WebOps (Web operations)

WebOps, short for Web operations, is the area of IT systems management that deals with the complexities of Web-based applications and the systems that support them.  The area of WebOp engineering includes application deployment, management, maintenance, configuration and repair. Some definitions of the field add other elements, such as development.

According to Theo Schlossnagle, CEO of OmniTI, the most successful WebOps engineers must be “multidisciplinary experts”:

They have a deep understanding of networks, routing, switching, firewalls, load-balancing, high availability, disaster recovery, TCP and UDP services, NOC management, hardware specifications, several different flavors of UNIX, several web server technologies, caching technologies, several databases, storage infrastructure, cryptography, algorithms, trending and capacity planning.

With the ongoing trend towards Web apps, the demand for Web operations engineers is steadily increasing. However, the broad range of skills in conjunction with knowledge specific to Web-based technologies makes the career a demanding one, especially for entry-level professionals.

See also: DevOps