How Outsourcing Can Relieve the DevOps Skills Gap

Building a DevOps team isn’t easy, and a skills shortage adds to the challenge. DevOps professionals are in high demand, which means they’re in limited supply. In a recent DevOps Institute survey, 64 percent of IT leaders said they’re having a hard time finding professionals who are skilled in the DevOps discipline.

Automation can help relieve some of the pressure on DevOps staff and enable development and operations teams to collaborate more efficiently. However, there are even fewer people with expertise in DevOps automation at a production scale, making it difficult to capitalize on the benefits of automated tools.

These factors make DevOps outsourcing an attractive alternative. Organizations gain access to DevOps experts who can help build CI/CD pipelines or assess existing processes and recommend improvements. The right outsourcing partner will also have expertise in automation, cloud services, security and optimization. Although DevOps outsourcing isn’t right for every organization, it can help accelerate the implementation of DevOps processes and tools and deliver a number of bottom line benefits.

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Talent on Demand

The primary benefit of DevOps outsourcing is immediate access to skilled talent. Organizations are freed from the lengthy recruiting process, which can take weeks or months, and eliminate the risk of hiring an engineer who’s a bad fit. The outsourcing company will have a team of specialists and the ability to access additional resources as needed. Reputable outsourcing firms have talent networks that allow them to find the right professionals quickly.

What’s more, these professionals will be able to hit the ground running and deliver immediate value. DevOps specialists working for outsourcing firms typically have extensive training, advanced certifications and practical experience. They also document everything, share knowledge and support one another, enabling them to solve problems faster.

Best-in-class outsourcing companies also foster a strong DevOps culture. Their teams follow best practices and take advantage of the expertise they’ve gained by trying and testing various approaches.

DevOps outsourcing can also help control costs and reduce risk. Hiring costs are eliminated as well as ongoing training and development expenses. Organizations pay a predictable fee for engineers who maintain their certifications and receive on-the-job training by working for multiple customers. In essence, multiple companies are paying the engineers to learn, experiment and conduct research, with each company reaping the benefits.

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Choosing the Right Partner

The key to DevOps outsourcing success is to select the right partner. That starts by identifying what you hope to achieve by outsourcing. Are you looking to scale your existing environment? Migrate to the cloud? Reduce cloud costs? By defining KPIs, you can determine what skill sets you need and set the right benchmarks.

The next step is to assess the technical expertise of the outsourcing company. At a minimum, DevOps outsourcing providers should have extensive expertise in CI/CD pipelines and cloud-based tools. They should also have the ability to set up automated testing, code analysis and vulnerability scanning. Depending on your environment, you may also benefit from expertise in containerization and Infrastructure-as-a-Code.

Finally, your outsourcing partner should have a proven track record of success. The provider should be able to discuss successful projects and specific expertise with DevOps tools and cloud platforms.

DeSeMa provides DevOps outsourcing to meet a wide range of needs and budgets. Our team has extensive experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated tools and security testing. We offer flexible outsourcing options, including talent on demand, staff augmentation and fully managed solutions.

With DevOps skill sets in high demand, many organizations are struggling to find the talent they need. Contact DeSeMa to discuss how outsourcing can relieve the DevOps skills gap.