Demand for DevOps professionals continues apace, according to the latest analysis from Robert Half, with nine out of 10 CIOs in the UK seeing DevOps as a core competency for developers and infrastructure professionals in the next five years.

The study, which is based on more than 100 interviews with CIOs from companies across the UK, found that for 90% of respondents DevOps would be effective if security was built into continuous service and application delivery. 94% agreed that DevOps would need to incorporate greater security measures.

When it came to more specific routes to success, 37% of those polled said establishing IT security checks was a primary consideration when thinking about skills needed for effective DevOps implementation. 34% opted for incorporating data regulation requirements.

Respondents, when faced by the challenges of DevOps implementations, found them much of a muchness. 32% said needing strong management structures was key, as well as enhancing communications within the IT team, while 31% opted for getting the right skills within IT.

As other research has shown, if you have the right skills in this domain then you can be set up nicely. Earlier this month, a report from Puppet revealed that 66% of DevOps engineers and 69% of software engineers in the US took home pay packets of more than $100,000 per year.

“In this new age of digitalisation, DevOps is creating new opportunities for technology professionals to support the business and opening up new career paths,” said Neil Owen, director at Robert Half Technology UK. “There is a growing need for IT and technology professionals to become more business and commercially savvy.

“As the DevOps movement increases the collaboration between technology functions and the business, this is a key way for technology professionals to improve their opportunities for career progression.”