What is DevOps? It's an approach that brings development and operations together and is widely used and adopted in Data Science and Machine Learning. It is a method that helps companies to become more agile and competitive, which is why we teach it in our Data Lead course. Above all, the advanced capabilities of DevOps optimise the speed and ability of companies to create great opportunities for future innovation. All the details and explanations about DevOps in this article!
DevOps is a practice that aims to unify development and operations teams, enabling companies to become more agile and competitive. The DevOps engineer is now a key player in the world of data. Roles within the company, skills and training: focus on DevOps in this article.
DevOps: definition and impact on the company
The term DevOps comes from the combination of two words: development and operations. It is a method that aims to merge development (the technical aspect) with operations (project management) and quality assurance. Thus, within the framework of this expertise, deployment and integration are combined into one continuous process.
In the world of data, DevOps refers to the collaborative management of data through the improvement of communication between the various players and the automation of data flows between the various players. It will thus bring together data professionals such as Data Architects, Data Engineers, Data Stewards or Data Warehouse experts, and data consumers, i.e. Data Scientists, Business Analysts, company managers, etc.
DevOps is based on two main concepts, CI and CD (continuous integration and continuous deployment). CI or automation is about building and testing code in an automated and repetitive way. It is a method that allows problems to be identified and therefore resolved quickly. CD, on the other hand, consists of deploying projects and delivering them to the actors who need them. Once the qualification tests have been carried out, DevOps will enable the data to be put into production.
Why bring development and operations together in DevOps?
On the one hand, the developers' main objective is to meet the needs of the market with more innovation and functionality. On the other hand, operators need a maximum of stability to guarantee the quality of services. The idea is therefore to bring these two processes together to make them more coherent and complementary. Thanks to his skills, the expert will be able to take into account the constraints and objectives specific to these two processes.
To keep up with competitors and the rapid evolution of applications, companies must rethink their processes to gain in productivity. And DevOps is part of this vision. Indeed, the DevOps method will enable the wall between the development and management/production teams to be broken down.
The benefits of DevOps for the enterprise
This is a fairly recent development and is in line with the philosophy of Agile and continuous delivery approaches. DevOps has several advantages for companies, firstly by speeding up the product launch process through continuous delivery. The company will also be able to increase its production. It also allows feedback to be received quickly as experts can fix problems early. This will allow the team to focus on the speed of the process and the quality of the projects.
It helps to strengthen teamwork and establish better communication within the company. In other words, adopting DevOps will make the team more versatile, efficient and productive.
In addition, DevOps enables the team to be responsive to customer needs. As updating and adding new features is accelerated, the company will be able to respond to change requests from customers or stakeholders within the company quickly.
What is a DevOps engineer?
The DevOps engineer is an expert whose roles within the company are increasingly recognised. Today, they are highly sought after by companies, particularly to supervise the various teams, including developers, the automation architect or the quality assurance team.
As the role is halfway between the world of development and administration, the DevOps engineer will deal with the management of CI/CD processes and Cloud deployments, infrastructure management and project supervision.
This expert must therefore master the various tools and programming languages associated with his or her role as DevOps.
DevOps: what is its place in the company?
DevOps has gradually become established within the company. This evolution has also given rise to a whole series of definitions. While these vary according to the operational environment, the place of DevOps within the enterprise can be divided into two categories.
In general, DevOps will be an important player in all processes, including deployment, product operation and change management.
Firstly, DevOps will manage teams in a more flexible way. It will intervene throughout the company and encourage collaboration between the various players. In particular, he will intervene in all technological and commercial processes. He is therefore a versatile and dynamic player who will interact with all hierarchies.
It will also optimise the efficiency, speed and reliability of production processes. To do this, he will combine automation and the use of DevOps tools.
In addition, DevOps will take care of update planning and change management. It will play an essential role in process optimisation. It will enable rapid and continuous delivery of projects.
It will also intervene in the context of change management. Indeed, the adaptation of tools and production processes requires various difficult decisions on the part of managers. DevOps will therefore coordinate the changes between the various players. It will promote the deployment of safe and efficient processes to guarantee the success of the changes.
What are the roles of DevOps?
The job of DevOps brings together the tasks inherent in two distinct professions: that of developer and that of administrator. The DevOps person must therefore have dual skills.
The use of DevOps has become strategic in the enterprise, as it improves the speed and skills of the actors in the exchange and processing of information and the optimisation of projects.
As part of his tasks, the DevOps will create, implement and manage IT systems. In addition, he or she will ensure that the solutions work properly once they have been implemented. He also takes care of the necessary updates and modifications. He will ensure that these systems are developed according to the needs of the company. He will also take care of the optimisation of these processes and the implementation of production automation.
Thus, DevOps will, among other things, have the role of :
- develop a project that meets the needs of the recipients,
- carry out the necessary tests to ensure successful commissioning,
- ensure that the application works properly,
- support the integration of the solution, etc.
Why do we talk about the DevOps pipeline?
Creating a DevOps pipeline aims to make work cycles shorter, faster, automated and repeatable. It will thus bring about changes so that teams can respond quickly and efficiently to stakeholder or user needs.
The stages of the DevOps pipeline
The steps in the DevOps pipeline form an infinitely repeatable cycle based on monitoring and automation. It includes :
Planning
This is a step that allows new functionality to be added or existing functionality to be modified based on customer feedback.
Development
As part of the DevOps pipeline, functionality should be developed to support and facilitate teamwork.
Integration
The projects are compiled into an executable file that can be deployed on different environments and by different stakeholders.
Validation
This stage is carried out to check the quality and functioning of the projects.
The delivery
After the various tests, the team can deliver the projects to the recipients.
The deployment
This step consists of installing the product in the different environments.
Supervision
Finally, this last step ensures that the product is operational.
The DevOps pipeline solution
With the DevOps pipeline, it is possible to control projects and manage the data cycle from preparation to visualisation. It also improves the operational side with a stable infrastructure. Monitoring in all stages is also ensured to guarantee their performance.
The DevOps pipeline also enables communication between the various players within the company. Data Engineers, Data Scientists, Data Analysts and other players are brought together and are required to work together.
A final advantage of such a platform is that you will have trades linked by pipelines deployed in an automated way to move from one environment to another easily and quickly.
What are the DevOps skills?
The DevOps engineer occupies a position that requires a perfect command of IT development, process automation and continuous deployment. The DevOps engineer must therefore :
- master the use of development tools (virtualisation and construction),
- have the skills required to implement CI/CD continuous integration chains,
- master the programming language used and the world of operating systems,
- Know how to use automated testing and ETL process tools,
- master the tools necessary for monitoring deployments,
- have the necessary data security skills,
- have advanced knowledge of server systems, etc.
In addition to technical skills, the DevOps engineer must also be able to verify the proper functioning of the developed solutions and their performance. His role is also to make the necessary technical adjustments according to the assessment he has made.
The technical aspect is not the only area he or she must master. The DevOps person must also have human qualities. Indeed, their ability to interact and communicate with other teams is crucial. In addition to management skills, they must listen to and take into account the demands of the teams in their interventions. He/she must have interpersonal skills to better define the needs and exchange with the teams and the different hierarchies easily.
In short, a DevOps engineer must be able to :
- master the technical language,
- manage and collaborate with teams,
- analyse, implement and ensure the smooth running of the project,
- Involve all the teams and actors concerned to develop a coherent solution.
Steps to implement a DevOps approach
To implement a DevOps approach, a few steps must be observed. First, you need to get the support of the management and the rest of the teams. The second step is to carry out an audit to evaluate the current operation. All this will help to define the objectives to be achieved. Finally, DevOps will proceed with the implementation of the projects.
The implementation of a Devops approach must also take into account various elements, such as
- configuration and supervision of environments,
- the adoption of a clear version numbering,
- the use of reliable automation tools,
- securing access to environments,
- the implementation of a central logging system...
How to train for DevOps?
DevOps expertise is considered a new profession. Also, there are not yet many training courses. However, it has to be said that recruiters prefer profiles with a computer engineer background (5 years of higher education). However, as the demand is starting to grow, it is possible to access a junior DevOps position even without experience.
To qualify for the position of DevOps engineer, the candidate must have proven skills in development and system administration. This is why a DevOps training course is an easy way to become a DevOps engineer. This training is particularly interesting for a software developer or a data scientist.
Jedha offers training courses to become DevOps. These courses provide the necessary skills to work in the world of data science and DevOps. The use of different tools and DevOps practices are at the heart of our data engineering training where participants will learn to handle different automation and deployment tools, such as AirFlow, Docker, Kubernetes, Gitlab... The learners of our data engineer training will also be introduced to the key principles of DevOps in order to give them all the skills required by this profession.
The training courses offered focus on an innovative approach, in BootCamp or in continuing education.
If you want to acquire the skills and master the entire Data pipeline, take a look at the Data courses that Jedha Bootcamp offers.
