[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":819},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/career-spotlight-sre-vs-devops-engineer-vs-devops-platform-engineer":3,"navigation-en-us":40,"banner-en-us":451,"footer-en-us":461,"blog-post-authors-en-us-Lauren Gibbons Paul":700,"blog-related-posts-en-us-career-spotlight-sre-vs-devops-engineer-vs-devops-platform-engineer":714,"blog-promotions-en-us":757,"next-steps-en-us":809},{"id":4,"title":5,"authorSlugs":6,"authors":8,"body":10,"category":11,"categorySlug":11,"config":12,"content":16,"date":20,"description":17,"extension":25,"externalUrl":26,"featured":14,"heroImage":19,"isFeatured":14,"meta":27,"navigation":28,"path":29,"publishedDate":20,"rawbody":30,"seo":31,"slug":13,"stem":35,"tagSlugs":36,"tags":38,"template":15,"updatedDate":26,"__hash__":39},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/career-spotlight-sre-vs-devops-engineer-vs-devops-platform-engineer.yml","DevOps careers: SRE, engineer, and platform engineer",[7],"lauren-gibbons-paul",[9],"Lauren Gibbons Paul","Even if you’re totally happy in your current position, it pays to keep an eye on your DevOps career path and learn about emerging roles, especially given [the way the DevOps space evolves so rapidly](https://www.simplilearn.com/is-a-devops-career-right-for-you-article).\nFor example, you might be wondering about the role of site reliability engineer (SRE) as opposed to DevOps engineer (and the totally new position called DevOps platform engineer, more on that later). These are all engineering positions requiring tech expertise and coding chops, but they play distinct roles on the DevOps team. Here’s what you need to know:\n\n## SRE: A seasoned role\n\nAs the title suggests, at a high level, SREs focus primarily on reliability, solving operational, scale, and uptime problems. In 2003, Google originated the SRE role to safeguard the uptime of its site, but it has evolved considerably since the advent of cloud native applications and platforms. Today, SREs concentrate on [minimizing the frequency and impact of failures](https://thenewstack.io/the-evolution-of-the-site-reliability-engineer-sre/) that can impact the overall reliability of a cloud\napplication.\nAccording to Glassdoor, SREs typically require a Bachelor’s or graduate engineering or computer science degree. Salaries range widely, according to Glassdoor, hitting about $120,000 after 2 to 4 years of experience but can reach up to [$300,000 and higher](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/us-site-reliability-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,2_IN1_KO3,28.html) at the senior level.\n\nAt least one blogger feels [the SRE title](https://rootly.com/blog/should-you-be-an-sre-or-a-devops-engineer) carries more prestige and earning potential than DevOps engineers.\n\nTypical SRE responsibilities include everything from designing, developing, installing, and maintaining software solutions to working with engineering teams to refine deployment and release processes. Collaboration and communication are important job skills for the SRE role, as they need to work closely with multiple roles across the organization. At the time of this blog's publication, there were 4,000 SRE jobs on Glassdoor. Indeed had more than 5,000 SRE postings and ZipRecruiter showed [nearly 12,000 posts](https://www.ziprecruiter.com/candidate/search?radius=5000&search=site+reliability+engineer&location=Remote) for remote SRE jobs.\n\nPython, Go, and Java were the [most sought-after SRE skills](https://www.indeed.com/jobs=site%20Reliability%20Engineer&l&vjk=829f6081218e60bd) listed on Indeed.\n\nAccording to Indeed, SREs transition to \"DevOps engineer\" at a high rate.\n\n## DevOps engineers bridge the gap\n\nDevOps engineers, on the other hand, concentrate on removing obstacles to production and automation and [making development and IT work well together](https://harness.io/blog/sre-vs-devops/).\n\nLike SREs, DevOps engineers need to be good at working and communicating with others, eliminating barriers to increase speed and quality of code delivery. With typically less need to be on call, the DevOps engineer\nmay have a more favorable work-life balance than an SRE, who can have around-the-clock call.\n\nDevOps engineer work responsibilities include such things as analysis of technology utilized within the company and then developing steps and processes to improve and expand upon them. Project management is another key function, establishing milestones for departmental contributions and establishing processes to facilitate collaboration.\n\nThe educational requirements for the two roles are comparable, with a Bachelor’s degree in computer science or engineering or higher as the usual price of admission.\n\nAccording to Glassdoor, the salary range for DevOps engineers is slightly lower than that of SREs, from a low of about $63,000 up to a high of $234,000 for someone with [2 to 4 years of experience](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/us-devops-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,2_IN1_KO3,18.htm).\nDevOps engineer positions are easier to find than SREs. Glassdoor has more than 6,000 DevOps engineer job posts. Indeed has more than 17,000. And ZipRecruiter has [more than 81,000](https://www.ziprecruiter.com/candidate/search?radius=5000&search=devops+engineer&location=Remote) remote DevOps engineer listings.\n\n## New to the game\n\n[Cloud native](/topics/cloud-native) development and the desire to have a unified DevOps platform have brought a new role, the DevOps platform engineer, a position that [works in parallel with the site reliability engineering function](/topics/devops/what-is-a-devops-platform-engineer/).\n\nPlatform engineering teams apply development principles to accelerate software delivery, ensuring app dev teams are productive in all aspects of the lifecycle. Platform engineers focus on the entire software development lifecycle from source to production. From this introspective process, they build a workflow that enables application\ndevelopers to [rapidly code and ship software](https://www.getambassador.io/resources/rise-of-cloud-native-engineering-organizations/).\n\nYou can find a helpful description of the roles of SRE vs. DevOps engineer vs. platform engineer [here](https://iximiuz.com/en/posts/devops-sre-and-platform-engineering/).\n\nBut it’s hard to find much career data for this emerging role. Glassdoor, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter do not yet separate out this role from the category of “DevOps engineer,” and consolidated salary and career path data is not available at this time. It is reasonable to conclude this new role will have higher pay based on rarer skill sets and job experience. Suffice to say, this is a hot area and bears watching.\n\n## Benefits of a DevOps career\n\nThe DevOps industry (and technology as a whole) is constantly evolving. And that creates a lot of opportunities. There are lots of job opportunities cropping up based on how technology changes, and this also means that you can have many chances to learn a new skill and score a role where there is an employee shortage.\nThere is a high demand for fresh new talent who are also eager to keep learning and adapting to an ever-changing environment. And in this evolving world of DevOps, the more change that happens means there are endless learning opportunities that will help build you up professionally. This makes you a competitive hire in the future, as well as becoming part of a technological landscape that will always be needed.\n## Skills required for a DevOps career\n\nWhether you have goals to become an SRE, a full-fledged DevOps engineer, or start slow and figure out where you want to work in the DevOps space, there are both soft and technical skills that definitely are or may require for you to be successful in whichever role you pursue.\n\nSome soft skills include:\n\n1. **The ability to be flexible.** Projects can stop and start and change at any time for lots of reasons. Things break and get buggy on the regular.  Being able to go with that flow and maintain good levels of productivity and professionalism will take you far. 2. **Good communication skills.** DevOps projects are rarely simple and not only require the ability to communicate your thoughts but the patience to listen to others. 3. **Ability to work collaboratively.** There are multiple people involved with any given DevOps project. Be prepared to have discussions about various projects and be part of the development process as a team, not as an individual.\n\nSome of the more technical skills that can help your job pursuits include (but are by no means limited to):\n\n1. **CI/CD.** Aspiring engineers should look for ways to add CI/CD concepts to existing personal projects and code. Creating your own personal projects involving CI/CD is a good way to test your deployment skills while also creating a good proof of skills reference for job interviews. 2. **Coding skills.** Familiarity with multiple languages, such as Rust, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, PHP, Bash, and many more is important for a DevOps engineer. You need to be able to write and fix issues in multiple programming languages. 3. **Cloud computing.** Lots of application infrastructures revolved around cloud technologies, so having a basic knowledge of cloud computing will give you a competitive edge. 4. **Automation knowledge.** A lot of working in DevOps is being able to automate time-consuming processes that need to happen all at once. Diving into some automation knowledge will help you more easily integrate with a new DevOps role.\n## The future of DevOps\n\nAccording to a newer Forrester report, future success in DevOps will need people and their organizations to be open to a mindset and technology shift. New tools will come around, common practices may shift, and DevOps teams need to be able to adapt to changes while continuing to work together to deliver top-quality work.\nA few trends to keep an eye on as time progresses are serverless computerless architecture, [the rise of DevSecOps](/topics/devsecops/), and low-code/no-code development to deploy applications swiftly with higher agility.\n","devsecops",{"slug":13,"featured":14,"template":15},"career-spotlight-sre-vs-devops-engineer-vs-devops-platform-engineer",false,"BlogPost",{"title":5,"description":17,"authors":18,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"body":10,"category":11,"tags":21},"Where does an SRE leave off and a DevOps engineer (or platform engineer) begin? Here's what you need to know.",[9],"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749666685/Blog/Hero%20Images/comparing-confusing-terms-in-github-bitbucket-and-gitlab-cover.jpg","2022-04-25",[22,23,24],"DevOps","careers","testing","yml",null,{},true,"/en-us/blog/career-spotlight-sre-vs-devops-engineer-vs-devops-platform-engineer","seo:\n  title: 'DevOps careers: SRE, engineer, and platform engineer'\n  description: >-\n    Where does an SRE leave off and a DevOps engineer (or platform engineer)\n    begin? Here's what you need to know.\n  ogTitle: 'DevOps careers: SRE, engineer, and platform engineer'\n  ogDescription: >-\n    Where does an SRE leave off and a DevOps engineer (or platform engineer)\n    begin? Here's what you need to know.\n  noIndex: false\n  ogImage: >-\n    https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749666685/Blog/Hero%20Images/comparing-confusing-terms-in-github-bitbucket-and-gitlab-cover.jpg\n  ogUrl: >-\n    https://about.gitlab.com/blog/career-spotlight-sre-vs-devops-engineer-vs-devops-platform-engineer\n  ogSiteName: https://about.gitlab.com\n  ogType: article\n  canonicalUrls: >-\n    https://about.gitlab.com/blog/career-spotlight-sre-vs-devops-engineer-vs-devops-platform-engineer\ncontent:\n  title: 'DevOps careers: SRE, engineer, and platform engineer'\n  description: >-\n    Where does an SRE leave off and a DevOps engineer (or platform engineer)\n    begin? Here's what you need to know.\n  authors:\n    - Lauren Gibbons Paul\n  heroImage: >-\n    https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749666685/Blog/Hero%20Images/comparing-confusing-terms-in-github-bitbucket-and-gitlab-cover.jpg\n  date: '2022-04-25'\n  body: \"Even if you’re totally happy in your current position, it pays to keep an\n    eye on your DevOps career path and learn about emerging roles, especially\n    given [the way the DevOps space evolves so\n    rapidly](https://www.simplilearn.com/is-a-devops-career-right-for-you-artic\\\n    le).\\\n\n\n    For example, you might be wondering about the role of site reliability\n    engineer (SRE) as opposed to DevOps engineer (and the totally new position\n    called DevOps platform engineer, more on that later). These are all\n    engineering positions requiring tech expertise and coding chops, but they\n    play distinct roles on the DevOps team. Here’s what you need to know:\n\n\n    ## SRE: A seasoned role\n\n\n    As the title suggests, at a high level, SREs focus primarily on reliability,\n    solving operational, scale, and uptime problems. In 2003, Google originated\n    the SRE role to safeguard the uptime of its site, but it has evolved\n    considerably since the advent of cloud native applications and platforms.\n    Today, SREs concentrate on [minimizing the frequency and impact of\n    failures](https://thenewstack.io/the-evolution-of-the-site-reliability-engi\\\n    neer-sre/) that can impact the overall reliability of a cloud\n\n    application.\\\n\n\n    According to Glassdoor, SREs typically require a Bachelor’s or graduate\n    engineering or computer science degree. Salaries range widely, according to\n    Glassdoor, hitting about $120,000 after 2 to 4 years of experience but can\n    reach up to [$300,000 and\n    higher](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/us-site-reliability-engineer-sal\\\n    ary-SRCH_IL.0,2_IN1_KO3,28.html) at the senior level.\n\n\n    At least one blogger feels [the SRE\n    title](https://rootly.com/blog/should-you-be-an-sre-or-a-devops-engineer)\n    carries more prestige and earning potential than DevOps engineers.\n\n\n    Typical SRE responsibilities include everything from designing, developing,\n    installing, and maintaining software solutions to working with engineering\n    teams to refine deployment and release processes. Collaboration and\n    communication are important job skills for the SRE role, as they need to\n    work closely with multiple roles across the organization. At the time of\n    this blog's publication, there were 4,000 SRE jobs on Glassdoor. Indeed had\n    more than 5,000 SRE postings and ZipRecruiter showed [nearly 12,000\n    posts](https://www.ziprecruiter.com/candidate/search?radius=5000&search\\\n    =site+reliability+engineer&location=Remote) for remote SRE jobs.\n\n\n    Python, Go, and Java were the [most sought-after SRE\n    skills](https://www.indeed.com/jobs=site%20Reliability%20Engineer&l&amp\\\n    ;vjk=829f6081218e60bd) listed on Indeed.\n\n\n    According to Indeed, SREs transition to \\\"DevOps engineer\\\" at a high rate.\n\n\n    ## DevOps engineers bridge the gap\n\n\n    DevOps engineers, on the other hand, concentrate on removing obstacles to\n    production and automation and [making development and IT work well\n    together](https://harness.io/blog/sre-vs-devops/).\n\n\n    Like SREs, DevOps engineers need to be good at working and communicating\n    with others, eliminating barriers to increase speed and quality of code\n    delivery. With typically less need to be on call, the DevOps engineer\n\n    may have a more favorable work-life balance than an SRE, who can have\n    around-the-clock call.\n\n\n    DevOps engineer work responsibilities include such things as analysis of\n    technology utilized within the company and then developing steps and\n    processes to improve and expand upon them. Project management is another key\n    function, establishing milestones for departmental contributions and\n    establishing processes to facilitate collaboration.\n\n\n    The educational requirements for the two roles are comparable, with a\n    Bachelor’s degree in computer science or engineering or higher as the usual\n    price of admission.\n\n\n    According to Glassdoor, the salary range for DevOps engineers is slightly\n    lower than that of SREs, from a low of about $63,000 up to a high of\n    $234,000 for someone with [2 to 4 years of\n    experience](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/us-devops-engineer-salary-SR\\\n    CH_IL.0,2_IN1_KO3,18.htm).\\\n\n\n    DevOps engineer positions are easier to find than SREs. Glassdoor has more\n    than 6,000 DevOps engineer job posts. Indeed has more than 17,000. And\n    ZipRecruiter has [more than\n    81,000](https://www.ziprecruiter.com/candidate/search?radius=5000&searc\\\n    h=devops+engineer&location=Remote) remote DevOps engineer listings.\n\n\n    ## New to the game\n\n\n    [Cloud native](/topics/cloud-native) development and the desire to have a\n    unified DevOps platform have brought a new role, the DevOps platform\n    engineer, a position that [works in parallel with the site reliability\n    engineering function](/topics/devops/what-is-a-devops-platform-engineer/).\n\n\n    Platform engineering teams apply development principles to accelerate\n    software delivery, ensuring app dev teams are productive in all aspects of\n    the lifecycle. Platform engineers focus on the entire software development\n    lifecycle from source to production. From this introspective process, they\n    build a workflow that enables application\n\n    developers to [rapidly code and ship\n    software](https://www.getambassador.io/resources/rise-of-cloud-native-engin\\\n    eering-organizations/).\n\n\n    You can find a helpful description of the roles of SRE vs. DevOps engineer\n    vs. platform engineer\n    [here](https://iximiuz.com/en/posts/devops-sre-and-platform-engineering/).\n\n\n    But it’s hard to find much career data for this emerging role. Glassdoor,\n    Indeed, and ZipRecruiter do not yet separate out this role from the category\n    of “DevOps engineer,” and consolidated salary and career path data is not\n    available at this time. It is reasonable to conclude this new role will have\n    higher pay based on rarer skill sets and job experience. Suffice to say,\n    this is a hot area and bears watching.\n\n\n    ## Benefits of a DevOps career\n\n\n    The DevOps industry (and technology as a whole) is constantly evolving. And\n    that creates a lot of opportunities. There are lots of job opportunities\n    cropping up based on how technology changes, and this also means that you\n    can have many chances to learn a new skill and score a role where there is\n    an employee shortage.\\\n\n\n    There is a high demand for fresh new talent who are also eager to keep\n    learning and adapting to an ever-changing environment. And in this evolving\n    world of DevOps, the more change that happens means there are endless\n    learning opportunities that will help build you up professionally. This\n    makes you a competitive hire in the future, as well as becoming part of a\n    technological landscape that will always be needed.\\\n\n\n    ## Skills required for a DevOps career\n\n\n    Whether you have goals to become an SRE, a full-fledged DevOps engineer, or\n    start slow and figure out where you want to work in the DevOps space, there\n    are both soft and technical skills that definitely are or may require for\n    you to be successful in whichever role you pursue.\n\n\n    Some soft skills include:\n\n\n    1. **The ability to be flexible.** Projects can stop and start and change at\n    any time for lots of reasons. Things break and get buggy on the\n    regular.  Being able to go with that flow and maintain good levels of\n    productivity and professionalism will take you far.\\\n\n    2. **Good communication skills.** DevOps projects are rarely simple and not\n    only require the ability to communicate your thoughts but the patience to\n    listen to others.\\\n\n    3. **Ability to work collaboratively.** There are multiple people involved\n    with any given DevOps project. Be prepared to have discussions about various\n    projects and be part of the development process as a team, not as an\n    individual.\n\n\n    Some of the more technical skills that can help your job pursuits include\n    (but are by no means limited to):\n\n\n    1. **CI/CD.** Aspiring engineers should look for ways to add CI/CD concepts\n    to existing personal projects and code. Creating your own personal projects\n    involving CI/CD is a good way to test your deployment skills while also\n    creating a good proof of skills reference for job interviews.\\\n\n    2. **Coding skills.** Familiarity with multiple languages, such as Rust,\n    Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, PHP, Bash, and many more is important for a\n    DevOps engineer. You need to be able to write and fix issues in multiple\n    programming languages.\\\n\n    3. **Cloud computing.** Lots of application infrastructures revolved around\n    cloud technologies, so having a basic knowledge of cloud computing will give\n    you a competitive edge.\\\n\n    4. **Automation knowledge.** A lot of working in DevOps is being able to\n    automate time-consuming processes that need to happen all at once. Diving\n    into some automation knowledge will help you more easily integrate with a\n    new DevOps role.\\\n\n\n    ## The future of DevOps\n\n\n    According to a newer Forrester report, future success in DevOps will need\n    people and their organizations to be open to a mindset and technology shift.\n    New tools will come around, common practices may shift, and DevOps teams\n    need to be able to adapt to changes while continuing to work together to\n    deliver top-quality work.\\\n\n\n    A few trends to keep an eye on as time progresses are serverless\n    computerless architecture, [the rise of DevSecOps](/topics/devsecops/), and\n    low-code/no-code development to deploy applications swiftly with higher\n    agility.\\n\"\n  category: devsecops\n  tags:\n    - DevOps\n    - careers\n    - testing\nconfig:\n  slug: career-spotlight-sre-vs-devops-engineer-vs-devops-platform-engineer\n  featured: false\n  template: 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software development the easy way using GitLab","Learn how University of Washington lecturer Stephen G. Dame uses GitLab for Education to manage student assignments, distribute course materials, and provide inline code feedback at scale.\n",[720],"Rod Burns","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749659537/Blog/Hero%20Images/display-article-image-0679-1800x945-fy26.png","2026-04-29","For instructors teaching software development, one of the biggest logistical challenges is assignment distribution and feedback at scale. How do you give large groups of students access to course materials, keep solution code private, and still deliver meaningful, contextual feedback without lots of administrative overhead?\n\nThe **[GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/)** provides qualifying institutions with free access to **GitLab Ultimate**, enabling instructors to build professional-grade workflows that mirror real-world software development environments. In this article, you'll learn how Stephen G. Dame, a lecturer in the Computing and Software Systems department at the University of Washington, Bothell, uses simple workflows in GitLab to manage everything from course materials to student feedback across multiple classes.\n\n## From aerospace to academia: Bringing GitLab to the classroom\n\nDame came to academia with years of experience as a chief software engineer at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, where GitLab was used for aerospace projects. As an adjunct professor, he became an early advocate for GitLab within the university, joining the GitLab for Education program to access the full feature set needed to run structured, scalable course workflows.\n\n> **\"GitLab provides the greatest way to organize multiple classes, student assignments, lectures, and code samples through the use of Groups and Subgroups, which I found to be unique to GitLab compared to other repository platforms.\"**\n>\n> - Stephen G. Dame, University of Washington, Bothell\n\n## Set up groups: Build the right structure before writing a line of code\n\nThe foundation of an effective GitLab-based course is a well-planned group hierarchy. GitLab's **[Groups and Subgroups](https://docs.gitlab.com/tutorials/manage_user/#create-the-organization-parent-group-and-subgroups)** allow instructors to model the natural structure of a university department institution, course, and role with precise, inheritable permissions at every level.\n\nDame's structure places the university at the root (`UWTeaching`), with each course occupying its own subgroup (e.g. `css430`). Within each course sit repositories for `lecture-materials` and `code`, alongside dedicated Subgroups for `students` and `graders`. Instructor materials remain private, while student and grader subgroups are configured with controlled permissions so that assignment briefs and solutions are visible only to the right people.\n\n![Screenshot of GitLab group hierarchy — institution, course subgroup, and per-student subgroups](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1777463673/dpxfnitv76pdmvcqtgag.png)\n\nPermissions cascade downward through the hierarchy via **Manage > Members**, allowing Dame to add students to a course's `students` subgroup with `Reporter` access and an expiration date tied to the end of the academic quarter. Students can clone and pull from assignment repositories but cannot push — keeping solution code firmly under instructor control.\n\nStudents are guided to set up SSH keys across all their working environments (local machines, cloud shells, virtual machines) so they can clone repositories and receive weekly updates via `git pull`. They copy relevant code into their own private repositories to manage their own version history.\n\n**Tip for large classes:** For larger cohorts, adding students by hand is impractical. GitLab's REST API lets you automate subgroup creation and membership from a list of usernames. Below is a sample Python script that handles this:\n\n```python\n    import gitlab\n    from datetime import datetime\n\n    # Connect to your GitLab instance\n    gl = gitlab.Gitlab('https://gitlab.com', private_token='YOUR_PRIVATE_TOKEN')\n\n    # Target parent group ID (e.g., the ID for \"css430 > students\")\n    parent_group_id = 12345678\n\n    # Set expiration: typically the beginning of the next month after quarter end\n    expiry_date = '2025-01-01'\n\n    # List of collected student usernames\n    student_list = ['alice_css430', 'bob_css430', 'carol_css430', 'dave_css430', 'eve_css430']\n\n    for username in student_list:\n        try:\n            # 1. Create a personal subgroup for the student\n            subgroup = gl.groups.create({\n                'name': username,\n                'path': username,\n                'parent_id': parent_group_id,\n                'visibility': 'private'\n            })\n\n            # 2. Add student to the new subgroup with Expiration\n            user = gl.users.list(username=username)[0]\n            subgroup.members.create({\n                'user_id': user.id,\n                'access_level': gitlab.const.REPORTER_ACCESS,\n                'expires_at': expiry_date\n            })\n            print(f\"Success: Subgroup created and student added for {username}\")\n        except Exception as e:\n            print(f\"Error processing {username}: {e}\")\n```\nThere is also an [open source project that automates class management](https://gitlab.com/edu-docs/class-management-automation) published by GitLab that provides additional tooling for this workflow.\n## Give feedback where the work actually lives\n\nOnce the structure is in place, the feedback workflow is where GitLab's value becomes most apparent to students. Dame asks students to submit assignments by opening a **[merge request](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/project/merge_requests/)** in their repository. This gives instructors an immediate, clean diff of everything the student has written.\n![A GitLab merge request showing inline code comment function for an instructor](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1777467468/icclzyglbkwlvfysggbi.png)\nInstructors can click any line of code and leave an **inline comment** — not just flagging what is wrong, but explaining why, and pointing to what to look at next. Students receive this feedback in direct context with their code, which is far more actionable than a comment at the bottom of a submitted document.\n\n## Join GitLab for Education\n\nSetting up your first GitLab assignment takes some initial effort, but once the structure is in place it largely runs itself. The real payoff goes beyond organization: Students graduate having worked daily in an environment that mirrors professional software development, building habits around [version control](https://about.gitlab.com/topics/version-control/) and [code review](https://docs.gitlab.com/development/code_review/) rather than learning them as abstract concepts.\n\nIf you are just getting started, keep it simple. Begin with a single course group, one assignment template, and a basic pipeline. The structure will grow naturally alongside your confidence with the platform.\n\nMake sure to **[sign up for GitLab for Education](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/join/)** so that you and your students can access all top-tier features, including unlimited reviewers on merge requests, additional compute minutes, and expanded storage.\n\n> [Apply to the GitLab for Education program today](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/join/).",[622,725],"open source",{"featured":14,"template":15,"slug":727},"teaching-software-development-the-easy-way-using-gitlab",{"content":729,"config":741},{"description":730,"authors":731,"heroImage":733,"date":734,"title":735,"body":736,"category":11,"tags":737},"AI-generated code is 34% of development work. Discover how to balance productivity gains with quality, reliability, and security.",[732],"Manav Khurana","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767982271/e9ogyosmuummq7j65zqg.png","2026-01-08","AI is reshaping DevSecOps: Attend GitLab Transcend to see what’s next","AI promises a step change in innovation velocity, but most software teams are hitting a wall. According to our latest [Global DevSecOps Report](https://about.gitlab.com/developer-survey/), AI-generated code now accounts for 34% of all development work. Yet 70% of DevSecOps professionals report that AI is making compliance management more difficult, and 76% say agentic AI will create unprecedented security challenges.\n\nThis is the AI paradox: AI accelerates coding, but software delivery slows down as teams struggle to test, secure, and deploy all that code.\n\n## Productivity gains meet workflow bottlenecks\nThe problem isn't AI itself. It's how software gets built today. The traditional DevSecOps lifecycle contains hundreds of small tasks that developers must navigate manually: updating tickets, running tests, requesting reviews, waiting for approvals, fixing merge conflicts, addressing security findings. These tasks drain an average of seven hours per week from every team member, according to our research.\n\nDevelopment teams are producing code faster than ever, but that code still crawls through fragmented toolchains, manual handoffs, and disconnected processes. In fact, 60% of DevSecOps teams use more than five tools for software development overall, and 49% use more than five AI tools. This fragmentation creates collaboration barriers, with 94% of DevSecOps professionals experiencing factors that limit collaboration in the software development lifecycle.\n\nThe answer isn't more tools. It's intelligent orchestration that brings software teams and their AI agents together across projects and release cycles, with enterprise-grade security, governance, and compliance built in.\n\n## Seeking deeper human-AI partnerships\nDevSecOps professionals don't want AI to take over — they want reliable partnerships. The vast majority (82%) say using agentic AI would increase their job satisfaction, and 43% envision an ideal future with a 50/50 split between human and AI contributions. They're ready to trust AI with 37% of their daily tasks without human review, particularly for documentation, test writing, and code reviews.\n\nWhat we heard resoundingly from DevSecOps professionals is that AI won't replace them; rather, it will fundamentally reshape their roles. 83% of DevSecOps professionals believe AI will significantly change their work within five years, and notably, 76% think this will create more engineering jobs, not fewer. As coding becomes easier with AI, engineers who can architect systems, ensure quality, and apply business context will be in high demand.\n\nCritically, 88% agree there are essential human qualities that AI will never fully replace, including creativity, innovation, collaboration, and strategic vision.\n\nSo how can organizations bridge the gap between AI’s promise and the reality of fragmented workflows?\n\n## Join us at GitLab Transcend: Explore how to drive real value with agentic AI\nOn February 10, 2026, GitLab will be hosting Transcend, where we'll reveal how intelligent orchestration transforms AI-powered software development. You'll get a first look at GitLab's upcoming product roadmap and learn how teams are solving real-world challenges by modernizing development workflows with AI.\n\nOrganizations winning in this new era balance AI adoption with security, compliance, and platform consolidation. AI offers genuine productivity gains when implemented thoughtfully — not by replacing human developers, but by freeing DevSecOps professionals to focus on strategic thinking and creative innovation.\n\n[Register for Transcend today](https://about.gitlab.com/events/transcend/virtual/) to secure your spot and discover how intelligent orchestration can help your software teams stay in flow.",[738,739,740],"AI/ML","DevOps platform","security",{"featured":28,"template":15,"slug":742},"ai-is-reshaping-devsecops-attend-gitlab-transcend-to-see-whats-next",{"content":744,"config":755},{"title":745,"description":746,"authors":747,"heroImage":749,"date":750,"body":751,"category":11,"tags":752},"Atlassian ending Data Center as GitLab maintains deployment choice","As Atlassian transitions Data Center customers to cloud-only, GitLab presents a menu of deployment choices that map to business needs.",[748],"Emilio Salvador","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750098354/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%281%29_5XrohmuWBNuqL89BxVUzWm_1750098354056.png","2025-10-07","Change is never easy, especially when it's not your choice. Atlassian's announcement that [all Data Center products will reach end-of-life by March 28, 2029](https://www.atlassian.com/blog/announcements/atlassian-ascend), means thousands of organizations must now reconsider their DevSecOps deployment and infrastructure. But you don't have to settle for deployment options that don't fit your needs. GitLab maintains your freedom to choose — whether you need self-managed for compliance, cloud for convenience, or hybrid for flexibility — all within a single AI-powered DevSecOps platform that respects your requirements.\n\nWhile other vendors force migrations to cloud-only architectures, GitLab remains committed to supporting the deployment choices that match your business needs. Whether you're managing sensitive government data, operating in air-gapped environments, or simply prefer the control of self-managed deployments, we understand that one size doesn't fit all.\n\n## The cloud isn't the answer for everyone\n\nFor the many companies that invested millions of dollars in Data Center deployments, including those that migrated to Data Center [after its Server products were discontinued](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/atlassian-server-ending-move-to-a-single-devsecops-platform/), this announcement represents more than a product sunset. It signals a fundamental shift away from customer-centric architecture choices, forcing enterprises into difficult positions: accept a deployment model that doesn't fit their needs, or find a vendor that respects their requirements.\n\nMany of the organizations requiring self-managed deployments represent some of the world's most important organizations: healthcare systems protecting patient data, financial institutions managing trillions in assets, government agencies safeguarding national security, and defense contractors operating in air-gapped environments.\n\nThese organizations don't choose self-managed deployments for convenience; they choose them for compliance, security, and sovereignty requirements that cloud-only architectures simply cannot meet. Organizations operating in closed environments with restricted or no internet access aren't exceptions — they represent a significant portion of enterprise customers across various industries.\n\n![GitLab vs. Atlassian comparison table](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1759928476/ynl7wwmkh5xyqhszv46m.jpg)\n\n## The real cost of forced cloud migration goes beyond dollars\n\nWhile cloud-only vendors frame mandatory migrations as \"upgrades,\" organizations face substantial challenges beyond simple financial costs:\n\n* **Lost integration capabilities:** Years of custom integrations with legacy systems, carefully crafted workflows, and enterprise-specific automations become obsolete. Organizations with deep integrations to legacy systems often find cloud migration technically infeasible.\n\n* **Regulatory constraints:** For organizations in regulated industries, cloud migration isn't just complex — it's often not permitted. Data residency requirements, air-gapped environments, and strict regulatory frameworks don't bend to vendor preferences. The absence of single-tenant solutions in many cloud-only approaches creates insurmountable compliance barriers.\n\n* **Productivity impacts:** Cloud-only architectures often require juggling multiple products: separate tools for planning, code management, CI/CD, and documentation. Each tool means another context switch, another integration to maintain, another potential point of failure. GitLab research shows [30% of developers spend at least 50% of their job maintaining and/or integrating their DevSecOps toolchain](https://about.gitlab.com/developer-survey/). Fragmented architectures exacerbate this challenge rather than solving it.\n\n## GitLab offers choice, commitment, and consolidation\n\nEnterprise customers deserve a trustworthy technology partner. That's why we've committed to supporting a range of deployment options — whether you need on-premises for compliance, hybrid for flexibility, or cloud for convenience, the choice remains yours. That commitment continues with [GitLab Duo](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-duo-agent-platform/), our AI solution that supports developers at every stage of their workflow.\n\nBut we offer more than just deployment flexibility. While other vendors might force you to cobble together their products into a fragmented toolchain, GitLab provides everything in a **comprehensive AI-native DevSecOps platform**. Source code management, CI/CD, security scanning, Agile planning, and documentation are all managed within a single application and a single vendor relationship.\n\nThis isn't theoretical. When Airbus and [Iron Mountain](https://about.gitlab.com/customers/iron-mountain/) evaluated their existing fragmented toolchains, they consistently identified challenges: poor user experience, missing functionalities like built-in security scanning and review apps, and management complexity from plugin troubleshooting. **These aren't minor challenges; they're major blockers for modern software delivery.**\n\n## Your migration path: Simpler than you think\n\nWe've helped thousands of organizations migrate from other vendors, and we've built the tools and expertise to make your transition smooth:\n\n* **Automated migration tools:** Our [Bitbucket Server importer](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/import/bitbucket_server/) brings over repositories, pull requests, comments, and even Large File Storage (LFS) objects. For Jira, our [built-in importer](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/project/import/jira/) handles issues, descriptions, and labels, with professional services available for complex migrations.\n\n* **Proven at scale:** A 500 GiB repository with 13,000 pull requests, 10,000 branches, and 7,000 tags is likely to [take just 8 hours to migrate](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/import/bitbucket_server/) from Bitbucket to GitLab using parallel processing.\n\n* **Immediate ROI:** A [Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ study commissioned by GitLab](https://about.gitlab.com/resources/study-forrester-tei-gitlab-ultimate/) found that investing in GitLab Ultimate confirms these benefits translate to real bottom-line impact, with a three-year 483% ROI, 5x time saved in security related activities, and 25% savings in software toolchain costs.\n\n## Start your journey to a unified DevSecOps platform\n\nForward-thinking organizations aren't waiting for vendor-mandated deadlines. They're evaluating alternatives now, while they have time to migrate thoughtfully to platforms that protect their investments and deliver on promises.\n\nOrganizations invest in self-managed deployments because they need control, compliance, and customization. When vendors deprecate these capabilities, they remove not just features but the fundamental ability to choose environments matching business requirements.\n\nModern DevSecOps platforms should offer complete functionality that respects deployment needs, consolidates toolchains, and accelerates software delivery, without forcing compromises on security or data sovereignty.\n\n[Talk to our sales team](https://about.gitlab.com/sales/) today about your migration options, or explore our [comprehensive migration resources](https://about.gitlab.com/move-to-gitlab-from-atlassian/) to see how thousands of organizations have already made the switch.\n\nYou also can [try GitLab Ultimate with GitLab Duo Enterprise](https://about.gitlab.com/free-trial/devsecops/) for free for 30 days to see what a unified DevSecOps platform can do for your organization.",[573,566,753,754],"product","features",{"featured":28,"template":15,"slug":756},"atlassian-ending-data-center-as-gitlab-maintains-deployment-choice",{"promotions":758},[759,773,784,795],{"id":760,"categories":761,"header":763,"text":764,"button":765,"image":770},"ai-modernization",[762],"ai-ml","Is AI achieving its promise at scale?","Quiz will take 5 minutes or less",{"text":766,"config":767},"Get your AI maturity score",{"href":768,"dataGaName":769,"dataGaLocation":244},"/assessments/ai-modernization-assessment/","modernization assessment",{"config":771},{"src":772},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/qix0m7kwnd8x2fh1zq49.png",{"id":774,"categories":775,"header":776,"text":764,"button":777,"image":781},"devops-modernization",[753,11],"Are you just managing tools or shipping innovation?",{"text":778,"config":779},"Get your DevOps maturity score",{"href":780,"dataGaName":769,"dataGaLocation":244},"/assessments/devops-modernization-assessment/",{"config":782},{"src":783},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138785/eg818fmakweyuznttgid.png",{"id":785,"categories":786,"header":787,"text":764,"button":788,"image":792},"security-modernization",[740],"Are you trading speed for security?",{"text":789,"config":790},"Get your security maturity score",{"href":791,"dataGaName":769,"dataGaLocation":244},"/assessments/security-modernization-assessment/",{"config":793},{"src":794},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/p4pbqd9nnjejg5ds6mdk.png",{"id":796,"paths":797,"header":800,"text":801,"button":802,"image":807},"github-azure-migration",[798,799],"migration-from-azure-devops-to-gitlab","integrating-azure-devops-scm-and-gitlab","Is your team ready for GitHub's Azure move?","GitHub is already rebuilding around Azure. Find out what it means for you.",{"text":803,"config":804},"See how GitLab compares to GitHub",{"href":805,"dataGaName":806,"dataGaLocation":244},"/compare/gitlab-vs-github/github-azure-migration/","github azure migration",{"config":808},{"src":783},{"header":810,"blurb":811,"button":812,"secondaryButton":817},"Start building faster today","See what your team can do with the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps.\n",{"text":813,"config":814},"Get your free trial",{"href":815,"dataGaName":51,"dataGaLocation":816},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_content=default-saas-trial&glm_source=about.gitlab.com/","feature",{"text":507,"config":818},{"href":55,"dataGaName":56,"dataGaLocation":816},1777493567494]