DevOps engineers are a considerably exclusive group and there has been no official career path to become a DevOps engineer. A DevOps engineer can be a developer who develops an interest in network operations and deployment or it can be a system administrator with a passion for coding and scripting and switches to development in order to enhance the design of test and deployment. On the other hand, a DevOps consultant is an accredited DevOps expert who is mainly employed to find solutions for a particular issue or to provide executives and teams with education about how to make use of DevOps processes and tools to achieve business outcomes.
Mainly, a DevOps engineer is concentrated on establishing a particular design structure within already defined DevOps processes while a DevOps consultant provides direction to teams and shares knowledge regarding the best techniques for solving an issue at hand.
Here is how a business owner can determine the difference between a DevOps engineer and DevOps consultant, in order to decide which one they need most.
DevOps Engineer
DevOps transformation is undertaken by all kinds of organisations who want a more efficient way to administer their IT operations, including tech start-ups and enterprises of varying sizes. A DevOps engineer is a separate DevOps role established within the IT department of a company and is invigorated by the requirement of the company for a downright overhaul of the practices and procedures associated with software delivery and operations. A DevOps engineer is responsible for the day to day implementation and improvement of DevOps practises and tools.
DevOps Consultant
In the meantime, businesses which have a particular concern to address such as to accomplish swift and high-quality updates for an application, may consider hiring a DevOps consultant. The role of a DevOps consultant is to evaluate the organisation’s current DevOps culture, practises, and tools, and offer practical tips and a plan of action to achieve the desired business outcome. Once the required changes are determined, the business owner may decide if they wish to further work together with the DevOps consultant for the implementation of the proposed change.
DevOps Engineer vs DevOps Consultant
The main obstacle is that finding a DevOps engineer is not an easy task, mainly due to two major reasons. Firstly, DevOps engineers are the second-most required talent in major developed countries at the moment and secondly the ambiguity about the line of work makes it harder to define the job responsibilities for a DevOps engineer. Many organisations know they need the functions a DevOps engineer fulfils, but are unable to properly define the role and therefore find the right person for the job.
There has been a contradiction among different DevOps engineers as at some places they tend to administer the entire DevOps transformation along with its cultural aspect, while at other places DevOps engineers can actually administer only particular phases of the lifecycle of DevOps or tend to work with particular tools only.
Business owners need to consider that the majority of the current DevOps engineers previously used to be either system administrators or developers, which have a considerable impact on their capabilities as a DevOps engineer. This requires the organisations to be extremely precise about what capabilities a DevOps engineer should have. Otherwise, there is a major risk of hiring an individual who may not have the capabilities to deliver what the organisation requires.
Even if the business owner is determined to bring a DevOps engineer on-board to assist the development and operation teams of the organisation, they should almost always consider hiring a DevOps consultant for the development of a strategy to be followed by the DevOps engineer. Having an engineer jumping in and just ‘doing things’ almost always ends up being costlier. Hiring a DevOps consultant to create a plan of action that considers the organisation as a whole and aligns with its goals, could be a more cost-effective decision for many organisations, particularly enterprises, as it would help them achieve their desired outcomes both in the short and long term.
Both experienced DevOps engineering and DevOps consultancy are rare services and it is completely up to a business owner to decide which role would be most beneficial for their organisation. Consultancy helps in providing a business with an overview of the situation. It contemplates the advantages and the drawbacks, offers guidance, and educates existing teams. Most of the time consultants assist companies by supporting their development and operational teams to streamline the practice and procedures throughout the organisation, and ensure that the tools they are using are the best ones for the job. On the other hand, DevOps engineers are mainly focused on performing assigned responsibilities in a cost-effective manner. Mainly, DevOps engineers implement and support a viable DevOps environment as per the company policy.