Hire a DevOps Engineer in 2024
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.
Read More: The Difference Between SRE vs DevOps Engineers
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.
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.
Read More: Essential DevOps Statistics and Trends for Hiring in 2024
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.
Read More: The DevOps vs. Developer Dilemma: Choosing the Right Engineer Ratio for Your Team
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.
Read More: Cloud Engineer vs Software Engineer: What Sets a Cloud System Engineer Apart
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.
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.
Read More: 7 Red Flags to Watch Out for When Choosing Skill Assessment Software
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.
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.
Read More: Cloud Engineer vs Software Engineer
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.
Read More: The DevOps vs. Developer Dilemma: Choosing the Right Engineer Ratio for Your Team
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!
Read More: Choosing the Best DevOps Test and Technical Screening Tool
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.
Read More: 7 Signs You Need to Hire a DevOps Engineer in 2024
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.