Learning and understanding DevOps - a training guide

DevOps is a buzzword that frequently crops up in the IT environment. Many talk about it, some apply it - with greater or lesser commitment and success. But what is DevOps and, above all, how can employees in such IT acquire the necessary skills and knowledge? How can DevOps be learned? This article provides an overview of which building blocks combine to form a solid foundation for a successful career in the DevOps environment.

What is DevOps?

DevOps as a term is a made-up word from the shortening of Development and Operations. The term was coined over ten years ago and today stands for a movement that combines a range of methods, practices, cultural elements, and technologies. The primary goal is to improve collaboration between all areas of IT in order to deliver IT changes faster, better and more economically to the business units. In other words, it is about "turbo mode" for the IT organization in an ever faster changing world.

DevOps is not owned by anyone. It is not a formal framework. It's a movement driven by the community, which uses DevOps with success and keeps pushing it forward with its experiences, ideas, and willingness to share them with others. There is no one, right DevOps. There is only what each organization makes of it.

DevOps combines a large number of methods that have proven themselves in IT and other industries for years, in some cases decades. Foremost among these are IT service management, agile software development methods, lean management, continuous integration and continuous delivery. In the technological area, approaches such as cloud computing, containers, microservices and comprehensive automation of the entire development pipeline from the code repository to testing and environment provisioning to deployment stand out. In addition, there are always influences from other approaches such as chaos engineering, anti-fragility, objectives and key results, and many more.

Learn DevOps

If employees would like to receive further training in the subject area of DevOps, it is recommended that they receive broad basic training in the main subject areas and targeted in-depth training depending on their personal goals and tasks.

For the start of the basic training I recommend everyone:

• an ITIL^® 4 Foundation for the basics in IT service management,
• The Scrum Master/Product Owner for a solid understanding of agile,
• A DevOps Fundamentals training to tie the aforementioned elements together and complement them with valuable concepts from Lean Management, the Continuous Delivery approach, and other methodologies.

The following modules provide valuable additions and round off the basic training:

• a DevOps leadership training to learn more about how to drive transformation in an organization,
• the ITIL 4 Specialist module "High Velocity IT" for a comprehensive understanding of the necessary adjustments in service management.

Depending on the professional focus, the following building blocks provide valuable enhancements:

• ITIL 4 Specialist module "Create, Deliver & Support": Here you deepen the value stream methodology from Lean Management in the environment of an IT organization.
• Site Reliability Engineering Foundation: This teaches you the Google-inspired version of DevOps with a focus on scalability and the ultimate reliability of your IT services.
• Objectives & Key Results Certified Professional: As an expert in OKR, learn to define objectives and manage goal achievement in agile organizations.
• Agile Coach Training: How to better support teams in their work and further development.
• SAFe^® and Scaled Scrum^® offer approaches for scaling agility.
• Training in design thinking helps to design systems and processes that are both efficient and user-centric.

You can find many more details as well as dates for these modules in our training overview.

We would be happy to advise you on the selection and planning of your personal training path for DevOps. Get in touch with us!