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Agenda

  1. What is Continuous integration (CI)?
  2. What is Continuous Delivery/Deployment (CD)?
  3. Why CI/CD Matters
  4. Key Components of CI/CD
  5. Tools for CI/CD
  6. Career Path
  7. Q&A

What is CI?

Continuous integration is a DevOps software development practice where developers regularly merge their code changes into a central repository, after which automated builds and tests are run. Continuous integration most often refers to the build or integration stage of the software release process and entails both an automation component (e.g. a CI or build service) and a cultural component (e.g. learning to integrate frequently)

tip

The term job is used for a small unit of work while pipeline is a sequence of jobs in a specific order

Platforms for CI​

  • GitHub Actions - GitHub Actions is a product feature that lets you automate workflows with code
  • Jenkins - Jenkins is an open source automation server
  • Azure DevOps - Azure DevOps is a platform that supports software development with cloud or on-premises services
  • AWS CodePipeline - AWS CodePipeline is a continuous delivery service that enables you to model, visualize, and automate the steps required to release your software.

What do we do in CI jobs​

  • Secrets scanning
  • Code formatting checks
  • Code lint
  • Dependency vulnerabilities
  • Tests
  • Build (build release artifacts)

Examples​

Vercel lint pipeline​

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vercel lint

nvim-java releases​

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nvim-java release

Home Assistant vulnerability check​

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home assistant code quality

What is CD

Continuous delivery is a software development practice where code changes are automatically prepared for a release to production. A pillar of modern application development, continuous delivery expands upon continuous integration by deploying all code changes to a testing environment and/or a production environment after the build stage

  • Continuous Deployment/Delivery (CD):
    • Deployment: Fully automated release of code to production.
    • Delivery: Automation up to a manual release checkpoint.

Examples​

Supabase docker image release​

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My website deployment​

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Why CI/CD Matters

  • Faster Development Cycles: Code changes deployed rapidly.
  • Improved Collaboration: Ensures consistent code quality across teams.
  • Early Bug Detection: Tests catch issues before reaching production.
  • Reliability: Automates repetitive tasks, reducing human error.
  • Scalability: Efficient workflows that grow with the team.

Key Components of CI/CD

  • Version Control Systems: Git, GitHub, GitLab.
  • Build Automation: Tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions.
  • Testing Frameworks: JUnit, Selenium, PyTest.
  • Deployment Automation: Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform.
  • Monitoring Tools: Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog.

Popular CI/CD Tools

  • Jenkins: Open-source CI tool with extensive plugin support.
  • GitHub Actions: Native CI/CD for GitHub repositories.
  • GitLab CI/CD: Integrated tool for GitLab repositories.
  • CircleCI: Cloud-based CI/CD for fast pipeline setups.

Best Practices

  • Commit frequently to keep changes small and manageable
  • Write clear and comprehensive tests
  • Secure sensitive data with environment variables
  • Monitor and analyze CI/CD pipelines for performance
  • Regularly update and maintain the pipeline configuration

Tips for Students

  • Start with a simple CI/CD setup using GitHub Actions
  • Explore Docker to containerize your applications
  • Experiment with free-tier cloud services for deployment

Career Path

RoleELI5 Explanation
System AdministratorDo more maintainance work and make sure applications is available
DevOps EngineerBuild architecture to make the integration process effortless
Site Reliability EngineerEnsures the reliability, scalability, and performance

Salaries​

DevOps​

DevOps is the combination of cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that increases an organization’s ability to deliver applications and services at high velocity

Core Responsibilities​

  • Automation and CI/CD Pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions)
  • Infrastructure Management (Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation)
  • Monitoring and Logging (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, ELK Stack)
  • Performance Optimization
  • Incident Response

Skills Required​

  • Technical Skills

    • Proficiency in Linux/Unix administration.
    • Knowledge of programming and scripting languages like Python, Bash.
    • Experience with version control systems, e.g., Git.

  • Cloud Platforms

    • Experience with AWS, Azure, GCP, or other cloud providers.
    • Understanding of containerization using Docker and orchestration with Kubernetes

  • Tooling Expertise

    • CI/CD tools (e.g., Jenkins).
    • Configuration management tools (e.g., Ansible, Puppet).
    • Monitoring tools (e.g., Nagios, Prometheus).

Resources

Q&A

  • Open the floor for questions.