Cloud Native Roles and SRE

The shift towards cloud computing and cloud native technologies has significantly reshaped job roles in IT. Unlike traditional IT roles, jobs in cloud computing often involve overlapping responsibilities and require a blend of diverse skills.

Emerging Roles in Cloud Native Environments

Cloud Architect

• Responsibilities: Oversee the adoption of cloud technologies, design application landscapes and infrastructure, emphasizing security, scalability, and deployment strategies.

DevOps Engineer

• Role Overview: More than just a blend of developer and administrator, DevOps engineers balance software development with operations. They employ tools and processes that streamline the entire software lifecycle from development to deployment.

Security Engineer

• Evolution: Their role has expanded with cloud technologies introducing new security challenges. Now, they are an integral part of the team, focusing on inclusive security practices.

DevSecOps Engineer

• Integration of Roles: Combines elements of DevOps and security to ensure security is embedded in the IT environment. This role often bridges traditional development and security teams.

Data Engineer

• Challenges: Tasked with managing the huge volumes of data in large systems. This includes both infrastructure management and data processing.

Full-Stack Developer

• Skillset: Versatile in both frontend and backend development, including understanding infrastructure essentials.

Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)

• Foundation and Goals: Originated at Google around 2003, SRE focuses on creating and maintaining reliable, scalable software. They apply software engineering methods to solve operational issues and automate tasks.

SRE Performance and Reliability Metrics

Service Level Objectives (SLO)

• Definition: Targets for service reliability, like achieving service latency under 100ms.

Service Level Indicators (SLI)

• Measurement: Quantitative metrics of service quality, such as actual request response time.

Service Level Agreements (SLA)

• Accountability: Contracts with users that include consequences (often financial) for meeting or failing to meet SLOs.

Error Budget

• Management Tool: Defines the acceptable amount or duration of errors in an application, guiding actions like halting production deployments if exceeded.