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Why humans are core to DevOps success

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Jayne Groll CEO, DevOps Institute
 

Over the past year and a half, the world has witnessed an unprecedented amount of change. Organizations have had to transform the way they worked, collaborated, and communicated. Increased security was a necessity, as was adapting to new working models that focus on improving collaboration and communication tactics. We became digitally dependent.

Because of this shift, digital transformations are no longer optional for businesses that want to be successful. Companies must develop a digital transformation roadmap if they are to keep up with the ever-changing technology landscape, outshine their competitors and delight their customers.

The key differentiator for companies that remain successful versus those lagging behind is the efficient flow of people, process, and automation, resulting in a positive culture transformation during difficult times. Enterprise IT professionals are the unsung heroes of the past year, and the need to hire DevOps professionals has not slowed down. The human factor makes all the difference.

Culture and collaboration will increase innovation

The pandemic demonstrated that crisis accelerates change. Through the pandemic, we have witnessed a few changes in the IT industry, such as the continual shifting left of DevOps processes so that security techniques are baked into software delivery from the very beginning. Security has become integral to protecting businesses and their customers.

To keep up with these emerging trends, organizations must continue to upskill the humans that push these initiatives forward. In other words, you must upgrade your human capital as often as you upgrade your software.

The DevOps human of the next decade will no longer be a siloed specialist, but a hybrid of different skill sets. These professionals must be empowered with new competencies, lightweight processes, and a collaborative, empathetic spirit.

The need for these multidisciplinary IT professionals is evident in the DevOps Institute's Upskilling 2021: Enterprise DevOps Skills Report. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of survey respondents said that finding skilled people has been challenging when recruiting for their DevOps team. And 60% said they are recruiting for DevOps roles now or plan to do so in the future.

With DevOps hiring projected to ramp up for all DevOps roles, you must confront the need for upskilling head on.

Looking toward the future

Across the enterprise, DevOps is consistently one of the fastest-growing and highest-value fields. Over the next five years, the demand for DevOps skills is projected to grow 122%, making DevOps one of the fastest-growing skills in the entire workforce, according to the Upskilling report. As DevOps skills spread to new fields, teams with minimal DevOps experience will need to quickly identify workers with the right combinations of new skills.

Unfortunately, upskilling programs are lagging: 39% of survey respondents said their organization does not have an upskilling program.

How will you bridge this upskilling gap to continue to fill essential roles in software and IT? If your organization isn't asking this question daily, you might end up losing to one that is.

Join me at DevOps World, where I will discuss the future of upskilling programs and the most in-demand DevOps skills, top skill domains needed in today's technology enterprise, and more. The virtual conference runs September 28-30, 2021.

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Read more articles about: App Dev & TestingDevOps