Roles and Responsibilities of AWS DevOps Engineer

Many names in the cloud computing domain are competing with AWS for dominance. AWS is one of the notable cloud service providers with a formidable market share presently. It also assures the facility of a wide range of promising job opportunities for cloud computing professionals. This is one of the reasons for which AWS certifications are in high demand now.

However, if you are looking for roles in AWS development, then you need to look at AWS DevOps engineer certification. In the following discussion, let us explore AWS DevOps engineer roles and responsibilities to gain a better understanding of the job. Before progressing towards AWS DevOps engineer roles, let us find something about the certification exam.

The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer exam is a professional-level certification exam provided by AWS.

Aspired to become an AWS DevOps Engineer? Check out our comprehensive guide on How to become an AWS DevOps Engineer?

AWS DevOps engineer exam validates technical skills and knowledge of candidates in provisioning, operating, and management of distributed application systems on the AWS platform. However, many individuals have misconceptions regarding AWS DevOps Engineer responsibilities and roles. So, first of all, let us understand what AWS DevOps Engineer role is and the basic identity of an AWS DevOps engineer!

What is AWS DevOps Engineer Role?

DevOps is a widely recognized software development strategy meant for reducing the gap between IT staff and developers. DevOps can help organizations to introduce small features very quickly on the basis of the received feedback. An AWS DevOps engineer job description is meant for ensuring limited software failures and lower lead time between fixes. A DevOps engineer helps take away the burden of limitations noted in the conventional waterfall model. The various technologies for development, testing, and deployment can help in the development of automated CI/CD pipelines.

Who is an AWS DevOps Engineer?

The most important AWS DevOps engineer roles can be defined from an understanding of “who is an AWS DevOps Engineer?”. An AWS DevOps engineer is a professional capable of understanding the Software Development Lifecycle. They also have comprehensive knowledge of different automation tools to develop digital pipelines. The AWS DevOps engineer would have to work in collaboration with the IT staff and developers to monitor the code releases.

So, AWS DevOps Engineer job description involves a lot of communication. They are generally developers with skills in deployment and network operations. On the other hand, AWS DevOps engineers could also be system administrators with a knack for coding and scripting. In this role, DevOps engineers could proceed towards the development for improving plans for testing and deployment.

Experience and Knowledge of AWS DevOps Engineers

Details on their previous experience should support insights into AWS DevOps Engineer responsibilities and roles. Here are some of the prerequisites of knowledge for AWS DevOps engineers.

• Experience in code development in at least one high-level programming language.
• Knowledge of operating system administration.
• Experience in creation of highly automated infrastructures.
• Comprehensive knowledge regarding contemporary processes and methodologies for development and operations.
• Over two years of experience in provisioning, operations, and management of AWS environments.

To become a DevOps Engineer, you should have gained some experience as a Cloud Developer. Here is the Step by Step Guide to Become a Cloud Developer.

An Overview of AWS DevOps Engineer Roles

The different AWS DevOps engineer roles and responsibilities can be outlined in two sections. Let us reflect on the different AWS DevOps Engineer roles first in our discussion.

• DevOps Evangelist

It is one of the roles for an AWS DevOps engineer and is a crucial one. Generally, DevOps evangelist roles are fulfilled by people responsible for ensuring implementation of DevOps strategy in end-to-end product development. Also, they are responsible for identifying different ways for improvement of the existing architecture.

DevOps evangelist has to take note of different automation tools and skills while ensuring architecture improvement. Furthermore, they are also accountable for the management of other DevOps roles and achieving optimal efficiency from the team.

• Release Manager

Another prominent role of AWS DevOps engineer is that of a release manager. As a release manager, they have to integrate new or updated features in the existing architecture. The release manager focuses on coordination and management of product starting from the development till deployment. Multiple release managers can be required according to the demand of the projects.

• Automation Expert

One of the prominent AWS DevOps engineer roles is an automation expert. DevOps engineers have to figure out the aspects which can be automated. Also, they look for approaches to integrate a product stack with another product stack. The other activities of an automation expert or integration specialists include analysis, design, and implementation of strategies for continuous deployment. Most important of all, automation experts should also ensure high levels of availability for production and pre-production systems.

• Software Developer/ Tester

The root-level role that you can find as an AWS DevOps engineer is that of a software developer or tester. Traditional programmers and coders are included in this role. However, the scope of responsibilities is extended with the inclusion of unit testing, deployment, and continuous monitoring.

• Security Engineer and Quality Assurance Specialist

The other two crucial roles for AWS DevOps Engineers are security engineer and quality assurance specialist. Quality assurance specialists test the functionality of a product and improve the performance of every feature of the product.

Security engineers are responsible for the integration of security measures in the development lifecycle. Also, they monitor system performance and identify downtimes along with the underlying causes.

Once you gain significant experience as an AWS DevOps Engineer, you can advance your career as an AWS consultant. Here are the 8 Best AWS Consultant Jobs you can get in 2019.

Responsibilities of AWS DevOps Engineers

With a detailed reflection on AWS DevOps engineer roles, it is time to list out their notable responsibilities as follows.

• Deployment, automation, management, and maintenance of AWS cloud-based production system.
• Ensuring availability, performance, security, and scalability of AWS production systems.
• Management of creation, release, and configuration of production systems.
• Evaluation of new technology alternatives and vendor products.
• System troubleshooting and problem resolution across various application domains and platforms.
• Pre-production acceptance testing for quality assurance.
• Provision of critical system security by leveraging best practices and prolific cloud security solutions.
• Providing recommendations for architecture and process improvements.
• Definition and deployment of systems for metrics, logging, and monitoring on AWS platform.
• Designing, maintenance and management of tools for automation of different operational processes.

Also Read: How to become an AWS Architect?

Conclusion

Based on the above information, we can conclude that an AWS DevOps engineer has crucial roles and responsibilities. Their activities are directed towards the coordination of the development process and ensuring the proper delivery of high-quality offerings. Most important of all, the job role of an AWS DevOps engineer presents the promising potential for a better career.

We could also identify the essential knowledge and experience of AWS DevOps engineers from the discussion. The above discussion reflected clearly on different AWS DevOps engineer roles. They included DevOps evangelist, release manager, automation expert, software developer, and tester as well as a security engineer and quality assurance roles. Finally, the discussion presented insights on responsibilities of AWS DevOps engineer.