​Competition for Software and DevOps skills is incredibly high right now with specialists across the industry commanding over £75,000 according to our 2021 Software Engineering & DevOps Salary Guide. GIA report that the global DevOps market will reach $21.3 billion by 2027 so there’s plenty of room for growth and the demand for cloud professionals should remain strong. But what are Software and DevOps specialists earning right now, and what trends are we seeing across the industry?

Hybrid Roles Are Reaping The Greatest Rewards

Of course, like most professions, salary increases with years’ experience across cloud roles. However, professionals at the start of their careers could earn as much as 40% more by training in both Software Engineering and DevOps rather than specialising in one area.

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DevOps vs. Software Engineering – should I train across both?

Salary

Software engineers will typically focus on specific aspects of the software development cycle whereas DevOps professionals will over-see the cycle in its entirety. Many Software Engineers progress into DevOps roles yet those working in both, or a hybrid role, clearly reap greater rewards.

Employees trained in both DevOps and Software Engineering are incredibly valuable to businesses in the Cloud space. As software is released at an ever-increasing rate, efficiency is key to businesses keeping up with the demand of its customers. This means increasing the scope of an individual’s role and giving them more responsibility across quality of testing and release environments. In turn, we have seen candidates performing in a hybrid role earn a higher salary which has been demonstrated by the data in our salary guide.

The demand for efficiency has also given rise to “agile” ways of working - A shift in practice from traditional “waterfall” develop-test-release cycles. Software release methodologies is a topic for another day, but the demand for skilled professionals with experience across release cycles is clear.

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Skills

Training and upskilling across DevOps practices will only improve your skills: communication, collaboration (information sharing and web service usage), integration, automation, and measurement of cooperation between software developers and other IT professionals are all part and parcel.

For example, working in DevOps requires a close working relationship with Operations teams to clearly identify current business needs and what should be prioritised. This introduces skills outside of day to day work activities and requires excellent soft skills.

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Room to grow

It’s interesting to see how Cloud Roles are changing and how earning potential is impacted. As businesses strive for further efficiency and demand for cloud professionals keeps growing, we will see further growth in cloud professionals earning potential and opportunity for professionals to hone their craft in hybrid roles. Here, training will be vital for both cloud professionals working in the space to seek and for employers to add to their offering so that they can attract the best candidates.

For more insights on average salaries, the state of remote working, gender pay gaps, equity or bonuses offered, and the benefits Engineers find most important, please download our salary guide.