Moving into DevOps - have you done it?

[JackOfAllIT]

Hi all,

So its looking like my contract will end in 6 weeks. Its been great, really enjoyed it and will leave on a good note. New management in the US wants my role to be in the US.

So thinking about what might come next. I like to be close to latest tech so DevOps seems to me like an interesting area to explore.

Has anyone moved into DevOps? If so as what role? How is it? What was your career experience leading up to the move? Really appreciate to hear from anyone thats done so. I'll use my break in work to study and do whatever I need to get geared up to move into DevOps. Main driver is that I am interested to understand what its about. Also would like to do a bit of programming.

My career so far:

3 years tech support
7 years global network admin (datacenter operator)
6 years global infrastructure project manger
1 year infrastructure operations manager

Im quite technical and can talk to management. I can write perl and actually really enjoy programming but never had any real work experience with only ever done programming on my own personal project...

Cheers

[stek]

Just today's latest fad, by the time you've got your head round it and garnered enough experience to sell on the contractor market it'll be dead and gone.

I've moved a bit sideways into Puppet, my natural home is Unix and latterly Linux including automatic deployments, and that's what I always end up falling back on cos Devops is a load of bollocks and and I really fail to see what Puppet adds to the mix apart from a nice gui a moron can understand.

Last place I was at we used Puppet to make changes and had to warn the business that it will break things, something a script and bit of thought would never do.

There, I've said it.

[mall]

stek
Just today's latest fad, by the time you've got your head round it and garnered enough experience to sell on the contractor market it'll be dead and gone.

I've moved a bit sideways into Puppet, my natural home is Unix and latterly Linux including automatic deployments, and that's what I always end up falling back on cos Devops is a load of bollocks and and I really fail to see what Puppet adds to the mix apart from a nice gui a moron can understand.

Last place I was at we used Puppet to make changes and had to warn the business that it will break things, something a script and bit of thought would never do.

There, I've said it.

LOL well said.

Maybe we should start a new one call it maybe errm PRODOPS Or a cheaper version called BOBOPS.

[SpontaneousOrder]

DevOps was supposed to be a culture, rather than a role / process.

Of course as soon as it became a buzzword the concept was bastardised.

So good luck. I suspect it's a bit of a minefield.

[SeanT]

Yes. If you have the right attitude and aptitude, and aren't just doing it for financial reasons, and can find the right client / interesting enough work it's great, go for it.

[SeanT]

Just today's latest fad, by the time you've got your head round it and garnered enough experience to sell on the contractor market it'll be dead and gone.

I've moved a bit sideways into Puppet, my natural home is Unix and latterly Linux including automatic deployments, and that's what I always end up falling back on cos Devops is a load of bollocks and and I really fail to see what Puppet adds to the mix apart from a nice gui a moron can understand.

Last place I was at we used Puppet to make changes and had to warn the business that it will break things, something a script and bit of thought would never do.

There, I've said it.

And you're wrong.

[gejjaxxita]

I moved into devops and found it rewarding, like many terms in IT different people understand it to mean slightly different things . I would say if you have a good understanding of Linux sysadmin, some understanding of security, an automation tool like Ansible, Jenkins, one of the IaaS providers like AWS and some experience working as a developer then you could apply for devops contracts.

You ask for my experience leading into it - I was working as a Python dev but always had an interest in Linux and automation, when the devops person on the team left I had to step in. I think this sort of story is quite common tbh. If you do not have any experience at all as a developer it might be difficult to get into devops, however every situation is different so I wouldn't say impossible either.

[serverside]

I moved into devops and found it rewarding, like many terms in IT different people understand it to mean slightly different things . I would say if you have a good understanding of Linux sysadmin, some understanding of security, an automation tool like Ansible, Jenkins, one of the IaaS providers like AWS and some experience working as a developer then you could apply for devops contracts.

You ask for my experience leading into it - I was working as a Python dev but always had an interest in Linux and automation, when the devops person on the team left I had to step in. I think this sort of story is quite common tbh. If you do not have any experience at all as a developer it might be difficult to get into devops, however every situation is different so I wouldn't say impossible either.

Did you make this shift as a contractor or permie?

[perplexed]

LOL well said.

Maybe we should start a new one call it maybe errm PRODOPS Or a cheaper version called BOBOPS.

BaaS - Bugs as a Service

[malvolio]

DevOps is merely Service Management done properly. Some of us have been saying for at least 20 years that applications are just another service and should be wrapped up under the same overall management regime. It seems business is finally catching on, as code production becomes more agile (in all senses), cloud services are making more of the traditional coding unnecessary and original app development is increasingly outsourced. Add to that the increasing automation of server farms and it all begins to come together.

So you don't move into DevOps unless you're an agency trying to fill roles. Most sensible companies have been doing it for ages.