A Day in The Life of a DevOps Engineer

Only people who work with DevOps or are DevOps know what DevOps does.

A DevOps uses a combination of software development and information technology operations to make the systems development duration shorter. This person works with developers and business staff to coordinate the release of the code with the business goals. They can be developers who were really interested in network operations or system admins with a passion for coding.

80% of people who read this still don’t know what DevOps does. So, let’s take a look at the type of personality a DevOps has…

From the job description, we can conclude that DevOps needs to be someone who sees the big picture. They’re also communicative, cooperating with a lot of people. They love tech and own a lot of gadgets that presumably make their lives easier.

They are serious. So, be careful when joking with DevOps! And if you don’t work in IT, it would be hard for you to understand what DevOps is talking about. They keep using these acronyms and it sometimes seems like they’re speaking Mandarin.

Finally, they stand out. They really like hanging out with their fellow developers, but they never like to be the same as everyone else in the herd. Instead, they come up with their own rules. They even hang out with non-developers!

So, what does a day in a DevOps life look like?

• 08:00 An alarm with a loud song starts ringing. The DevOps snoozes it.
• 08:10 The same alarm rings again. The DevOps snoozes it again.
• 08:20 We hear the alarm for the third time. The DevOps finally gets up, “Alexa, stop the alarm.” They look through the window. It’s cloudy outside, getting ready to rain. It’s going to be a good day. They go outside, saying a quick “hello” to their neighbors, avoiding all eye contact.
• 8:30 The DevOps get dressed, take their backpack, and get into their car (again, loud music starts playing).
• 9:00 Our DevOps has arrived at the office. Again, a quick “hello.” to everyone, and “Please don’t talk to me before my morning coffee.”
• 9:15 After taking a few minutes to settle, the DevOps goes to the kitchen and finally makes coffee, and “Okay, now you can talk to me.” Now the DevOps finally starts talking to other people and the day may begin!
• 9:30 Time for morning meetings. Our DevOps don’t talk too much here, everyone else just seems to have much more to say. DevOps only talk when they’re asked. When the formal part is over, DevOps gets into the conversation and talks about everything but work.
• 10:30 Meetings are done. Time to check emails and choose which ones to answer. Not every question deserves an answer, right?
• 11:00 Okay, let’s start with some important work. Prioritizing is very important for DevOps. They always start with the hardest task because their concentration levels are much higher in the morning.
• 12:00 Break time. The DevOps orders a portion that three normal people could eat. They are aware that the work they do is very exhausting, so they need a lot of energy. A big, fat chocolate cake or a nice milkshake (in different flavors) is mandatory as a desert.
• 13:00 Continuing the important task: Man, this is exhausting. Didn’t expect it to be this hard. Some of the developers have already come to ask what’s happening. People really can’t seem to understand when something takes time! And then, “Oh no, here comes the Team Member with too much time on their hands. Yes, please come gossip with me. I really have nothing else to do.”
• 14:30 The Team Member is finally gone. Not everyone needed to hear about her sister’s wedding, but okay. The DevOps continues to work on the same task. It’s so hard to concentrate again. Okay, I finally found a small piece of focus. Great, another developer has come to ask how’s the task going. “If one more person comes, I’m going to scream.”
• 15:30 Crisis time! There’s a huge problem with some code! The client keeps calling and everyone’s panicking. It’s like the end of the world has come. This is worse than an apocalypse. Well, not exactly everyone is panicking. The DevOps isn’t. We’re all going to die anyway.
• 16:00 Crisis is over. It was just a minor issue that needed to be fixed. Why do they have to make so much drama? Okay, there’s a little time left to do something. There’s no more concentration left, but here’s the second coffee coming. 
• 17:00 Workday is over. Colleagues are going to some after-work cocktail party. The DevOps decides to go, but they’re not so happy about it. Gonna just drink a beer anyway.
• 18:00 The cocktail party is really, really, boring. After a beer, the DevOps leaves the party and goes to play billiard with some friends. Now, this is fun! It’s nice not to have to talk about work for a change.
• 20:00 Home, sweet home. It’s time to have a nice dinner now. Let’s order a prosciutto pizza.
• 21:00 That was some good pizza. Now, let’s find something to watch on Netflix before going to bed. Everyone keeps talking about this Squid Game series. Let’s see how’s that.
• 02:00 Oh snap! It’s two in the morning! Binged the whole show! Now it’s time for the DevOps to finally go to bed.