DevOps Engineer Salary: How Much You Can Make as a Beginner and Expert

Thinking about becoming a DevOps engineer? You're on the right track; it's not just a high-demand career, but also one of the best-paying roles in tech today. If you're just starting out, mid-way through your career, or a seasoned expert, DevOps offers exciting opportunities and competitive salaries to match. 

In this blog post, we’ll dive into how much you can expect to earn at different experience levels across various countries. We’ve gathered real numbers from trusted sources like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Quora to give you a clear picture. So if you're curious about your earning potential and why DevOps engineers are so sought after, you’re in the right place!

What does the DevOps Engineer do?

A DevOps engineer does much more than just automate pipelines or manage servers; they help bridge the gap between development and operations teams, making software delivery faster, more reliable, and more collaborative.

DevOps is a culture, not just a set of tools or a job title. It’s a mindset shift that emphasizes breaking down the traditional silos between developers (who create software) and operations teams (who deploy and maintain it). The goal? Continuous delivery of high-quality software with fewer bottlenecks and less friction.

In this cultural movement, a DevOps engineer plays a critical role. They embody and enable the DevOps principles by:

• Automating infrastructure and deployment processes

• Ensuring continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices

• Collaborating closely with developers, testers, security teams, and IT operations

• Monitoring applications and systems to ensure stability and performance

• Identifying bottlenecks and optimizing the end-to-end delivery pipeline
  
  

DevOps engineers are essentially the "culture carriers" inside organizations. They champion automation, transparency, and shared responsibility, helping teams innovate faster while maintaining stability and security.

Without the cultural foundation of DevOps, a DevOps engineer would be just another IT role. But when the culture and the role align, that's when businesses achieve true agility, resilience, and growth.

DevOps Engineer Salary Range by Country and Experience 

Now let’s explore the DevOps Engineer salary range by country and experience. Salaries can vary significantly based on factors like location, industry, skill set, certifications, company size, and project complexity.

DevOps Engineer Salary in India 

If you’re planning to start your DevOps journey in India, you’re looking at some exciting earning potential.  As a fresh graduate or entry-level engineer, you can expect a salary ranging between ₹4.1 Lakhs to ₹15 Lakhs per year, depending on where you work and the size of the company. 

Some freshers even start around ₹3.2 Lakhs to ₹6.5 Lakhs annually, according to community insights like Quora, but don't worry, that number climbs quickly with experience.

Once you have 2-3 years under your belt, the mid-level salary jumps to an average of about ₹5.7 Lakhs per year, and with 3-4 years of experience, you might see yourself making ₹6 Lakhs or more annually.

As you move into the experienced DevOps engineer category, typically with 4+ years of experience, the real magic happens, and salaries can easily soar beyond ₹12.7 Lakhs per year!

And if you look at trusted sources like Glassdoor, the average salary ranges between ₹ 5 lakh and ₹ 9 lakh per year, but senior and lead roles can reach ₹ 23 lakh to ₹ 33 lakh. In short, the more skills and experience you pack under your belt, the bigger your paycheck becomes.

Quick Summary: DevOps Engineer Salary in India

• Entry-Level (0–2 years): ₹3.2L – ₹6.5L/year (average ₹4.1L – ₹9L)

• Mid-Level (2–4 years): ₹5.7L – ₹6L/year

• Experienced (4+ years): ₹12.7L/year and above

• Senior & Lead Roles: ₹18L – ₹33L/year

DevOps Engineer Salary in USA

According to Glassdoor, the average base pay for a DevOps Engineer in the USA ranges from $93K to $100K per year. As you gain experience, the numbers climb beautifully. With around 4 years of experience, many DevOps engineers working remotely are already earning around $136K annually (based on real user stories from Reddit). 

Those with deeper expertise, especially in specialized areas like DevSecOps, can command truly impressive salaries. For instance, one DevSecOps professional with 15 years of experience shared that they’re making a whopping $233K per year, fully remote. 

Here’s an insight from Reddit users to give you a peek into actual salary experiences: 

source

Quick Summary: DevOps Engineer Salary in USA

• Entry-Level: $93K – $100K/year (Glassdoor)

• Mid-Level (around 4 years): $136K/year (Reddit user insight)

• Senior-Level (DevSecOps, 15+ years): $233K/year (Reddit user insight)

DevOps Engineer Salary in Malaysia 

The average base salary for a Development Operations (DevOps) Engineer in Malaysia is around RM 72,345 per year, according to recent data from PayScale. Salaries typically range from RM 7,000 to RM 223,000 annually, depending on your experience, skills, and the company you join. Bonuses can add a little extra sparkle too, ranging up to RM 52,000.

According to Glassdoor, monthly base salaries fall between MYR 5,000 to MYR 9,000. Of course, if you bring more experience, certifications, or specialized cloud skills to the table, you could be looking at even higher offers.

Quick Summary: DevOps Engineer Salary in Malaysia

• Average Salary: RM 72,345 per year (Payscale)

• Salary Range: RM 7,000 – RM 223,000 per year

• Monthly Base Pay: MYR 5,000 – MYR 9,000 (Glassdoor)

• Bonus Potential: Up to RM 52,000

• Total Pay Range: RM 7,000 – RM 231,000 per year

Qualifications Expectations for DevOps Engineers

If you're aiming to become a DevOps Engineer, here’s the deal: it’s not just about knowing a few fancy tools, it’s about deeply understanding how systems work, scale, and sometimes, spectacularly break!

Most employers today look for a blend of formal education (like a Computer Science degree or related field) and hands-on skills. But even more important than degrees? It's your ability to build, deploy, and rescue applications in real-world environments.

On the skills side, you'll want to get good at:

• Programming: Solid experience in coding is crucial. A bit of Python scripting is great, but to truly thrive, you should have spent time building applications. You need to understand not just "how" things run, but "why" they run that way.

• Cloud Platforms: AWS, Azure, and GCP are essential playgrounds. Sure, you can launch a Kubernetes cluster, but the real magic is knowing how to design cloud-native applications that are scalable and cost-effective.

• Automation & Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Tools like Terraform, Ansible, and Chef make you a deployment superhero.

• Containerization and Orchestration: Docker and Kubernetes are no longer "nice-to-haves" — they are core essentials.

• CI/CD Pipelines: Jenkins, GitLab CI, CircleCI — knowing how to set up smooth, automated pipelines is a game-changer.

• Monitoring and Logging: Tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and ELK Stack help you keep systems healthy and spot issues before they turn into fires.

A Reddit user put it perfectly: a junior DevOps professional might be tempted to focus just on new DevOps tools like Kubernetes or AWS. But the real challenge lies deeper, you need to understand the application itself, how it should behave, how it can fail, and how best to deploy and scale it. It's not enough to "lift and shift" to the cloud and hope it all works out. Cost optimization, complexity management, and smart architecture decisions become your daily bread.

Another reality check, DevOps Engineers often carry the "on-call" pager. If the app goes down at 2 AM, you might be the first one up. Sometimes, they even find themselves cleaning up messy problems caused by development teams without having the real power to fix root causes.

Becoming a DevOps engineer is challenging work, but if you love solving big puzzles and improving systems, it’s extremely rewarding.

Professional Certificates to Add to Your Portfolio

If you want to stand out in the competitive world of DevOps and secure a higher paycheck, building your portfolio with professional certifications is a smart move. Certifications not only validate your skills but also show potential employers you're serious about mastering both the Dev and Ops sides of the job.

Here are some valuable certifications that can help you level up your DevOps career:

Professional DevOps Foundations 

A best-seller, the Professional DevOps Foundations certification gives you a strong foundation in DevOps principles, practices, and tools, perfect for anyone looking to enter or grow in the DevOps field.

Kubernetes Certification Training 

Containers and orchestration are now essential. This Kubernetes Certification Training prepares you to design, deploy, and manage Kubernetes clusters, a must-have skill for cloud-native environments.

Terraform Associate Training

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is key to modern DevOps. Terraform skills are highly sought after for automating cloud resources, and Terraform Associate-certified professionals often command higher salaries.

Behavior-Driven Development and Test-Driven Development 

Understanding how to integrate testing early in the software delivery cycle is crucial. Both BDD and TDD certifications teach you how to improve code quality, speed up releases, and minimize production bugs.

Extreme Programming Practitioner (XP)

 XP practices like continuous integration, refactoring, and pair programming make you a more agile DevOps engineer who can work closely with development teams.

TDD with ChatGPT 

Emerging tools like AI are transforming DevOps. This TDD with ChatGPT certification shows you're ahead of the curve by leveraging AI for smarter test-driven development.