Indeed, the legendary detective sits ready, waiting for the email to land in his inbox.
He quickly checks his email, reading the following lines: "In Palermo, Buenos Aires, they are looking for a DevOps developer who programs in Java and can automate moving code from one environment to another. Meanwhile, in downtown Buenos Aires, they are searching for a DevOps analyst specialized in helpdesk support, equipment maintenance, and process automation. Elsewhere, two DevOps specialists are needed for remote BI and testing teams to automate cloud infrastructure and demonstrate expertise in various project frameworks. Additionally, an international request asks for a Data DevOps specialist to script procedures involving data management and complex structures..."
The great English detective is invited to track down these experts, fully aware that the role itself remains an enigma. The search is far from simple: the DevOps professional is perhaps today's most multifaceted role, triggering endless debates regarding required competencies and true scope. This discussion takes place at a time when DevOps leader and engineer roles are projected to rank among the top 10 most in-demand and highest-paying positions in global IT for 2020.
In many ways, the DevOps professional resembles the main character from the movie Split—a figure with multiple coexisting identities that alternately take control. What an intriguing enigma! A professional with as many identities as current market demand dictates!
Solving this mystery calls for a mind like that of Sherlock Holmes. What would he do in this situation? Perhaps the best starting point is to consult the experts...
The E-Shaped Professional
The DevOps Institute recently published an insightful report on emerging domain trends and the core skill sets needed for 2020. A standout concept is the "E-shaped professional"—someone demonstrating a blend of four "Es": experience, expertise, exploration, and execution. This framework further expands the discussion surrounding the competencies required for the role.
A DevOps professional oversees key responsibilities such as automated code deployment, continuous integration, and securing the infrastructure that supports application development. These tasks—and the underlying capabilities they require—were valued long before the term "DevOps" was coined. What is new today is the growing emphasis on soft skills, process management, and functional domain knowledge, which together define this evolving role structure.
Under this new paradigm, the DevOps specialist is no longer viewed strictly as a technical executioner. The role demands a holistic view of the entire development and deployment lifecycle, including the ability to identify team strengths within the pipeline as well as friction points faced by both development and operations teams.
A Hybrid Role
Today's DevOps professional is viewed as a hybrid—a role consolidating a skill set never previously combined into a single profile. The core focus centers on understanding what others have yet to discover.
This shift should come as no surprise given Gartner's 2018 analysis, recently revalidated by the firm, which outlines the primary root causes behind the 75% failure rate in DevOps adoption and scaling initiatives. The report highlights that key breakdowns occur when driving cross-team collaboration, managing stakeholder expectations, and navigating organizational change. What do all these factors share in common? The fundamental need to connect with people.
The requirement for development teams to include experts skilled in human interactions is an established fact. Elementary, my dear Watson!
Looking deeper, executing successful DevOps strategies relies on specific core competencies. These include mastery of Agile and Lean methodologies, alongside process analysis capabilities designed to eliminate waste and optimize workflows. That is where the path of every project begins to take shape.
Furthermore, as noted earlier, four highly valued capabilities define any member of a modern delivery team: the "4 Es"—experience, expertise, exploration, and execution.
The journey toward DevOps integration initially focused on defining the core principles of software delivery methodology, securing buy-in for implementation, and achieving operational stability. Today, the intrinsic value of this methodology—and the professionals who embody it—is widely recognized. Having navigated that first phase, the next step involves mastering, adapting, and evolving the role to meet current market demands.
Growing within the DevOps space requires an ongoing commitment. It is essential for each practitioner to understand where the discipline is heading and contribute to building new frameworks collaboratively.
To conclude this initial chapter of an ongoing investigation, consider a slight adaptation of a famous line by Sherlock Holmes:
"Our ideas must be as broad as technology if they hope to interpret it."
Where do we go from here? Our next step will be to explore the techniques and training programs that deliver real value when developing the competencies discussed throughout this article.
We hope you will join us for the next phase!