What's DevOps? Breaking Down the fundamentals for beginners

What is DevOps?

Ever wondered how some companies manage to release software updates so quickly and without a hitch, while others seem to struggle endlessly? The secret often lies in a practice called DevOps—a methodology that has transformed the way teams collaborate to create and deliver software efficiently.

Definition and core concepts

At its heart, DevOps is a blend of words: development (Dev) and Operations (Ops). It’s a philosophy and a set of practices that carry together software improvement and IT operations. The main goal? To shorten the development cycle and continuously deliver high-quality software.

Imagine you’re preparing a lunchbox for work. Traditionally, you might fill it with food the night before, without tasting it. The next day, when you finally sit down for lunch, you realize that the rotis are a bit too hard, or the curry has too much salt. You now have to eat it as is, or worse, throw it away.

Now, imagine a different approach: As you prepare the rotis, you taste one. If it’s too hard, you adjust the dough and cook another batch until it’s just right. By the time you pack your lunchbox, you know everything inside is going to be perfect when you sit down to eat.

DevOps works similarly. Instead of waiting until the end of the improvement process to test and deploy software programs, the development and operations teams work collectively continuously. This way, they are able to become aware of and connect problems as they stand up, making sure that the final product is ready to move right out of the gate.

Why DevOps? The problem It Solves

To apprehend the importance of DevOps, let’s examine a common scenario in traditional IT practices. Consider a software program company in which the development crew and the operations crew work in silos—they don’t communicate a whole lot and have specific desires. The developers are keen to roll out new capabilities quickly, while the operations group is targeted on balance, regularly resisting modifications to avoid disruptions.

At some point, the developers finish coding a new function and skip it over to the operations group for deployment. The operations team, cautious about potential risks, delays the release. This frustrates the developers, who feel their work is being stifled, while the operations team worries about the fallout if something goes wrong. This disconnect leads to slow releases, poor software quality, and frustration on both sides. DevOps addresses this by promoting collaboration from the start. Developers and operations teams work together throughout the entire process, aligning their goals to deliver software that’s both fast and reliable.

Key variations from conventional IT practices

In traditional IT, there’s a distinct separation between the teams responsible for creating code (development) and those responsible for deploying and maintaining it (operations). This division often leads to inefficiencies:

1. Longer Development Cycles: Since developers and operations teams work separately, there’s often a delay between when the code is written and when it’s deployed. If issues arise, resolving them can take a long time.

2. Limited Feedback Loops: Developers might not know how their code performs in a live environment, making it hard to improve or fix issues.

3. Risk of Failure: Without close collaboration, deployments are riskier. A small bug in the code could cause a major problem in production.

DevOps bridges these gaps by encouraging continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). This means that code is regularly integrated, tested, and deployed, reducing the risk of major failures and speeding up the entire process.

A Simple Example of DevOps in Action

To illustrate this, let’s revisit our lunchbox analogy. Suppose you’re preparing lunch, but instead of tasting the food as you go, you just pack everything and hope for the best. The next day, you discover that the rotis are too dry and the curry is bland. It’s too late to fix anything—you’re stuck with what you’ve got.

In a DevOps world, you’d taste each dish as you prepare it. If something’s off, you correct it immediately. By the time you’re done, you know your lunch will be delicious and ready to enjoy.

In software terms, this means every time a developer makes a change, it’s immediately tested. If something breaks, it’s fixed right away. This continuous feedback loop ensures that by the time the software is deployed, it’s as good as it can be—just like your perfectly packed lunch.

Conclusion

DevOps isn’t just about tools and processes; it’s a cultural shift that encourages collaboration between development and operations teams to deliver software more efficiently and reliably. By breaking down barriers and working together from start to finish, teams can innovate faster, respond to customer needs more effectively, and create better products.

Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out in your tech career, embracing DevOps can fundamentally change the way you think about software development and deployment. It’s about more than just writing code—it’s about building a better, more collaborative way to bring that code to life.