The most successful SREs are already familiar with IT operations, software development and what it takes to create and maintain systems. Site reliability engineers will regularly work with cross-functional professionals from various teams such as software development, IT operations, service help desk level one and level two support, etc. This means they accrue a sizable body of knowledge over time, which is often not documented. Without documentation, silos remain between different departments, and only specific individuals are capable of handling particular tasks.
- If you want to be a site reliability engineer—or SRE, for short—it would certainly help to know exactly what people in that role actually do.
- Tribal knowledge is the know-how that is passed down from generation to generation of workers.
- The Post Graduate Program in DevOps designed in collaboration with Caltech CTME enables you to master the art and science of improving the development and operational activities of your entire team.
- Today, SRE and DevOps work together to bridge the gap between development and IT operations.
- This is an excellent time to dive into understanding what a data model is, why data models are necessary, and how the data model should inform your choice of database and your service architecture.
In the United States, the site reliability engineer salary ranges from $78,901 to $90,101. Site reliability engineer salaries vary on different factors, including academic qualifications, additional skills, certifications, and professional experience. Based on post-incident reviews, site reliability engineers will need to optimize the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to boost service reliability.
SRE primary roles & responsibilities
As a Site Reliability Engineer, you are responsible for ensuring that the company’s website and online systems are always up and running. This requires a lot of technical skills and knowledge, as well as strong problem-solving abilities. You can learn these skills by enrolling in a DevOps Foundation Certification online and getting trained by professional teachers. Nearly every aspect of their job role, from configuration design to software development, hinges on their ability to write effective and error-free code that can be implemented on time. Some of the languages they should have proficiency in are Python, GoLang, Java, .NET, and Node.js. This makes them suitable for an SRE role in any computing environment and also comes up with intelligent tools to solve site reliability problems without language barriers.
You want to hire people who are good problem solvers and have a knack for finding problems. Experience with application performance management tools like Retrace, New Relic, and others would be really valuable. They should be well versed at application logging best practices and exception handling. The site reliability engineer job also includes tasks like building proprietary tools from the scratch to mitigate weaknesses in incident management or software delivery. Site reliability engineers serve as a link between IT operations and software development teams. Depending on the structure of a company, there may be a singular SRE or an entire team dedicated to SRE.
Ansible vs. Puppet: The Key Differences to Know
Besides automating and ensuring system stability, the site reliability engineer job also involves monitoring releases and successfully deploying them, keeping the SDI buzzing. SREs should also become experts at conducting tests and applying analytical thinking. Developing a testing process allows SREs to catch bugs and detect weak points, which has become essential in the age of cybersecurity.
As an SRE, you will need to be familiar with these tools in order to help developers with code deployments. Many companies today use distributed systems in order to achieve high availability and scalability. As an SRE, you will need to have a deep understanding of how distributed systems work in order to be able to troubleshoot and optimize them. This is https://wizardsdev.com/en/vacancy/sre-site-reliability-engineer/ because you will often be required to write code in order to automate tasks or build tools. Some of the popular employers as per PayScale include Oracle, Google, Apple, Equifax, VMware, Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Cisco, and IBM. SREs will be routinely tasked with managing complex and large-scale infrastructure, systems, and operational problems.
Popular Skills
DevOps is a software culture that breaks down the traditional boundary of development and operation teams. Instead, they use software tools to improve collaboration and keep up with the rapid pace of software update releases. Observability is a process that prepares the software team for uncertainties when the software goes live for end users. Site reliability engineering (SRE) teams use tools to detect abnormal behaviors in the software and, more importantly, collect information that helps developers understand what causes the problem. SRE fits right at the crossroads of IT operations, support and software engineering.
Site reliability engineers are now able to oversee software and performance of the full technology stack. That means they can identify and resolve issues more easily and efficiently than the traditional development and operations team. The SRE role is ultimately responsible for maintaining systems’ uptime and reliability. SRE combines software engineering practices with IT engineering practices to create highly reliable systems.
Site Reliability Engineer: Job Description, Key Skills, and Salary in 2022
Both SRE and DevOps work to bridge the gap between development and operations teams to deliver services faster. SREs are responsible for keeping systems up and running smoothly, and they need to have a deep understanding of how system components work together. They also need to be able to code, so they can automate tasks and create tools to help with their job.
SREs combine all these skills and ensure that complex distributed systems run smoothly. Although site reliability engineering has been around for a while, it has only recently gained fame in general software circles. But there are still a lot of questions as to what a site reliability engineer (SRE) is and does.
Here, site reliability engineers seek to enhance and automate operations tasks. A career as a Site Reliability Engineer can be extremely rewarding, both financially and professionally. According to PayScale, the average site reliability engineering salary in the United States is $117,768 per year. However, salaries can range anywhere from $76,000 to $158,000 per year, depending on experience and location.
As you may suspect, SRE roles require actionable metrics that drive our systems to improve aspects of system reliability. Like most other job interviews, it’s important to show why you’re excited about the role. SRE isn’t always viewed as the most luxurious role, and many developers will shy away from it. So, it’s important to speak to why you’re excited about building services that improve system reliability and lead to greater customer and employee happiness.
