Puppet on DevOps: practitioners (not managers) are the new champions

Software delivery (and operations… and change) automation company Puppet has staged its fifth annual DevOps Salary Report.

With a foundation in open source, Puppet is championing a world of what it calls ‘unconstrained software change’… presumably an even more intense version of Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD).

Puppet claims to have gathered over 3000 responses for its State of DevOps survey, the summary findings of which suggest that DevOps salaries at the practitioner level are closing in on the manager-level.

Could businesses actually be putting hands-on DevOps experience and skill sets at the top of their priorities?

In the UK, 26 percent of IT practitioners salaries are now reaching the $75,000 (£58,000) to $100,000 (£77,000) bracket, up from 17 percent last year.

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Even though the highest salaries have been recorded in the United States, the UK is seen to be paying more across Europe, with France lagging behind on the lower ranges and Germany paying more for higher positions.

“Companies are increasingly growing their DevOps practices and the way they deliver IT services and software across the globe, which means businesses are in desperate need of the right talent who can adapt to this shift, raise the bar with software delivery and play an integral role in innovation,” said Nick Smyth, VP Engineering at Puppet.

The report also suggests that large organisations with more complex technology infrastructures have more high-paying positions than smaller ones, with the need for more experience and diverse skill set at the manager-level as well.

Enterprises are further along in their automation journey and therefore require fewer lower skill personnel to sustain IT activities.

Puppet director of product marketing Alanna Brown says that to get ahead of the competition and stay relevant to clients, large organisations need sophisticated DevOps and automation technologies, so (she says) it comes as ‘little surprise’ to see them paying more for highly-skilled practitioners and managers in order to sustain their complex technology infrastructure.

Other findings include the observation that retail appears to be a lucrative sector for IT practitioners, with an increased focus on digital commerce and omnichannel engagement.

Also, in Europe at least, there is more parity at top salary levels between men and women.

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