Devops

 DevOps is the combination of cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that increases an organization’s ability to deliver applications and services at high velocity: evolving and improving products at a faster pace than organizations using traditional software development and infrastructure management processes. This speed enables organizations to better serve their customers and compete more effectively in the market. 

DevOps emphasizes better collaboration and efficiencies so teams can innovate faster and deliver higher value to businesses and customers.

An infinity loop formed by the software lifecycle stages is a common depiction of the ongoing collaboration and efficiencies suggested by DevOps.

DevOps is short for Development (Dev) and Operations (Ops). Dev are the people and processes that create software. Ops are the teams and processes that deliver and monitor the software. 

DATA-TYPE IN VARIABLES

 CONDITIONAL STATEMENT EXAMPLE

provider "aws" {

  region     = "us-east-1"

  access_key = "AUGQ"

  secret_key = "KMdfVkt1aurid"

}

variable "image" {

  type    = list

  default = ["ami-02e136e904f3da870", "ami-02e136e904f3da870", "ami-02e136e904f3da870"]

}

variable "instancetype" {

  type    = map

  default = {

    "dev" = "t2.small",

    "test" = "t2.medium",

    "prod" = "t2.large"

}

}

variable input {}

resource "aws_instance" "dev" {

  instance_type = var.instancetype["dev"]

  ami = var.image[0]

  count = var.input == "dev" ? 1 : 0

  tags = {

   Name = "dev-dep"

}

}

resource "aws_instance" "test" {

  instance_type = var.instancetype["test"]

  ami = var.image[1]

  count = var.input == "test" ? 2 : 0

  tags = {

   Name = "test-dep"

}

}

resource "aws_instance" "prod" {

  instance_type = var.instancetype["prod"]

  ami = var.image[2]

  count = var.input == "prod" ? 3 : 0

  tags = {

   Name = "dev-dep"

}

}

EQUAL TO

provider "aws" {

  region     = "us-east-1"

  access_key = "AUGQ"

  secret_key = "KfTMdfVkt1aurid"

}

variable "image" {

  type    = list

  default = ["ami-02e136e904f3da870", "ami-02e136e904f3da870", "ami-02e136e904f3da870"]

}

variable "instancetype" {

  type    = map

  default = {

    "dev" = "t2.small",

    "test" = "t2.medium",

    "prod" = "t2.large"

}

}

variable input {}

resource "aws_instance" "dev" {

  instance_type = var.instancetype["dev"]

  ami = var.image[0]

  count = var.input == "dev" ? 1 : 0                              #if input is equal to dev create 1 if not then 0

  tags = {

   Name = "dev-dep"

 GREATER THAN EQUAL TO

provider "aws" {

  region     = "us-east-1"

  access_key = "AKGQ"

  secret_key = "Kkt1aurid"

}

variable "image" {

  type    = list

  default = ["ami-02e136e904f3da870", "ami-02e136e904f3da870", "ami-02e136e904f3da870"]

}

variable "instancetype" {

  type    = map

  default = {

    "dev" = "t2.small",

    "test" = "t2.medium",

    "prod" = "t2.large"

}

}

variable input {}

resource "aws_instance" "dev" {

  instance_type = var.instancetype["dev"]

  ami = var.image[0]

  count = var.input >= "2" ? 1 : 0

  tags = {

   Name = "dev-dep"

}

}

NOT EQUAL TO 

provider "aws" {

  region     = "us-east-1"

  access_key = "AUGQ"

  secret_key = "KVkt1aurid"

}

variable "image" {

  type    = list

  default = ["ami-02e136e904f3da870", "ami-02e136e904f3da870", "ami-02e136e904f3da870"]

}

variable "instancetype" {

  type    = map

  default = {

    "dev" = "t2.small",

    "test" = "t2.medium",

    "prod" = "t2.large"

}

}

variable input {}

resource "aws_instance" "dev" {

  instance_type = var.instancetype["dev"]

  ami = var.image[0]

  count = var.input != "2" ? 2 : 0     

  tags = {

   Name = "dev-dep"

Count Parameter

 provider "aws" {

  region     = "us-east-1"

  access_key = "AKQ"

  secret_key = "KfdfVkt1aurid"

}

variable "instancetags" {

  type    = list

  default = ["root", "user1", "user2"]

}

variable "instancetype" {

  type    = list

  default = ["t2.nano", "t2.micro", "t2.medium"]

}

resource "aws_instance" "cloud-instan" {

  ami           = "ami-02e136e904f3da870"

  instance_type = var.instancetype[count.index]

  count         = 3

  tags          = {

    Name        = var.instancetags[count.index]

local value

 NOTE:  we can use multiple services from one account. we can use tag for each resource. ==local value is a good concept than tags == if we need to change tag only we need to change local value.

vim aaa.tf

provider "aws" {

  region     = "us-east-1"

  access_key = "AUGQ"

  secret_key = "Kft1aurid"

}

locals {

  common_tag = {

   Name = "uk-project"

   Owner = "moon"

}

}

locals {

 usa = {

 Name = "us-pro"

}

}

resource "aws_instance" "web" {

  ami           = "ami-0ed9277fb7eb570c9"

  instance_type = "t3.micro"

  tags           = local.common_tag

}

resource "aws_vpc" "main" {

  cidr_block       = "10.0.0.0/16"

  instance_tenancy = "default"

  tags           = local.common_tag

}

resource "aws_ebs_volume" "example" {

  availability_zone = "us-east-1a"

  size              = 40

  tags           = local.common_tag

}

resource "aws_instance" "us1" {

  ami           = "ami-0ed9277fb7eb570c9"

  instance_type = "t3.micro"

  tags           = local.usa

}

resource "aws_vpc" "us2" {

  cidr_block       = "10.0.0.0/16"

  instance_tenancy = "default"

  tags           = local.usa

}

resource "aws_ebs_volume" "us3" {

  availability_zone = "us-east-1a"

  size              = 40

  tags           = local.usa

}

Terraform with VARIABLES

NOTE : DATA TYPES ARE STRING - NUMBER - LIST- MAP 

BY DEFAULT IT WILL TAKE STRING 

VIM TIM.TF 

provider "aws" {

  region     = "us-east-1"

  access_key = "AKVUGQ"

  secret_key = "KfU0tVkt1aurid"

}

resource "aws_elb" "bar" {                                      # load balancer search code in website 

  name               = var.elbname

  availability_zones = var.azname

  listener {

    instance_port     = 8000

    instance_protocol = "http"

    lb_port           = 80

    lb_protocol       = "http"

  }

  health_check {

    healthy_threshold   = 2

    unhealthy_threshold = 2

    timeout             = 3

    target              = "HTTP:8000/"

    interval            = 30

  }

  cross_zone_load_balancing   = true

  idle_timeout                = 400

  connection_draining         = true

  connection_draining_timeout = var.timeout

  tags = {

    Name = "cloud"

  }

}

resource "aws_instance" "new1" {

  ami           = var.image

  instance_type = var.mapvar["us-east-1a"]

  tags = {

   Name = var.instancetag[0]

}

}

resource "aws_instance" "new2" {

  ami           = var.image

  instance_type = var.mapvar["us-east-1b"]

   tags = {

   Name = var.instancetag[1]

}

}

resource "aws_instance" "new3" {

  ami           = var.image

  instance_type = var.mapvar["us-east-1c"]

   tags = {

   Name = var.instancetag[2]

}

VIM VAR.TF

}

variable "elbname" {

  type = string

}

variable "azname" {

 type = list

 default = ["us-east-1a","us-east-1b","us-east-1c"]

}

variable "timeout" {

  type = number

}

variable "instancetype" {

type = list

default = ["t2.micro","t2.medium","t2.small"]

}

variable "image"{

default = "ami-02e136e904f3da870"

}

variable "instancetag" {

type = list

default = ["new1","new2","new3"]

}

variable "mapvar" {

type = map

default = {

us-east-1a = "t2.large"

us-east-1b = "t2.medium"

us-east-1c = "t2.nano"

}

}

COPY SNAPSHOT EBS FROM ONE REGION TO ANOTHJER

 NOTE : CHANGE REGION WHERE WE NEED TO COPY

VI TTT.TF

provider "aws" {

  region     = "us-west-1"

  access_key = "AKKVUGQ"

  secret_key = "Kf9Vkt1aurid"

}

resource "aws_ebs_snapshot_copy" "example_copy" {

  source_snapshot_id = "snap-08bc5c27dad8e82b3"

  source_region      = "us-east-1"

  tags = {

    Name = "HelloWorld_copy_snap"

  }

}

EBS VOLUME

CREATE EBS VOLUME AND SNAPSHOT

 VI EBS.TF 

provider "aws" {

  region     = "us-east-1"

  access_key = "AKIBKVUGQ"

  secret_key = "KfU3xN99jTMdfVkt1aurid"

}

resource "aws_ebs_volume" "example" {

  availability_zone = "us-east-1a"

  size              = 10

  tags = {

    Name = "HelloWorld"

  }

}

resource "aws_ebs_snapshot" "example_snapshot" {

  volume_id = aws_ebs_volume.example.id

  tags = {

    Name = "HelloWorld_snap"

Shades of DevOps - Related Job titles

 

What is DevOps ?

 DevOps in simplest terms is “how you build and deploy your software”.

It is about the culture that your team members live, the principles that guide your development process, the set of practices you follow to automate and speed up your delivery, the mindset you demonstrate to achieve complete customer satisfaction.

We all know, the word DevOps is a shortened acronym of Development and Operations. In essence, it is bringing together your software development team and operations team to work towards a common goal and have a unified vision. Their collective focus is always the product or the application which is being developed, rather than individual performances or targets.

In the DevOps world, Dev and Ops don’t work in silos anymore, but rather work in collaboration, as a single unit more efficiently and effectively. They perform their specialized roles effectively, but possess an end-to-end visibility of the whole process. Blame-game is replaced by mutual admiration and celebration of each other’s success. Challenges are solved together and continuous and rapid software delivery becomes the ultimate aim.

The assured benefits of DevOps philosophy are rapid software releases, shorter development cycles, reduced risks, quicker issue resolution, and better productivity. DevOps is a logical extension to agile and the main force behind the dynamism exhibited by many tech-giants for their extraordinary high performance. Shared responsibility, agile processes, automated tasks, smarter workflows, fearless innovation and continuous feedback are the driving factors of a DevOps approach.

DevOps is definitely not about “unlearning” how you have been developing software, but it is about “learning the new dynamics of software development” – improvising the existing processes, prioritizing tasks, changing perspectives and looking at the larger picture from organization’s benefit rather than individual accomplishments.

A DevOps team will also begin from requirements and go until deployment, code and test software, but they will integrate and automate the steps to make the whole process seamless, faster and productive. Let us now understand each of these steps in detail.

THE IMPORTANT PHASES IN A DEVOPS CYCLE

• Continuous Development
• Continuous Testing
• Continuous Integration

• Continuous Deployment
• Continuous Monitoring
• Continuous Feedback

Continuous Development

Software functionality is implemented and the versions of code is maintained using Version Control tools like Git, SVN, CVS etc.

Maintaining versions helps the developers to collaborate on the latest committed code and to rollback to previous versions in case of an unstable deployment.

Continuous Testing

Automation Testing is an efficient way to ensure code is thoroughly tested before it is released to production. Tools like Selenium, TestNG, Junit/NUnit are used to automate the test cases execution which saves time and effort. Reports generated help in defects analysis.

Triggering the entire automation testing process is vital and hence, the Continuous Integration tools come into the picture.

Continuous Integration

Developers commit their code after each update, to a shared code base and each integration is verified by an immediate build to minimize integration errors. It is undoubtedly the most crucial phase of DevOps cycle which holds it all together.

Popular tools are Jenkins, Bamboo and Hudson where Jenkins is the most widely used. These tools orchestrate the DevOps cycle.

Continuous Deployment

This is the phase where the code is actually deployed in production-like environments. Continuous Delivery is the process where new versions of an application are deployed frequently. In Continuous Deployment, we deploy each successful build to production automatically.

Configuration Management and Containerization tools that help in Continuous Deployment are Puppet, Ansible, Chef, SaltStack, Docker etc.

Continuous Monitoring

Monitoring performance of an application is as vital as its development. Defects that are left during Testing phase have to be reported as bugs and dealt with.

Splunk, ELK Stack, and Nagios are some of the popular tools for monitoring. These tools help you minimize the impact of failures.

Continuous Feedback

Feedback is the synergist for organizational changes. DevOps feedback loop has transformed the complete software delivery by highlighting all the major issues and bottlenecks before the actual release. Feedback is an integral part of all phases.

Due to shorter development cycles, we get frequent feedback from users which helps us to adapt quickly to changing dynamics. Each time we integrate, we test, or we deploy and run, the data we gather, are important feedback mechanisms for constant improvisation.

                                                   WHAT LED TO DEVOPS ?

Every organization must innovate and constantly improve to stay competitive in this expeditious IT world. Whether you sell physical merchandise, provide some online services, or deliver values through a web-based application, your business definitely has to build some code, run it in production and manage some IT infrastructure at an ever-growing rate. But how do you achieve this?

As we all know, there were many challenges with the conventional waterfall process. Software development and IT operations were two separate units that worked independently. Developers coded their pieces in secluded environments with unique configurations.

IT operations then took all the software artifacts and put them together as a running application in deployment that had desirable attributes such as high availability, scalability, and security.

Clients, as well as production support, were typically unaware of what the developers and testers were working on and if the business requirements changed midway, incorporating them within timelines and assuring quality was very difficult. The teams always blamed other counterparts for faults and failures.

With manual internal processes and workflows, productivity is always hampered by process bottlenecks or other dependencies.

The agile methodology could address some of these issues as it bridged the gap between developers and testers but Operations was still a separate entity, resulting in a huge delay in deployment. Agile made the development process faster through smaller and iterative deliveries, but there was a demand to reduce time-to-market and assure supreme quality.

DevOps was thus born, merging development and operations under one umbrella and significantly accelerating software delivery and offering incredible benefits.

DevOps owes its conception to Patrick Debois who coined the term ‘DevOpsDays’ for his conference in 2009 which emphasized on the power of different teams working together as ‘ONE’. Since then, started a new wave in technology and DevOps gradually became the IT buzzword which every organization wanted to adopt and experience.

DEVOPS IS NOT A DIFFERENTIATING FACTOR ANYMORE RATHER AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT TO COMPETE AND SURVIVE IN THE IT INDUSTRY.

Benefits of DevOps

DevOps brings strategic shifts in processes, mindsets, culture, and collaboration and results in beneficial business outcomes.
IT Professionals with DevOps knowledge and expertise bring along important strategic skills that propels an organization’s culture.

The following benefits from DevOps will help an organization appreciate the impact of a DevOps approach, such as:

• Accelerated Time to Market
• Shorter development cycles
• Effective communication and collaboration
• Improved Product Quality and Higher customer satisfaction
• Reduced Deployment Failures and Rollbacks
• Reduced Time to Recovery
• Reduced Costs

 

How to Become a DevOps Engineer in Six Months?

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a mix of development (Dev) and operations (Ops). Beyond that, it’s all the connected tools and disciplines of both of those business areas that let an organization deliver services and software applications at high speed, so they can better serve their customers.

The Microsoft-approved definition of DevOps is “the union of people, processes and technology to continually provide value to customers.” Both definitions are open to interpretation, but DevOps centers around writing code that pulls together customers (internal and external), and business processes.

Sometimes, DevOps engineering means just “being that go-to employee” who can quickly and efficiently write code to address an engineering issue. In other words, in some organizations, DevOps is the indispensable IT employee who knows how to write effective code.

Path to become a DevOps engineer

The question of how to become a DevOps engineer has a relatively straightforward answer. With that said, you’ll need to bring a few things to the table. First and most important to the DevOps career path is a passion for learning, knowledge, and logic.

Who can become a DevOps engineer?

DevOps engineers need to be able to read between the lines in their customers’ requirements. They also have to produce software and services that meet those requirements in a usable, testable form. Since development doesn’t happen in a vacuum, you’ll also need leadership and management skills, along with a cool head under pressure.

It’s not all about tools!

When most DevOps hiring managers look for a new employee, they’re more concerned with mindset than with tools. If you’ve got a tech background, you’re willing to learn, and you’re an engineer at heart, you’ve already got the basics of a DevOps career.

DevOps engineers are curious, constantly improving their skillsets, and focused on lifelong learning. So while you can build the core skillset in a few months, your main driver should be on learning, with a goal of providing massive value to your next employer.

Learn to understand systems and processes, and you have the right mindset. That mindset will help you learn how to start a career in DevOps, and more important, how to be a good DevOps engineer.

How long does it take to become a DevOps engineer?

It takes about six months to become a DevOps engineer, assuming you have some basic Linux admin and networking skills, and that you apply the DevOps engineer learning path outlined below. With that said, that career won’t just happen overnight. The length of time required depends on several factors, including your mindset, your current skill level, and your career position.

With that caveat, there’s no shortage of free tools and resources you can use to help you on your journey. Some professional DevOps engineering sites even offer free or vastly reduced exams to help you grow and prove your worth.  Let’s dig into how to become a DevOps engineer, starting with the tools and skills.

What skills will I need?

To become a DevOps engineer, at the bare minimum you’ll need basic Linux admin and networking skills, plus some scripting fundamentals, along with the following DevOps skills:

1. Intermediate to advanced Linux skills

In DevOps, you’re not installing a server once and then logging in every now and then to perform a few admin tasks. You need to understand how to create highly customized Linux images from the ground up, both for VM and container use cases — unless you plan to become a Windows Server DevOps engineer.

2. Intermediate networking skills

In DevOps there’s no “network team.” All network resources are software-defined. In other words, networks are part of infrastructure as code. At a bare minimum, you’ll need a solid grasp on the OSI model, IPV4, subnetting, static and stateful firewalling, and DNS. These skills are usually included in advanced cloud certifications.

3. A commitment to at least one cloud

Clouds aren’t merely managed data centers. In order for you to automate workloads in a given cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc.), you need a firm grasp of their specific semantics. You’ll need to know what resources are available, how they’re organized, and what properties they have. 

4. Infrastructure automation

Once you understand the resources (and their properties) applicable to a cloud, you’re ready to automate their creation using tools such as Terraform and Ansible.

5. SDLC, CI/CD pipelines, and scripting

In DevOps, we deliver infrastructure in a similar way to applications. So — you’ll need to be acquainted with the fundamentals of the software development life cycle (SDLC). This includes versioning strategies using source control code management systems like Git, and CI/CD pipelines such as Jenkins, and CircleCI. Advanced automation tasks may prove difficult through shell scripts alone. You’ll often require more powerful scripting using the likes of Python, Perl, or Ruby. 

6. Container technology

For legacy workloads you may automate the creation of a VM image. But for new applications you’ll be working with containers. As such, you need to know how to build your own Docker images (Linux skills required!) and deploy them using Kubernetes. FaaS technology like AWS Lambda also uses container technology behind the scenes.

7. Observability technology

While all clouds have monitoring dashboards and standard “telemetry” hooks, most large employers use third party (both commercial and open source) monitoring tools such as Prometheus, DynaTrace, Datadog, or the ELK stack.

Beyond that skills list, tool-building in DevOps requires a fundamental understanding of logic, its application, and how to apply it in a computer-recognizable form. While that may sound a tad scary for the uninitiated, there are several good books that cover programming fundamentals without using any specific language. Here are a couple of my favorites:

• Learning Python (O’Reilly)
• Learn Windows PowerShell in a month of lunches (Jones, Hicks — A personal favourite as I love PowerShell)

Now let’s dig into the nuts and bolts of how to become a DevOps engineer — starting with education.

What education do I need?

One of the great things about DevOps is that it’s about what you can do, not what qualifications you have. Some of the best DevOps engineers in the field are self-taught, with little in the way of formal higher education. The biggest requirement is motivation and an interest in DevOps engineering.

With that said, you’ll have a much easier time both learning DevOps skills and getting a company to hire you if you have a bachelor’s degree in software development, IT, or a related field.

Don’t take forever to get trained

Start your DevOps engineer roadmap by looking through the skills list above. If you already have some of those skills — great. If not, be honest about the time you’ll need to spend to learn them. But don’t stress about getting everything perfect before you start. If you wait for mastery, you’ll never get a DevOps job.

Start by learning a few of the easy-to-learn skills. If you’re already employed in a non-DevOps job, start working on some DevOps projects now, to build mastery and proof you have the skills. Then make the switch to a full-time DevOps career.

You may even find that your own company has DevOps openings you could move into. Keep a keen eye on internal and external vacancies alike.

Here are the DevOps skills you’ll need

Let’s take a deeper look now at how to become a DevOps engineer — the DevOps career path and how to build the skills. We’ll share the reasons each of these tools is important, and how long it’ll take to learn each one. We’ll also point you to some good online classes and certifications.

You can learn most of these skills on the job — but a word of caution. In the sink-or-swim world of DevOps career growth, different companies have different requirements. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

Foundation knowledge: 4 months

We’ve put a plus-sign after each of the time frames below, because while you can learn the basics quickly, mastery can take much longer.

1. Intermediate to Advanced Linux and Networking: 1 month+

Linux is the OS and server platform of choice for DevOps engineers in companies of any size. Linux’s open-source nature, small operational footprint, and support from the Likes of Redhat and Ubuntu make it the go-to not only for DevOps, but for tool building in general.  One of the best things about Linux is that you can download it and start using it today.

If you feel that your Linux skills are rusty, you can get started with the free course offered by Udemy. In fact, if you want to learn how to become a DevOps engineer exclusively from Udemy, they have an entire curriculum of core DevOps classes.

In terms of networking, you’ll get the necessary skills if you do an intermediate cloud certification, such as AWS Certified Solution Architect, but it helps if you take a specialized course such as The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking on Coursera.

2. Advanced Scripting: 2 months+

First of all, you’ll always need shell (e.g., bash) scripting skills, because this is the default for Linux and most tools. 

For “advanced” scripting use cases, there are quite a few languages out there, but Python is a good start if you don’t know what scripting language to pick.

You can master Python in as little as two months with online tutorials from LearnPython.org. However, you’ll find that many employers also use other languages such as Perl and Ruby as well, so be ready to learn those, if need be.

3. Cloud Training and Certification: 1 month+

AWS is the 600lb gorilla in terms of agile cloud providers, and AWS and Linux go together like Strawberries and cream. You’ll need to be fluent in AWS before you can call yourself part of the DevOps community.

The beauty of AWS and cloud development in general is that you only pay for what you use. That model makes cloud computing ideal for DevOps testing. You can set up an environment quickly, use it for what you need, then pull it down again.

It’s easy to start using AWS, since there’s a 12-month free version available to anyone who signs up. You can learn professional-grade skill in AWS in as little as one month, though mastery can take years of continual on-the-job use. Get your AWS certification here.

4. Google Cloud: 1 month+

Azure offers similar employment opportunities to AWS, but what about GCP?

The Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is smaller than AWS and Azure but it excels particularly in data mining and artificial intelligence (and other deep learning technologies). Google’s DevOps-related offerings are becoming increasingly popular with large companies.

In the banking industry for example, the Google AI/ML tools are creating new ways of doing business, plus adding fraud detection and usage-pattern tracking. This saves huge amounts of time trying to develop similar tools in-house.

Similarly, other large companies are using Google’s ML tools to bring massive data sets down to size, drawing business-driving insights from previously unmanageable seas of data.

Want to know more about how to become a DevOps engineer with Google Cloud? You can get your Google Cloud certification here in three months, though you can learn to develop applications with Google Cloud in as little as one month.

Skills: 1 month

It doesn’t take long to learn the DevOps skills you’ll need to succeed in your new career. All these tools are free to use and experiment with. They just require a little time and effort on your part. Let’s look at how long it takes to learn the basic DevOps tools like Terraform, Git, Docker, Jenkins, ECS, and ELK Stack.

1. Configure: Terraform (and Ansible) — 1 week+

Configuration management is at the heart of fast software development. Poorly configured tools waste time, while well-configured tools save it.

As its name implies, Terraform has one purpose in life — to create infrastructure as code in an automated way that speeds up your entire process.

Ansible concerns itself with server-desired state configuration, ensuring that servers are configured to specs. These two technologies are cornerstones of DevOps. Both may seem complex at first, but they’re all based around configuration files written in YAML. 

Terraform takes about a week to learn the basics. Udemy offers a great online class that bundles AWS, Terraform, and Docker.

2. Version control: Git and GitHub (GitLab) — 20 minutes+

Version control is key to any DevOps endeavour. It lets DevOps Engineers and their team members create and review code faster, without wasting time sharing endless files and iterations.

Git is a standalone product that by default is used on local machines and networks. This is different from GitHub, which facilitates version control in the cloud, with the overhead managed by GitHub itself. In the world of infrastructure as code, version control with products like Git and GitLab are essential.

GitLab is a complete open-source DevOps platform. It helps users deliver software faster, with collaboration and security all rolled into one. Looking to learn more about how to become a DevOps engineer with Git? You can learn the basics of Git in minutes if you’re already a programmer. 

3. Package: Docker (Lambda) — 3 days+

Packaging is where build management meets release management. It’s where your code and infrastructure come together for deployment.

Without Docker there would be no DevOps. Docker essentially allows DevOps to run code in small isolated containers. That way, building services and replacing services becomes simpler than updating everything in one go (which is very non-DevOps).

Amazon’s Lambda is an alternative to Docker that many companies use instead. Though it’s best to know both tools, Docker is an excellent starting point. You can learn Docker in just a few days. Udemy offers a solid beginner’s course online for DevOps. They also have a Docker class bundled with Kubernetes.

4. Deploy: Jenkins (CodeDeploy) — 2 days+

During deployment, you’ll take your code from version control to users of your application. Automation is a key component of this step, and Jenkins is the central way to automate.

Jenkins allows automation for all manner of tasks, including running build tests and making decisions based on whether code passes or fails the build process. You can also use Jenkins for more mundane purposes, like centralized management of scripts and executing commands via SSH (and other authentication pathways).

It’s a tool to automate those frequent and boring tasks that computers can do better than even the best DevOps engineer could. Some companies choose CodeDeploy over Jenkins, making it another useful DevOps tool to learn.

You can learn to use Jenkins in just a few days. Udemy offers a great Jenkins class online for DevOps engineers.

5. Run: ECS (Kubernetes) — 1 day

Kubernetes is DevOps bread and butter. It starts with Docker and adds extra functionality and tools. For instance, it lets the administrator ensure that several copies of a container image are running. That way, if a single VM or host is lost, the service is still available.

ECS and Kubernetes perform valuable services like this in the background. They deliver several automated DevOps tools that allow useful additions to manage containers, and their availability. They also add important items such as introducing role-based access control and more centralized auditing and management functionality.

See IBM’s Kubernetes learning path and guide for a 13-hour course.

6. Monitor: ELK Stack (Prometheus) — 2 days

Once your new application is up and running, you’ll need a real-time view of its status, infrastructure, and services. To this end, DevOps engineers love ELK.

ELK provides all the base components for effective log management and search functionality. It’s Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana — three open source applications offered by the Elastic company.

ELK takes data from multiple sources, and lets you visualize it by using useful charts and graphs. Its rival platform, Prometheus, is just as important for a DevOps engineer to understand. You can learn to use the ELK Stack in just a few days with Udemy’s 4-star online class.

Those are the basics of how to become a DevOps engineer. Now let’s look into why Git matters so much, and how to get a DevOps job.

GitHub matters

One more word on GitHub as a shortcut to starting a career in DevOps. GitHub is essentially the CV of the DevOps world. Any DevOps hiring person will check out your GitHub profile as a very first step and point of contact. Yet it’s easy to learn GitHub and other DevOps tools while you create your virtual CV at the same time.

How to get a DevOps job in 1 month+

Knowing how to become a DevOps engineer doesn’t stop with skills. The next step in your DevOps engineer career path is getting the job. That sounds daunting, but if you’ve got software development experience, the skills above, and a few DevOps achievements for your resume, you’re well on your way to getting hired.

Here’s how to get into DevOps.

Rewrite your DevOps resume

The first step in getting a DevOps job is to rewrite your resume. A DevOps resume doesn’t need to show years of experience. As this excellent DevOps resume guide shows, start with a reverse-chronological format. Then in your work history, education, and projects section, list achievements, including:

• Development tasks from past jobs
• Side projects in development, IT, Agile, scripting, or automation
• Volunteer work in coding or distribution
• Projects in Terraform or other DevOps tools
• Linux/Unix projects
• Scripting in Python or Ruby
• Tasks completed with AWS, Jenkins, Maven, etc.

Start each resume bullet point with an action verb like developed, wrote, created, built, deployed, etc. And use numbers to show how many projects, deployments, scripts, tests, containers, and how many customers, team members, etc.

The more you show DevOps achievements in your history, with measurable details, the higher your chance of getting hired. Knowing how to become a DevOps cloud engineer is all about showing your projects and accomplishments.

Apply to lots of DevOps jobs

Finding a DevOps job is a numbers game. If you apply to three jobs, you won’t hear back from any. If you apply to 50, you’ll get a few responses and maybe an interview. Plan to hear back from about one in every 30 applications, and get interviewed by one in every 100.

In other words? You’ll need to apply to a lot of DevOps jobs. Probably something like 300 in a month to get one job (about 14 every weekday). But — you can vastly boost your chance of getting hired if you lean on networking. The easiest way? Start connecting with DevOps engineers on LinkedIn.

Then — don’t ask them for a job. Just ask if you can chat with them about their cool career. About 20% will be glad to share their success. You’ll learn tons about how to start a career in DevOps. And surprise surprise — some will even introduce you to their contacts.

Shun the unicorns

Don’t worry about being front-and-center in a DevOps job at Google, Amazon, or another giant company. Everybody clamors to get hired at those firms, creating stifling competition. Don’t be afraid to pursue a DevOps job at a less glamorous firm. Once you’ve got a little experience under your belt, then you can go unicorn hunting.

Consider working your way up

Is DevOps a good career for freshers? Not really. Don’t count on landing an entry-level DevOps job. DevOps is, by nature, an advanced position that requires highly skilled candidates. But — don’t let that discourage you. One of the best DevOps career paths is to start as a software developer or IT specialist in a company that also hires DevOps engineers.

If your current employer doesn’t hire DevOps pros, consider switching to one that does. Don’t stay entry-level for long. Three to six months is plenty. Once you’ve logged that time, commit to applying internally to DevOps positions in your new company. During your entry-level tenure, work to build accomplishments that look good on a DevOps resume.

Summary

Those are the basics of how to become a DevOps engineer. Though becoming a DevOps engineer takes persistence and passion, it’s not rocket science. Anyone with the drive (and a little time) can follow the DevOps career path, learn the necessary skills in five months, and get a DevOps job in one month. With the right skillset and job search strategy, you can be in your DevOps dream job very soon.