A long-time client of ours recently sent us the following email:
“Hey,
I’ve been meaning to ask — do we really need to hire DevOps engineers, especially considering that we already have a functional software development team in place?”
In this article, we’ll give a longer version of the response we sent them. By the end of your read, you’ll understand the significance of DevOps engineering in today’s fast-paced business environment, enabling you to make an informed decision on whether to hire these professionals.
A Brief History of DevOps
Before the early 2000s, software development teams typically comprised two separate departments — the development department responsible for software planning, design, and building and the operation department responsible for testing and implementing the software. As a result, development projects involved lots of back and forth that took several months or even years.
First, the development team took months building large bodies of software codes from scratch. Next, they’d submit the codes to the operations, QA, and security departments for testing and approval. Because of the extensive nature of the new codes, the approval process also took several months. All this while, the development team would lie idle waiting for feedback from the operations department. Once feedback came, they would fix the identified bugs and effect the necessary reworks.
Known as the waterfall methodology, this linear approach to software development undoubtedly extended timelines and delayed the entire development cycle. Sometimes, there would be instances when the development departments would move on to the next projects as the operations team still tested the previous codes, leading to conflicting timelines which further delayed deliveries. Also, because it took several weeks or months for both teams to agree on the final code, sometimes business requirements would change drastically before the production went live — making the software less effective.
The Emergence of Agile DevOps Engineering
In the early 2000s, software engineers began probing the possibility of merging development and operation teams to reduce turnaround times and streamline software development projects. This led to the emergence of DevOps engineering. Unlike the original linear approach that involved large-scale development of huge bodies of codes in several weeks or months, DevOps focusses on iterative development of smaller and more frequent software updates. It uses continuous integration and continuous development (CI/CD) methodologies to continuously improve the efficiency of software programs by introducing updates into their code bases every one or two weeks.
Benefits of Going the DevOps Engineering Way
Now that you understand how DevOps differs from traditional software development approaches, let’s delve into why DevOps engineering might be the missing link in your software development projects:
- Increased collaboration and communication
DevOps engineering thrives on continuous collaboration and communication between development, operations, and other teams involved in the software development lifecycle. By breaking down silos and encouraging cross-functional units to work together, it enhances transparency and ensures everybody works towards a common goal. This collaboration can not only lead to faster feedback loops but also allow your teams to identify and address issues earlier in the development process — ultimately resulting in smoother deployments, reduced errors, and more efficient workflows.
- Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)
As previously outlined, one of the core principles of DevOps is the implementation of CI/CD pipelines. The CI/CD methodology involves automating the process of integrating code changes into a shared repository before testing and delivering them to production environments. If well-implemented, it can help DevOps engineers streamline the development process, reduce manual errors, and ensure that software is consistently deployable.
Its use of automated testing can also help catch bugs earlier, allowing software engineering teams to deliver higher-quality software more rapidly. And even more importantly, it facilitates rollbacks and prompt recovery in case of failures, minimizing downtime and customer impact.
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
Another noteworthy benefit of DevOps is that it promotes the use of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to manage and provision systems through machine-readable definition files. Simply put, IaC treats all infrastructure configurations as codes, allowing for versioning, automated provisioning, and consistency across various environments. Therefore, by codifying infrastructure, DevOps teams can automate the deployment of entire environments, reducing manual errors and ensuring consistency throughout the development cycle. IaC also enables scalability and agility, as infrastructure can be easily replicated or modified to accommodate changing needs.
- Faster time to market
This is perhaps the most significant benefit of DevOps engineering. Instead of waiting for several months for one production to go live, this agile approach enables you to release smaller software updates weekly or even daily, resulting in faster time to market. Also, by automating repetitive tasks, such as testing, deployment, and provisioning, it eliminates the need for manual inputs that would unnecessarily prolong your development cycles.
Why is a faster time to market important?
- It enables you to capitalize on market opportunities ahead of your competitors, giving you a competitive edge in today’s rapidly evolving markets
- It ensures your software programs always address your market’s needs by responding promptly to feedback loops
- It enhances your cybersecurity posture by deploying frequent security updates in response to emerging threats
- Cost savings
Time is money — the longer a software development project takes, the more it costs. Therefore, by the simple virtue of shortening your development cycles, DevOps engineering can result in significant cost savings. Another way this approach can save you money is by eliminating inefficiencies and reducing the risk of errors and costly downtime through process automations and environment standardization. Additionally, DevOps enables better resource management, allowing teams to scale infrastructure based on demand and avoid over-provisioning.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction
Ultimately, the benefits of DevOps engineering translate into improved customer satisfaction. By delivering higher-quality software more frequently, organizations can meet customer expectations for reliability, performance, and functionality. Faster response times to issues and quicker delivery of new features lead to happier users and increased loyalty. Continuous feedback loops will also enable your organization to prioritize features based on customer needs, ensuring that products remain competitive and aligned with market demands.
Does Hiring DevOps Engineers Require Disbanding Your Existing Software Development Team?
No, you can hire DevOps engineers and still maintain your existing team. In fact, if you have a software engineering team in place, it makes things easier.
Here’s why…
Since its emergence, DevOps has become such a popular buzzword. In fact, several companies no longer post software engineering ads. Instead, they say they are exclusively hiring – wait for it – DevOps Engineers.
However, a DevOps engineer is not a job title with a specific set of unique skills. On the contrary, it’s more about culture than it is about technical knowhow. A DevOps engineer is a software engineer with considerable experience in collaborative development environments where codes are produced as small iterative bits rather than large one-time releases.
By hiring DevOps engineers to work alongside your in-house team, they can induct your existing staff into this culture — making your business more agile and responsive.
Looking For Experienced LatAm DevOps Engineers?
Let’s help you hire the best DevOps engineers in Latin America. As Canada and the rest of the world discovers the region’s hidden tech talent potential, we are at the forefront in helping organizations scout and close the best of its specialists.
At a reasonable upfront price, we will handle everything from job posting to recruitment, interviews, hiring, and even staff management on request. In case you’re hiring from Canada, we can also handle relocation logistics for your distributed DevOps engineers
