DevOps engineer: what they do, functions, and when to hire this profile
As a company develops more digital products, the number of applications, servers, integrations, and processes it must manage increases. What could initially be resolved with manual tasks begins to generate slow deployments, recurring errors, and an increasingly difficult-to-maintain infrastructure.
It is in this context that the DevOps engineer becomes a strategic profile for technology teams. Their role is not just to manage servers or create pipelines. A DevOps engineer works to connect development and operations, automate processes, and build an infrastructure that allows for fast, stable, and scalable software deployment.
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But what exactly does a DevOps engineer do? What technologies should they master? And how can you tell when a company really needs to incorporate this profile?
What is a DevOps engineer?
A DevOps engineer is a technology professional specialized in improving and automating the processes that enable the development, deployment, operation, and maintenance of applications.
Their work primarily lies between two areas:
Software development.
IT infrastructure and operations.
The goal is to reduce friction between the two and enable teams to deliver new features more quickly without compromising system stability. To achieve this, DevOps combines knowledge of development, cloud, systems, automation, monitoring, and Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) practices.
Instead of relying on manual processes to deploy an application or configure infrastructure, the DevOps engineer seeks to make these processes repeatable, automated, and measurable.
What does a DevOps engineer do?
The specific responsibilities can vary depending on the size of the company and its technological infrastructure. However, there are several common functions associated with the profile.
Deployment automation
One of their main responsibilities is to reduce the manual processes required to move changes from development to production.
To do this, they can build CI/CD pipelines that automate different stages:
This allows for publishing new versions of an application more frequently and reducing errors arising from manual procedures.
Cloud infrastructure management
Many DevOps engineers work directly with cloud platforms like AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
They may participate in the creation and management of servers, networks, storage, managed services, and various components of the infrastructure needed to run applications.
Infrastructure as code
Another common practice is managing infrastructure through code using tools like Terraform or Ansible. Instead of manually configuring each server or cloud resource, the infrastructure can be defined through versioned files. This facilitates reproducing environments, making controlled changes, and maintaining consistent configurations between development, staging, and production.
Containers and orchestration
Technologies like Docker allow for packaging an application along with the necessary dependencies to run it. When there are numerous containers or more complex architectures, orchestration tools like Kubernetes can be used to manage deployments, scaling, and availability. The DevOps engineer typically participates in the implementation and maintenance of these environments.
Monitoring and observability
Deploying an application does not mean the work is done. It is necessary to know what happens when the system is running.
DevOps teams implement tools that allow monitoring aspects such as:
Application performance.
Resource consumption.
Service availability.
Logs.
Errors.
Alerts.
Infrastructure metrics.
The goal is to quickly detect problems and reduce the time needed to resolve incidents.
What technologies should a DevOps engineer master?
There is no single technology stack for DevOps. The tools used depend on the infrastructure and needs of each company.
However, some of the most common technologies are:
| Area | Common technologies |
|---|---|
| Cloud | AWS, Azure, Google Cloud |
| Containers | Docker |
| Orchestration | Kubernetes |
| Infrastructure as code | Terraform, Ansible |
| CI/CD | Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD |
| Systems | Linux |
| Version control | Git |
| Monitoring | Prometheus, Grafana |
| Scripting | Bash, Python |
A good DevOps profile should not be evaluated solely by the number of tools they know. It is also important to analyze their ability to understand architectures, automate processes, identify bottlenecks, and collaborate with different technical teams.
DevOps engineer vs cloud engineer: are they the same?
Although there is considerable overlap between the two profiles, their main objectives are different. A cloud engineer is usually more focused on designing, implementing, and managing infrastructure within cloud platforms. A DevOps engineer, on the other hand, typically focuses on automating the software development and operation cycle.
For example:
Cloud engineer: builds and manages the infrastructure where an application runs.
DevOps engineer: automates how that application is built, tested, deployed, and monitored within that infrastructure.
In small companies, it is common to find professionals who perform functions of both profiles. In more mature tech organizations, these responsibilities may be distributed among different specialists.
When does a company need to hire a DevOps engineer?
Not all companies need to incorporate DevOps from the start. However, there are certain signs that indicate this profile may begin to generate a significant impact.
1. Deployments depend on manual processes
If publishing a new version requires following numerous manual steps, the possibility of making errors increases.
A DevOps engineer can automate much of the process through CI/CD pipelines.
2. The development team is growing
As the number of developers increases, so does the amount of changes, branches, environments, and deployments that must be managed.
DevOps allows for creating standardized processes so that team growth does not create an operational bottleneck.
3. There are constant differences between environments
One of the classic problems in development occurs when an application works correctly in one environment but fails in another.
Automation, containers, and infrastructure as code help maintain consistent configurations between development, testing, and production.
4. Production incidents take too long to detect
If problems are usually discovered because a customer reports them, there is likely a lack of monitoring.
A DevOps engineer can implement metrics, logs, and alert systems that allow for identifying incidents before they have a greater impact.
5. Cloud infrastructure is becoming more complex
When multiple services, servers, databases, containers, and environments appear, managing everything manually becomes difficult to scale.
At this point, incorporating automation and DevOps practices can significantly simplify operations.
6. Developers are spending too much time on infrastructure
Developers should be able to focus primarily on building products.
If a significant portion of their time is spent configuring servers, resolving deployment issues, or maintaining pipelines, bringing in a DevOps specialist can free up capacity for the team.
What level of DevOps engineer does your company need?
Not all needs require the same level of experience.
A junior DevOps engineer can assist in maintaining pipelines, existing automations, monitoring, and operational tasks under supervision.
A mid-level DevOps engineer usually has the autonomy to implement pipelines, manage cloud infrastructure, work with containers, and develop automations.
A senior DevOps engineer can make architectural decisions, design CI/CD strategies, implement infrastructure as code, define standards, and work on more complex infrastructures.
For this reason, before starting a hiring process, it is important to first determine what problem the company needs to solve.
Simply looking for a "DevOps engineer" without defining responsibilities can lead to technically valid candidates who are not well-suited to the actual needs of the project.
Internal or outsourced DevOps?
This decision mainly depends on the workload, technological maturity, and goals of the company.
Building an internal team may make sense when there is a permanent need and sufficient volume of infrastructure to maintain several specialized professionals.
However, outsourcing the profile can be particularly useful when the company needs:
To quickly incorporate specific expertise.
To temporarily cover a technical need.
To implement new infrastructure.
To migrate processes to the cloud.
To build CI/CD pipelines.
To incorporate knowledge that currently does not exist in the team.
To scale the technology area without immediately expanding the internal structure.
There is also a hybrid model where external specialists integrate with the existing technology team and work directly on the company's projects.
How to evaluate a DevOps profile before hiring
A DevOps hiring should not be evaluated exclusively through questions about tools. Knowing how to use Docker, Kubernetes, or Terraform is important, but it should also be understood how the candidate has applied those technologies to solve real problems.
During the selection process, it is advisable to analyze their experience in aspects such as:
Designing CI/CD pipelines.
Cloud infrastructure.
Automation.
Infrastructure as code.
Containers.
Monitoring.
Incident resolution.
Infrastructure security.
Scalability.
Collaboration with development teams.
It is also useful to present real scenarios.
For example: “We have several developers manually deploying an application on AWS, and errors in production are frequent. How would you improve the process?”
The response allows for a much better evaluation of the candidate's reasoning ability than a simple list of technologies.
Hiring a DevOps engineer based on your project's needs
DevOps becomes especially relevant when a company needs to develop software faster without proportionally increasing the complexity of its operations.
Automating deployments, standardizing infrastructure, improving observability, and reducing manual tasks allows technology teams to spend more time on product development and less on resolving operational issues. However, finding the right profile requires determining beforehand what knowledge the project truly needs.
At Lateam, we help companies incorporate specialized DevOps engineers who can integrate with existing technology teams and work according to the needs, infrastructure, and stack of each organization.
If your company needs to strengthen its DevOps capability, you can explore our profiles and hire DevOps engineers tailored to your project's needs.
