Demand for DevOps engineers sees RMIT launch new short course

RMIT has launched a DevOps short course as part of its Future Skills online portfolio to help with the growing demand for specialists in Australia.

The course, which was developed in partnership with software vendor Thoughtworks and DevOps Agile Skills Association (DASA), was designed help students learn how to streamline the interactions between development and operations, for improved productivity and efficiency within their organisation.

The six-week course is aimed at IT professionals and managers looking to understand the benefits and processes of integrating DevOps within their business.

“In an increasingly digitised world, we can’t underestimate the importance of connected teams. DevOps was the natural next fit for our Future Skills portfolio, and the short online nature of the program enables working professionals to upskill and grow in their career, as well as positively impact the organisations they work for,” said RMIT Online CEO Helen Souness.

Gartner predicts that through 2022, 75 per cent of DevOps initiatives will fail to meet expectations due to issues around organisational learning and change.

RMIT Online offers 38 short courses under its Future Skills program. It also offers 21 postgraduate courses and three undergraduate ones. It launched 20 of those courses in the past year.

According to the university, demand for DevOps engineers is projected to grow 21 per cent in the next five years as companies look to increase the speed of software development and improve business agility.

Thoughtworks head of engineering Evan Bottcher said that the company’s clients are finding it difficult to find people who have experience with DevOps and there is clearly a lack of accessible formal training in the area.

In September 2019, La Trobe University announced an upcoming two-year Master of internet of things (IoT), offered from its Bendigo campus.

La Trobe’s head of the technology innovation lab, Dr Simon Egerton, said the IoT is in demand by all types of industries – including mining, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, agriculture, transport, utilities and local government – but there is also a major shortage of skilled experts in this space.

“The course will be highly workplace-focused, and will teach students to be creative, clever and adaptable to industry need,” he said at the time.

LaTrobe has partnered with Bendigo Bank, Coliban Water, the City of Greater Bendigo and Bendigo Health with students being able to implement projects through these partners.

In December, La Trobe also announced, in partnership with City of Greater Bendigo, that six scholarships will be offered over the next three years for women to study the Master of IoT.

Two scholarships will support students to study at La Trobe’s Bendigo campus in 2020, with the remaining four being offered in 2021 and 2022.

Applicants can be Australian citizens or international students, and must have completed an Australian Bachelor Degree (or its equivalent) with tertiary level subjects in mathematics, calculus or discrete maths.

Monash University has also launched an IT course in the past 12 months. The graduate diploma of data science is offered online with the duration of 1.4 years.

Requirements to undertaking the course include proof of relevant work experience or previous study in programming, databases, or mathematics.