DevOps Courses - Best DevOps Certifications

The term ‘DevOps’ does not have a fixed academic definition, but it has been described by researchers Len Bass, Liming Zhu, and Ingo Weber as a set of practices that help shorten the time between making system changes and deploying them in production while maintaining quality. It is a blend of processes, tools, and cultural shifts that improve collaboration between development and operations teams. 

To master these practices, professionals can enroll in DevOps courses that cover essential tools and methodologies. A DevOps online course provides hands-on training to help individuals gain expertise in automation, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud platforms.

Simply put, DevOps is the collaboration between development (Dev) and operations (Ops) teams, fostering faster application development and easier maintenance of existing systems. It strengthens connections between developers, operations, and stakeholders, promoting efficient workflows through automation, good practices, and new tools. Rather than being a single technology, DevOps is a broad approach that covers everything from organizational culture to tooling and processes.

With the increasing adoption of DevOps in businesses, professionals are looking for DevOps courses to build expertise in CI/CD, incident response systems, and automation. A DevOps certification course can help individuals gain hands-on experience with modern DevOps tools and methodologies. 

As the demand for skilled professionals grows, enrolling in the best DevOps course can provide an edge in securing roles such as a DevOps Engineer.

Teams working on the development and operations under a DevOps model are no longer isolated. Often, these two teams are joined in one where engineers are responsible for working on the application lifecycle, covering end-to-end development operations.

In many DevOps models, the quality and security teams are merged and closely integrated with the development and operations throughout the application's lifecycle. Where security is focused on by all DevOps team members, they are referred to as DevSecOps.

These teams automate manual processes that are historically known to be slow. A DevOps team is trained to use technology stacks and tools for reliable development and eventual evolution. These tools are designed to aid engineers in accomplishing their tasks independently without seeking help from different teams, thereby increasing the team's velocity in the long run.

The benefits of adopting DevOps as an organisational structure are undeniably huge. The reasons are listed below:-

• Increases Productivity with Automation: DevOps in an organisation fuels business transformation by encompassing people, processes and change in culture. A DevOps comprises the best strategies required for influencing structural improvements for building the community. For a DevOps initiative to be successful, it should initiate a change in culture or mindset for greater collaboration between numerous teams and automation for achieving business goals.

• Perfects the Whole Business: According to Patrick Debois, the DevOps initiative's creator, DevOps insights optimise the entire system of a running business and not just isolated sectors such as IT departments to adhere to the needs of the customer and the business.

• Increases Stability and Speed of Software Deployment and Development: DevOps has reportedly contributed to the speed and stability of software development/deployment in organisations. It has also significantly impacted lead time in software development, deployment frequency, restoration time, and availability leading to better software performance and delivery.

• Makes The Organisation More People-Oriented: People are more important in a DevOps initiative than tools that lead a company to success. For instance, a DevOps evangelist symbolises a persuasive captain and spokesperson responsible for DevOps endorsement, sharing details and erasing misconceptions around its use.

Despite being one of the most rapidly adopted initiatives, DevOps has its own set of challenges. Below are some of the challenges faced in a DevOps initiative

• Selecting the Right Metrics can be Challenging: Organisations adopting DevOps practices must use metrics for pinpointing the progress, documenting success, and unravelling areas needing improvement.

• Limited Funds: DevOps initiatives face obstacles like limited funds to combine previously isolated teams, altering and reallocating job roles and overall adjusting to this structure.

• Complexity: Incorporating a DevOps model in an organisation can be quite complex. For instance, IT leaders might find it difficult to narrate their business values to the primary executives. When it comes to governance, standardisation and centralisation might not lead to the desired results.

• Unrealistic Goals: Adopting DevOps comes with many initial challenges, and one such challenge is setting goals and expectations. Setting impractical or half-baked tracking metrics and expectations clashing with business goals is bound to lead to failure

DevOps is witnessing remarkable growth as businesses worldwide recognize its benefits. According to the Global Market Insights report of 2020, the market valuation of DevOps is expected to reach $17 billion by 2026. 

Its ability to shorten development life cycles, minimize deployment failures, and enhance communication has made it an essential part of modern software development. Companies that had automated DevOps frameworks in place managed to navigate disruptions caused by Covid-19 more effectively, while those without struggled to adapt.

With the rising demand for DevOps expertise, professionals are increasingly enrolling in DevOps courses to build relevant skills. A DevOps certification course can help individuals understand key automation tools and best practices. 

For those aspiring to become a DevOps Engineer, investing in the best DevOps course can be a stepping stone to a successful career.

DevOps Tools are applications designed to automate software development and primarily focus on communication and cooperation between teams. Some of the most widely used DevOps tools are listed below:

1. Slack: This is one of the best communication tools for effective collaboration between teams. Many professionals enrolled in DevOps courses use Slack to enhance teamwork by providing real-time workflow insights and updates.
   
2. Jenkins: Jenkins is an open-source automation server that plays a crucial role in DevOps training. It specializes in continuous integration, automating software development lifecycles, and offering a Pipeline feature to archive code, run test cases, and generate reports.
   
3. Docker: A key tool in any DevOps certification course, Docker allows secure packaging, running, and deploying applications without environment dependencies. It is at the core of containerization, a widely adopted IT trend.
   
4. Phantom: Security is a major concern in DevOps engineer courses, and Phantom is widely used to build strong infrastructure defenses. It helps developers mitigate security risks from the early stages of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC).
   
5. Nagios: This monitoring tool is often covered in the best DevOps courses, as it helps organizations track server performance, applications, and IT infrastructure, ensuring smooth backend operations.
   
6. Vagrant: Vagrant simplifies working with virtual machines in a unified workflow. Many professionals taking a DevOps online course use Vagrant to test applications quickly without complex setups.
   
7. Ansible: Ansible is a widely used configuration management and IT orchestration tool. It is valued in DevOps certification courses for its efficiency in automating repetitive tasks while using minimal system resources.
   
8. GitHub: A critical tool in DevOps online courses, GitHub enables seamless collaboration by allowing developers to track and manage code changes in real time.
   
9. Sentry: Sentry is an error-detection tool that supports multiple programming languages. Many companies, including Microsoft and Uber, rely on it, making it a valuable addition to DevOps training programs.
   
10. BitBucket: Similar to GitHub, BitBucket is widely covered in DevOps engineer courses for its role in managing project code. It offers an affordable private repository option, making it a preferred choice for many organizations.

DevOps Vs Agile Methodology

There are seven key steps for successfully starting DevOps, ranging from strategic and systematic planning to selecting appropriate tools, automation, continuous learning, and pilot projects. 

These steps are crucial for professionals looking to enhance their expertise through DevOps courses or DevOps training. 

Below is a detailed breakdown:

1. Make a transformation guideline for DevOps:

• Before adopting DevOps, it is essential to have a roadmap. This roadmap should outline the initial DevOps training stages step by step, ensuring clear strategies for implementation.
• Publish this roadmap in a shared location where all team members can access and understand it. 
• Stakeholders can use these guidelines to ask questions, while IT teams can refer to them for the next steps in the transformation.

2. Choose the right DevOps toolchain:

• Since DevOps is not a physical product, selecting the right tools is crucial. 
• This process involves considering developers' requirements, technology stacks, and security measures. 
• Many professionals enrolling in DevOps certification courses learn how to evaluate toolchains effectively and consult security teams to mitigate risks.

3. Incorporate strategies and tools for cultural transformation:

• The transition to DevOps comes with challenges. 
• To overcome these, businesses need proper tools and strategies for effective transformation.
• Professionals pursuing a DevOps engineer course gain insights into implementing these strategies to ensure smooth adoption.

4. Automate processes:

• Instead of automating all processes at once, it is advisable to set automation priorities. 
• This method helps IT teams adjust to changes without feeling overwhelmed. 
• Automation is a key focus area in the best DevOps courses, as it enhances productivity and collaboration across teams.

5. Emphasize data analytics: 

• Modern DevOps online courses emphasize the importance of data analytics in managing large datasets. 
• Setting up dashboards to report to stakeholders reduces manual workload and improves communication between IT teams and management.

6. Try with a small pilot project first: 

• Before implementing DevOps across the organization, running a pilot project helps test new tools and minimize risks. 
• This practice is covered in DevOps training programs, ensuring professionals understand how to manage and scale DevOps projects effectively.

7. Prepare for continuous learning and development: 

• DevOps is an evolving field with continuous integration and delivery at its core. 
• Teams must consistently upskill and learn new technologies. 
• Enrolling in a DevOps online course is an excellent way to stay updated with the latest industry trends and best practices.

By following these steps and investing in DevOps certification courses, professionals can build strong DevOps expertise and contribute effectively to their organizations.

Needless to say, DevOps has a bright future in the field of business. IT professionals and developers are constantly looking for means to increase the IT infrastructure, develop new capabilities for new technology, reduce costs, and avoid issues with cloud vendors. Without a proper traffic strategy, the health of the IT infrastructure, data centres and customer experiences are fated to downfall.

With the multi-cloud global environment integration, the need to create more applications native to this cloud is increasing. Teams are constantly under pressure to develop and deploy services, which is where the DevOps structure comes in handy. DevOps’ main purpose was to connect IT professionals and developers with end consumers. People working in the DevOps industry can easily detect technological flaws and rectify mistakes quickly. What makes the DevOps teams different is that a DevOps professional collaborates with people from all across the stakeholder’s path.

Hence, when the prospect of potential technological breakthroughs with DevOps is brought up, the first thing considered is multi-cloud environment integration. The idea will enable teams to pursue innovative ideas in a supportive and lucrative space. Newer tools and platforms are constantly cropping up and will keep coming in the near future, aiming to tackle the mundanity of the current ones. These developmental changes, paired with automation, AI, and other innovations, are bound to make DevOps a lucrative and exciting field to pursue.