Build a career in DevSecOps with BTech in Computer Science and Engineering

Development and Operations (DevOps) can be defined as a combination of cultural practices, philosophies, and tools that enables people to work together and create and deliver software products at a fast pace. A DevOps team consists of software developers and IT professionals who collaborate throughout a product’s lifecycle to improve the speed and quality of software deployment. 

Through automation, collaboration, and rapid feedback, DevOps practices have successfully brought a cultural shift in the software industry and will have a positive impact on everyone involved in the industry in the long term.

Within DevOps, the most significant role is that of the Development, Security and Operations (DevSecOps) engineer. 

Why go for DevSecOps?

As digitization is steadily percolating into our lives, the security threats and hacks have increased severalfold. Every 11 seconds, a ransomware attack takes place targeting businesses around the world. And every year, businesses lose over $75 billion due to different types of cyberattacks. Once an organization faces a cyberattack, the chances of data recovery stay low even despite many years of technological advancement. If an appropriate solution is not found, the world is expected to face a loss of $10.5 trillion by 2025. This is where DevSecOps engineers step in. 

DevSecOps meets the current industry needs by resolving the drawbacks of DevOps. It takes full advantage of the DevOps approach by incorporating security with speed into the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). In simpler terms, DevSecOps brings together three different disciplines: Development, Security and Operations.

By incorporating the security aspect, DevSecOps allows developers to code while keeping the security issues in mind from the start. In this way, it is easier to conduct security checks and less expensive to fix flaws in the software. Industries are implementing DevSecOps to cover the gap between development, security, and operations to release more secure software faster.

What does a DevSecOps engineer do?

A DevSecOps engineer must have a thorough understanding of how security affects each stage of the development pipeline and the final product or service. Skills like the ability to work well in groups and communicate effectively are necessary to shine as a DevSecOps engineer.

The responsibilities of a DevSecOps engineer are similar to those of other IT security professionals. To detect and analyze threats, both roles employ a variety of tools and techniques such as risk assessment, threat modeling, and cybersecurity. However, when compared to a specific IT security job role, there are some key differences to consider between an IT security professional and a DevSecOps engineer.

The concept of collaboration is considered the core practice in the DevSecOps environment. DevSecOps engineers and security engineers collaborate to ensure that all security threats are addressed during the development phase. 

A successful DevSecOps engineer must have the following skills:

• They should be up-to-date about cybersecurity threats and the latest software

• They must have communication skills beyond reporting bugs and keeping others updated on progress. They should also be capable of passing their knowledge about security, automation, and other elements of the DevSecOps culture

• DevSecOps engineers must possess a working knowledge of programs such as Puppet, Chef, ThreatModeler, Checkmarx, Immunio, and Aqua. They may also need to be familiar with Kubernetes, Docker, or AWS

• DevSecOps engineers should be familiar with DevOps culture. They must also have a knowledge of developer tools like GitHub, programming languages like Java and PHP, and configuration management tools like Ansible

DevSecOps industry growth

The global DevSecOps market is expected to reach $17.24 billion by 2028. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 24.1% between 2021 and 2028. Even though DevSecOps was initially popular mainly in the IT and software companies, today it is being applied to various industries where regulated and high-security environments are required, such as automotive energy, life sciences, etc.

Why Study DevSecOps at UPES

DevSecOps includes elements such as continuous delivery, infrastructure-as-code, and observability. It helps provide early feedback to developers to create more trustworthy software and speeds up the delivery of safer code. 

It investigates the use of various tools to integrate DevSecOps practices into the software delivery pipeline. A traditional Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline cover best security practices. 

BTech Computer Science and Engineering (DevSecOps) at UPES is provided in academic partnership with Xebia. This program allows students to learn about Source Code Control (Git, Bitbucket, SVN), Security in Continuous Integration (Jenkins, Bamboo), Infrastructure Automation (Puppet, Ansible), Deployment Automation & Orchestration (Jenkins, VSTS, Octopus Deploy), Container Concepts (Docker), Orchestration (Kubernetes, Swarm), Cloud (AWS, Azure, GoogleCloud, Openstack), System Provisioning and System Monitoring.

Career options for DevSecOps graduates

With a degree in DevSecOps, students can pursue careers in DevOps Architect, Automation Engineer, Software Tester, Security Engineer, Integration Specialist, Release Manager, etc.

Note: The views expressed in this article are that of UPES and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha