Research: Formal Education Coming Up Short in DevSecOps

According to a new study, software developers are not receiving the training necessary for success in today’s DevOps world.

The 2017 DevSecOps Global Skills Survey, sponsored by Veracode and DevOps.com, found that while 65 percent of DevOps professionals believe it is very important to have knowledge of DevOps when entering IT, they’re not receiving the necessary training through formal education to be successful.

DevSecOps refers to the practice of integrating security into the development and testing of software for faster, better quality outcomes.

The study surveyed nearly 400 DevOps professionals globally.

Survey respondents said that their IT workforce is only somewhat prepared (55 percent) or not prepared (nearly 30 percent) with the skills necessary to securely deliver software at the speed of DevOps. In fact, nearly 40 percent of hiring managers surveyed reported that the hardest employees to find are the all-purpose DevOps gurus with sufficient knowledge about security testing.

Although nearly 80 percent of respondents have a bachelor or master’s degree – with 50 percent reporting that they studied and earned degrees in computer science – there is still a lack of cybersecurity knowledge prior to entering the workforce. About 70 percent of respondents said the security education they received is not adequate for what their current positions require, and 65 percent said that they’re learning their most relevant professional skills on the job.

“WannaCry and Petya are just two recent examples of large-scale cyber attacks that further demonstrate the importance of security in today’s exceedingly digital world,” said Maria Loughlin, VP of Engineering at Veracode. “Higher education and enterprises need to have a more mature expectation around what colleges should teach and where organizations need to supplement education given the ever-changing nature of programming languages and frameworks. The industry will have to come together to ensure the safety of the application economy.”

Channel Impact^®
The data underscore the need for substantial updates and more comprehensive training. In today’s application-centric economy, the knowledge gap described in this study can greatly hamper productivity and lead to lower quality offerings.