To respond to those challenges, many of the most successful and forward-thinking organisations are embracing DevOps and the creation of cross-functional teams, supported by well-informed elements of robust central control, typically around programme management, finance and enterprise architecture. DevOps is not just a process methodology, it’s a culture; and BCS has worked extensively with a leading DevOps consultancy, Cardiff-based DevOps Group, to create a Foundation level certification that will help to cement both methodology and cultural elements into high-performing teams.
These high-performing, cross functional teams running with a lean and / or agile DevOps methodology significantly increase the pace of business and customer-focused technology change while increasing quality and reducing risk and cost. So, the question arises ‘Why isn’t everybody doing it?’ or at least ‘why isn’t everybody doing it well?’
Performing in such a team presents challenges and these apply to IT professionals as much as they do to any other team member. Technical expertise, whilst important to an IT professional, is no longer enough in itself. To operate successfully in such a high-performing team, an IT professional also needs to embrace the culture and methodology of DevOps and, crucially, acquire the communication skills, business awareness and personal impact to ensure they can effectively operate in such an environment.
BCS has created this Foundation level Certificate to support effective training of these methods and cultures, and to provide candidates with a benchmark that they can use to measure their effectiveness and capabilities. Holders of this new certification will not only become more effective in their team, but they will also gain more recognition as DevOps practitioners and will become the next generation of leaders in a new DevOps profession that is rapidly becoming the differentiator for companies that embrace the methodology.
Version 7 of SFIAplus has recognised this and BCS is increasingly finding businesses focusing on agility, business acumen, communication skills and stakeholder and relationship management as core requirements of roles, including those roles that have, historically, been predominantly technically focused. Training courses that lead to the BCS Foundation Level Certificate in DevOps will start to embed these skills.
The BCS Foundation Level Certificate in DevOps is an overarching part of a broad portfolio of associated BCS Professional Certifications that also includes VeriSM™ Service Management for the Digital Age, SIAM™ and Agile, all of which are deigned to equip different members of these cross functional teams with the professional skills they need to maximise their impact.
Stuart Luckman is Operations Manager - Corporate Engagement at BCS.
