What skills do you need to develop in order to be a good DevOps engineer?
In this article, I will talk about some of the skills you need to have in order to be a good DevOps engineer.
I will focus on non-technical skills and attributes that are valuable in various professional and social contexts.
If you want to read about the hard skills or technical knowledge required for DevOps engineers, you can read about them here.
First of all, I want to remind you that DevOps isn't a specific person or tool. DevOps is a methodology in the software development and IT industries. This methodology integrates and automates the work of software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops).
The DevOps engineer’s main goal is to lead the software development cycle to the DevOps mindset and maintain it.
If you are a DevOps engineer, you should be the link between software development and IT. In order to perform your function, you need to cooperate with different departments, be aware of changes and plans, and participate in many different meetings. For all this, you need good communication and collaboration skills.
You need to know how to listen, how to ask questions, and how to explain complex information clearly. You need to know how to document technical information in a way that everyone will understand. You need to share the knowledge in an organized way.
If you want to be a good DevOps engineer, you have to be proactive. You shouldn’t wait for someone to tell you what to do or point out a problem.
You must constantly search for what you can improve and how you can save the company’s time and money. How to make the processes faster, user-friendly, and secure.
If you find a way to do that, you need to convey your ideas to the management. This is why you must be convincing, know how to discuss, and know how to prove information.
Develop critical thinking and always ask questions. Remain willing to explore, experiment, and improve. The more you ask, the more you discover.
When you discover something, pay attention to the details. A small mistake can lead to significant issues. Being accurate in coding and configuration maintains high standards and ensures system stability.
Even a minor inaccuracy in configurations can turn into long hours of debugging.
Be adaptable. DevOps environments are always dynamic. DevOps engineers must embrace change, whether it’s adopting new tools, responding to shifting priorities, or accommodating evolving project requirements.
As a DevOps engineer, you need to develop your own learning system. You need to learn quickly. Sometimes you have very tight deadlines, and you must learn(anything) and implement it until the date.
You also need to see “the big picture.” Develop analytical and strategic thinking. For example, if you plan to integrate a new product, make sure it’s not affecting any existing products or work processes.
If your goal is to change the software developer’s mindset to the DevOps methodology, do it slowly, step by step. People don’t like changes, so make sure to have a strategy for that.
Those are some of the skills that are crucial for a good DevOps engineer.
The most important, you need to love what you do and live it.
Just like anything in life.
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