The DevOps Reality: You're On-Call, Not In-Demand

Key Takeaways

• This piece focuses on software engineering realities in India, not outlier narratives.
• Compensation numbers should be interpreted with role scope, market cycle, and switching friction.
• Use decision frameworks and evidence checks before acting on title or salary headlines.

On This Page

• The Expectation
• The Reality
• Salary and Growth Reality
• Where Most People Get Stuck
• Who Should Avoid This Path
• Decision Framework
• Originality Lens
• Final Verdict

The Expectation

DevOps is sold as the hot career path. "Bridge the gap between dev and ops." "Automate everything." "High demand, high salaries." Career coaches point to the DevOps engineer shortage and promise Rs 25+ LPA jobs for anyone willing to learn Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS.

The expectation: Learn some tools, get certified, and join the infrastructure elite. Work on cool automation projects. Be valued by the organization. Enjoy the premium salaries that come with the "DevOps Engineer" title.

What could possibly go wrong with the most in-demand skillset in tech?

The Reality

What DevOps Actually Looks Like Day-to-Day:

The On-Call Reality Nobody Talks About:

Most DevOps roles come with on-call rotation. This means:

• You carry a pager (phone) 24/7 during your rotation
• 2 AM alerts for production issues are normal
• Your weekend might be interrupted 3-4 times
• Sleep deprivation is an occupational hazard
• The stress follows you home—always

The Tool Treadmill:

DevOps tools change faster than any other domain. Your Kubernetes expertise from 2020 needs constant updating. Here's what the learning curve really looks like:

You need 90+ hours per month just to stay current—more than 2 full work weeks spent on learning, not delivering.

Case Study - The DevOps Burnout:

Karan, 31, Senior DevOps Engineer:

• Salary: Rs 28 LPA (good on paper)
• On-call: 1 week per month
• Average sleep on on-call nights: 4-5 hours
• Last vacation without laptop: Never
• Burned out after: 3 years in role
• Left DevOps for: Backend development at 15% pay cut

He took a salary cut to escape. The on-call life wasn't worth the premium.

Related context: Salary Reality Check, CTC Decoder, more in Software Engineering.

Salary and Growth Reality

Cross-check your take-home with the CTC Decoder and compare ranges in Salary Reality.

Where Most People Get Stuck

Where DevOps Engineers Get Stuck:

The "Jack of All Trades" Trap

You know a bit of everything—Docker, K8s, Terraform, Jenkins, monitoring. But you're not the expert in any single thing. For senior roles, companies want depth. You're competing against specialists who are better at each individual piece.

The "We Can't Lose You" Trap

You're the only one who understands the production infrastructure. The company won't promote you because they can't afford to move you. You're too valued in your current role to leave it. This is a compliment that kills your career.

The Burnout Spiral

On-call stress leads to poor sleep. Poor sleep leads to slower work. Slower work leads to longer hours. Longer hours lead to more burnout. You're working harder but getting worse results.

Exit Routes From DevOps:

1. Platform Engineering: Build internal developer platforms. Less on-call, more building. Growing field with better work-life balance.
2. Site Reliability Engineering (SRE): At proper SRE shops (Google-style), you spend 50% on reliability work, 50% on software engineering. Better balance than pure ops.
3. Cloud Architecture: Move from doing to designing. Architects make more and carry pagers less. Requires communication skills.
4. Security Engineering: DevSecOps skills transfer well. Security often pays more with less on-call.
5. Return to Development: Your operational knowledge makes you a better developer. Many DevOps engineers switch to backend with their infrastructure expertise as a bonus.

How To Escape On-Call Hell:

• Target companies with large DevOps teams (rotation is shared)
• Look for "Platform Engineer" titles specifically
• Ask about on-call during interviews—make it a dealbreaker
• Negotiate on-call compensation explicitly
• Build automation that reduces incidents (long-term exit)

If this matches your current situation, run the Resignation Risk Analyzer before making your next move.

Who Should Avoid This Path

DevOps Is Wrong For You If:

• You need predictable sleep: On-call disrupts everything
• You have young children: 2 AM pages don't care about parenting
• You dislike being reactive: Firefighting is the job, automation is the dream
• You want deep technical mastery: Breadth over depth is the DevOps reality
• Stress affects your health: Production pressure is constant

DevOps Might Be Right If:

• You genuinely enjoy debugging complex systems: Not everyone does
• You're early career and want broad exposure: Good learning opportunity
• You're targeting FAANG SRE roles: Different reality than most DevOps
• You thrive on variety: No two days are the same
• You have support system for on-call weeks: Partner who understands, no solo parent duties

Decision Framework

Use this quick framework before changing role, company, or specialization.

• If salary delta is below 25 percent for a switch, optimize for skill depth and scope, not title.
• If your stack is legacy-only for 12+ months, schedule a transition plan before role lock-in compounds.
• If role ownership is high but pay is flat, use impact evidence to negotiate before switching.

Common Mistakes Checklist

• Treating outlier salaries as planning baselines.
• Using title changes as a substitute for capability changes.
• Delaying market benchmarking until after compensation stagnates.

Real Scenario Snapshot

A mid-level developer with 5 years in a stable service role gets a title bump but no meaningful scope change. Within 12 months, market interview performance drops due to stale stack exposure.

Originality Lens

Contrarian thesis: Scope quality compounds career value faster than raw coding volume.

Non-obvious signal: Engineers anchored to legacy stacks lose negotiation leverage before they notice compensation drag.

Evidence By Section