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10 Benefits of Test-Driven Development to Your DevOps Team

10 Benefits of Test-Driven Development_
10 Benefits of Test-Driven Development_

From JavaScript to HTML/CSS to SQL and beyond, thoroughly testing code before integrating it into any system is a key element to consider in software development. First and foremost, it safeguards the quality and integrity of the code. Compared to development teams that use other methods, TDD has been proven to considerably reduce bugs and deficiencies.

It’s also interesting to note that the DevOps market size is expected to reach $25.5 billion by 2028.

In this article, we’ll explain what test-driven development is, along with the various benefits, and how to effectively integrate test-driven development into your DevOps Team.

Test-Driven Development

What is Test-Driven Development in DevOps? 

First things first, it’s important to understand that the test driven development technique is neither about testing, design, or simply carrying out lots of tests. Test Driven Development (TDD) is a proactive software development method where developers write tests for the code before it’s even been written.

In addition to Test-Driven Development, in the age of digital transformation, digital transformation conferences have become a reliable pool of knowledge for developers to make strategic decisions and foolproof investment choices, too.

Whether you’re a small startup or an established enterprise, implementing test-driven development can significantly enhance your software development process and ensure the quality of your products, ultimately strengthening your business name in the industry.

Moreover, by promoting transparency and accountability in the development cycle, TDD aids in identifying and mitigating potential risks, thus providing clarity regarding the ultimate beneficial owner of code functionality.

Why use Test Driven Development in DevOps?

Test-Driven Development offers a variety of benefits for developers, including:

1. Early Bug Detection & Reduces Bugging Time

Writing tests before making changes or implementing new features helps catch bugs and problems early on. Even better, the likelihood of shortcomings or flaws in the final product is considerably reduced too.

Pinpointing a specific area of code that requires attention when it fails, this reduces the time spent on identifying and rectifying issues that can be spent where it’s needed most.

2. Improved Code Quality

Writing tests not only ensure the code meets specific requirements, it often produces cleaner, more modular and more manageable code. Inevitably, this leads to better code quality.

Test-Driven Development

Emphasizing early testing, maintainability, and confidence in the correctness of the codebase, improving code quality with TDD also offers:

  • Insightful documentation
  • Better software design 
  • Increased developer confidence 
  • Automated regression prevention 
  • Notable time savings in the long run 
  • Seamless CI/CD integration 
  • Improved customer satisfaction.

3. Faster Feedback Cycles

TDD provides software developers with immediate feedback on the precision of their code. Quicker feedback loops save developers valuable time by addressing coding headaches straightaway.

Other key advantages faster feedback cycles offer developers include:

  • Accelerates the overall development speed 
  • Minimizes distractions 
  • Enhances productivity 
  • Developers gain confidence in code changes 
  • Aligns with agile development principles 
  • Promotes incremental development 
  • Swift integration with CI 
  • Fosters a culture of collaboration
  • Shortens the overall feedback loop in the development process.

4. Facilitates Refactoring

Refactoring refers to the process of improving internal structures or code designs without changing its external behavior.

Enabling developers to regularly improve the quality and maintainability of the codebase, refactoring allows developers to reshape and develop code whilst simultaneously eliminating the worry of breaking existing functionality or introducing accidental consequences.

The key steps for refactoring with TDD are:

  • Write a failing test 
  • Run the test 
  • Perform refactoring, e.g. renaming variables, extracting methods, simplifying complex logic, etc. 
  • Run the test again 
  • Write additional tests 
  • Run all tests 
  • Evaluate 
  • Implement changes 
  • CI Integration 
  • Refactoring Documentation, e.g. comments in the code, README files, etc.

To guarantee you codebase’s code health improves with time, it’s worth considering carrying out a code review.

5. Supports Continuous Integration (CI)

In DevOps software development, continuous integration (CI) is where developers routinely add code changes to a central repository. Going hand in hand with TDD, CI enables automated tests, provides quick feedback, maintains code stability, and makes sure any integration issues are identified early on.

The CI process typically includes these steps:

  • Version Control System (VCS) 
  • Code Changes 
  • Automated Build 
  • Automated Testing 
  • Static Code Analysis 
  • Artifact Generation 
  • Deployment to Staging 
  • Environment Automated 
  • Acceptance Testing 
  • Manual testing 
  • Code Review 
  • Feedback and Notifications 
  • Merge to Main/Master Branch.

6. Enables Continuous Delivery (CD)

Quite simply, continuous delivery (CD) automates the building, testing, and deploying of software. Making sure it’s always in a deployable state, combined with CI/CD techniques, TDD supports the frequent release of software updates.

Closely related to CI, the key steps in the CD process are:

  • Version Control 
  • Continuous Integration (CI) 
  • Automated Testing 
  • Artifact Generation 
  • Configuration Management 
  • Deployment to Testing/Staging Environment 
  • Automated Acceptance Testing 
  • Manual Testing 
  • Approval Gates 
  • Deployment to Production 
  • Monitoring and Logging 
  • Rollback Plan 
  • Post-Deployment Testing 
  • Documentation and Release Notes

7. Better Collaboration Reduces Debugging Times

TDD provides a clear understanding of the expected behavior of the code. It fosters a culture of collaboration among team members, facilitating virtual collaboration sessions where developers can discuss test results, code implementations, and potential improvements, regardless of their physical locations.

It also helps reduce debugging times by promoting collaboration in the form of clear specifications, collective code ownership, and regular code reviews. 

Reducing debugging times is beneficial for DevOps teams for various reasons:

  • Increased efficiency 
  • Faster time to market 
  • Cost savings 
  • Enhanced morale and motivation 
  • Higher-quality software 
  • Iterative development.

Resulting in better-quality software, faster turnaround for fixing issues, and happier development teams, reducing debugging times is essential for maintaining a seamless development process from start to finish.

8. Increased Confidence in Changes

Acting as the ultimate safeguard, if developers can ensure the tests pass they can be confident in the knowledge that the changes haven’t introduced any setbacks. Test-Driven Development (TDD) also aligns well with modern infrastructure practices like utilizing dedicated hosts, where the isolation and predictability they offer can further bolster confidence in code changes.

Just like software development, Enterprise Architecture (EA) is constantly evolving in this fast-paced market. So, if you like the idea of quicker change and innovation, achieving greater value within the market, and accomplishing your objectives, it’s worth looking into the latest EA trends for further insight.

Test-Driven Development

9. Positively Impacts Data Handling

By writing tests that validate data inputs and outputs, TDD ensures that data is processed accurately, providing a reliable foundation for developers to make an informed inference about the behavior and performance of their code under various conditions. This leads to improved data quality and reduces the likelihood of inconsistencies and errors.

TDD ensures accurate data handling by:

  1. Requirement Clarification 

Clarifying the types of data that need to be handled, how they should be processed, and determining the expected outcomes.

2. Test Writing 

Developers write test cases covering various scenarios related to data handling, e.g. input data, expected output, and any specific conditions or constraints to consider.

3. Test Execution (Red Phase) 

Examine failing tests to start writing the code to handle the data.

4. Code Implementation (Green Phase) 

Write the minimum amount of code needed to make failing tests pass.

5. Refactoring (Blue Phase) 

Once the tests pass and the code works, it’s time to refactor the code to improve structure, readability and efficiency.

6. Regression Testing

To maintain data accuracy, developers run an existing test suite to ensure changes haven’t introduced any regressions.
Increasingly driven by automation, call center data, campaigns, and dialling plans are prime examples that can all benefit from implementing modern test-driven development strategies.

10. Cost savings

By catching problems early, TDD can reduce the time and resources spent on fixing bugs and addressing issues in later stages of development or production.

Boosting both financial performance and competitiveness in your industry, saving costs allows development teams to deliver projects much faster, with fewer resources.

If you’re looking to take back control of your software development investments, it’s worth delving deeper into application portfolio management best practices to learn more.

Are there any alternatives to Test-Driven Development (TDD)?

Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD)

Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) is an agile software development process that incorporates acceptance tests into the development stage.

Behavior driven development (BDD)

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) encourages collaboration amongst a diverse mix of stakeholders to enhance communication. It also ensures software meets the desired behavior and business requirements.

How do you implement Test-Driven Development?

A typical TDD workflow typically includes the following steps:

1. Write a Test

Write a test to define the expected behavior of the code.

2. Run the Test

Carry out the test and make sure it fails. The code hasn’t been implemented yet, so you want the test to fail and show the test is working properly by accurately reflecting the missing functionality.

3. Write the Code

Create the minimum amount of code needed to pass the test. Fulfill the requirements and nothing more.

4. Run the Refractor test (if needed)

Reducing complexities and strengthening readability, refactoring improves the code by making small tweaks without altering the code’s external behavior.

5. Repeat the Process

Repeat the cycle for each new piece of functionality or changes that need to be made.

Helping to better understand your domain as you develop it, and building robust and scalable apps aligned with your business domain is incredibly important too. For example, you could register domain .ai if you work in the world of machine learning or if you have a store based in Anguilla to boost brand awareness.

Final Thoughts

Instilling true value and lowering costs across the board, it’s clear to see (when used right), the TDD method presents an array of benefits to savvy software development teams.

Allowing developers to build a safe environment to unearth all the bugs before harming the whole system, if you’re looking for a methodology renowned for consistent quality and flexibility, test-driven development is the way forward.

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CloudOps vs DevOps: A Comparison

CloudOps vs DevOps
CloudOps vs DevOps

Two methods are becoming quite popular as modern businesses use digital operations to support their growth and agility: CloudOps and DevOps. According to IDC’s most recent estimates, the market for intelligent CloudOps software might grow from $15.3 billion in 2022 to $31.4 billion in 2026 globally.  

Similarly, the worldwide DevOps market is rising steadily at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.7% throughout the forecast period. By 2028, it would have increased from an anticipated $10.4 billion in 2023 to $25.5 billion. These figures indicate that these two models are becoming popular among organizations.

Businesses need both DevOps and CloudOps to increase the agility of their software development and IT operations. Through cloud resource optimization, or clouds, scalability and cost savings are increased. 

On the other hand, DevOps promotes teamwork, automation, increased software dependability, and enhanced customer experiences.  

Even if these models are similar, knowing how they differ is necessary to select the best strategy for your company. This blog post will compare and contrast CloudOps with DevOps, highlighting their benefits and drawbacks.

What is CloudOps?

CloudOps, which stands for Cloud Operations, accelerates business processes by applying IT operations and DevOps concepts to a cloud-based architecture. The core of cloud operations is continuous operations. 

Optimizing workloads and the delivery of IT services in the public cloud is the primary objective here. Asset management and capacity planning are formed to adjust capacity as needed without additional hardware or storage purchases.

Benefits of CloudOps

Scalability: Without the need for extra hardware for storage, Cloud Operations assists in managing the capacity. Asset management and resource allocation are carried out effectively in cloud operations.

Automation: It offers automation across several SDLC phases, such as doing quality assurance and producing reports. It leads to uninterrupted application utilization and a quicker time to market.

Accessibility: Cloud Operations enables anybody, on any platform, to effortlessly administer, keep an eye on, and run servers from any location in the world.

Continuous Operation: The software is automatically updated, which assists in offering customers continuous operation and services, i.e., the cloud’s operations are constantly accessible.

Seamless Integration: Applications that share shared services can coexist in the cloud without requiring connectivity.

Limitation of CloudOps

Cost Overruns: If your cloud budget is idle or underutilized, you face the risk of going overboard. 35% of the cloud budget gets lost due to idle resources, wasted space, and inefficiencies.

Security Issues: Although cloud services safeguard underlying systems, they are nonetheless susceptible to attack and compromise. Therefore, appropriate security setups ought to be taken care of.

Absence of Governance: Cloud services might be executed rapidly and smoothly, but governance has grown difficult. Increased security risks, lack of management, and compliance might result from rapid implementation.

Skill Gap: One of the main obstacles is a need for more experience with cloud platforms.

What is DevOps?

CloudOps vs DevOps

The acronym DevOps, which stands for “Development and Operations,” refers to a group of methodologies that emphasize teamwork while expediting corporate procedures. 

It is essential to shorten the time needed to roll out updates and high-quality software. The primary goal of DevOps implementation is to assist businesses in enhancing their company procedures, instruments, and productivity to enhance employee satisfaction and consistently provide value for clients.

Benefits of DevOps

Pace: DevOps ensures that you move at the necessary pace to fulfill consumer requests, innovate more quickly, respond to changes in the market, and improve your efficiency in achieving business goals.

Security: The DevOps methodology aids in achieving security by using integrated and automated security testing technologies.

Reliability: DevOps techniques such as continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) guarantee that the quality of the application can be preserved, and the infrastructure and application updates may happen quickly. It guarantees end users the best possible experience as well.

Faster speed to market: Increasing the frequency of releases and providing continuous delivery will help you improve your product more quickly and gain a competitive edge.

Enhanced Cooperation: The teams work closely together, assign tasks to one another, and integrate their workflows thanks to the DevOps methodology. 

Limitation of DevOps

Increased Risks: According to its high automation requirements, DevOps can cause several problems if not set up correctly. When these problems arise, DevOps may also make it challenging to identify their origin.

Integration Challenges: When implementing DevOps, a large organization with complex systems may find it challenging to accomplish the high levels of integration required between the IT Operations and IT Development teams. It could be challenging to adopt, but DevOps may also necessitate a significant culture shift for some firms.

Complexity: DevOps implementations may result in a complex production environment that is difficult to diagnose and manage. Businesses may also be compelled to spend more money on hardware and software, which would raise costs and confuse matters.

Comparison between DevOps and CloudOps methodologies

It is necessary to compare CloudOps with DevOps because they are two different but related approaches that are vital to contemporary software development and IT operations.  

Comprehending the differences between them in terms of duties, tools, technology, scope, and other elements can help organizations choose the most appropriate operational model. Among the main distinctions between the two are the following:

1. Range

Cloud environments are the primary domain in which CloudOps operates. It involves managing data storage, provisioning, monitoring, and optimizing cloud resources, addressing security and compliance issues unique to the cloud.

The software product development lifecycle, in contrast, is covered by DevOps, encompassing planning, coding, testing, deployment, and continuing operations in addition to monitoring, obtaining feedback, and incremental improvements.

2. Effective resource administration

Efficient management of cloud resources is the responsibility of CloudOps teams. They manage resource scaling to satisfy application demands, keep an eye on performance, and guarantee data security.

Teams in DevOps collaborate on tasks across the whole software development and operations lifecycle. Together, they automate procedures, guarantee the quality of the code, and uphold pipelines for continuous integration and delivery.

3. Instruments and technological advancements

For resource management, CloudOps uses technologies and tools that are specialized to cloud service providers. AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager, and Google Cloud Deployment Manager are a few examples.

Ansible, GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, and other automation and integration tools are used by DevOps for deployment automation, testing, and configuration management.

4. Duration

Continuous monitoring and optimization of cloud resources are essential components of CloudOps, a constant process that adjusts to evolving business requirements over time.

To respond quickly to customer input and changes in the market, DevOps frequently uses shorter development cycles along with frequent releases and upgrades.

5.  Cultural change

It takes a culture shift toward cloud-centric thinking to adopt CloudOps. Prioritizing cloud-native processes and solutions is necessary for teams to run scalable and adaptable operations.

DevOps promotes a culture change in which development and operations teams work together, share responsibilities, and prioritize ongoing learning and development.

6. Cost-effectiveness

Setting up and maintaining cloud infrastructure can come with higher upfront expenditures, especially for companies that have large-scale cloud deployments.

DevOps usually has cheaper upfront costs because it places a strong emphasis on automation, which maximizes resource utilization and minimizes the need for significant infrastructure investments.

7. Information Exchange

Data sharing may be restricted in CloudOps environments because of security and privacy issues, particularly when handling sensitive data.

Better communication and information sharing are enabled by DevOps, which encourages a more adaptable and cooperative approach to data exchange between development and operations teams.

Future Trends

It is anticipated to see a growing confluence between DevOps and CloudOps in the future. As new trends like AIOps, GitOps, and NoOps gain traction and the emphasis on cloud-native development, microservices architectures, and containerization technologies intensifies, both models are probably going to change at the same time.

The emergence of hybrid and multi-cloud methods will probably make managing cloud operations much more challenging. 

For example, companies with large workloads that are cloud-native could find it advantageous to implement CloudOps. DevOps services may be more appropriate for those who want to improve internal collaboration and accelerate product delivery.

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Mastering DevOps in Software Engineering: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you having trouble matching your software development methods with today’s fast-paced changes? The evolution of software development has made embracing DevOps practices not just a trend but a strategic necessity.

DevOps, derived from development and operations, signifies a transformative shift in the entire process of creating, testing, and deploying software.

Embarking on the journey of integrating DevOps into your software engineering workflows requires thoughtful consideration. For a seamless transition into this transformative process, seek personalized guidance tailored to your specific needs.

Let’s dive into the essential considerations that will pave the way for a seamless and successful implementation.

1. Understanding the DevOps Culture

The cultural transformation integral to DevOps is much more than just teamwork; it’s about fostering a sense of shared responsibility and ownership among the development and operations teams. This approach breaks down traditional silos and encourages open communication, creating an environment where everyone works towards common objectives, thus enhancing overall efficiency and productivity.

This image from Space-O Technologies shows the difference between DevOps vs Agile development methodologies. 

DevOps in Software Engineering
Source:  spaceo.ca

In this ever-evolving landscape, the insights from experienced professionals are crucial to ensure that your approach is well-aligned with modern requirements. Therefore, as you take your first step towards optimizing your software practices, it’s beneficial to seek expert guidance.

2. Choosing the Right DevOps Tools

Selecting the appropriate tools is the backbone of any successful DevOps initiative. The technology stack you choose should align with your organization’s specific needs and existing infrastructure. Here’s a closer look at some key DevOps tools:

• Jenkins

Beyond being an automation server, Jenkins serves as the heartbeat of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. Its versatility makes it a go-to choice for automating various stages of the development process.

• Git

Git, a distributed version control system, ensures effective source code management. Its ability to handle collaborative development seamlessly and facilitate branching and merging makes it a fundamental tool in DevOps workflows.

• Docker

As a containerization platform, Docker enables the packaging and distribution of applications along with their dependencies. This promotes consistency across different environments and streamlines the deployment process.

• Kubernetes

Kubernetes stands out for container orchestration. It automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. This provides a strong solution for container orchestration in complex environments.

3. Establishing Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) Pipelines

Implementing CI/CD pipelines is not only a technical choice but also a strategic move toward achieving faster, more reliable software delivery. Let’s explore the benefits in more detail:

Benefits of CI/CD Pipelines

  • Faster Time-to-Market: CI/CD pipelines accelerate the development cycle, ensuring that new features and bug fixes reach users swiftly.
  • Reduced Manual Errors: Automation in testing and deployment reduces the likelihood of human errors, contributing to a more reliable release process.
  • Enhanced Collaboration: CI/CD pipelines create continuous feedback loops, fostering collaboration between development, operations, and other stakeholders.

4. Security as Code: Integrating DevSecOps

With cybersecurity threats on the rise, integrating security practices into your DevOps pipeline is non-negotiable. DevSecOps is a methodology that emphasizes incorporating security measures right from the start. Here’s a closer look at key security considerations:

Key Security Considerations

  • Automated Security Scans: Regular automated scans of code and dependencies help identify and remediate vulnerabilities proactively.
  • Access Control: Implementing robust access controls ensures that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive data and critical systems.
  • Security Training: Continuous training for development and operations teams on security best practices is essential to build a security-first mindset.

5. Monitoring and Logging for Continuous Improvement

DevOps is an iterative process, and continuous monitoring is essential for identifying areas of improvement. Robust monitoring and logging solutions offer insights into system performance, troubleshoot issues, and guide optimizations over time.

Monitoring Best Practices

  • Real-Time Monitoring: Identify and address issues as they arise, preventing potential disruptions to services.
  • Performance Metrics: Track key performance indicators (KPIs) to gain insights into application and infrastructure performance.
  • Log Analysis: Analyzing logs is crucial for troubleshooting issues, understanding system behavior, and identifying patterns that can inform future improvements.

6. Embracing Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a fundamental practice that involves managing and provisioning infrastructure through code and automation. The advantages of IaC extend beyond just efficient infrastructure management.

Advantages of IaC

  • Scalability: IaC allows for the effortless replication and scaling of infrastructure as needed, supporting the dynamic demands of modern applications.
  • Version Control: Tracking changes to infrastructure configurations using version control ensures transparency, accountability, and the ability to roll back changes if needed.
  • Consistency: IaC ensures consistency across different environments, reducing the chances of configuration drift and minimizing deployment-related issues.

7. Collaboration and Communication

Effective collaboration and communication are the bedrock of a successful DevOps culture. Creating an environment where development, operations, and other stakeholders communicate openly and collaborate seamlessly is essential for sustained success.

Collaboration Strategies

  • Cross-Functional Teams: The formation of cross-functional teams brings together individuals with diverse skills, fostering collaboration and shared responsibility.
  • Knowledge Sharing: Workshops, training sessions, and collaborative tools are instrumental in facilitating the exchange of knowledge and best practices among team members.
  • Collaborative Tools: Leveraging communication and collaboration tools, like Slack or Microsoft Teams, supports real-time communication and connect the team.

8. Scalability and Flexibility

In the dynamic landscape of software development, scalability and flexibility are paramount. Your DevOps practices should be designed to adapt to changes in technology, team structures, and business requirements.

Scalability Tips

  • Modular Architecture: Designing systems with a modular architecture facilitates easier scalability. Individual components can be scaled independently to meet varying demands.
  • Automation for Scale: Automation is a key enabler of scalability. Automate repetitive tasks to ensure efficiency and consistency as your infrastructure and application needs grow.
  • Continuous Evaluation: Regularly evaluating and adapting DevOps processes is essential for optimal performance. Continuous improvement should be ingrained in the culture.

As software engineering constantly evolves, it’s crucial to stay informed about current development trends in software engineering. Understanding these trends can guide your DevOps practices toward greater adaptability and innovation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, adopting DevOps in software engineering is a transformative journey that involves cultural shifts, strategic tool selection, and the establishment of efficient processes. By understanding the DevOps culture, choosing the right tools, establishing CI/CD pipelines, integrating security practices, monitoring for continuous improvement, embracing Infrastructure as Code, promoting collaboration, and ensuring scalability, you can lay the foundation for a successful DevOps implementation.

Remember, DevOps is not a one-time implementation but a continuous evolution. Stay committed to the principles, foster a culture of collaboration, and leverage the power of automation to propel your software engineering processes into the realm of efficiency, reliability, and innovation.

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Six DevOps Trends to Learn About to Stay Ahead in the New Year

DevOps methodology is an ever-evolving field that supports successful digital transformation. Advances in tech, industry trends, and greater demand to meet customer expectations have led to a growing need for this kind of solution. There’s thus been huge market growth over the last few years, and this trend is predicted to continue into 2024 and beyond.

In fact, a recent study predicted the DevOps market will grow to $51.18 billion dollars by 2030—that’s up from $7.01 billion in 2021.

While the DevOps market can be unpredictable and is ever-evolving, there are some trends you need to know about to stay ahead as we move into the new year. In this article, we’ll touch on automation and AI, serverless architecture, and the importance of diversity and inclusion. 

Keep reading to ensure you’re ahead of the DevOps game as we enter 2024.

1. Automation and AI

When it comes to trends and technological advances across industries, there’s one thing that can’t be denied – automation and AI tech are here to stay. As the DevOps market evolves, the two will continue to play a key role in helping teams run more efficiently and analyze data more effectively. 

For example, automation tools can assist DevOps teams with handling data and delta streams. What are delta streams, you ask? Essentially, these simplify the act of streaming data into a lakehouse. 

As well as automation tools, the effective use of AI can lead to better decision-making and increased performance. 

Let’s first look at automation in more detail, before exploring the use of AI in DevOps further.

Automation

There are many benefits to automation, including:

  • Increased efficiency. Automated AI tools can often complete tasks quicker and more effectively than humans. For DevOps teams, this means increased efficiency and meeting goals and targets faster.
  • A reduction in man-made errors. Automation tools don’t tire in the same way employees do, and they aren’t affected by personal problems, lack of sleep, or the common cold. Automation reduces the risk of man-made errors by removing the human element of repetitive or monotonous tasks. 
  • Programming repetitive tasks. Automated tools can help DevOps teams program repetitive activities and therefore achieve their objectives faster. Doing so means staff can focus their energy on those tasks that aren’t yet able to be completed by digital technologies. 
brain tech

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can also be used in DevOps in a multitude of ways. For a start, predictive analytics can forecast future outcomes. By analyzing past deployments and performance metrics, AI tools can help teams improve their output.

Another trend in DevOps is the use of AI for operations and incident management. Using this effectively, teams can analyze data to detect and remediate issues faster. This can help predict problems before they occur and can be particularly useful for teams working on game development pipelines, for example. 

Ultimately, automation and AI in DevOps is a trend you need to stay ahead of. Delivering improved performance, increased efficiency, and the ability to predict and prevent problems ahead of time, neither one is going anywhere fast. 

2. Cloud-native technologies and serverless architecture

Cloud-native technologies allow organizations to run their operations efficiently by enabling them to build and utilize applications more effectively. For this reason, cloud-based technologies will continue to be widely adopted in DevOps as we head into 2024.

There are many ways in which DevOps teams can use these, including cloud data management and migration. The benefits of cloud-native technologies, such as microservices and serverless architecture, are vast and include:

  • Faster deployment. DevOps teams can move quicker with cloud-based technologies. They can deploy and iterate on applications more rapidly, which is highly desirable in fast-paced organizations and industries. 
  • Improved scalability. Often, cloud-native technologies are easier for DevOps teams to scale and this therefore makes them highly advantageous.
  • More flexibility. Cloud-native technologies offer DevOps teams more flexibility, allowing them to create and deploy applications using a wide range of tools.  
  • Cost-effective. The reduced need for physical infrastructure is often more cost-effective, enabling DevOps teams to save money and focus on other priorities. 

As organizations seek to streamline DevOps operations, improve efficiency, and undergo digital transformation, cloud-native technologies and serverless architecture will thus continue to lead the way.

cloud computing

3. Infrastructure as code

Infrastructure as code (IaC) is another trend in DevOps that’s here to stay. It involves managing infrastructure using the same tools that are used for managing code. This means it’s easier for teams to automate the former and maintain consistency in their infrastructure configurations. 
When combined with a multi-cloud approach, the result is standardization across multiple resources or applications, streamlined infrastructure, and greater consistency across platforms, which in turn enhances the user experience.

4. Low code/no code applications

Low code/no code (LCNC) applications use minimal coding and allow developers to create and manage apps quickly and easily. LCNC solutions continue to change the DevOps landscape because they:

  • Enable developers to quickly build applications.
  • Streamline DevOps by including monitoring and resource management tools.
  • Speed up innovation.
  • Reduce the workload for professional developers. 
  • Enable developers to act quickly on customer feedback.

With all these benefits, it’s no wonder that LCNC is a DevOps trend you need to know about to stay ahead in the new year.

5. The use of data analytics

Another key trend that’s only getting bigger in 2024 is the use of data analytics. Using effective analytics tools can continually improve performance and help give stakeholders a better understanding of their investments. Not only that, but DevOps teams, investors, and stakeholders can use data-driven insights to make better strategic decisions. 

Better DevOps decisions lead to cost-effectiveness, better-quality applications, and increased uptake. For example, teams might use analytics to optimize software development processes by providing real-time data and feedback about these. 

Or perhaps performance analytics are required to identify and analyze issues, allowing DevOps teams to continually improve their output and, therefore, the user experience.

laptop metrics

There is an ongoing need for DevOps teams to understand and analyze the development and performance of their applications. As a first step, they may seek out data lake examples when considering their handling and analytics practices. The benefits of effective analytics are huge and, in today’s rapidly developing world of digital technologies, this need will only continue to grow.

6. An increased focus on security

With rapid advances in digital and cloud-native technologies, it’s no wonder that there continues to be an increased focus on security. As well as a need for enhanced data protection as we move into 2024 and beyond, DevOps teams need to consider:

  • Application security. Teams will see an increased need to build security processes into application development. As technologies advance, so do security risks. Implementing these practices as part of the development process will become commonplace. This is referred to as DevSecOps. 
  • Cloud security. As we discussed earlier, there’s currently a surge in cloud-native technologies and infrastructure. It goes without saying that DevOps teams will have an increased focus on cloud security as these technologies develop and become more widely used. This may include data encryption, app configuration, or access controls. 
  • Compliance. With a growing focus on security in DevOps comes a growing focus on compliance practices. An IP phone service, for example, will need to meet GDPR protocols. DevOps teams will find a continuing and growing need to ensure they’re compliant with ever-developing industry regulations and standards.

To enhance security and streamline compliance processes, consider using a tool that allows you to create electronic signature solutions for important documents.

As organizations seek to protect their applications, data, and systems against cyber security threats, the need for a greater focus on DevOps security and compliance will grow. This is likely to lead to an increased need for DevSecOps specialists.

Final thoughts

As we head into 2024, it’s essential to stay ahead of these six trends. Of course, with a rapidly evolving field such as DevOps, it is impossible to predict exactly how the landscape will develop. 

However, the trends outlined above certainly provide an insight into what the future of DevOps is likely to hold. As cloud-native and AI technology continues to evolve, so will it. The technological shifts mean that more organizations will embrace DevOps to meet their business needs and help them undergo a successful digital transformation. 

If there’s one thing that’s for sure, it’s that DevOps itself is going nowhere.

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How to Develop and Improve Collaboration in DevOps Teams

DevOps is becoming more and more popular in the world of business. By streamlining the development and IT management processes, DevOps reduces organizational silos and produces a better final product or service for the customer.

However, DevOps is fundamentally reliant on strong collaboration. Without honest, open, and easy communication and shared working practices across your organization, DevOps will just be a buzzword. 

If you want to introduce a true DevOps philosophy and culture to your organization, read on to learn how to develop and introduce collaboration in your DevOps teams.

What is DevOps?

DevOps refers to a set of practices and philosophies that aim to overhaul the culture of your organization – that means it’s quite difficult to get your head around what DevOps actually is.

It can be useful to start with an example. Let’s say, for instance, that you create a remote desktop software for iPad. Under a DevOps model, the people managing that software will be the same overall team that developed it. This means that any issues can be easily resolved as the management team will be true experts in the software.

DevOps is best thought of as an approach to software development and management that aims to overcome the gap between the planning and programming stage and the implementation and feedback stage. Rather than splitting the overall development process between a programming team and an IT team, DevOps creates one streamlined operation.

This can help you to draw on a wider range of expertise and skills, remove barriers to truly creative collaboration, and develop more effective operations.

In order for an organization to use a DevOps model, you must be prepared to break down the traditional divide between development and operations teams. This can take a range of different forms: you might choose to merge both operations together into one team or you might choose to integrate even more teams, such as those responsible for managing websites.

Why is collaboration so important in DevOps?

Why is collaboration so important in DevOps?

Because DevOps is all about getting previously separate teams to work together, it shouldn’t be a surprise that effective collaboration is what makes or breaks a DevOps model.

As automation – tools that make DevOps easier by automating processes previously divided between development and operations teams – is a key part of DevOps, some companies prioritize automation over collaboration. However, you have to remember that the tools are only as good as the people who use them.

Collaboration and communication is important from the very beginning of a transition to DevOps. That’s because people are naturally resistant to change – explaining why you’re overhauling existing organizational structures can create buy-in among employees. At the same time, you should show how collaboration can work in practice to produce better outcomes.

Without effective collaboration running through your DevOps team, you can probably assume that your processes will soon end up simply operating as before: divided between development and operations teams.

How to improve DevOps collaboration: a step-by-step guide

If you’re using a DevOps structure, therefore, it’s pretty clear that you need to always be developing and improving collaboration. Without this, you won’t be seeing any of the benefits that come with DevOps. So how can you improve DevOps collaboration in your organization?

1) Identify any clear collaboration problems

Before you start making any changes to your DevOps processes, you should take a step back and consider what is already working well and what can be improved. If there are any immediate issues, such as problems with your online telephone service that prevent engineers from working with each other, you should prioritize those.

You should also talk with employees from across the DevOps team. Their experiences will dictate what you need to focus on as you look to improve collaboration. You could also use business analytics tools to establish the effectiveness of collaboration in your organization.

2) Increase the visibility of everyone’s work

Increase the visibility of everyone’s work

If you want people to work collaboratively on a project, they need to actually be able to see the work that is being done. Improving visibility should be a key part of any DevOps model – engineers should be able to see what each other is working on and the levels of progress across the team so that they know who to offer help to.

For some developers, this can be a daunting step. After all, it’s easy to feel protective or embarrassed about work in progress. However, full visibility will let everyone learn from what others are doing.

Achieving full visibility in the technology sector can be difficult. Despite this, you can improve visibility by finding a workflow software that lets the entire team see test results, feedback, and ongoing development. By encouraging engineers to download remote desktop connection tools, your team will be able to have visibility of each other’s work from anywhere in the world.

3) Remove barriers to information

In the traditional model of using separate development and operations teams, engineers who produced a piece of software wouldn’t have had access to most of the information about how that software worked in practice. This had a detrimental effect on their future work, as they couldn’t learn from their earlier efforts.

That’s why an important principle that supports any DevOps culture is free access to information. This is obviously true for information such as testing results but should also apply to your overall culture and mindset: if you work in an office, keep your door open during meetings.

While you’ll have to be careful to consider privacy and security regulations, try to grant open access to your data for all DevOps engineers. By having the same information to draw on, your engineers will find collaboration much easier.

On top of this, consider communication tools like transcription software. These can remove barriers for the entire DevOps team by ensuring everyone has access to notes from meetings and can search for and edit past meeting notes in collaborative documents.

4) Celebrate bravery

Celebrate bravery

Collaboration can be an intimidating concept, especially if your developers are used to working in small siloed teams. That’s why creating a culture of collaboration is so important. One great way to do this is by publicly celebrating those engineers and developers who were brave enough to experiment with other engineers.

You should point out that collaboration is often a risk; developers will be worried about failing publicly. Celebrating the process of collaboration – even if the outcomes are failures – can be a really powerful way to develop a collaborative mindset among your DevOps team.

This culture of collaboration is also important when it comes to hiring; you shouldn’t just rely on technical screening. Instead, look for potential employees who are able and willing to collaborate effectively.

5) Mix up your teams

Many companies fail at DevOps by pursuing a DevOps model in name only – they don’t actually integrate the development and operations teams. Sometimes, building a successful DevOps team will require you to specifically diversify the subteams that deal with certain problems.

If you’re new to DevOps, you might want to buddy up developers with operations engineers. Forcing them together will encourage a collaborative practice to develop, while also speeding up the process of integration between the two teams. You should carefully consider the different skills of your employees and buddy up those with contrasting experiences and strengths.

It’s also important that you consider how to have a varied range of perspectives across your DevOps team. With remote working tools like RealVNC becoming more and more sophisticated, you can hire the perfect people for your team without having to worry about their location – this means that you can easily diversify your DevOps team as you grow.

6) Cultivate a DevOps mindset from the very top

Cultivate a DevOps mindset from the very top

Whether you’re a developer or engineer working in a DevOps team, or a member of your company’s management team, you have a responsibility to grow the DevOps mindset through your words, actions, and working processes.

This is especially important for leaders – they should model what good collaborative work looks like in practice by being open, accessible, and approachable. They should respect the insights of every team member and encourage them to put forward their views and opinions.

An important part of encouraging the DevOps mindset from the top of the organization is by providing opportunities to upskill your employees. This can let team members who originally worked solely as early-stage software developers build skills that are more applicable to the holistic and integrated environment of a DevOps workplace.

This will help to grow a collaborative DevOps mindset as employees will feel more confident and secure in their own skills, meaning that they’re more willing to risk failing publicly by working collaboratively.

Collaboration: the key to a successful DevOps mindset 

If you want DevOps to be more than just another buzzword in your organization, it’s vital that you find ways to develop and improve collaboration between your software developers and engineers.

Our guide to collaboration in DevOps will help you achieve this. By increasing visibility and removing barriers to information, some of the practical issues hindering collaboration will be overcome.

You can then start to focus on growing a collaborative mindset among your employees. Start celebrating collaborative work and model this from the top – soon, you’ll have a successful DevOps team working in harmony!

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Community Tips

DevOps 101 for a Dev Who Doesn’t Like Ops

(To the tune of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) 

— 

Now this is a story all about how 

DevOps improves software development, here and now 

And I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there 

I’ll tell you why DevOps should make developers care 

— 

In the world of software, development and ops 

Often work apart, and it’s easy to flop 

But DevOps brings them together, for a common goal 

To make software faster, better, with more control 

— 

Now that the sick rhyming has captured your attention, let me tell you why even as a developer with little knowledge of ops knowledge, I’m a big fan of DevOps. It’s so time-saving that I cover the basics, even when I’m the sole developer on a project. Who doesn’t like saving time?  

The basics of DevOps 

So, what is DevOps? At its core, DevOps is a culture and set of practices that aim to break down the barriers between development and operations teams to improve collaboration and efficiency. It involves automating and streamlining the software development process, from code creation to deployment and beyond.  DevOps is not just a set of tools or processes, but a way of thinking about software development. It’s about creating a culture of collaboration, communication, and continuous improvement. With DevOps, developers and operations teams work together to build, test, and deploy software faster and more reliably. 

Additionally, DevOps promotes collaboration and communication between different teams, which leads to a more efficient and streamlined development process. By breaking down the silos between development and operations teams, everyone is on the same page, working towards the same goal. This results in faster and more reliable releases, as well as overall better quality of the product. In short, DevOps is a time-saving and collaborative approach to software development that ultimately leads to better outcomes for everyone involved. 

Why should developers care about DevOps? 

You might be wondering why, as a developer, you should care about DevOps. After all, isn’t that more of an operations thing?  Well, the truth is that DevOps is highly relevant to developers as well. According to the Developer Nation Survey 23 results, DevOps adoption keeps increasing (from 47% to 56% in 1½ years), while most of the implementation work is done by software developers themselves, with an earlier Developer Nation report mentioning only 5% of the DevOps practitioners being DevOps specialists.

In my mind, this makes sense. DevOps is, at its core, a culture of breaking down the walls between devs and ops people. While a specialist can be invaluable in complex implementations, or to help kickstart a culture, the culture itself should be the responsibility of generalists. By adopting DevOps practices, you can save time and streamline your development process. You can avoid manual steps in building and deploying your code, get test results without running tests, and have your changes live in production far faster than you would without DevOps.  Sure, setting up version control, pipelines, testing, and deployments takes some effort. But more often than not – even sometimes when you’re the only one working on the project – the investment is worth it! 

DevOps exists to make your life easier 

This is the bottom line – DevOps is not there to create a new profession of DevOps consultants (just like Agile Software Development isn’t there to ensure Agile Coaches make their bread). It’s there to make the lives of devs and ops people easier.  By adopting DevOps practices, whenever I am actually working with Ops, DevOps makes the collaboration easier as everything is traceable, often reversible,  and even easier to document. This means that if there are any issues or bugs, we can quickly identify where the problem occurred and take steps to fix it. 

According to the Q3,2022 Pulse report DevOps implementation witnesses more instrumental action from the programmers and software developer community with a 45.6% involvement, while the supervisory roles reflect the participation of less than 12% with Tech/engineering team leads at 11.2%, architects involvement at 10.7% and the C-level CIO/CTO and IT management roles at the lowest 10%. Computer and data science students show some practical learning involvement with 13.3%.

DevOps also encourages frequent communication between developers and operations, which helps to avoid misunderstandings and ensures everyone is working towards the same goals. The result is a more efficient and effective development process, with better quality software releases and happier customers. And even when I’m working by myself, DevOps makes it easier to deploy, maintain, and scale my apps. This collaboration can help to identify and fix issues earlier in the development process, reducing the risk of costly delays and downtime caused by issues discovered during deployment or after release. 

Just recently, I was building a .NET MAUI project – my first one – and realised I only had a rough idea of how to build, test and publish an app, and not even that on how to distribute it. The obvious solution was to let someone else figure the details out for me. Luckily, I have someone who knows more about this stuff – namely, GitHub.  Getting the basics to function using GitHub and Visual Studio App Center took me about an hour. GitHub Actions would take about 15 minutes to ship my code – from checking in to having a download available on App Center – and I don’t have to do anything!  I should probably add some tests to the build process, but hey, I’ll add those right after I’m done with the documentation. If you want to read more, the whole article is here.

How to get started? 

Here are some simplified steps to get started with your journey as a DevOps-savvy developer: 

  1. Automate everything you can: Automate your build, testing, and deployment processes using tools like GitHub, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, TeamCity, and GitLab.
  2. Collaborate with Operations: Work closely with your Operations team to understand their needs and to ensure your code runs smoothly in production. 
  3. Embrace Continuous Improvement: DevOps is all about continuously improving your development processes, so always look for ways to streamline and improve your workflows. 
  4. Learn by Doing: DevOps is a hands-on approach, so start by experimenting with new tools and practices on small projects. 
  5. Prioritise Communication: Effective communication is essential to DevOps, so ensure you regularly communicate with your team to ensure everyone is on the same page. 

And remember, DevOps is a journey, not a destination.  By taking small steps towards automation, collaboration, and continuous improvement, you can gradually incorporate DevOps practices into your development workflows and reap the benefits of faster, more efficient software development. Don’t get too attached to any one tool – plenty of tools exist, and you can get tremendous value from many. 

Bio: Antti Koskela is a Microsoft MVP trying to stay current on what’s what in the Azure and .NET world, and a Developer Nation Dev Committee member.

Categories
Tips

How to Upskill Your Cloud, SRE, and DevOps Experts to Empower Your Organisation

How to Upskill Your Cloud

Developer Nation is continuously trying to bring high quality articles for your career path and your company/organisation among insights, tips, interviews and more from the developer ecosystem. This time we have the honour to host an article by IOD about roles, career growth and leadership, focusing on Cloud, SRE, and DevOps Experts.

This article was contributed by IOD.
IOD is seeking new tech bloggers. If you are a top notch tech expert or a writer, join IOD’s talent network and share your expertise!

Today, every company is leveraging technology to innovate, streamline operations, and create value for their customers. Regarding software engineering, developers have a natural and prominent role in creating new capabilities and opportunities, but that cannot happen without a greater support infrastructure. Cloud, SRE (site reliability engineering), and DevOps engineers are central to value delivery and business continuity. It is vital for engineering managers to understand how they can become mentors in order to coach and upskill these experts to both enable their career growth and increase business value.

Distinctions Between Expert Roles

Modern software development teams work in a DevOps way, by bringing people with different competencies together and enabling a faster, higher-quality value delivery and development lifecycle. 

Writing the application business logic is only part of the engineering equation needed to deliver customer value. The other part, operations, includes many tasks that are mostly driven by Cloud, SRE, and DevOps experts. Good examples of those tasks are designing scalable and reliable systems, ensuring that code can be tested and deployed using continuous integration and delivery pipelines, monitoring system health, and implementing security and compliance guidelines.

Personally, I dislike the title “DevOps Engineer,” because DevOps is applicable to the entire engineering team and is a more abstract concept. SRE, on the other hand, is a concrete implementation of the DevOps philosophy—experts in an SRE role bridge the gap between developers and operations. A DevOps engineer (what I prefer to call the “automation/cloud specialist”) differs from an SRE, as they only focus on systems operations.

There are some natural derivations in lateral roles that come from further specialisation in certain technology areas such as DevSecOps engineer, chaos engineer, or cloud and solution architects at more senior levels. 

SRE and cloud specialists are crucial to the success of the product or service. Yet, they are too often disconnected from the business reality; this is where coaching and mentoring makes all the difference. 

Mentoring Is Vital to Career Growth

Engineering managers have the lead role in mentoring and coaching these experts: guiding, providing feedback, showing different career possibilities, and building bridges within the rest of the organisation. Engineering managers can act as human routers to make the connection between experts and business stakeholders, ensuring experts get first-hand knowledge and visibility on the value and end-user experience of the product(s) and service(s) that they work on. 

Similarly, managers can then demonstrate to stakeholders the positive business impact of these experts’ actions. Does the solution have a great reliability track record and always meet the agreed SLAs? Tell them about it! What would it take to enable solution architecture to scale ten-fold and be available in other geographical locations to support new business cases? Great conversation starter! 

How to Make It Happen

Unfortunately, business stakeholders usually only connect with these experts when something goes wrong (e.g., a system failure), and need to understand what happened and why. Engineering managers can change this pattern and create a new paradigm.

Here are a few things managers can do to establish this paradigm and foster its culture:

  • Translate business and industry-specific jargon into technical concepts, examples, and terminology that experts can relate to. 
  • Help experts develop the necessary non-technical skills to communicate effectively, and translate complex engineering scenarios into simple, relatable terms and ideas with business impact.
  • Facilitate sessions where experts can present and showcase potential opportunities that new cloud and data technologies can unlock in the organisation, generating new business models or streamlining existing operations and processes.
  • Create and explore opportunities for experts to shadow and connect directly with colleagues in different roles across the organisation, such as working alongside a customer support representative or joining a sales meeting.

This enables constructive cooperation across competencies, breaking silos while helping these experts grow and gain a better understanding of their impact in the organisation.

Upskilling, Community, and Thought Leadership

There is no substitute for hands-on learning, and engineering managers have a unique role in creating those opportunities. It’s important to maintain a continuous dialog to understand the expert’s career goals and interests, while simultaneously facilitating situations that enable them to gain new hands-on experience.

Simple and small steps, such as inviting them to a steering meeting, participating in a technical brainstorming workshop, or joining a new, exciting project (even if in a minor role) can make a huge difference and impact. Venturing out of one’s comfort zone is always an opportunity to grow and learn.

Further, hands-on experience should always be accompanied by other learning and input, such as insights from other experts, industry certifications, or non-technical skills development.

Certifications and Digital Content

Consuming digital content—articles, videos, whitepapers—and pursuing industry certifications—such as those offered by AWS, Microsoft, Google, and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation—are both excellent practices for validating existing knowledge and discovering new services, expert insights, and best practices.

Each of these organisations offer certifications that go from the fundamentals to complex solution architecture scenarios, focusing on areas such as security, networking, and data engineering. When combined with hands-on experience outside of typical work tasks, content-learning and certifications provide natural upskilling and specialisation pathways that stay with the expert even when changing jobs or companies. 

There are also plenty of advantages to an organisation that has certified experts. It nudges the organisation toward good practices and ways of working, while enabling the company to level up their cloud partnership status and showcase their expertise to customers.

Technology Communities

In organisations, from SMBs to larger corporations, there is a natural tendency for individuals to become siloed in their team and/or business unit. Cloud, SRE, and DevOps are domains transversal to all development teams and organisational structures. Fostering an internal technology community where these experts can regularly meet increases alignment and promotes a healthy exchange of ideas. Moreover, it enables these experts to drive the technology governance and foster a culture of engineering excellence across the organisation.

Similarly, external communities and events are also a great way to gain new insights and fresh perspectives. DevOpsDays, ServerlessDays, as well as AWS and Azure Community Days and Meetups, to name a few, are fantastic options to learn and meet like-minded people. With practically all events now fully virtual and often free to attend, this is something that should be highly encouraged and promoted in your organisation.

Sharing Experiences and Thought Leadership

Engineers, especially less experienced ones, might be intimidated at the prospect of sharing their insight and experiences in technical articles or public speaking engagements. Regardless of the level of the content, whether beginner’s guides or more advanced deep dives, there is considerable value in creating content and sharing knowledge. Entry-level content from a Cloud, SRE, or DevOps expert can offer tremendous value to a developer or business stakeholder not familiar with the topic, and it can help bridge gaps between different competencies.

From a career growth perspective, an expert that invests time and effort in thought leadership activities—including written content and speaking engagements—is more likely to accelerate their professional growth and seniority. This is not first because of the positive visibility that those activities bring to themselves and their organisation (that helps!), but rather, it enables the expert to radically improve and develop valuable communication skills. Simply, with practice comes change; the more we work to translate and express complex thoughts and ideas into written and verbal content, the less subject we are to our own silos. 

Conclusion

Coaching and upskilling Cloud, SRE, and DevOps experts reveals new possibilities for impacting how an organisation operates and delivers. With these experts, it’s critical that direct managers and senior leadership start seeing and treating them as essential value creators, not cost centres.

When mentoring these experts, help them understand their potential career paths and growth, and highlight the value they create and the impact they make in the organisation. Most importantly, be transparent, provide constructive feedback, and foster a psychologically safe environment that encourages them to venture beyond their comfort zone and try bringing in new ideas.

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Tips

7 DevOps books to read in 2021

7 DevOps books to read in 2021

If you are looking to learn more about Ansible, Azure, Docker, Terraform, Kubernetes, and their roles in DevOps, then this blog post is for you. We continue our series of must-read books with 7 DevOps books to read in 2021, as recommended by our friends at Packt.

Azure DevOps Explained

Get started with Azure DevOps and develop your DevOps practices

What reviews say:

” In my opinion, it is definitely one of the greatest books I ever read for DevOps.
Although I am Azure DevOps certified, I really enjoy reading this book and it gives me an extra overview of what I have learned.
It is well structured and the fact that is simple to read and follow along makes it more attractive. “

Terraform Cookbook

Efficiently define, launch, and manage Infrastructure as Code across various cloud platforms

What reviews say:

” I had the chance to read this book and I was really pleased by its content.
noting that this is not the first book or terraform material that I read, I would say that this book contains valuable structured information with also access to code used in various chapters.
it is certainly an asset for those starting their journey with terraform.”

Practical Ansible 2

Automate infrastructure, manage configuration, and deploy applications with Ansible 2.9

What reviews say:

“This book is probably perfect for someone with reasonable experience. It was what I needed as a second book to get a good look at the ecosystem and a second opinion of how to use it. “

Kubernetes – A Complete DevOps Cookbook

Build and manage your applications, orchestrate containers, and deploy cloud-native services

What reviews say:

” Great coverage of common Kubernetes and DevOps tools. I’ve learned about some of the tools I haven’t used before like Jenkins X, GitLab, Fossa, Trivy, Litmus Chaos etc.
Although some of the long YAML files are provided in the GitHub repository I got the digital version, makes it easier to copy paste. “

Kubernetes and Docker – An Enterprise Guide

Effectively containerize applications, integrate enterprise systems, and scale applications in your enterprise

What reviews say:

“If you have worked on Kubernetes at all, you have experienced the frustration of trying to go beyond a cluster that has a single config file and a simple layer 7 load-balancer using NGINX. This book does truly target not only the enterprise user, but any person that wants to learn topics that make Kubernetes a complete offering.

I have been looking into the external-dns project on my list for a few months, but I never got around to doing much – Much to my surprise, when I was reading the topics covered in the book, it mentioned Services and external-dns. Chapter 6, alone, to me is one reason to buy the book since it explained and showed me how to install Metallb with external-dns in easy to understand terms and hands-on configuration.”

Learning DevOps

The complete guide to accelerate collaboration with Jenkins, Kubernetes, Terraform and Azure DevOps

” I would suggest reading through each section before you work along with the steps. There’s lots of references to other resources that are not necessarily part of the topics being discussed ”

Docker for Developers

Develop and run your application with Docker containers using DevOps tools for continuous delivery

” When reading articles, tutorials and even books, that is very common that at the end of the reading you struggle about how to translate that to a real production situation. Believe me, this book is different. You get to the end with a sense that you are very likely to know what are the next steps to apply what you learned to your existent or new projects. And this means a lot. The book has some great balance from history, concepts, example and practice. ”

What books have helped you deepen your knowledge of DevOps? Do share in the comments. Looking for more books to read? We have also shared recommended Backend and Frontend books.

Categories
Tips

Eight must-read books for developers in 2021

Eight must-read books for developers in 2021

What are the top books on your reading list this season? Whether you’re learning a new skill or adding depth to your existing knowledge in a particular development area, it’s always a good idea to get a few more recommendations to your list. We’ve teamed up with Packt to help you discover eight must-read books that you need to add to your collection in 2021.

All Packt eBooks and Videos are for $5! A key part of Packt’s mission is to unlock new opportunities for developers and help put software to work in new ways. They want this year’s $5 campaign to help developers unlock new opportunities.

Cloud and Admin

Azure DevOps Explained

Implement real-world DevOps and cloud deployment scenarios using Azure Repos, Azure Pipelines, and other Azure DevOps tools.

What reviews say:

“The book is very carefully walking the reader through everything you need to know to become an Azure DevOps expert. I use DevOps all the time to build and manage Business Central AL development and found the book very useful.”

Kubernetes and Docker – An Enterprise Guide

Apply Kubernetes beyond the basics of Kubernetes clusters by implementing IAM using OIDC and Active Directory, Layer 4 load balancing using MetalLB, advanced service integration, security, auditing, and CI/CD.

What reviews say:

“This book covers most of the topics when an enterprise would like to adopt Kubernetes. What’s more, you hardly can find coverage on these topics in the market!”

Coding and tools

Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity 2020

Get to grips with coding in C# and build simple 3D games with Unity from the ground up with this updated fifth edition of the bestselling guide.

What reviews say:

“If you’re serious about learning to build games in Unity your progress will be advanced rapidly if you first have a solid foundation of understanding of C#. This book explains the necessary information to start understanding and using C# to develop games in Unity. After reading this you’ll have enough context to begin tearing down other people’s code and repurposing it to build your own functionalities for your game.”

iOS 14 Programming for Beginners

Learn iOS app development and work with the latest Apple development tools. Explore the latest features of Xcode 12 and the Swift 5.3 programming language in this updated fifth edition.

What reviews say:

“The author does a good job to capture an effective, quick, and breezy reading/learning/code-along experience. The explanations are concise and easy to follow, although I would imagine a complete newbie to programming entirely might ask a lot of questions in the earlier chapters.”

Data

Learn Amazon SageMaker

Quickly build and deploy machine learning models without managing infrastructure, and improve productivity using Amazon SageMaker’s capabilities such as Amazon SageMaker Studio, Autopilot, Experiments, Debugger, and Model Monitor.

What reviews say:

“This is a comprehensive book for a data scientist looking to use the AWS ecosystem for machine learning with a focus on Sagemaker. I like the way it is organized which is practical and matches a typical life-cycle of a project.”

Data Engineering with Python 

Build, monitor, and manage real-time data pipelines to create data engineering infrastructure efficiently using open-source Apache projects.

What reviews say:

“Data Engineering With Python provides a solid overview of pipelining and database connections for those tasked with processing both batch and stream data flows. Not only for the data miners, this book will be useful as well in a CI/CD environment using Kafka and Spark. It’s very readable and contains lots of practical, illustrative examples.”

Programming

40 Algorithms Every Programmer Should Know: Hone your problem

Learn algorithms for solving classic computer science problems with this concise guide covering everything from fundamental algorithms, such as sorting and searching, to modern algorithms used in machine learning and cryptography.

What reviews say:

“Who the book is aimed at: if you self-identify as a data scientist, serious algorithms specialist, or even the quant type, then you won’t be disappointed! If you’re just starting in the field, the author has done the hard work of selecting some of the commonly used techniques & algorithms in the field today.”

Learn Quantum Computing with Python and IBM Quantum Experience

A step-by-step guide to learning the implementation and associated methodologies in quantum computing with the help of the IBM Quantum Experience, Qiskit, and Python that will have you up and running and productive in no time.

What reviews say:

“I really like this book. It takes a step-by-step approach to introduce the reader to the IBM Q Experience, to the basics underlying quantum computing, and to the reality of the noise involved in the current machines. This introduction is technical and shows the user how to use the IBM system either directly through the GUI on their website or by running Python code on one’s own machine.”

Have you read any of these already? Leave your impressions in the comments and don’t forget to share the list with other developers in your circle!

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Categories
Tools

DevOps CI/CD usage trends

DevOps CI/CD usage trends

To understand DevOps CI/CD usage trends, SlashData has, over the past three and a half years, tracked the usage of continuous integration & delivery (CI/CD) tools and services among mobile, desktop and web developers. While DevOps is technically a culture rather than a set of tools, CI/CD is at the core of the collaboration process between operations and developers. These tools enable some of the most important benefits of the shift to this new culture. As can be seen in the chart below, the majority of developers are not using these tools and usage is not growing. 

While many firms in various studies have indicated that they are adopting DevOps, our data suggests that this shift in culture is not ubiquitous across organisations. Has the use of CI/CD tools reached as many developers as it can or are there certain market barriers?

CI/CD Usage

% of developers using CI/CD tools

DevOps CI/CD usage trends - CI/CD adoption trends by mobile, web and desktop developers

Profile of CI/CD users

Understanding the profile of developers using CI/CD compared to those that are not can provide more insight into why usage is not as high as one might expect. In general, developers who use CI/CD tools are professionals working for companies with larger development teams and are more experienced compared to developers not using CI/CD.

Data from our most recent survey shows that developers that are using CI/CD tools are much more likely to be professional developers than those that are not. Web developers using CI/Cd tools are 20 percentage points more likely to be professional developers compared to developers not using these tools. For mobile and desktop developers this differential is 22 and 18 percentage points respectively.

DevOps CI/CD usage trends - Profile of CI/CD users DE % of users and non-users of CI/DE who are professional developers

Our most recent survey also shows that 46% of developers using CI/CD tools work for organisations with more than 20 people involved in software development. This compares to only 32% of CI/CD non-users who work for firms with more than 20 developers. The fact that CI/CD users are less likely to work in smaller developer teams points to lower demand at small firms. This may be due to less complex development operations requiring less automation and integration of developer and IT teams.

DevOps CI/CD usage trends - Number of people involved in software development in company

58% of developers using CI/CD tools work for firms with 10 or more people involved in software development

How big are the development operations adopting CI/CD?

Developers who use CI/CD are also more experienced than developers who have not integrated CI/CD into their development process. Of web developers using CI/CD, 44% have six or more years of experience compared to just 28% of developers who are not using CI/CD. For desktop developers, we see the same trend, with 49% of these developers using CI/CD possessing six or more years of experience compared to 34% of developers who are not using CI/CD. Mobile developers using CI/CD are slightly less experienced, but the overall trend holds true, with 49% of developers using CI/CD having three or more years of experience, 17 percentage points more than those not using CI/CD.  

Experience in web development, desktop development and mobile development

As developer operations adopt DevOps culture, to improve the odds of success, developers should have an understanding of the entire development process. This may be easier for more experienced developers to manage. 

While some may struggle, other developers have fully embraced the shift to DevOps and bring a variety of skills to the table and have carved out a role as a DevOps specialist.

The DevOps Specialist

DevOps specialists play an important role in driving DevOps culture and are often evangelists. These practitioners are relatively uncommon with only 5% of developers in our survey identifying as having this job. This lack of evangelists and experts may be an important factor limiting the culture shift throughout an organisation.

Finding professionals with diverse skill sets to occupy these roles may be contributing to the low number of DevOps specialists. One of the keys to successful DevOps implementation is merging of cultures so it is important that professionals driving the process have an understanding of and empathy for how both IT and developers work. 

Developers who identify as a DevOps specialist are a diverse group and indicate that they play additional roles in organisations beyond just DevOps specialist. The majority of survey respondents identify as software developers but DevOps specialists are 8 percentage points more likely to also be a software developer compared to developers who do not identify as a DevOps specialist.

DevOps specialists are also much more likely to be architects, administrators (both data and system), engineers and testers. These skills play an important role in the implementation of DevOps. Architects are needed to automate processes, administrators are required to manage release schedules and testers and QA engineers are needed to test software as it moves through each step of the iterative development process.

What else do DevOps specialists do?

DevOps CI/CD usage trends - What else do DevOps specialists do? % of DevOps specialists in other roles vs developers that are not DevOps specialists

Digging deeper into the DevOps specialist’s skill sets we can also observe that many have more than one role beyond DevOps specialist. From the table below we can see how these developers describe themselves and how their roles overlap. Twenty-three per cent of DevOps specialists are both programmers and system administrators and 27% are programmers and architects. Having development skills and an understanding of how to manage and design systems are an important combination of skills for leading a DevOps strategy. 

DevOps specialists’ additional roles

DevOps specialists' additional roles

While DevOps is a very popular strategy already adopted by many organisations, based on the number of developers using CI/CD tools, not all developers are buying in. The DevOps culture has been slower in reaching less experienced developers and ones at smaller firms. The need for more experienced professionals with diverse skills may be a barrier to more developers benefiting from DevOps tools such as CI/CD. 

If you are interested in learning more, here is some additional reading.You can voice your opinion in our current survey to shape the next State of the Developer Nation report and contribute to future DevOps CI/CD usage trends.