How Kubernetes Levels Tech Playing Field
- By Anthony Spiteri, Veeam Software
- June 22, 2021
Containerized applications are big. The promise of writing once and running applications anywhere is proving to be in great demand, as Gartner predicts that 70% of global organizations will be operating with more than two containerized applications by 2023 — up from 20% in 2019.
While Grandview Research projects Asia Pacific to exhibit a CAGR of nearly 30% over the forecast period from 2020 to 2025. Growing adoption of DevOps, IoT devices, and hybrid cloud technology by enterprises, particularly in the banking and finance and telecommunications sectors, is anticipated to trigger significant market growth in India, Singapore, Australia, China, and Japan.
What is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is a container management platform that allows IT teams to have more control around deploying, scaling and managing applications. This open-source and cloud-native technology is a game-changer for businesses looking to make their development, testing, and production phases more consistent across platforms.
Application portability is one of the significant drivers. Each containerized application has its own namespace/POD, containing all the pieces required to run the application, such as storage, compute, memory, security elements and more.
Containers are also a good way to bundle and run applications. In a production environment, developers are tasked with continuous integration and development (CI/CD), which involves managing multiple containerized applications and ensuring no downtime. If a container does go down, another container needs to start. Kubernetes removes this manual process and ensures this action is completed automatically.
Investing in skills is an investment in the business
Like with any new disruptive technology, the deployment and innovation of Kubernetes cannot be maintained without an equal measure of education. With universities and education institutions beginning to introduce Kubernetes into their curriculums, Australia’s youngest developers come into the workforce equipped with a skillset to propel the industry forward. But what does that mean for existing IT teams, particularly those who are Gen Y and above?
Those more experienced members of IT teams hold a wealth of invaluable knowledge. They have witnessed digital transformation first-hand and know better than most how to adapt to changing processes and job remits. As they impart knowledge to newer team members, companies should also invest in their professional development.
Without this reciprocal skills transfer, a gap will become more and more evident among IT teams. However, implementing a regular and mutual knowledge exchange program could be the silver bullet businesses need to ensure their company’s systems remain at the top of their game, whatever their field.
Creating new roles in the DevOps community
As more and more businesses discover the value of Kubernetes, developers who are familiar with and understand the technology will soon find themselves in high demand. With the power and knowledge to automate and secure backend systems, businesses will be falling over themselves to ensure they have the employees they need to remain competitive.
We see DevOps engineers mastering a multitude of specialisms such as HashiCorp Stack, Docker and Apache Mesos. These specialist areas will soon expand into roles that are purely Kubernetes focused. These do exist today but are still not fully fleshed out compared to roles in the virtualization space.
Not only will these specialist roles prove beneficial to individual companies, but they will also benefit global innovation on an enormous scale. For example, a Kubernetes platform operator whose sole role is to focus on that one key area will now have the opportunity to hone their skills, innovate the solution and take existing capabilities to a whole new level.
To level the playing field in the technology industry, businesses must learn that they cannot afford to be competing internally to be truly competitive. Instead, knowledge must be shared across experience levels, industries and even counties to truly harness the power of the technology. If left in the hands of one organization for one purpose only, innovation will naturally be limited. Only when shared across a diverse range of sectors, specialisms and regions will its true potential be uncovered, and the doors to an expanded job market will swing firmly open.
Anthony Spiteri, senior global technologist at Veeam Software, wrote this article.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CDOTrends. Image credit: iStockphoto/pryzmat