Top DevOps skills needed in 2022

DevOps is a combination of two terms, Development, and Operations. It's associated with the software development process. Earlier software development was a very discrete process that took a long time to develop software, even to push updates. The typical software development process involves two facets. One side develops the software (Development), and the other side (Operations) manages it, tests it, and monitors it for optimum health.

Rapid development in technologies pushed the need to develop software quickly and push updates far more quickly. Traditional software development methods were making the entire process slower and less efficient. DevOps approach took birth that helped the team to innovate and adapt to the market faster. DevOps also brought in new ways to identify and fix bugs with frequent updates, which helped in increasing reliability, scalability, and security. All these are happening as a result of improved collaboration across both teams.

Since the demand for qualified DevOps professionals is increasing at a rapid rate, the market for DevOps is huge. Its market size as of today stands at more than USD 10.3 billion. If you are interested in learning DevOps, check out this DevOps online course. Let's now have a look at the top DevOps skills needed in 2022:

Linux

Since companies deploying DevOps are using Linux-based OS for development purposes. There is a huge demand for Linux skills across the domain. Linux's ability to customize gives it a boost among many other OS. You can customize it to your needs and requirements. Linux is also known for its sound security and scalability features.
Some Linux distributions like CentOS, RHEL, and many more are more suitable for critical performance operations, security, and compatibility.

CI/CD

DevOps without CI/CD is nothing. To become an expert in DevOps or master DevOps skills, you must have a solid understanding of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery. These are the most significant practices within DevOps that aids in developing and delivering quality software quickly to the client. The Continuous Integration aspect involves integrating old and new code. These practices help in saving quite a lot of time. The Continuous Delivery aspect automates the majority of the tasks to make the entire code deployment-ready with minimal manual intervention.

Testing Skills

DevOps speeds up the software delivery process. That doesn't mean the end-product is error-free or bug-free. To make software bug-free, testing is absolutely necessary. DevOps implements Continuous Testing. The testings involved within the DevOps are not only functional, feature verification, but also operations testing, performance testing, and many more. The usual scene is testing code within the development phase using automated testing tools. Testing is crucial to DevOps, and it means you must possess testing skills to master DevOps.

Software Security

Software Security is paramount in today's scenario. Since the codes are shipped faster, quicker, and more frequently, the overall security of the software has been enhanced. Bugs and security vulnerabilities are common in the software development lifecycle. It's essential to root out security issues and loopholes. It means that DevOps Engineers must be capable of writing secure and reliable codes to protect the application from unwarranted attacks. Software Security also involves methods to ensure defense mechanisms are intact, working, and protecting the application all the time.

Automation

DevOps is nothing without Automation. It's used everywhere within the DevOps domain. It's involved in the whole DevOps pipeline like CI/CD, configurations, continuous testing, performance monitoring, etc. Automation is critical in developing an application through DevOps. Automation helps in quickly developing software and shipping it faster by swiftly conducting repetitive manual processes. The biggest advantage of Automation is that it not only improves the speed but also accuracy, in delivering high-quality products.

Coding

Coding skills are essential to master DevOps. There are many languages that you must be aware of and experts of to make a career in DevOps. These languages are Python, Ruby, Perl, Java, PHP, etc. These languages help in Automation. A slight error while coding can prove disastrous later on. Have a look at the DevOps Tutorial to help you better understand.

DevOps Tools

Knowledge of tools is essential to master DevOps. It has more than hundreds of tools within the DevOps community that you may have to learn and master. These tools range from monitoring, testing, version control, orchestration, automation, collaboration, package managers, etc. The success of the software built and shipped largely depends on the tools that are used to build, manage, deliver, monitor, and handle it.

Cloud

Cloud is increasingly being integrated with DevOps. Cloud is offering a centralized platform for testing, deploying, debugging, and releasing software. Cloud also offers resource sharing and collaboration along with all the other functionalities. Learning and mastering different cloud service providers is an added advantage for your profile. You could take up AWS, Azure, or GCP, for that matter.

Containerization

Containers are relatively new to the area of the software development lifecycle. Containerization is the process of packaging everything that an app or software requires to function standalone into small bundles independent of each other. It granulates the entire software and helps in enhancing efficiency, agility, security, scalability, and reliability. You must learn Docker and Kubernetes to master container technology.

Soft skills

Apart from hard technical skills, what you require the most are soft skills. Good communication skills, collaboration skills, interpersonal skills, being a team player, positive attitude towards solving problems, etc. These skills help you stay ahead of the game from your peers.