Do you want to achieve DevOps excellence with upscaling? You know it’s not a piece of cake to master different DevOps tools dedicated to other DevOps processes. Take the CI/CD pipeline management as an example. The DevOps engineer must know YAML or Bash Languages to perform pipeline management activities. Likewise, different DevOps processes require the expertise of other programming skills.
“DevOps demands core knowledge in many languages for programming or scripting. So, DevOps engineers need to upscale and learn new programming skills with code.”
DevOps is an exciting field with endless opportunities for engineers to explore, learn, and implement. So, how do you become an expert DevOps engineer? Your journey begins with acquiring the knowledge of different programming languages!
Why DevOps Professionals Need The Basic Knowledge of Programming?
DevOps engineers work closely with the software developers and operations teams to deploy and manage the code changes through CI/CD pipelines. They operate the code repositories, deploy infrastructure components, and monitor the software performance after production releases. So, basic programming knowledge helps DevOps engineers perform these activities daily. Plus, they can provide insightful suggestions to developers to enhance the code quality and perform scalability enhancements.
Top 10 DevOps Scripting & Programming Languages To Learn For The DevOps Engineers
Now you know why it’s best to learn some scripting, let’s explore the most in-demand programming skills for DevOps engineers:
Python
Python comes first, being the most in-demand skill among DevOps engineers. This versatile scripting language is compatible with different OS, including Linux and Windows. It can adapt to other use cases for DevOps teams, including:
- Automate infrastructure deployments with configuration management
- Build the CI/CD pipeline automation scripts
- Create the DevOps life cycle management workflows
- Automate regular monitoring jobs using scripts
Python’s clean and readable syntax makes it an easy-to-learn scripting language among DevOps beginners. Plus, the developers can use it for building a wide range of web and mobile applications and machine learning models.
Java & JavaScript
Both are high-level programming languages that apply to developing software and applications. Both languages play a significant role in DevOps through the following use cases:
- Build cross-platform software microservices and applications
- Create custom plugins for other DevOps tools like Jenkins
- Manage cloud resources to scale applications and backend services
- Develop front-end interfaces for DevOps tools and platforms.
- Automate web interactions using libraries like Puppeteer
Implement test automation frameworks like JUnit and TestNG
The object-oriented programming model of both supports distributed application development across different environments. So, it’s best to code in the multi-paradigm style of Jave and JavaScript.
Golang
Golang or Go is a compilation language of the Google Programming Platform. Java and Python are considered as the low-overhead alternatives of Golang. Any DevOps engineer with the knowledge of Golang can easily create web apps and desktop applications. The language perfectly fits different software development projects with fast compilation capabilities.
Terraform
Terraform is the best Infrastructure As Code language every DevOps engineer must learn to enhance their skills. This scripting language from HashiCorm allows developers to create infrastructure deployment scripts that support different cloud environments. As Terraform scripts are suitable for AWS and Azure, it’s a versatile language that simplifies various activities of cloud infrastructure management.
PowerShell
DevOps engineers who manage Windows servers and other system components should learn the PowerShell scripting language. This task automation scripting language provides a command-line shell to execute scripts for:
- Managing Windows systems
- Automating system administration
- Performing app deployment
- Conducting resource decommissioning
As most environments use Windows Virtual Machines, learning PowerShell gives the engineers an additional advantage to perform Windows server management faster.
Bash
Just like PowerShell is for Windows, Bash Scripting is for Linux environments. Even though there are other open-source CI/CD tools, many companies prefer Bash for their automation requirements. So, DevOps engineers working with Linux servers should learn Bash Scripting and perform the following activities:
- Automate server installations
- Perform configuration management
- Manage new app releases
PHP
PHP is the most popular Open Source scripting language for web app development. The ideal use cases of PHP include:
- Create large-scale business websites with static and dynamic content
- Integrate payment options and social media channels
- Create website widgets for small personal blogs
PHP offers complete flexibility to developers to combine it with SQL and JavaScript and build a more well-rounded website.
PERL
The ideal purpose of PHP is to use it as a software development framework. PERL is perfect for data analysis and machine learning. PERL is best for DevOps engineers who perform the following activities:
- Text manipulation for log file analysis and data extraction
- Customize scripts for complex data processing
- Automate repetitive tasks related to data aggregation
- Building custom plugins for DevOps tools
Ruby
Ruby is another popular scripting language for task automation in DevOps. This dynamic programming language is perfect for data science and unit testing. Beginners can quickly learn Ruby syntaxes without any prior programming experience. It’s a great option to create small web apps and CMS platforms in a shorter time.
Scala
It is an excellent programming language with modern features to make the code more readable. DevOps engineers can do the following activities using Scala:
- Develop high-performance applications and microservices
- Create serverless functions for cloud-native DevOps architectures
- Integrate with big data frameworks
- Implement reactive and event-driven systems
Scala is a powerful choice for DevOps engineers looking to tackle many challenges for building efficient automation solutions.
Conclusion: It’s Time To Learn and Upscale Your DevOps Journey!
DevOps is a practice that requires adequate programming and scripting skills. So, you must learn some programming languages to excel in DevOps. Select a language that blends well with your DevOps responsibilities and start exploring. Now you know what languages should be your top choice, it’s time to level up your journey!
FAQs
#1 What’s the difference between scripting and programming?
Yes. Developers use programming languages like Java to write code that runs independently. However, scripting languages like Python run within another program.
#2 How long can it take to learn programming?
The timing ultimately depends on your past expertise and your interests. You can quickly learn to code with practice. Otherwise, it can take months to master one language.
#3 Is it necessary to learn programming to become a DevOps engineer?
It’s not mandatory to learn programming or scripting. However, it’s best to learn at least one type of language to upscale your abilities in the future. So, begin with learning Python and Java. Later, start exploring other languages.
#4 What makes me a good DevOps Engineer?
DevOps is an exciting field with various types of workflows and processes. Different stages of DevOps require different sets of tools and techniques. Consider learning the tools to establish a shining career as a DevOps engineer.
#5 How can I learn programming for DevOps?
You can get help from Udemy or other online platforms. You can participate in workshops to learn the coding fundamentals. Next, practice to code and upgrade your skills.
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