Introduction to DevOps

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/intro-to-devops

Introduction

**Course Review and Recommendation: Introduction to DevOps on Coursera** In today’s fast-paced tech landscape, the demand for professionals equipped with DevOps skills is soaring. For anyone looking to break into the software industry or enhance their current skills, the “Introduction to DevOps” course on Coursera offers a fantastic starting point. This beginner-friendly course is not just about tools and techniques; it’s a deep dive into DevOps as a cultural movement that reshapes how organizations think, work, and measure success. ### Course Overview The "Introduction to DevOps" course is thoughtfully crafted to provide learners with a foundational understanding of DevOps principles and practices. It emphasizes that DevOps goes beyond mere collaboration between development and operations teams; it represents a transformative shift in mindset and organizational culture. The course comprises a self-paced format, allowing students to progress at their own speed, making it accessible for everyone irrespective of their schedule. ### Syllabus Breakdown 1. **Overview of DevOps** - This introductory module lays the groundwork by explaining how technological innovations disrupt business models. It correctly positions DevOps as a cultural change rather than just a methodological shift, providing historical context on its grassroots development. Understanding this foundational aspect is critical for anyone looking to embrace DevOps meaningfully. 2. **Thinking DevOps** - Here, learners explore conceptually the art of working better together through social coding, shared repositories, and pair programming. It teaches valuable practices like producing minimum viable products and emphasizes the importance of customer feedback. This module encourages a mindset shift towards collaboration and iterative development, essential for anyone wanting to stay relevant in tech. 3. **Working DevOps** - This section focuses on practical applications of DevOps principles. It covers the adoption of new working styles, such as ephemeral infrastructure and continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD). The concepts of containerization and automation are also discussed, enabling learners to grasp how these tools can streamline workflows and enhance productivity. 4. **Organizing for DevOps** - Successful implementation of DevOps requires effective team organization, which this module addresses. It reveals how successful teams share responsibility for outcomes and encourages a shared mindset geared towards delivering customer value. This is a critical area for those wanting to lead or be part of DevOps teams. 5. **Measuring DevOps** - Measurement is key to improvement, and this module drives that point home. By learning to measure the right metrics—both technical and social—students gain insight into team dynamics and performance. This section emphasizes creating a culture that promotes continual learning and prevents blame culture, fostering open communication. 6. **Case Studies and Final Exam** - The course wraps up with engaging case studies that allow students to analyze real-world scenarios, connecting theory to practice. These cases challenge students to apply what they’ve learned, ensuring they can contextualize their knowledge in practical situations. ### Recommendation I wholeheartedly recommend the “Introduction to DevOps” course for beginners eager to dive into the world of software development and operations. The course structure is well-organized and approachable, making complex concepts digestible. It also bridges the gap between theory and practical application, which is essential for cementing knowledge. ### Conclusion Demand for DevOps professionals continues to rise, making it vital for anyone in tech to consider this transformative field. Coursera’s “Introduction to DevOps” is an excellent gateway to developing the necessary skills and mindset. It equips learners with both the knowledge needed to succeed and a level of understanding of the cultural shifts required to thrive in today’s software industry. Whether you're a seasoned professional looking to pivot your career or a newcomer eager to learn, this course is worth the investment. Start your DevOps journey today!

Syllabus

Overview of DevOps

In this module, you will learn how business models are disrupted by innovation and that technology is the enabler of innovation, rather than the driver of innovation. You will learn that DevOps is more than simply the Dev team and the Ops team working together. It is a cultural change. You will be introduced to the essential characteristics of DevOps. Through a brief history of DevOps, you will see how DevOps grew as a grassroots movement and that influential people helped others see that DevOps is a better way to work.

This module is all about thinking DevOps and getting results! You will learn how social coding as a community creates better code. You will examine how creating shared repositories and pair programming results in defects found earlier and a broader understanding of the code base for the team. You will see how working in small batches reduces waste and results in delivering useful applications quickly. You will discover how producing a minimum viable product allows you to test a hypothesis and gain valuable feedback about delivering what the customer really desires. Test driven development will allow you to develop faster and with more confidence. Behavior driven development results in improved communication and more meaningful information from your stakeholders. You will learn how cloud native architecture is used to build resilience in your product and take advantage of horizontal scaling and independently deployable microservices. Failures will happen. You will be able to take advantage of tools that are designed to help you recover quickly from failures.

This module is all about working using DevOps principles and techniques. You will learn how software development is more like craftwork than factory work and that working in silos leads to mistakes and bottlenecks. You will see how DevOps is driven by behaviors such as collaboration and embracing change. You will be introduced to concepts such as ephemeral infrastructure that emphasizes building quickly and then discarding when that build is no longer needed. You will learn a more effective style of work in which you make changes to container images and redeploy a new container to take its place instead of patching and maintaining it. You will learn about new processes such Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery that enable frequent deployments and working as a team to create high-quality code. You will learn how to move faster, use automation, and spend more time building features and less time debugging during integrations.

This module is all about organizing for DevOps. You will learn about the organizational impact of DevOps, how DevOps teams are structured, and the importance of everyone being responsible for success. You will discover the optimal organization for DevOps teams. You will review a variety of perspectives on DevOps and explore misconceptions about DevOps. This module addresses the importance of consequences, that is, allowing teams to feel the consequences of their actions on others who are involved in the work. You will see how a shared mindset empowers everyone to deliver customer value.

This module is all about measurements for DevOps. You will learn the importance of measuring what matters, such as social metrics and continuous improvement goals. You will see how measuring social metrics leads to improved teamwork and how measuring DevOps metrics allows you to see progress toward your goals. You will discover that actionable metrics help you take action toward your desired outcome. One of the key aspects of DevOps is creating a blameless culture. Measuring culture is critical for building a culture in which ideas flow openly and people are listened to. You will learn how that type of working culture can be created. You will see the disadvantages of rewarding one behavior while hoping for a different behavior.

In these  case studies, you will read and analyze DevOps-based scenarios, apply what you learned in the Introduction to DevOps course, and answer graded quiz questions based on these scenarios.