Overview

This occupation is found in a wide and diverse range of public and private sector organisations, from tech start-ups through government departments to multinationals. Essentially any organisation of any size that builds and or operates modern IT services.

The broad purpose of the occupation is to enable organisations to get valuable working software out in front of active users, both external and internal, frequently and safely, reducing time to market, delivering increased value, both with respect to the end user and the business, and improving the quality of digital services. At its simplest, DevOps is a philosophy and way of working that brings together two historically disparate parts of the IT organisation, namely those who develop the software and those who are then required to support it in the live environment. The DevOps Engineer encapsulates both disciplines, requiring the individual to understand and appreciate how their code functions when being used in the real world and troubleshoot any issues that may arise, while taking a cloud-infrastructure focused perspective. This means taking responsibility for all aspects of the development and operations process - the design, build, test, implement, release and continual iteration of products. Utilising the advantages of Cloud computing to enable infrastructure to be defined in code moves the operations side away from traditional system administrator roles which are focused on troubleshooting traditional infrastructure-as-hardware. The convergence of these two topics drives DevOps culture and ways of working and creates the need for the new role of DevOps Engineer that works within the delivery team. The DevOps Engineer applies all the DevOps culture and software engineering disciplines to codified infrastructure.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with other members of agile development teams, other areas within the organisation’s IT department and business areas, as well as 3rd-party suppliers. This is an office based or remote working role, with co-location preferable.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for working collaboratively with a minimum of direct supervision within broad but generally well-defined parameters, requiring the application of knowledge and understanding, skills and methods in a broad range of complex or technical work activities, performed in a variety of contexts. They will address problems which are non-routine while normally well defined, taking responsibility for courses of action, including, where relevant, responsibility for the work of others and allocation of resources. They will typically pair with other technical roles, or work alone at times, and provide input to the planning of work and advise on design.

Foundation Apprenticeship Assessment

Each assessment organisation is responsible for designing its own assessments in line with the apprenticeship standard. The Academy for Project Management has developed an assessment model that allows apprentices to demonstrate competence against the required assessment outcomes. Comprehensive guidance and resources are provided to support both apprentices and training providers.

The assessment for the DevOps Engineer includes:

• A Project

And the choice of a:

• Observation
• Portfolio
• Professional Discussion
• Presentation
• Additional Project
• Question and Answer

The standard also includes Employability Skills and Behaviours (EBs), which must be demonstrated consistently by the apprentice throughout the programme. Employers are required to formally confirm this before completion.

Assessment Timing

Components of the assessment may be scheduled at appropriate points during the apprenticeship. The Academy for Project Management works closely with training providers to ensure assessments are timed effectively, allowing apprentices to demonstrate their skills and knowledge at key stages in their development.

Additional information on the apprenticeship standard and the assessment process can be viewed here.

Becoming a Centre

Training providers interested in delivering elements of the assessment internally can explore the Centre model with us. Guidance is available on how the model operates and the steps required to become an approved Centre. For more information, please contact administration@academy4pm.com