What is DevOps (And Why Does it Matter)?

DevOps, a combination of "Development” and Operations", is a software development methodology that emphasizes communication, collaboration, integration, automation, and measurement of cooperation between software developers and other IT professionals.

It’s ultimate goal? To turn better software around, at a quicker pace.

While you won’t be coding or troubleshooting software as a tech sales rep, sales is certainly part of the process when it comes to feedback and customer success!

So we think it’s important to break it down and explain what’s what in the DevOps world.

DevOps: A Brief History

The term "DevOps" dates back to 2008, though the concept of DevOps originated long before that. This traced back to the early 2000s when some members of the Agile software development community started to experiment with ideas like continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD).

Life before DevOps was a disjointed one, with IT Operations and Software Development teams siloed in their departments, working toward different goals. According to Atlassian, The result was siloed teams concerned only with their own fiefdoms, long hours, botched releases, and unhappy customers.”

And DevOps stuck, largely because of the way it shortened the systems development life cycle while delivering features, fixes, and updates frequently in close alignment with business objectives.

In a world where markets can change in the blink of an eye, businesses must be able to quickly adapt in order to survive. DevOps provides them with the ability to do just that.

How Does DevOps Work?

So now that we know what DevOps is and how it came to be, let's take a closer look at how it works in practice.

Generally speaking, there are four main stages in the DevOps lifecycle: planning and development, testing and validation, deployment, and monitoring and feedback. Here’s how each one works.

1) Planning and Development

The first stage of the DevOps lifecycle is all about planning the project, setting goals, defining parameters, creating a roadmap, and writing the code for a new feature or update.

This stage also includes code reviews and bug checks to ensure that the code is error-free. The goal of this stage isn’t to get something ready for release – it’s to develop a version that’s ready for the next step: testing and validation.

2) Testing and Validation

In this stage, the code is put through its paces to make sure that it works as intended. This stage includes both automated testing—wherein software tests are run automatically—and manual testing.

Wherein real human beings test the software to see if they can find any bugs or errors. These tests help identify any problems with the code so that they can be fixed before deployment.

DevOps can help testing run quickly and smoothly with approaches like Continuous Integration (allowing multiple developers to merge changes to code).

Another method is Continuous Testing (testing happens at every stage of the process, so critical issues are flagged earlier).

3) Deployment

When the code is being thoroughly tested and deemed error-free, it’s ready to be deployed into a production environment. For example, this means the product may be available to actual users. This stage also includes releasing new features or updates on a schedule known as a release cadence.

Typically, release cadences are designed so that new updates are released every two weeks or every month. However, this can vary depending on factors like company size or user needs.

DevOps can automate releases once certain milestones are hit or timelines are met!

4) Monitoring and Feedback

The cycle doesn’t end there, though. In this final stage of the DevOps lifecycle, operations teams monitor how users interact with the new feature or update.

Teams collect feedback from users to identify problems. These problems point out what might need to be fixed in future releases. All of this data is fed back into the planning process for future releases. This is because it allows improvements to be made along the way.

Understanding Tech Sales Means Understanding DevOps

When you land a job in tech sales, you may find yourself working for a company that uses DevOps methodologies. Plenty of companies use these to speed up software releases and achieve a better final product.

Although you won’t be coding, testing or deploying that software, you will be on the front lines. Customers will always have questions! Whether they're about new features or feedback to give, questions in turn help improve the product you offer.

There’s so much more to tech sales than meets the eye. And this is just one example! Knowing the larger picture can help you find more Career Success! Especially in tech sales when that picture can get technical or complex.

We're here to support you on your career journey! Check out our Career Success Catalog, and learn something new about your dream job today.