DevOps Engineer
DevOps engineers automate the systems that build, test and release software, so new code reaches users quickly and without breaking things.
- Median salary
- $131,900
4.4%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 55,200
2.8%vs last year
- Projected growth
- +26.7%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Moderate
- automation risk
- Average hours
- 41/wk
+1h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- Not in shortage
national
DevOps engineers work where software development and IT operations meet, building the pipelines and infrastructure that let a team ship code safely and often. They work mainly in technology, professional services and financial firms, using cloud platforms, containers and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform to replace steps that once waited on a person. The role is often confused with a site reliability engineer's: a DevOps engineer builds the automation and the pipeline itself, while site reliability leans towards keeping live services running within their targets.
How much do devops engineers earn?
The median full-time salary for a devops engineer is $131,900 per annum, before tax, up $27,900 since 2018.
Pay rises with what you can demonstrate: depth in Kubernetes, Terraform or a cloud platform, and security clearance for government and defence work, all lift offers. Sector matters as well, with technology and financial services employers generally paying above government, education and not-for-profit organisations. Contract and on-call work adds to earnings but trades away the security of a permanent role.
What does a devops engineer do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Investigating why a deployment failed overnight, then rolling the change back so the team can start again
- Writing scripts and infrastructure as code so a step that used to be done by hand runs itself
- Reading dashboards, logs and alerts to judge whether a system is genuinely healthy or just still running
- Sitting between developers and infrastructure teams, translating what each side needs from the other
- Rebuilding the fix properly once an incident is over, so the same failure can't recur quietly
What skills do devops engineers need?
Employers look for cloud infrastructure, programming and software development, networks and systems administration, backed by Kubernetes fluency and strong problem solving.
Specialist skills
- Cloud infrastructure
- Programming and software development
- Networks and systems administration
- Cyber security
- Software testing and QA
- Agile delivery
- Process improvement
Software and tools
- Kubernetes
- Docker
- Terraform
- Jenkins
- Prometheus
General skills
- Problem solving
Is the job growing?
About 55,200 people work as devops engineers in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 26.7% over the decade to 2035. That's very strong growth. Few roles in Australia are expanding this fast, and it points to solid demand for years to come.
How do you become a devops engineer?
Here's the path most devops engineers take, step by step.
- 1Complete a degree in computer science, software engineering or a similar field
A bachelor degree is the most common background, held by about 58% of the people working in the role, and it supplies the programming and networking foundations the job assumes.
- 2Spend a few years building and running real systems
Employers hire on demonstrated work more than credentials, so a graduate role in software development, systems administration or IT support is where most people pick up the servers, release processes and incident experience that DevOps work is built on.
- 3Learn one cloud platform properly
AWS, Azure and Google Cloud certifications carry weight because they show you can provision, secure and monitor infrastructure the way the job demands, rather than only describing it.
- 4Pick up containers and infrastructure as code
Docker, Kubernetes and Terraform appear in most job ads, and the usual way in is to use them on a live project at work where you deal with the failures they produce.
- 5Or move across from an adjacent role
Systems administrators and back end developers move into DevOps regularly, because server management and application code cover most of the groundwork. A TAFE diploma in information technology plus several years in one of those roles is a realistic alternative to a degree.
Ready to apply as a devops engineer?
Whether you're working toward becoming a devops engineer or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a devops engineer move to?
Moving into IT Project Manager typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $40,200 a year more on average.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT Project Manager DevOps engineers bring delivery and automation insight to IT project management, coordinating technical teams and project timelines.Known move | +$40,200 | 12% | reskill |
| Back End Developer DevOps engineers bring coding and deployment knowledge to back end development, building and shipping server side applications.Known move | −$3,100 | 64% | minimal |
| Site Reliability Engineer DevOps engineers bring release and monitoring experience to site reliability engineering, focusing on service levels and incident response. | −$9,700 | 42% | reskill |
| Network Engineer DevOps engineers bring systems and scripting skills to network engineering, supporting infrastructure automation and connectivity.Known move | −$11,800 | 31% | reskill |
| Cloud Engineer DevOps engineers bring automation and infrastructure skills to cloud engineering, deepening platform provisioning and managed service work. | −$20,100 | 64% | minimal |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a devops engineer?
The typical devops engineer is 37 years old; 84% are men, 92% work full-time, and full-timers average 41 hours a week.
- 37
- Median age
- 16%
- Female share
- 92%
- Full-time
- +1h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a devops engineer?
The work has a steady background rhythm of building and improving automation, broken up by incidents that need attention immediately. Troubleshooting takes up a large share of the week, so the people who enjoy it tend to like diagnosis and don't mind being interrupted. It suits someone who is comfortable owning a system end to end and can explain a technical trade-off to people who don't share their background.
What people like
- Automation that keeps paying off. When you replace a manual release with a pipeline, the improvement holds, and nobody has to repeat that work again.
- A view across the whole system. You follow the path from a developer's commit through testing, deployment and monitoring, which builds knowledge that is hard to gather in a narrower role.
- Problems with a clear finish line. An incident gives you a defined fault to chase, and there is an unambiguous moment when the system is healthy again.
- Close work with the people writing the code. You sit alongside developers, so changes land where they are needed instead of being handed over a wall.
What people find hard
- Being on call. Someone has to answer when a service breaks at 2am, and in many teams that rotation includes you.
- Improvement work gets interrupted. A plan mapped out for the week can stall the moment an incident lands, and picking it up again takes longer than it should.
- The tooling keeps moving. Kubernetes, Terraform and the cloud platforms all change under you, so staying current takes reading and practice, sometimes outside paid hours.
- You sit in the middle. Developers want their change shipped and operations teams want stability, and you are the one who has to get both sides to agree on what is safe.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ devops engineers?
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services employs the largest share of devops engineers, followed by Financial and Insurance Services.
Top employing industries
- 1Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- 2Financial and Insurance Services
- 3Information Media and Telecommunications
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 58.3% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 29% | |
| Year 12 or below | 5.5% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 3.8% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 1.5% |
Will AI replace devops engineers?
DevOps engineering sits in the middle on AI exposure. Assistants already draft Terraform modules, pipeline definitions and Kubernetes manifests, and they summarise logs well, so the routine authoring and triage parts of the week are changing. What they don't cover is knowing what a change will do to a live production system, which is where the engineer's judgement is still doing the work.
Share of typical working time by exposure level
- Writing pipeline and infrastructure codeTerraform modules, CI pipeline definitions and Kubernetes manifests follow recognisable patterns, so an assistant produces a usable first draft that the engineer then edits and tests.30%high
- Reading logs and diagnosing failuresAn assistant can summarise an error and suggest likely causes, but tracing a failure across a service, its network path and the last deployment still needs someone who knows how the system is put together.30%moderate
- Cloud sizing, permissions and cost settingsTemplates and recommendations cover much of the configuration, while the decision about what a particular service actually needs still depends on how it is used and how fast it is growing.25%moderate
- On-call incident response and release decisionsDeciding whether to roll back a deployment at 2am, and talking the team through the call afterwards, is live judgement with immediate consequences that no current tool carries.15%low
Common questions about becoming a devops engineer
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much does a DevOps engineer earn in Australia?
The median full-time pay for a DevOps engineer is $131,900 per year before tax, and individual offers sit above or below that depending on seniority, employer and whether the role is permanent or contract. Sector moves it most, with technology and financial services firms generally paying more than government and education employers.
How do you become a DevOps engineer?
Most people start with a degree in computer science or software engineering and a few years in software development, systems administration or IT support. From there, a cloud certification and hands-on work with Docker, Kubernetes and Terraform do much of the work in getting hired. A TAFE qualification plus experience in an adjacent role is a realistic alternative, and employers rarely insist on one particular path.
Are DevOps engineers in demand in Australia?
DevOps engineers are currently not in shortage, and employment is projected to grow 26.7% over the decade to 2035. Demand follows organisations moving systems to the cloud or changing how they release software, so the roles cluster in technology, professional services and financial firms rather than being spread evenly across the economy.
Will AI replace DevOps engineers?
AI assistants already draft scripts, propose fixes and summarise log output, which takes time out of the routine parts of the job. Working out why a system behaves oddly in production, and choosing a change that won't cause a worse problem, still needs someone who knows the environment. The role is shifting towards reviewing and directing automated output rather than disappearing.
What can a DevOps engineer move into?
Cloud engineering and back end development both lean on the same scripting and infrastructure skills, and cloud engineers earn $20,100 less while back end developers earn $3,100 less. Moving into IT project management is a larger change in day-to-day work, and those roles earn $40,200 more, but it takes you away from hands-on technical work.
What is the difference between a DevOps engineer and a site reliability engineer?
A DevOps engineer builds the automation, pipelines and infrastructure that move code into production. A site reliability engineer concentrates on keeping live services within their performance targets and leading the response when they fail. The two overlap heavily on monitoring and scripting, and where the line sits depends on how the employer splits its teams.
Related roles
- Cloud Engineer
- Site Reliability Engineer
- Back End Developer
- IT Project Manager
- Network Engineer
- Systems Administrator
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