Some say DevOps is a new way of thinking, some contend it's Agile extended beyond development and others still consider it "". According to Tom Silver, vice president of Dice North America, , DevOps is, "a combination of development and operations that work to facilitate more interaction between developers and SysAdmins."
Done correctly the result can mean delivering software faster with fewer deployment issues, which is good no matter what you do. The key takeaway is that a DevOps methodology has your IT teams and development teams working together to bring the infrastructure inside the development process where it's treated more like part of the application.
In a traditional IT/Development setting, developers create applications and code releases, and then pass off their work to IT, who would then be expected to handle the deployment--this separation or invisible wall can quickly lead to delays and deployment issues. The DevOps methodology, however, mandates that the IT operations team and the developers work together to deliver apps, updates and new features to end-users. The end result have been shorter delivery cycles and more timely updates.
DevOps Methodology Benefits
Shared responsibilities between developers and IT
Shorter development cycles
Reduced costs
Fewer deployment issues
If you thought the SysAdmin role would go away or shrink, you might be surprised to find out that is has in fact grown 5.6 percent in the last nine months, according to September reports from Dice. SysAdmins with operations experience could be in the right place at the right time in their IT career to cash in on this emerging trend.
The DevOps methodology continues to grow with Dice posting more than 200 DevOps positions on any given day and it's no surprise why. Bringing together IT and software developers just makes sense--their successes and failures are tied together, according to Dice.
Rich Hein is a senior writer for CIO.com. He covers IT careers. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, on , and on .