Demystifying DevOps

Pictured from left: Panelists Victoria Geronimo, Diana Gruhn, Rashan Smith, Kareen Kircher, Matthew Titmus, and moderator Stefana Muller.

On November 21 at Rockefeller Auditorium on the Long Island campus, New York Institute of Technology and Long Island Women in Tech co-sponsored “Demystifying DevOps: From Code to Delivery,” a panel discussion and networking event that highlighted the importance of development and operations (DevOps) in today’s competitive business environment. 

DevOps is a set of practices that improve the relationship between software development and IT operations. It has transformed the way engineering teams collaborate to create and release software by focusing on building a culture of trust, feedback, and continuous improvement.

In her welcome remarks, Nada Anid, Ph.D., New York Tech’s vice president for Strategic Communications and External Affairs, stressed the importance of the cultural changes necessary for an organization to implement DevOps and transform the process in which operations, developers, and testers collaborate during the development and delivery processes.

Panelists included Victoria Geronimo, product manager for security at 2nd Watch; Diana Gruhn, senior product marketing strategist at Entrust Datacard; Rashan Smith, DevOps associate consultant at Red Hat; Kareen Kircher, CEO/founder of DevOps Advisors; Matthew Titmus, senior site reliability engineer at Flatiron Health; and moderator Stefana Muller, senior product manager of DevOps at 2nd Watch and president and founder of Long Island Women in Tech.

The audience included developers, testers, operations teams, security professionals, infrastructure engineers, project managers, and students. An interactive discussion between panelists and the audience helped to illuminate the best practices for using DevOps to transform and meet the demands of customers.

Long Island Women in Tech is a 600-member network that aims to increase the number of women in technology roles on Long Island by providing a supportive community, mentorship, career development, and education to women at all levels of their careers. 

“There is a lot of synergy between our two organizations as it relates to networking, internships, and mentorships in the burgeoning tech industry,” said Muller of the collaboration with New York Tech. “Together, we can offer a platform for students to develop a network and a professional presence in their field.”