5 Reasons Why TechOps is a Great Career Choice

As tech makes its way into nearly every aspect of business operations, it’s no surprise that companies now have a growing need for specialist skills that provide a mix of both business and technical expertise. Enter TechOps. Tech Ops, also known as IT Ops is a crucial functionality that sits at the heart of both technical and business operations, providing critical support for an organisation’s IT estate, and most importantly, its consumers.

In a nutshell: TechOps provides essential first and second line technical and security support to ensure the safe and smooth running of critical business functions.

TechOps encompasses a wide range of key functionalities that include – maintenance of software and website infrastructure, managing the data centre and internal help desk, software installation and updates as well as specialist areas like network optimisation and disaster recovery.

Regardless of whether a company is in the IT services or selling products, it’s safe to say that almost all businesses can benefit from integrating TechOps in their IT capabilities. The following stat corroborates this: The global IT operations market is expected to grow from $9.9 billion in 2020 to a staggering $131.5 billion by 2028.

Given the expansion of TechOps capabilities and their subsequent demand, the stream is becoming a highly attractive career prospect for those looking to pursue a role in IT services.

In this blog we’ll look at:

• What is TechOps
• Uses of TechOps
• Different roles within TechOps
• 5 reasons why TechOps is a great career choice
• What qualifications do you need to become a TechOps Specialist
• FDM’s TechOps Programme

What is TechOps

TechOps is one of the core functions in the ITIL (IT Infrastructure library) framework for IT service management. The other three functions are application management, technical management and service desk. Roles within TechOps are varied – you could be working on making sure an application or piece of software is ready for the live environment, providing assistance to clients regarding incidents, working with the DevOps team in creating and managing infrastructures or migrating applications from physical data centres to the cloud.

The role of TechOps is essential in the smooth running of the business. So those working within TechOps need to:

• Develop a deep understanding of how a client’s business operates
• Understand how technology can support business operations
• Use this knowledge to work on service improvements

Uses of TechOps

The role of TechOps is to reduce the workload of the development team by ensuring that other critical technical duties are efficiently handled. This allows them to focus on more important things like innovation and creation. To this end, the practical capabilities of TechOps can be seen across a wide spectrum of industries including (but not limited to) –

• Banking
• Insurance
• Public sector
• Media
• Retail
• Hospitality
• Healthcare
• Oil and gas  
• Travel

Different roles within TechOps

TechOps includes multiple roles for the various aspects of business operations. Some of the most common roles within TechOps include:

• Site Reliability/Platform Engineer
• Operations Analyst
• Service Manager
• Information Security Specialist
• Solutions Architect
• Cloud Engineer

In due course as you build more domain knowledge and experience, you can progress to more senior roles within a business like a Chief Technical Officer.

5 reasons why TechOps is a great career choice

Growing demand

Given the projected growth of the global IT ops market, a subsequent surge in the demand for TechOps roles is imminent. Also, the remit of TechOps is very wide – covering functionalities ranging from network maintenance and optimisation, database management, security maintenance, disaster recovery, software installation and upgrades, and other support tasks. This necessarily creates multiple roles within TechOps. The sector is also quite lucrative with even entry-level jobs fetching high salaries. According to a recent Glassdoor report, the average national salary for TechOps in the UK is £30,488.

Creative

Since TechOps involves ensuring the smooth running of business functions, it often requires troubleshooting and finding creative solutions to fix issues. FDM TechOps consultant Shannon Smith says, “My role involves many different tasks, so no two days are the same. I look after the website infrastructure, which includes deploying code, patching servers, maintaining software, as well as general problem solving when things go wrong. The role is creative and it is very satisfying to see my work making a difference.”

Continuous learning

If you love learning new skills and building on your existing knowledge, TechOps maybe the right career for you. Another FDM trained TechOps Consultant Yuxue Du says, “My time on-site has allowed me to connect with other experienced individuals, expand my knowledge of computer systems, servers and coding, as well as advance my critical analysing skills.”

Versatile

TechOps is also an incredibly versatile stream with the opportunity to be exposed to different skills, and learning how they all come together. If you’re someone who enjoys variety and a chance to work on something new everyday, then TechOps could be a great career choice for you.

Growth potential

TechOps also offers great potential for growth. With a knowledge of business and technical operations, you will find a lot of career opportunities open to you. Also, given the different functionalities within TechOps you can build your expertise in a number of different specialties – from Cloud Ops to Security Ops and everything else in between. An entry-level position as a junior TechOps analyst could rapidly progress to a more senior role as you develop more domain knowledge and experience.

What qualifications do you need to become a TechOps Specialist?

Typically, to become a TechOps Specialist, you need a degree in a relevant discipline, such as a STEM degree. Some roles also require applicants to have a master’s degree. Some employers also ask for relevant work experience to be considered for a role.

However, there are alternative routes to launching a career in TechOps. Can you get tech jobs without a STEM degree? We say yes!

FDM’s TechOps Programme

Craig Wilkinson, Technical Product Manager at FDM says, ‘We actively encourage applications from all backgrounds, and we have a variety of roles on offer to suit all levels of technical aptitude and your unique strengths and abilities.’

We will provide you with all the training you need for the role, and this will be available to you remotely, so no need to worry about geographical location. We will also guide you and help you to decide what kind of technology job you should be doing and then, the best bit: we will find you your first technology role with one of our clients.

You will receive a salary from the first day you start training and what you earn will increase as you go through our world-class programme and complete the training and then get placed with one of our clients.’

As a growing industry and an ever-evolving practice, a role in TechOps provides a wealth of opportunities for professional development, possibilities to learn and a future-proof career. FDM is proud to have received the Tech Industry Gold accreditation for our Technical Operations Graduate Programme.

‘Right now, every week of the year, up to one hundred people are starting their new careers in technology through FDM. So, if you would like to be one of them, and want to start the journey into an exciting new career in technology today, please get in touch and we will guide you through our application and assessment process.’

Apply to the FDM Technical Operations Graduate programme today.