Name: DevOps vs. Its Predecessors
Uploaded: 2023-03-20T14:36:23Z
Duration: 6 min 56 s
Description: In this video we'll identify the benefits of DevOps compared to older methods. The traditional approach to software development has always been risk-averse. We shy away from problems and look to avoid them as much as possible and intuitively that makes sense. But it also limits us in so many ways. With DevOps, the culture is flipped on its head. What we actually want to do is fail early.

DevOps is a series of practices that fosters a culture of collaboration between the Development and Operations team in software development. This playlist explores the benefits of DevOps, and how it is practiced in organizations.

DevOps

In this video we'll identify the benefits of DevOps compared to older methods. The traditional approach to software development has always been risk-averse. We shy away from problems and look to avoid them as much as possible and intuitively that makes sense. But it also limits us in so many ways. With DevOps, the culture is flipped on its head. What we actually want to do is fail early.

DevOps vs. Its Predecessors

Software development is a big deal. There's lots of moving parts and variables. We can talk about development models all we want but DevOps really looks to shake things up and improve the entire process end-to-end. Now for me, one of the top considerations in a successful DevOps implementation is culture. The traditional approach to software development has always been risk-averse. We shy away from problems and look to avoid them as much as possible and intuitively that makes sense. But it also limits us in so many ways. With DevOps, the culture is flipped on its head. What we actually want to do is fail early. Now imagine we avoid all our risk items and work on a project for six months. Then at the end of the project, we finally hit a risk item and it blows up the whole project. Now that would be horrible, right? Think of all that lost time and money. Well, what if we hit that risk item in the first few weeks?

Well, we still hit the risk but now we didn't waste so much time and money. Now we can adjust the project based on the new information or we can even cancel it altogether if it's untenable anyways. All before we waste this time and money. And DevOps helps us in lots of other ways too. For example, consider scheduling. Now traditionally with two different groups, one for development and one for operations, scheduling would be quite complicated. One team depends on another. They have separate work backlogs and they aren't very collaborative. And sometimes you even have circular dependencies. So, managing that work across teams can be pretty tricky. Whereas a good DevOps implementation, scheduling is actually much more efficient. We have one team and one backlog. The management group provides DevOps team with the work item and the team can handle that item from beginning to end. So, that includes all the development, the deployment, and any needed back and forth. And all that gets handled internally by one team. In fact, it's much more efficient for the team to do it that way anyways.

That DevOps also helps to optimize development cycles. In fact, with DevOps, you're really optimizing how customers will be able to consume the project as it's being built. In the traditional model where the Dev and Ops teams are separated, there's a tendency to focus on big releases and that's simply because the interaction of the two teams is so inefficient. So, it's better to give a large release task to the Ops team on occasion than it is to give them many small tasks on a frequent basis. The result is that the customer sees a new version of the product every once in a while, in the traditional model. Whereas with DevOps the focus shifts to providing many small releases on a continuous and incremental basis. And that can be achieved because all the inefficiencies of having two groups have been eliminated. So, the DevOps team can produce iterative improvements of the product to the customer continuously.

So, you can probably guess from the benefits that we've gone through about DevOps so far that even task completion is improved through the use of DevOps. Now in the traditional development model, there's very little personal accountability. So, let's imagine a scenario. Let's say that there's a bug in the code that was released. Now 3:00 AM that bug is discovered by a user, who does user call? Well, they call the operations team. The Ops team can then escalate to the Dev team, but probably not until the work day starts. So, the Dev team doesn't feel the pain of that bug having come in at 3:00 AM. However, in the DevOps model, all of the team members accept accountability and they all feel the pain when a bug comes in at 3:00 AM because they can be contacted directly. Now that's an extreme example, but the point is that DevOps removes the separation between Dev and Ops and makes sure that the whole team is accountable. If somebody who's actually doing the development gets a call at 3:00 AM, you can rest assured they're going to increase their quality.

Now another thing I like about DevOps is the positive impact it has on success metrics. Now traditional development uses a cost and capacity model. That's really the only way to gauge success. Basically, what that model does is determine how much work can be done for a particular amount of cash. But because of the arrangements of teams, cutting costs and improving output can only go so far. Enter DevOps. Now with DevOps, we can add flow to the model. Things are much more streamlined and iterative. Suddenly, now we can improve output and suddenly now we can cut costs and that's simply because the team is so much more efficient that the more work is getting done. It's higher quality and it's costing us less to do it. And who can argue with that?

Now any good organization is going to be collecting data about their processes and their outputs. The intent of that data collection is to allow the organization to improve their processes and their outputs. And the traditional development model, the data we tend to use is complex and gathered from several different parties. The Ops folks, the support teams, and so on. This data is then generally all combined into wordy, lengthy documents that can be consumed by whomever is involved in the project. So, this means that we introduce bottlenecks not only in the gathering of that data but also in the consumption of that data. Now with DevOps, the whole process is optimized. Metrics are generally baked into the product because the Dev and Ops teams already understand what's required by the consumers. In fact, most of the time, the DevOps team is the consumer. So, any documentation that's produced is generally relevant to the point and even automated. In many cases, particularly in the cloud, DevOps teams will push metrics to central monitoring services where they can be consumed by anybody in real-time.

And finally, having a good DevOps process can drastically and positively impact your releases. In the traditional development model, releases are a big deal. As I said earlier, the traditional model tends to have large singular releases on an infrequent basis. The development team spends a bunch of time putting together a version of the software with a bunch of new features and then that gets passed on to the Ops team. The Ops team then tests and deploys the software and this requires lots of planning and sometimes even includes downtime. So, having a new release is a big deal for everyone involved. But DevOps solves that problem, particularly if you have a CI/CD implementation.

With DevOps, there's no more separation between Dev and operations. So, that efficiency means that releases can be streamlined and automated and that means that releases can actually be smaller and much more frequent. And that's the most common outcome. With the DevOps team, you'll get a continuous deployment model. So, your customers can see new features gradually over time. Don't believe me? Well, let me ask you this. What version is Google? What version is Facebook?

Join us for an assortment of livestreams where we cover topics such as interview prep, introductions to programming languages, project walkthroughs  — and so much more!

All Livestreams

There is a lot of excitement around AI, but what is it and how could it be relevant to your career? Watch these videos to learn the basics of AI and Machine Learning.

Artificial Intelligence

Augmented reality is alive and well. Learn how to make your first AR experience using the popular web framework A-Frame — with guidance from our Curriculum Developers.

Augmented Reality

Learn how to build a Web Dev Portfolio with Codecademy.

Building a Web Dev Portfolio

No matter what your coding goals are, the best place to start is by building a strong foundation. In this live series, we learn Computer Science fundamentals that are similar to content you’d see in a first-semester CS101 college course.

CS101

Cloud computing and its related services have unlocked seemingly endless possibilities for organizations with an online presence. These videos give an overview of what cloud computing is and what business considerations are made when adopting cloud tools.

Cloud Computing

Welcome to the Community Club & Study Group Events playlist, which are hosted by our incredible Club Captains. This collection features a series of engaging and informative events hosted by our dedicated Club Captains from around the globe. Whether you're interested in Web Development, Python programming, or simply want to connect with tech enthusiasts from different cities, this playlist has something for everyone.

Explore sessions from vibrant cities like Seoul and New York City, where our Club Captains share their expertise and insights on a variety of topics. Each event is designed to help you expand your knowledge, enhance your skills, and connect with a community of like-minded individuals.

Join us as we dive into the world of technology, learn from industry experts, and get inspired by the innovative projects and discussions led by our passionate Club Captains. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell to stay updated on the latest events and content!

Happy learning and coding!

Community Club & Study Group Events

A playlist of Quick Tip videos for Codecademy Chapter Leaders.

Community: Chapter Leader Quick Tips

Join our Chapters for live conversations on various topics — including NFT art and how to break into a technical field.

Community: Chapters

We think that connecting with other learners is the best way to learn. Explore some of our past community-led events here!

Community: Events

Hackathons are a great way to test your knowledge and flex your skills. Check out our hackathon presentations here.

Community: Hackathon

Explore the world of creative coding with p5.js, an open-source JavaScript library. We'll create drawings, animations, and video sculptures in this beginner-friendly series.

Creative Coding with p5.js

Strong cybersecurity practices are essential to every organization, be it a school, hospital, or company. These videos review common cybersecurity strategies, as well as common threats and how to identify them.

Cybersecurity

Companies can collect vast amounts of data and struggle to properly use it. Data Analytics is used to interpret and communicate relevant patterns of data for a business. These videos explore how companies utilize data analytics, and current popular tools.

Data Analytics

Data Science is used in a variety of ways to help businesses make decisions. In these videos we explore data science best practices, considerations for what tools to use, and the basics of machine learning.

Data Science

How data is presented can be as important as how it is collected. These videos explore foundational strategies and best practices to ensure that your data visualizations are meaningful and accurate.

Data Visualization

There are a lot of terms and acronyms in the world of programming. Explore the definitions of common terms used in popular languages and frameworks.

Definitions

An understanding of Github and Git commands is essential for anyone looking to work in a collaborative software development space. These videos explore the features of Git, as well as branching and merging, two of the most important skills for collaborating on Github.

Developer Tools

HTML and CSS lie at the heart of web development. We explore some of their uses with these tutorials and explainers.

HTML & CSS

Preparing for a career in a technical field? Check out these interview tips — including advice on building a portfolio and showcasing your skills.

Interview Prep

Emojicode is a real programming language with a playful emoji syntax in place of traditional programming keywords. Learning it can bring some smiles and fun to your programming journey. Join us for an introduction to this silly language.

Intro to Emojicode

TypeScript builds on your JavaScript foundation so you can develop higher-quality, less error-prone code faster. Learn more about this in-demand language as Codecademy Curriculum Developers guide us through an introduction.

Intro to TypeScript

JavaScript has many functionalities, from web development to gaming applications. We break down the programming language and explain how it works with these tutorials.

JavaScript

From Product Manager to Data Scientist, we take a look at different careers in tech and what these roles entail.

Jobs in Coding

Experience a full day of learning to code with interactive instruction and guided discussions by the Curriculum team at Codecademy.

Learn From Home Day

See how people around the world are reshaping their lives by learning to code.

Learner Stories

Linear regression is a fundamental machine learning algorithm used for predictive modeling and data analysis. Learn more about it as Codecademy Curriculum Developers guide you through our course: Linear Regression in Python

Linear Regression with Python

Machine learning is one of the fastest expanding fields in tech, with applications in all parts of life. Watch these videos to learn the basics of Machine Learning.

Machine Learning

Almost everything we do creates data, and knowing how to investigate and communicate it is key. Our Curriculum Developers show us how to summarize data and run hypothesis tests following our Skill Path: Master Statistics with Python.

Master Stats with Python

Mobile development is a massive field with a variety of unique tools. These videos explore two essential tools for mobile developers, the Android operating system and Flutter software development kit.

Mobile Development

Official Codecademy Events

Whether you’re solving for skill gaps, building a more innovative and resourceful team, or aiming to onboard quickly, Codecademy Teams helps your whole company build the right tech and professional skills to quickly adapt to industry shifts and meet changing business needs.

Product Demos

Since its release in 1994, Python stands tall as many developers’ favorite programming language. Explore its many capabilities with these livestreams and tutorials.

Python

The R language is a popular tool for Data Analysts. Learn more about this free, open-source programming language with these livestreams.

We asked recruiters in our community to share advice for people navigating the job-hunting process — from tips for optimizing your resume to advice on acing the technical interview.

Recruiter Advice

We show you how to get started on your coding projects — from setting up developer tools to pushing your code to GitHub.

Setting Up

Just starting out on your coding journey? We’ve gathered tips for helping you start — including advice on how to choose your first programming language and how to remember everything you’re learning.

Tips

Our Curriculum Developers will lead you on a journey as you go from complete beginner to proficiency with data visualization, using Python. This is a weekly series that will lead you through our entire Visualize Data with Python Skill Path.

Visualize Data with Python

Web Design includes any skills used to create and maintain a website. These videos explore the foundational web design skills of adding styling to a website with CSS and HTML, as well as best practices in responsive web design.

Web Design

Join the millions learning to code with Codecademy.

Welcome to Codecademy

You know all of those app ideas you’ve been wanting to create? Swift and SwiftUI can help you bring them to life for iOS. Learn how to build your very own iPhone app from start to finish in this live series.

DevOps vs. Its Predecessors

More videos

Learn more on Codecademy

Introduction to DevOps

Resources

Support

Resources

Support

Plans

Community

Subjects

Languages

Career building

Mobile

Mobile