Dear Admins & Infra Specialists, do not diminish yet! You have a pivotal role to play in the DevOps cycle!!

Infrastructure as Code

The times have changed since when Admins and Infra Specialists were happy in the corner of their office performing routine tasks with no presumption that the evolution of Platform engineering (Cloud and DevOps) would bring in 180 degrees turn to the infrastructure landscape that the solid wall that once existed between the Infra and the Development would start to fade away hastily.

With the massive switch towards the adoption of Cloud and DevOps due to various reasons, do the administrator skills that we possess are relevant anymore in the current landscape?

Do we have a panicking thought that the Cloud and DevOps would make us impractical and might eat into our jobs?

The answer to all such questions is a big splashing No!

Without panicking, let’s looks through an expert lens that what has changed with the adoption of Cloud and DevOps, and how to traverse that change so as not only stay relevant in the current and forthcoming platform engineering landscape but also thrive in it.

The change with Cloud and DevOps

The physical subsystems such as storage, network, and compute we used to manage are now managed as software over the internet through virtualization. We do not handle them physically, anymore. We know, this is not new.

What is new is that the System (OS and app) Operations such as installation, patching, backup & restore, disaster recovery, monitoring & performance, etc., traditionally handled through disparate & part-automated scripts & tools; are all now either managed as a service in the cloud model. They are either managed from cloud control panel or are totally automated with Cloud APIs to work as seamless end-to-end automation.

The system landscapes have gone bigger and bigger with the inclusion of VMs, Containers and the way applications are architected with Microservices. So, the traditional custom scripts that have handled smaller environments well so far, are now challenging to operate large server and container landscapes.

The commonest thing that one may see in these changes is the Agility and Automation that Cloud and DevOps bring as change on the table.

It is better to call Agility and Automation as the new skills to acquire and embrace them as change! Hence, skill transformation is required to add new skills to compete in the ever-changing dynamics, add better value to our skill sets and hence to our customers/organizations.

Skill Transformation

Traversing the change:

• Our existing skills would still be required to perform the daily tasks but in an automated and agile fashion.
• With automation skills, it is expected that we learn to code in Programming languages like Python, manage the version of the scripts with version control systems like Git, scale our automation across large environments with the help of Automation frameworks and running all of those on cloud platforms.
• Agility skills will require us to learn one of the commonly used cloud platforms like AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud, how the servers & infrastructure are provisioned & managed through cloud platform’s control panel (called as Console). Next, what all we can do with console we learn to code using Cloud APIs. The automation that is created as a result is far more valued than we do with the help of consoles since with automation we can provision and manage infrastructure repeatedly, faster and without manual errors. This brings in Agility and scalability to our automation.

Transformation Roadmap (Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Specialist )

Let’s not be afraid of the road ahead and the learning curve. The best way to start IaC journey in DevOps is to:

• Start small with learning a Programming language like Python and how to write & manage code with version control like Git. Python is a good choice as it is one of the most popular languages these days due to its versatility and easy syntax.

• Next, learn a multi-faceted and easier to learn automation framework such as Ansible to automate our traditional infrastructure (on-premise, virtualized or in the cloud), manage servers, storage and furthermore.
• Learn on a Cloud platform of your choice and perform hands-on at provisioning and managing the cloud infrastructure. You may choose any platform depending on your work and interests.
• By now, having knowledge of writing & maintaining code, create bigger automation with the help of frameworks and cloud platforms; then learn to automate the infrastructure and perform operations using these acquired skills and Cloud APIs. This adds IaC skills to our skills set.
• At this stage, we can start to play an IaC specialist role within the organization’s cloud transformation initiatives and be a part of the new DevOps teams.
• Add further, the DevOps and Agile skills either on our own or expect our organization to upskill us, as a lot of organizations focus on upskilling their workforce. With that, we are now fully immersed in the DevOps process and can start to play a pivotal role in IT transformation initiatives within the organization.
• Containers and Kubernetes are rapidly taking over Virtual Machines and the majority of new cloud applications & infrastructure are already being deployed on them. It makes sense to acquire skills that are in high demand. Further investment in skill will not go in vain.
• Monitoring and performance automation will further our skills as an all-around Cloud & DevOps infra SME

Conclusion

The Cloud and DevOps are new paradigms, though, they do not intend to replace our existing skills, rather they aim to add agility and automation to the way we operate our infrastructure traditionally. Transforming our skills with these new age technologies and processes may seem arduous tasks at first, however, it can be efficiently realized by seeing the bigger picture, understanding the skill gap and the addition required and then carefully planning the upskilling journey.

Enroot Systems (www.enrootsystems.com) is very well placed to take you through this upskilling journey.

NextSteps

Please reach out to solutions@enrootsystems.com and talk to an advisor to start your skill transformation journey.