Top 9 In-Demand Key Skills for DevOps Engineers

According to a recent Best Jobs in America report, DevOps engineer stands as the second-best technology job and fifth-best job among the top 50 jobs. DevOps engineers are considered as the backbone as the backbone of the software development life cycle, as they are responsible for various tasks, including combining code, application maintenance and management.

Big giants ranging from Amazon and Facebook to Netflix and Walmart are continuously and increasingly using DevOps to ensure a rapid and consistent delivery system. Even small and medium enterprises are also finding ways to adopt DevOps as well. This is the reason more and more individuals are looking towards DevOps Foundation Certification.

If you are looking to become a DevOps engineer, you need to have the right aptitude to communicate and collaborate. Moreover, courses on coding and testing are also an integral part of DevOps engineering skills. This article will teach you the top in-demand vital skills required to become successful DevOps engineers.

Top 9 Skills for DevOps Engineer Professionals

As a DevOps engineer, you need to have a combination of technical and soft skills. Following are the top in-demand skills you need to excel:

1. Linux Fundamentals and Scripting

As more and more companies prefer hosting their applications on Linux, skills in handling a Linux operating system have become crucial for a DevOps engineer. You also need to master configuration management tools like Puppet, Chef, and Ansible, which will equip you with skills like file handling, text processing, system administration, process management, and network. Linux may not be user-friendly, but it is a highly secure Operating system, which is why many organizations prefer it.

2. Networking Skills

Networking is the foundation of DevOps, and if you do not have the right networking skills, you may even fail in DevOps. Networking skills are critical for DevOps professionals as they are responsible for managing the infrastructure, ensuring seamless communication between different system components, securing the system, and managing cloud networks.

3. Scripting

DevOps engineer tasks involve process automation; therefore, it requires typical scripting skills. As a successful DevOps engineer, you must be familiar with Javascript/JSON, Perl, PHP, Shell, Bash, Nodes.js, etc. With the help of these languages, you can easily automate several manual tasks for development, testing, production, Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, Continuous Testing, App Performance monitoring, and infrastructure settings.

4. Cloud Computing Skills

Another critical component of the DevOps Foundation is the cloud. The cloud provides you with a centralized platform for various jobs, including app testing, deployment, debugging, and release. It also allows you to resource sharing so that the overall process may be accelerated at the desired pace. Therefore, to become a DevOps engineer, it is essential to be familiar with various cloud providers, services, and platforms like Google (GCP), Microsoft (Azure), and Amazon (AWS).

5. Soft and Communication Skills

DevOps is a combination of development and operation. This is why, as a DevOps engineer, you need to possess an excellent level of communication skills. In addition, it is also desired to have empathic behavior, as it shows your mindset. As arguments and conflicts are quite common while working in a team, maintaining empathy and integrity to the highest level is of utmost importance.

6. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery

Abbreviated as CI/CD, Continuous Integration and Delivery are the keys of DevOps. Apart from requiring an experience with CI/CD tools and systems, you must also have intimate knowledge of their inner workings to help integrate different tools and techniques together to create fully functioning delivery pipelines. It is the role of a DevOps engineer to continuously integrate all the codes from various developers, test them, and ultimately deploy the successful code to production.

7. Security Skills

One of the main priorities of every organization is security. During the process of deploying and developing coding, hackers can hack the system, thus affecting the entire process. So, DevOps engineers need to know how to inscribe highly secure codes to keep the applications at their optimum and safe. You must have an understanding of XSS attacks, SQL attacks, and more. Sufficient knowledge of various threats will provide you with an extra edge and will help you find a job in this field easily.

8. Testing Skills

Testing is also one of the key components of the DevOps Foundation. DevOps can be impacted highly by the way testing is done in an organization. In order to automate the DevOps pipeline, efficient continuous testing is an absolute necessity. As a DevOps engineer, you need to ensure that every automated test runs in an organized manner and not take the risk of pushing buggy code directly to customers, which in turn can lead to a bad user experience.

9. Earning Certifications

Credentials showcase your DevOps knowledge. Therefore, earning certifications is mandatory for becoming a successful DevOps engineer. Consider getting the following certifications:

AWS (Amazon Web Services)

• AWS Solutions Architect Associate
• AWS Developer Associate
• AWS DevOps Engineer Professionals
• AWS Solutions Architect Professional

Azure (Microsoft)

• Azure Administrator Associate
• Azure Developer Associate
• Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions

GCP (Google Cloud Platform)

• Associate Cloud Engineer
• Professional Cloud Architect
• Professional Cloud Developer
• Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer

Developing DevOps Engineer Skills

Although there is no single approach to becoming a DevOps engineer, you can consider taking a DevOps Foundation Course. Taking a DevOps Foundation Course from Knowlathon is a great way to gain the skills needed to be successful in the DevOps field. Knowlathon offers well-curated online training to help you gain everything from the basics to the most advanced DevOps concepts.

Conclusion

DevOps Foundation Certification establishes that you have the skills necessary to be successful in DevOps and shows your commitment to a continuous learning attitude. To become a DevOps engineer, you must have a balance of technical knowledge and hone soft skills. While technical knowledge will help you create a highly productive DevOps infrastructure, soft skills will ensure a better user experience.

If you wish to learn DevOps, call Knowlathon, get early-bird discounts and unlock your dream career journey today.