With the rapid expansion of technology, site reliability engineers are needed more and more as companies desperately seek out professionals dedicated to monitoring and maintaining websites.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the projected job growth for site reliability engineers will reach 9% from 2014 to 2024, and many of these positions are with organizations of all sizes, ranging from Google and Walmart to smaller entities.
A Site Reliability Engineer’s Responsibilities
A site reliability engineer helps customers with applications, resolves problems that have been reported, and keeps up with testing all while working with developers to help improve the product.
Working as a site reliability engineer means primarily focusing on how to give customers support and troubleshoot issues. This requires expertise in applications, like AWS, along with tech and customer support. All site reliability engineers should have complete knowledge about AWS applications, cloud computing, networking, system administration, scripting, automated testing, online security, system architecture, and network administration.
Brand new issues need to be quickly fixed in site reliability while also learning about the new products being developed. This can be done by using the testbed, which an engineer would cultivate on their own. Test beds allow you to run automated tests, can create new applications to improve troubleshooting, and simulate common issues that customers can potentially face.
Necessary Skills for a Site Reliability Engineer
The skills required of an engineer include extensive knowledge about operating systems (using Linux specifically), programing (scripting & coding using Golang, PHP, and of course Python), databases (knowledge on storing data and then being able to access it with SQL), networking (with the basics of IT), web services & APIs (knowing how to connect external and internal systems), and also data storage & security (knowing best practices and how to prevent attacks).
Site Reliability Engineer Salary
Glassdoor reports that an engineer located in the U.S. makes an average of $117,669 a year, and can even make upwards of $164,000 to $236,000.
How Do I Become a Site Reliability Engineer?
There’s never been a better time to pursue site reliability engineering. Explore Udacity’s Site Reliability Engineer Nanodegree program to equip yourself with the engineering and operational skills required to build automation tools and responses.
