6 Devops Engineer Resume Examples & Guide for 2023

Would you say “I don’t always test my code, but when I do, I do it in production” ?

I hope not, but when it comes to your DevOps resume, that’s exactly what you’re doing!

Unfortunately, there’s no build pipeline that can take care of your resume and push the one that’s best.

Because it’s a role that demands broad skills, writing a DevOps engineer resume is indeed a challenge.

So, we did the hard work for you.

We wrote 100s of emails and asked everyone involved in hiring DevOps, and wrote this guide based on what we learned.

With this guide, we’ll show you:

• What we learned after talking to people hiring for DevOps
• Adding what makes your resume better than 99% of applicants
• How to improve job interview conversions with a high quality resume
• How to demonstrate that you’re the one for the job

Looking for other Information Technology resumes? Check those out:

• IT Resume
• Tech Resume
• Full Stack Developer Resume
• IT Manager Resume
• IT Director Resume
• Javascript Developer Resume

The question that you still have is…

How should I write a DevOps resume?

We hope those resume examples got you inspired.

But to write a good DevOps resume, you need to take a few steps back.

You need to look from a recruiter's perspective on what they value the most in a resume.

You then have to focus on presenting your information in a way that it is easy for a recruiter to scan.

And then, your resume will be tweaked to reflect you as a person.

That’s it!

What do recruiters value the most in a resume

Most recruiters and tech leaders valued impact over everything else in a DevOps engineer resume.

Some value real impact so much that they exclusively filter “tricky pony” DevOps resumes and toss them in the bin.

And the way most hiring managers do that is by looking at the resume experience. Skills and tooling familiarity are of secondary importance.

Overall, the resume has to scream culture, as DevOps is all about reflecting your knowledge and experience with DevOps practices and methodologies.

And note that most recruiters will use keywords to map relevance between who you are and what the role needs.

So, the right resume:

• Has the right keywords placed in it
• Builds a story of what you’ve done
• Describes the technical work you’ve done in a brief, yet comprehensive manner
• Would reflect the impact you made
• Contains your skills and certifications

Perfect, but what should be your DevOps resume layout?

The best resume layout for devops.

We’ve already found the answer for you!

Given the diverse experience, tooling, skills, certifications, etc. we usually see in a DevOps professional - you have two options:

• Follow a reverse chronological format
• Follow a hybrid resume that follow the reverse chronological layout but also highlights your skills and personality

We’d highly recommend building your resume using second layout if you are considering a career change.

And because you need to display a sharp focus on culture, show diverse skills and highlight the impact you made. Other layouts, like a functional one, don’t make a cut for a DevOps resume.

How to Write a DevOps Resume Header

The header of your resume should primarily contain your name, job title, experience, contact, email, and location (not your full address).

It’s important that you make it look tidy and share only the required information in this section.

If you have a certification like DOL, DSOE, CDA, DTE, CASM, CAPO etc., you should mention that in the header as well.

Remember to be concise.

Example of good and bad devops resume headers

When a recruiter sees the above header and your contact details, all they want to do is scroll down to make sure the rest of the resume reflects the same quality.

If the header is cluttered, the recruiter is most likely expecting the resume to be heavy with unorganized information and skip to the next resume.

Adding any blogs you have written and a portfolio link to contributions you’ve made on StackOverflow or GitHub gives you a huge advantage.

Since, more than 95% resumes don’t have these in their resume heading, your resume stands out.

Let’s move on to the next important thing - your resume summary.

How to write a resume summary or resume objective for DevOps

A good resume summary makes your resume sticky. This is extremely helpful, especially when you think about a recruiter who’s just going to spend a few seconds glancing through your resume before making a decision.

Write a good resume objective and you’ll have the hiring manager’s attention (and possibly the job).

Let’s look at a few resume summary examples.

Our goal here would be to help you understand what makes a resume summary good or bad.

DevOps resume summary examples"

The first resume summary is from a DevOps Engineer resume

We are not saying that this resume summary is garbage, but when there are 300 other applicants, it isn’t going to help you make the cut here.

Now, go through this one:

A hiring manager reading this DevOps resume objective would learn that you’ve worked for 10 years in BFSI and that you are a do-it-yourself person.

If the job application demanded someone that fits this criteria, you just got the recruiter’s attention, congrats!

Aws devops engineer resume objective

Here’s a good way to see how pushing specialization into your resume summary makes your resume even better.

As a general rule, we would suggest the following for writing a resume summary:

• Listing specialization within resume summary increases the impact. Let’s say if your specialization is in security, it should be up there on your DevOps resume summary.
• Mention tools and the impact you made in the summary

Now, a recruiter is curious to learn more about you, how you work, and how you fit in the job requirements.

Let’s see how you can cover that via your DevOps resume experience.

How to write a winning DevOps resume experience section

We had a very interesting conversation with an Engineering manager at a top Silicon Valley company. We asked her what she really looked into while looking at a DevOps manager resume experience.

Here’s what she said: “We try to filter ‘trick ponies’ and are trying to see if a candidate’s experience reflects a high degree of problem-solving capacity.”

She further elaborated and told us that “Rather than talking about 1,000 great things you can do, it would help me if I can see whether you implemented a docker container that was conformal to SACCC Matrix”.

We spoke with her for another hour, and using 10 other sessions like these collected a bunch of good and bad resume experience examples for you.

Examples of good and bad DevOps engineer resume experience

While the first one gets tossed, the second passes all criteria for a hiring manager. Add your own specialization to the second resume experience (engineering, SRE, security, etc.)

Examples of good and bad DevOps manager resume experience sections

It hard to get anything from this resume experience, let alone get a feel of DevOps. And someone with this resume experience in DevOps is most likely to get their resume tossed.

Someone reading through the last summary example can’t just keep themselves from contacting you.

How to write a DevOps resume with no experience

DevOps is primarily a role for experienced professionals, and so far has been dominated by them.

But, the industry is now changing. And thanks to open world of MOOCs and Opencourseware that employers are now hiring entry level professionals with no prior DevOps experience.

Clearly, you’ve a shot at getting that entry level DevOps job.

Entry level DevOps resume example

See how putting the right things into context delivers you a great entry level DevOps resume?

We’re 80% there now!

Imagine a recruiter getting two Sr DevOps resumes. Both have a good summary, header, layout and experience. But one Sr DevOps resume gets accepted and the other one gets rejected.

Why?

Let’s see in the next section.

List your important DevOps certifications

The reason the other resume got rejected was “certifications”.

Certifications not only reflect that you are a risk-free hire, but they often also reflect deep passion and curiosity.

So, craft a special section within your resume and add your resume certificates there.

But, you know what makes this resume 100% perfect? Your devops skills in your resume.

That’s how you build a perfect DevOps resume.

But, before you start writing yours, let’s summarize.

• Make sure that your resume is a modern layout hybrid resume
• Make sure your resume summary is highly impactful
• Display the impact and scale of your work in your resume experience section
• Add certifications and skills to your resume

By Experience

Start With This Resume

Senior Devops Engineer

Senior DevOps Engineer roles necessitate leadership and mentorship within the DevOps culture. In your resume, emphasize experiences that have led to process improvement or the successful adoption of Agile, Scrum, or DevOps. Make sure your technical leadership flows through practical examples, e.g. 'Led team in CI/CD pipeline setup for process efficiency', 'Mentored junior engineers in DevOps practices to improve product stability'. It's crucial to demonstrate your capacity to guide teams and deliver results, rather than just listing DevOps skills.

View Senior Devops Engineer Resume

Start With This Resume

Junior Devops Engineer

As a Junior DevOps Engineer, you'll be an integral part of driving DevOps practices. Highlight practical examples of where you've applied soft skills to make a difference, such as your involvement in Agile or Scrum teams. Remember to demonstrate the specific outcomes your contribution generated, e.g., 'Enhanced code deployment speed through CI tool ', 'Contributed to sprint planning to improve the product release cycle’. Follow the 'skill-action-results' technique to show how your skills translated into specific product developments.

By Role

Start With This Resume

Azure Devops Engineer

The Azure DevOps Engineer position has its roots in software development. Familiarity with Azure Pipeline, Repos, Artifacts, and Boards is a must. Mention specific projects where you've utilized these systems to streamline software delivery. Additionally, showcase your experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and how it has improved the product in your hands. Don't just list your skills, instead show how “Improved CI/CD pipelines using…” or “Updated security protocols leading to…”.

View Azure Devops Engineer Resume

Start With This Resume

GCP Devops Engineer

As a GCP DevOps Engineer, your role is tied to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). You should illustrate your GCP capabilities within the DevOps domain, demonstrating a collaborative software development approach with GCP services. Show how you've worked with GCP tools to enhance commercial practices like Agile or Scrum. Don't just highlight your skills, display concrete areas where your GCP knowledge improved product performance, e.g., 'Streamlined service deployments utilizing GCP CI/CD tools', 'Enhanced code quality through Google Cloud Build’. In your resume, follow 'skill-action-results' trend to highlight your direct impact using GCP skills.

View GCP Devops Engineer Resume

Start With This Resume

AWS Certified Devops Engineer

Being an AWS Certified DevOps Engineer means you will need to showcase practical AWS skills. Demonstrating the understanding of Agile, Scrum or DevOps practices along with AWS services will make your application stronger. For example, rather than only listing your expertise in AWS CloudFormation or AWS Elastic Beanstalk, exhibit how these tools advanced your product, e.g., 'Reduced release times with AWS CloudFormation', 'Improved server uptime using AWS Elastic Beanstalk'. Use 'skill-action-results' model to stress on direct benefits achieved with AWS skills.