Developers are constantly looking for ways to improve their workflows and make development processes more efficient. One way to do this is by improving your IT infrastructure and implementing modern stack technology in critical areas like containers, microservices, test automation, CI/CD, and ChatOps. I’ll share some tips for doing all these things below!
1. Containers
Containers are an emerging technology that is changing how we manage, run and deploy software. They allow you to package your application and all the dependencies needed to run it. This can be done by packing up your code into a container image which can then be deployed on any number of servers or in the cloud.
If you are a DevOps engineer, a container registry will be a valuable tool for you to have. It will allow you to store your Docker images and make them available for others in your organization. There are many options, but the most popular one is Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) ECR (Elastic Container Registry).
Containers are most often used today to host web applications because they provide developers with an isolated environment from which they can build and test their code before deploying it into production. If you’re interested in using containers for this purpose, check out our blog post about Docker for Developers!
2. Microservices
Microservices are a massive buzzword in the software development world these days. But what is it exactly, and why should you care?
A microservice is a self-contained unit of code that performs one task. For example, if your application needs to handle payments, then your payment service may be its microservice. The benefit here is that as long as this service works well, it doesn’t matter if anything else on your top or bottom layers is down—you’ll still be able to accept payments and make money! When scaling up or down happens (and it will), you only need to worry about changing one thing: how many microservices you have running at any given time.
For most developers who are used to working with monolithic applications (where all the code runs inside one extensive program), transitioning into a world where everything is separated into its own little “box” can feel overwhelming at first.”
3. Test Automation
Test automation is a time-saver. You can write tests that validate the functionality of your application and then run them whenever you make changes to your code. This will help ensure nothing breaks in production as changes are made to your application, reducing the amount of manual testing needed and increasing stability.
It’s also helpful in validating integration points. When integrating with other services or applications, there may be several ways to act—but only one way will work correctly (or at least pass all its tests). You can determine which options are working correctly by using test automation to test these interfaces before integrating them in production.
Automated tests can also provide a baseline for performance and stability by running against similar load patterns as those seen by actual users during peak times; this allows developers to identify any bottlenecks before they become full-blown problems for customers accessing their site/app during high-traffic hours
4. CI/CD
Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) is a great way to integrate your development and operations teams. It brings together their workflows, so they can work on their tasks in parallel. The CI/CD process helps manage your infrastructure, giving you information about which services have been updated when a new deployment is made. It also makes it easier to scale your infrastructure by automatically adding more servers needed when demand increases. Continuous delivery processes are essential for automating the provisioning of resources, such as load balancers or databases, based on usage data from previous releases.
5. Chatops
ChatOps is a way to automate conversations with your team.
This can be used for reporting, monitoring, and alerting: In other words, it’s a great way to get more out of the logs you’re already collecting on your systems.
You can also use ChatOps to communicate with customers. For example, if you have an issue with a client’s website, you could use ChatOps to send them messages about that issue instead of sending emails or making phone calls all day.
Conclusion
While the five tips above will help you improve your IT infrastructure as a developer, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. You should always be aware of what your needs are and adjust accordingly. This way, you can ensure that your development process is efficient and productive by having the right tools.
