DevOps and CI/CD basics

DevOps is about getting development and operations teams to work together instead of separately. Both teams share responsibility for delivering the product. DevOps focuses on automation and using continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) to make delivery faster and more reliable.

Continuous integration (CI) means developers merge their code often. Each merge triggers automated builds and tests. This helps catch problems early when they are easier to fix. Continuous deployment (CD) takes this further by automatically moving code from testing to production, allowing multiple releases in a single day if needed.

Other important DevOps practices include using infrastructure as code, running automated tests, monitoring systems, and getting fast feedback. Teams track success using metrics like deployment frequency, lead time, recovery time, and change failure rate. These numbers help the team improve and show the value of DevOps to the business.