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Meet Chadin - DevOps Lead

Yeo Yong Kiat | I'm totally new to leading a product team. Come join me in finding out what a DevOps engineer does, from none other than Chadin, our resident (and one-and-only) DevOps Lead!

Chadin - DevOps Lead

Chadin is our resident DevOps Lead, and happens to be our only DevOps engineer in TransformGovSG.

Many government officers have the impression that DevOps are all about safety and server-running, since they don't actively build features. But a good DevOps actually accelerates product development.

If you're like me, and new to leading a product team, join me for a quick interview with Chadin, to understand what a DevOps engineer really does, and why we all need such a role in our respective product teams. Chadin is our one and only DevOps engineer in my product team, and he supports the DevOps processes for all three of my products. It's no incredible feat, supporting the infra and security needs of three different products, with different transaction and security patterns!

Yong Kiat: Chadin, thanks for sitting down with me. I know you are a DevOps engineer. As you know, I'm a government officer, and I deal with policy and budget writing. I'm completely new to leading a product team. So let's help me out here with some basics - what exactly does a DevOps engineer do?

Chadin: Thanks for having me! Quite awkward having my boss ask me what I do, but since you're keen to learn, I'm glad to share! At its core, my role as a DevOps engineer is to bridge the gap between development and operations, ensuring that the products our developers create can be deployed seamlessly for users. I help deploy these products to the internet or intranet, depending on the needs, and make sure they’re accessible, reliable, and secure.

But it doesn’t stop there. It’s also about deploying with excellence—using good practices to keep our processes organized, automated, and compliant. This involves everything from documenting infrastructure to running security checks and finding efficient ways to meet compliance standards.

Yong Kiat: That sounds like a lot of responsibility, and also a lot of things to unpack. Let's start with the preoccupation of most government officers - how do you ensure that deployments are efficient and reliable?

Chadin: Automation is key. We aim for automated deployments so that new versions of our products can go live with as little manual effort as possible, while still maintaining high quality. Beyond deployment itself, we automate other aspects like testing, code quality checks, and security scans. These automated processes give us the confidence to roll out new features frequently without worrying about breaking something.

Yong Kiat: How does automation help? Won't you miss out bugs and mistakes? Maybe help me understand how automation improves our team's workflows with some examples.

Chadin: Sure! Take automated notifications, for instance. When something goes wrong during deployment, the system sends out alerts to the team. This eliminates the need for someone to constantly monitor logs. We’ve also automated enforcement of working agreements—if there’s a standard practice everyone should follow, the system ensures compliance without adding extra workload. These automations make our team’s work more efficient and less repetitive.

Yong Kiat: Right, so it's not so much about just deploying the code without thought but really ensuring that there is consistency everytime a certain standard needs to be implemented, or removing routine work. What about the operations side of things? How do you keep the system running smoothly?

Chadin: Oh I love this part. I've always thought of operations like being a doctor for the system. Just like how doctors monitor your heartbeat and blood pressure, I set up monitors to track our system’s health. For example, we track data points that might indicate potential issues, like resource usage. If something goes wrong, the system “beeps,” and the team gets notified about what’s wrong so they can fix it quickly. So here I'm the doctor I suppose and I set up benchmarks and alert triggers - the team kind of functions like a team of expert nurses who are then able to administer the medication I prescribed very quickly, since things are all automated or prescribed neatly.

On top of that, I identify weak spots in the system—areas that might break under heavy usage—and create plans to address them before they become real problems. It’s all about being proactive and prepared.

Yong Kiat: Haha, thanks for using a healthcare analogy to explain things to me. Not sure what doctors and nurses will think about that, but you sure got the prescription issue right. NOw, security and compliance are big in government. How do you handle these aspects in your role?

Chadin: Security and compliance are a huge chunk of what I do, especially in the public sector. Ever since I moved from the private sector to the government, I've been leveling up a lot. Okay so I want to make things very clear, that security and compliance are two different things.

Security is actually about designing the whole software and interactions such that fundamentally, we keep breaches and risks to a minimum or we find ways to mitigate them. Compliance is adherence to a set of standards and requirements, which may or may not improve security all the time, but it aligns to the stna.

It may sound like it's all about ticking boxes to meet requirements and standards, but I think a responsible DevOps thinks about how to strike that balance between useability and security, and also about how to find practical, efficient ways to ensure our systems are secure and compliant.

For example, I handle the legwork for security reviews and liaise with external entities to make the process smoother for the developers. And if certain compliance requirements don’t make sense, I push back and try to find better alternatives.

Yong Kiat: Haha, no wonder our Tech Lead Alex always says "...don't say you're full stack just because you do frontend and backend - there is still DevOps". That’s really quite the workload! How do you manage to support the team across all these areas?

Chadin: It’s definitely a team effort! My role is to guide and support the team across different spheres. I've always bucketed things into three big areas -

  1. Alignment: With three products (and soon four), I look across all of them to consolidate good practices and identify common roadblocks.
  2. Coaching: I teach the team about infrastructure, pipelines, compliance, and more so they can take ownership of these areas.
  3. Gap filling: I draw on my 13 years of experience in IT to help with technical decisions, practices, or even just morale. Sometimes that means reassuring the team that timelines are manageable or helping them prioritize their workload.

Yong Kiat: It sounds like you wear a lot of hats. Context-switching is one of the greatest pains in software development - how do you balance all these responsibilities?

Chadin: Easy, just like how you have your policy principles, striking a balance comes from focusing on what adds the most value. For example, aligning the products and coaching the team creates a multiplier effect — what I teach or set up can benefit the entire team long-term. And where there are gaps, I prioritize filling those that would impact our users or team the most.

It helps that we have a culture of ownership, where everyone contributes to making the system better. My job is to empower the team to handle as much as they can independently while supporting them wherever they need.

Yong Kiat: Thanks for helping me understand what DevOps is in a nutshell. Okay, finally, what’s the most rewarding part of your job?

Chadin: Seeing the team succeed and the products we build make a difference. Whether it’s a smooth deployment, a creative automation that saves time, or a system that handles high traffic without a hitch — it’s rewarding to know that my work has helped make it happen. Plus, I enjoy the challenge of constantly learning and improving, which keeps the role exciting.

Yong Kiat: Thanks for sharing all this, Chadin. It’s clear that DevOps is a lot more than just “keeping the servers running", and more than what policy officers call the "safety guy". I really hope to spend a good last year with you guys in GovTech.

Chadin: Absolutely. It’s about creating systems and processes that empower the team and ensure our products succeed. It’s challenging but also incredibly fulfilling. Thanks for the opportunity to share a bit about what I do!