How to Keep Up With Current DevOps Trends, Tools, and Platforms?

The DevOps world changes very quickly. With so many tools and frameworks available, it's easy to feel confused by all the choices.

To help with this, ThoughtWorks Technology Radar works like a guide, showing what is trending and what might be worth looking into.

ThoughtWorks Technology Radar is a report made twice a year by ThoughtWorks, a well-known global technology company.

This report gives useful insights into current trends, tools, platforms, techniques, and programming languages in the tech world. It helps software developers, tech teams, and businesses make better decisions about what technologies to use.

The Technology Radar breaks its analysis into four main categories:

1. Techniques: These are best practices for software development and delivery. This includes strategies for testing, keeping code quality high, and ways for teams to work well together.
2. Tools: This category covers software and frameworks that developers use to make their work easier. It includes things like deployment tools, CI/CD systems, and testing libraries.
3. Platforms: Platforms are the ecosystems that help build software. This could be cloud services like AWS or complete development environments.
4. Languages & Frameworks: This category looks at programming languages and frameworks.

ThoughtWorks also organizes technologies into four different rings:

1. Adopt: These are tried and tested technologies that are mature, reliable, and good for most teams. If something is in this ring, it's recommended for use right away.
2. Trial: Technologies in this ring are promising. They are worth trying in a pilot project to see if they fit well in your team’s workflow and add value.
3. Assess: These are new and emerging technologies or techniques. They might not be ready for wide use yet, but they are worth exploring in a test environment to see their potential.
4. Hold: Items in the "Hold" ring are technologies that ThoughtWorks no longer recommends for new projects. These might be outdated, too complex, or less effective. ThoughtWorks suggests avoiding these for new projects.

Tech leads and architects can use the report to decide which technologies should be used in their projects.

It helps in understanding which approaches, tools, and frameworks are mature and widely adopted and which ones are worth testing on a small scale.

Also, it is a very useful tool for DevOps engineers. It shows which technologies are gaining popularity, which are becoming less important, and provides a broader view of what could be useful in the future.

It saves you time researching and keeps you informed, helping you make smart decisions instead of following trends too late.

As a DevOps engineer, staying updated on technology, especially in a field that changes as fast as DevOps is very important. Using insights from the ThoughtWorks Technology Radar can help you make better choices for your team and always stay ahead.