Since DevOps is vast and bit complex. So, it might not be an easy thing at the beginning for a fresher to cope up with DevOps tools unless you have not used them before. But no need to worry, everyone is a fresher in the beginning of his/her career. You just need to set your mind and start preparing before setting your feet towards the DevOps path.
Why DevOps Testing job is a good career choice?
DevOps is exciting this is because you are always working with and integrating new technologies and solving new challenges. Essentially your job is to find a happy balance between Testers and developers. This relationship is quite sensitive and may blow up if not administered intently. As a DevOps specialist your job would be to amalgamate these two different mindsets.
This requires that aspects of IT be securely shared so that you don’t have the blame game Developers need to continually push code and operations want to keep everything running smoothly. The more integrated the systems and processes in use, the simpler it is for each to do his/her job.
This requires that aspects of IT be securely shared so that you don’t have the blame game Developers need to continually push code and operations want to keep everything running smoothly. The more integrated the systems and processes in use, the simpler it is for each to do his/her job.
Let’s just first understand where did DevOps Come From?
DevOps is the successor of agile software development – born from the need to keep up with the increased software velocity and throughput agile methods have achieved. Over the last decade advancements in agile culture and methods exposed the need for a more holistic approach to the end-to-end software delivery lifecycle.
What Are the Challenges DevOps Solves?
Initially to DevOps application development, teams were in charge of writing code and gathering business requirements for a software programme. Then in an isolated development environment a separate QA team tests the program, if requirements were met, and releases the code for operations to deploy. The deployment teams are further specked into safe groups like networking and database. Every time a software program is “thrown over the wall” to an independent team it adds congestion. The problem with this standard is that when the teams work separately:
- Dev is often unaware of QA and Ops roadblocks that prevent the program from working as foreseen.
- QA and Ops are typically working across many features and have little background of the business purpose and value of the software.
- So, when something goes wrong each group has opposing goals that can lead to inefficiency and finger pointing.
By establishing collaborative cross-functional teams DevOps addresses these challenges that share responsibility for maintaining the system. Those run the software and prepare the software to run on that system with increased quality feedback and automation issues.
Thus DevOps is one of the most interesting career paths but to reach there you need to have certain skills. Which are discussed below.
Skills required for DevOps Testing job
DevOps plays an essential role in providing automation in the area of Build, Testing and Release to project teams. Which are today normally termed as Continuous Integration, Continuous Testing, and Continuous Delivery.
That’s why teams today are looking at faster delivery, quick feedback from customers. While providing quality software, less recovery cycle time from any crashes, and minimize defects from more and more automation. Therefore, one needs to ensure that with all the tools used and about the Integrations for the Testing and Operations team to collaborate or communicate later.
Here we have enlisted a few tools for DevOps Testing
Monit
Sometimes the simplest tools are the most useful of all, as proven by the simple watchdog Monit. It ensures that any given process on a machine is up and running appropriately. For instance, if a failure occurs in Apache, Monit will help to restart the Apache process. With hundreds of micro-services it is very easy to setup and configure and is especially useful for multi-service architecture. If you are using Monit, ensure to monitor the restarts that it executes in order to surface problems and implement solutions. You can do this just by monitoring Monit’s log files and ensuring that you are alerted to every restart.
Consul.io
Consul is a great fit for service discovery and configuration even so, in modern, elastic applications that are built from Microservices. This open-source tool utilizes the latest technology in providing internal DNS names for services. Furthermore, it acts as a kind of mediator to help you sign and register names, enabling the access to service names instead of specific machines. For instance, if you have a cluster of multiple machines, you can simply register them as a single entity under Consul and access the cluster easily.
Jenkins
This is quite a well known tool although not the fanciest of all or the fastest. Still very easy to start to use and it has a great ecosystem of plugins and add-ons. It is also optimized for easy customization. We have configured Jenkins to build code, create Docker, run tons of tests, and push to staging/production.
Ansible
This is an open source IT Configuration Management, Deployment & Orchestration tool. It sights to provide large productivity gains to a wide variety of automation challenges. This tool is quite simple to use yet powerful enough to automate complex multi-tier IT application environments.
Collectd/Collectl
Collectl is a very nice feature rich command-line utility that can be utilized to collect performance data that describes the current system status. Unlike most of the other monitoring tools, it does not only focus in a limited number of system metrics. Instead it can collect information on many different types of system resources such as- CPU, disk, memory, network, sockets, IIfiniBand, lustre, memory, nfs, processes, quadrics, slabs and buddy info.
Advantage over using collectl is that it can also play the role of utilities that are designed with only a specific purpose such as- top, ps, iotop and many others.
Git (GitHub)
It was created 10 years back following the Linux community’s need for SCM that could support distributed systems. Git is probably the most common source management tool available currently. After regulating Git internally for a short period of time, it’s been noted that GitHub was better suited. Furthermore to its great forking and pull request features, to facilitate integration and deployment GitHub also has plugins that could connect with Jenkins.
GitHub offers plans free, for both professional, and enterprise accounts.Free GitHub accounts are commonly used to host open source projects.
Along with the knowledge of the required tools you may also take training/certification courses. There are numerous certification bodies offering courses for DevOps Testing, to enrich your skills and improve your chances of getting hired for the best available opportunities.
There are different certification bodies offering the courses-
- The DevOps Institute
- Vskills- India’s largest certification body
- Edureka
- Udemy
- Simplilearn
Tips on getting job easily
Securing a good job is actually a tough thing. Still, with patience and efforts this could be achieved. Here we have enlisted a few tips to get the job you’re looking for.
Save the best job listings for future reference
If you have submitted you application for a job then you should keep a record of the application. Furthermore, do it by copy-paste or printing job listing for future reference. Because, many companies may close their job vacancies if enough of the applications. Henceforth, save the job description and prepare for the interview later .
Customize your resume for every job position you apply to
Applying within the same industry doesn’t mean you would receive the same roles and responsibilities in every organization. Hence, tailor your resume as per the listed job specifications. Thus you get a competitive edge and the hiring manager will know whether you’re suitable for the job.
Identify your skill sets
Many of us begin our job search by just looking at the job position titles. This method might be a successful one. Still it’s suggested that job seeker should look at the required skills for a position instead. By doing so the employer will know and be able to identify the skillsets you already possess and the job that best matches their experience.
Since job titles are constantly vary, hence, focusing on the required skills of a position gives access to job titles which might not match your expertise.
Utilize online resources and company websites
We are in internet days so make a complete and a good use of it in your job search. So don’t just keep your search to newspapers and friends. Now companies prefer to utilize their official website for job openings. Also job search platforms too will help you identify some good opportunities. So, make search for a specific position, along with this look for similar jobs or say suggested jobs that may stimulate your interest.
Companies that Hire
There are many top companies hiring the DevOps testers for their business. Furthermore, top companies like- Dell, Hp, PayPal, Shell, etc. offer a good package. You may think of getting in any of these companies, so for this make sure you possess the right skillsets.
The DevOps Testing job involves the following roles and responsibilities:
- DevOps Evangelist – The principal officer (leader) responsible for implementing DevOps
- Release Manager – The one releasing new features & ensuring post-release product stability
- Automation Expert – The guy responsible for achieving automation & orchestration of tools
- Software Developer/ Tester – The one who develops the code and tests it
- Quality Assurance – The one who ensures the quality of the product confirms to its requirement
- Security Engineer – The one always monitoring the product’s security & health
What is the salary for DevOps Testing job?
Salary varies from company to company and also the Location. So, to get the best possible package try looking for job to metro cities where the top companies are located. Working in top companies could be a dream of many of us, so to make this dream true you need to have specific skills and most importantly the experience.
Job Interview Tips
Research yourself
Self awareness is most important in all aspects. Henceforth, take an intent look at what have you achieved so far. The way you gave acquired all those skills and demonstrated the way.
This way of inspection will help you understand your strengths. This gives you the required confidence and helps you overcome the anxiety.
Practice
Most of the organizations currently use behavioural questions which literally mean they expect you to provide some specific examples of where you have demonstrated the skills they seek.
It’s always suggested to take professional help. A professional is is skilled at drawing examples and refining the ones you have. Although never ram the written script for answering the questions. You cannot predict the question you may come across in your interview. As, learning will make you nervous and confuse at the time of interview.
Build rapport
Be affable. Because people like that!
The simplest way is to relax and assume that the interviewer is from your side. Usually good interviews are never interested in setting you off. Henceforth, approach the interview in a very professional manner. Thus, assuming a good experience will always lead you to the positive results. So, just feel that the interviewer is someone who wants you to perform your best.
Give yourself time
No need to panic, relax and leave plenty of time to get to the interview as rushing procreates panic. Irrespective of the excuse, being late is always in the notice. As, it leads to negative impression and thus putting you behind immediately. Henceforth, allowing waiting time gives you plenty of time to gather your thoughts, compose yourself, and most importantly be mentally prepared.
Please be yourself
Always be yourself, suppressing your true self was never a good idea. No need to pretend to be someone who you are not.
Sit back!
After making many efforts and following the rules now is the time to sit back. There are plenty of opportunities waiting for you out there. So, remove all the pressure that you hold in your mind, this is not just the only chance that you have got.
Get ready to boost your learning and become a Certified DevOps Testing Professional Now!!
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