Introduction
Many future learners ask: “Does DevOps require coding?” In short: it doesn’t always require full programming, but the answer is yes and you will need scripting and configuration.
At Naresh i Technologies, with over 22 years of environmental expertise, we take students and professionals through our full DevOps with placement assistance program as well as, our DevOps with AWS Training program. We focus on tools, automation and real projects and outcomes, not just theory.
In this article, we explain the Who, Why, What, Where, When and How of coding in DevOps so you can see exactly how much code you will need, coding with devops, and why it matters.
Who Needs Coding in DevOps?
It won’t be everyone in DevOps who end up writing whole applications. But these roles benefit from scripting and automation skills:
- DevOps Engineers & SREs (Site Reliability Engineers) who build pipelines and automation.
- System Administrators who want to take their knowledge to the next level in Infrastructure Automation.
- Developers who shift focus from app dev to deployment operations.
- QA / Automation Test Engineers who work in continuous integration and testing.
- Support / Operations Engineers who want to automate mundane and repeatable tasks.
At NareshIT, we customize learning paths so everyone involved can use levels of coding appropriate to their roles.
Why Some Coding Skills Are Important in DevOps
DevOps fundamentally involves automation, and while this automation may necessitate automation scripts, command logic, or conditional workflow logic, we believe it will clarify why coding (or scripting) is beneficial:
- Pipeline Logic & Complexity: Jenkinsfiles, GitHub Action workflows will often require you to write some logic expressions.
- Glue Scripts: To connect tools, or process their logs, you will frequently write tiny Python scripts, or a Bash scripts.
- Infrastructure Orchestration: Orchestrating the provisioning of infrastructure with tools like Terraform or Ansible, or configuring infrastructure using providers like CloudFormation templates will result in increased complexity. It is common to use coding constructs, variables, and modules.
- Custom Tools & Plugin Libraries: If an organization has matured enough in its process, it may develop more complex integrations, and rely on custom scripts from developers or use microservices.
- Troubleshooting & Debugging: Debugging logs and developing small probes to perform additional debugging, usually require some coding.
However, much of the work performed in DevOps (configuration YAML, tool dashboards, GUI deployments and operation) does not require complicated programming.
What Level of Coding is Required?
Here’s an overview of the common areas in DevOps where it requires coding or scripting skill sets:
| Area | Coding/Scripting Need | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| CI/CD Pipelines | Low to Medium | Jenkinsfile (Groovy), GitHub Actions YAML |
| Containerization | Low | Dockerfile commands, small scripts |
| Infrastructure as Code | Medium | Terraform HCL, Ansible Playbooks (YAML + Jinja2) |
| Automation Scripts | Medium | Bash / Python to glue steps |
| Custom Extensions | High (Optional) | Plugins or microservices |
If you are starting as a beginner, focus on basic scripting (Bash or Python) in addition to learning the devops tool logic syntax (YAML, HCL). That is 80% of day 1 tasks.
When Does Coding Become More Important?
- Introductory phases: For new learners, scripts + configuration of tools is enough!
- Intermediate level: As your pipeline gets more complex, it becomes necessary to use scripting logic or conditional steps.
- Senior/Platform roles: More programming is needed to build custom integrations, observability tools, or operator patterns.
- However, even in these senior roles, it is still common to be mixing scripts + tools, and full-stack coding is still usually not necessary.
With the mentoring and project work at NareshIT, you will learn to scale-up your scripting skills gradually, as it is needed.
Where Coding Matters More in DevOps?
The following list represents the predominant forms of coding (or scripting):
- CI/CD pipelines (Jenkinsfile, pipeline logic).
- Infrastructure-as-Code modules (Terraform modules, dynamic variables).
- Utility scripts (backups, log parsing, health checks).
- Custom tool integrations (APIs, webhooks).
- Complex monitoring / event triggers (custom alert logic).
Most, if not all, directory-level operations, container orchestration and configuration in the cloud (configuration) and dashboards can be done with little code or scripting decoded by beginners.
How a Beginner Can Start DevOps Without Heavy Coding
Here is a plan, in steps, for beginners to get into DevOps with a limited amount of programming:
- Get started with tools: get going with Git, Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS—this is an evaluation of the tool itself, and not the code:
- Learn configuration languages: YAML, JSON, HCL—configuration languages themselves are commonly used in place of actual programming in DevOps scenarios:
- Learn to script: like a little Band shell w/ some simple Python on the side, will teach you to quickly automate simple tasks:
- Build simple pipelines that use conditionals, based on using Jenkins, Actions, GitLab CI:
- Use IaC modules: This is a good way to use community modules instead of actually writing code proficiency from scratch.
- Work on some simple projects: Automate the build, deploy service if you are monitoring a sample/practice application.
- Grow a little: You will naturally progress by writing small scripts, and add more logic to each little thing.
The journey to do all this will allow you to do while not taking 3 years prior programming study in college.
Micro-FAQ — Do DevOps Professionals Need To Know How to Code?
Q1. Is it possible to get by in DevOps without coding?
Ans: Yes, many newcomers do not have coding backgrounds, and will use GUI tools and configurations at first, they pick up scripting later on.
Q2. What coding/scripting language do I learn first?
Ans: You should learn Bash first to become familiar with basic command line automation, and then eventually also learn Python for more complex automation tasks.
Q3. Do I need full stack development experience to get into DevOps-related work?
Ans: Typically, no. DevOps-related roles are much more about automation, reliability, and automatically integrating (with tools) rather than implementing full stack applications.
Q4. How long does it take to get comfortable with scripting knowledge relevant to DevOps?
Ans: 4 to 6 weeks if in a guided practice and doing basic automation tasks.
Q5. Do your NareshIT training programs on DevOps actually teach coding and scripting and other automation tasks?
Ans: Yes, all our DevOps with AWS training courses, and DevOps training with placement programs will include scripting and automation approaches, as well as actual live coding scenarios.
Conclusion
So, is coding needed in DevOps? Not necessarily. You may not have to code at all to get started. You can begin with simply some scripting, and some logic in your tools, and then work toward the more complex automation. At NareshIT, even with the beginner training with mentor-support and project-led positions with tooling practice and a little scripting, you will be prepared for a DevOps position.
Get started today sign up for related DevOps training with placement assistance, or even the DevOps with AWS training to get a guided start.
