How to Become a DevOps Engineer

A DevOps Engineer bridges development and operations, automating the software delivery lifecycle to enable faster, more reliable releases. They build and maintain CI/CD pipelines, manage infrastructure as code, containerize applications, and ensure system reliability through monitoring and incident response. In 2025-2026, DevOps has evolved to include GitOps practices, AI-assisted operations, and increased focus on security (DevSecOps).

What makes this role unique: Unlike traditional sysadmins who manage infrastructure manually, DevOps Engineers automate everything—infrastructure provisioning, testing, deployment, and monitoring. Unlike pure developers who focus on features, DevOps Engineers ensure those features can be reliably deployed and operated at scale. They're the glue between development and operations.

Best suited for: Engineers who enjoy automation and hate manual, repetitive work. Best suited for those who are comfortable with ambiguity (no two days are the same), can context-switch between coding and operations, and take satisfaction in making other engineers more productive through better tooling and processes.

With 451,360 professionals employed nationwide and 3% projected growth, this is a strong career choice. Explore Computer Science degree programs to get started.

No two days are the same—you'll context-switch between projects, incidents, and helping other teams constantly. On-call rotations mean you may be paged at 3 AM for production issues. You're often pulled in many directions and must balance urgent incidents with planned project work. The tech changes rapidly—continuous learning is required to stay current.

Morning: Start by reviewing overnight alerts, logs, and dashboards (Prometheus, Grafana, Kibana). Check for any CI/CD pipeline failures that need immediate attention. Join daily standup to discuss progress, blockers, and guide teammates on CI/CD practices. Respond to urgent Slack messages from developers needing help with deployments.

Afternoon: Deep work on automation projects—building pipelines, writing Terraform modules, or containerizing applications. Troubleshoot deployment issues and help developers debug environment problems. Review infrastructure PRs. Participate in architecture discussions advocating for operational best practices. Conduct post-incident analysis if incidents occurred.

Core daily tasks include:

• Building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)
• Writing Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi)
• Managing Kubernetes clusters and containerized workloads
• Automating repetitive tasks with Python/Bash scripts
• Monitoring system health and responding to alerts
• Implementing security controls and compliance requirements
• Troubleshooting production issues and deployment failures

Essential Tools: DevOps Engineers rely heavily on these core technologies:

• Kubernetes: Container orchestration platform that has become the standard for deploying and scaling containerized applications. Essential skill in 2025.
• Docker: Container runtime for packaging applications. Near-universal adoption across the industry.
• Terraform: Leading Infrastructure as Code tool with 71% adoption. Cloud-agnostic and modular.
• GitHub Actions/GitLab CI: Modern CI/CD platforms gaining ground over Jenkins. Integrated with code repositories for seamless workflows.
• AWS/Azure/GCP: Cloud platforms powering most modern infrastructure. Deep knowledge of at least one is required.

Also commonly used:

• Ansible: Configuration management and automation. Still widely used for server provisioning.
• Prometheus & Grafana: The standard observability stack for metrics collection and visualization.
• Helm: Kubernetes package manager for deploying complex applications.
• ArgoCD: GitOps tool for Kubernetes—declarative continuous delivery.
• Python/Bash: Scripting languages essential for automation. Python increasingly preferred for complex tasks.

Emerging technologies to watch:

• OpenTofu: Open-source Terraform fork gaining adoption (7%) for avoiding vendor lock-in.
• AI/ML for Operations: Automated monitoring, alerting, and incident resolution using machine learning. DevOps engineers need familiarity with AIOps tools.
• Platform Engineering Tools: Backstage, Crossplane for building internal developer platforms.
• FinOps Tools: Cloud cost optimization becoming standard DevOps responsibility.

Cloud certifications are highly valued—certified professionals earn 20-30% more. Start with a foundational cert (AWS CCP), then pursue Solutions Architect or equivalent. CKA is increasingly expected for DevOps roles. However, practical experience and portfolio projects matter more than collecting certifications. Focus on demonstrating real automation work.

Beginner certifications:

• See detailed requirements in the sections above

Intermediate/Advanced certifications:

• See detailed requirements in the sections above

Must-have portfolio projects:

• See detailed requirements in the sections above

Projects to avoid: Tutorials completed without customization, Projects without documentation or README, Single-tool focus when breadth is expected, Exposed credentials or secrets in repositories - these are too common and won't differentiate you.

GitHub best practices: Include detailed README explaining what each project demonstrates; Show IaC with proper state management and modules; Document your architecture decisions and trade-offs

Expect 4-5 rounds: Phone screen, technical interview covering Linux/networking/cloud fundamentals, hands-on practical (pipeline building or Terraform), system design discussion (designing scalable infrastructure), and behavioral/culture fit. Be prepared to whiteboard architecture and discuss past projects in detail.

Common technical questions:

• See detailed requirements in the sections above

Behavioral questions to prepare for:

• See detailed requirements in the sections above

Take-home assignments may include: Build a CI/CD pipeline for a sample application; Write Terraform to provision a web application infrastructure; Containerize an application and deploy to Kubernetes

Common challenges devops engineers face:

• On-call burnout - 24/7 responsibility for production systems
• Context switching - constantly pulled between projects, incidents, and helping teams
• Keeping up with tool churn - new tools and practices emerge constantly
• Toil vs innovation - spending too much time on manual tasks instead of automation
• Being a bottleneck - teams waiting for DevOps help with deployments

Common misconceptions about this role:

• Myth: DevOps is just a tool set. Reality: DevOps is a culture and set of practices—tools enable it but aren't the definition.
• Myth: DevOps engineers just write scripts. Reality: Modern DevOps involves architecture, security, coding, and significant cross-team collaboration.
• Myth: Anyone can do DevOps with some tutorials. Reality: Requires deep understanding of systems, networking, security, and software development.
• Myth: DevOps eliminates operations work. Reality: It automates and improves operations—doesn't eliminate the need for operational expertise.

DevOps Engineer vs S R E:

DevOps Engineer vs Cloud Engineer:

DevOps Engineer vs Platform Engineer:

Your negotiation leverage:

• Kubernetes expertise (CKA certified)
• Multi-cloud experience (AWS + Azure or GCP)
• Security/DevSecOps specialization
• Experience with high-scale systems (millions of users)

Proven negotiation strategies:

• Quantify impact: 'Reduced deployment time from 2 hours to 15 minutes'
• Research company on Levels.fyi for tech companies or Glassdoor
• Negotiate on-call compensation separately from base
• Ask about professional development budget for certifications

Mistakes to avoid: Not researching company-specific salaries—DevOps pay varies significantly by company; Undervaluing on-call compensation—this should be explicitly negotiated; Accepting vague 'DevOps' roles without understanding scope

DevOps remains one of the most in-demand tech roles globally. 25.23% of recruiters identify it as key hiring priority. Market projected to grow from $13.2B (2024) to $81.1B (2028). Job postings grew 20% annually since 2020. 80% of companies now have DevOps adoption vs 33% in 2017. Remote/hybrid options increasingly common—geography barely matters anymore.

Hot industries hiring devops engineers: Fintech - High reliability requirements, strong pay, Healthcare Tech - Compliance-driven automation needs, E-commerce - Continuous deployment for competitive advantage, SaaS Companies - Platform engineering and developer experience focus, AI/ML Companies - MLOps skills increasingly valued

Emerging trends: Platform Engineering - Building internal developer platforms gaining momentum, GitOps - ArgoCD and declarative infrastructure management, AI-Assisted Operations - Automated monitoring, alerting, and incident resolution, DevSecOps - Security integrated into pipelines becoming standard