Looking back, I consider myself fortunate. As a 19-year-old, I stumbled upon an IT shop with an automation team that had a unique ability to proactively fix issues before they occurred. Little did I know, this was not the norm. That’s when it hit me: automation could be a game-changer. The concept of saving time and eliminating manual work by turning command-line tasks into code completely transformed my life. It set me on the path to become an automation expert in the IT industry.
In today’s world, automation is a powerful force driving various aspects of technology, from application development to infrastructure deployment and business processes. It presents endless opportunities to add value and make a significant impact in the industry. Roles like DevOps engineer, site reliability engineer, agile coach, and integration engineer, among others, demand a strong understanding of how systems interact to deliver business value. Automation empowers organizations to do more with fewer resources, building trust through reliability and prompt issue resolution.
The Power of Automation
Automation is not just about scripting. While scripts are the backbone of automation, there is much more to it. To achieve repeatability, you need observability and monitoring to provide insights into the current state of systems and ensure they are functioning correctly. This information enables informed decision-making to drive automation and improve service delivery continuously. By establishing a feedback loop between information and automation, organizations can embrace a cycle of constant enhancement.
Why is Automation Skillset Essential for Career Success?
Automation has become crucial across industries, especially during economic downturns when organizations strive to optimize productivity with limited resources. By automating manual tasks, you create time for growth and improvement. This approach builds trust with management through reliability and timely issue resolution. Successful automation patterns can align stakeholders towards a common goal, leading to personal and professional growth.
For instance, by demonstrating successful automation patterns, I was able to showcase my value and secure promotions. In one instance, I transitioned from being a DevOps engineer to becoming an enterprise architect within three years. By streamlining processes, we reduced server deployment timelines from months to just 30 minutes. This end-to-end deployment significantly contributed to business success.
Automation is not only rewarding but also exciting. Imagine watching a 40-step continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline running flawlessly, validating security, analyzing code, and confirming the UI elements—all while providing a clear status dashboard. Knowing that your work is valuable, repeatable, and scalable is immensely satisfying. Automation allows you to relax, ensuring tasks function as intended or promptly alerts you if issues arise.
Essential Skills for Automation
To thrive as an automation professional, certain skills are essential:
Scripting
Proficiency in scripting languages is the foundation of automation. Start by mastering your platform’s built-in language, such as PowerShell for Windows or Bash for Linux. As you progress into more complex automation scenarios, learning a universal language like Python becomes valuable. Python has become a de facto standard for networking, servers, storage, and AI/ML, with entire automation frameworks built around it.
Collaboration
Automation requires collaboration across multiple teams to enable end-to-end automation. Understanding how different components, such as networks, storage, firewalls, and proxies, integrate is vital. Establishing a company-wide strategy for storing and deploying automation code in a standardized manner is crucial. A common repository fosters collaboration, enabling teams to work together effectively and automate the delivery of infrastructure, applications, and services.
Source-code Management
Centralizing code in a Git management tool (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, AzureDevOps) simplifies collaboration. Engage with the community by raising issues and contributing fixes to code. Code reviews help identify blind spots and improve overall code quality. Maintaining an organized and accessible catalog of APIs and playbooks simplifies automation by enabling self-service requests for infrastructure services.
Containers and Kubernetes
Containers and Kubernetes offer a standardized approach to deploying modern applications in hybrid cloud environments. Understanding containerization concepts, such as building, scaling, monitoring, and redeploying containers, is highly sought after. Proficiency in containers applies to various domains, including machine learning, application development, business intelligence, and cybersecurity. Containerization ensures consistent application behavior across platforms, while Kubernetes enables code-based deployment orchestration across environments.
Network Awareness
Understanding network constraints is crucial for successful automation. Consider factors such as user location, data proximity, and latency. Ensuring data processing occurs in close proximity to users improves application performance. Network awareness prevents common mistakes that hinder application effectiveness. For instance, relocating an application from Texas to Singapore dramatically reduced user wait times, thereby enhancing the overall experience.
Testing
Testing is an essential skill to maintain a stable production environment. Validate that automation processes perform as expected, protecting against unintended consequences. Thorough testing covers not only backend functionality but also UI elements and APIs to ensure changes do not impact existing features or end-user experiences.
Security
Embedding security in applications is paramount in today’s threat landscape. Security integration should be part of the continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline, ensuring secure deployments. Implement measures such as static code analysis, artifact management, code signing, and secure libraries to guarantee the integrity of deployed code. Additionally, validate the security posture of the underlying platforms. Incorporate security testing throughout the application’s lifecycle to mitigate risks.
Observability and Monitoring
Understanding the state of applications and how they reach their current state is fundamental for effective automation. Observability goes beyond traditional monitoring by providing insights and root-cause analysis (RCA) capabilities. By understanding the behavior and performance of systems, proactive automation can be implemented to prevent or resolve issues. Building observability into automation ensures continuous improvement and timely response to incidents.
These essential skills complement each other, allowing individuals to evolve into automation experts gradually. Building proficiency in these areas takes time and dedication, but the journey is rewarding. Embrace automation, enjoy the process, and liberate yourself from manual tasks.
FAQs
Q: What are the key skills needed for success in IT automation?
A: The key skills for IT automation success include scripting, collaboration, source-code management, containers and Kubernetes, network awareness, testing, security, and observability and monitoring.
Q: Why is scripting important in automation?
A: Scripting is essential as it serves as the foundation for automation. Proficiency in scripting languages allows for the creation of repeatable and scalable processes.
Q: How does collaboration contribute to effective automation?
A: Collaboration is critical for end-to-end automation. By working together, teams can integrate different components, share knowledge, and establish standardized practices for storing and deploying automation code.
Q: Why is observability important in automation?
A: Observability ensures a comprehensive understanding of application behavior and performance. It provides insights beyond traditional monitoring, enabling proactive automation and timely incident response.
Conclusion
Embracing automation opens doors to exciting opportunities in the IT industry. By acquiring essential skills like scripting, collaboration, and containerization, you can become a valuable automation expert. Remember, automation is a journey that requires continuous learning and improvement. Develop these skills step by step, enjoy the process, and witness the tremendous impact automation can make.