DevOps combines software development and IT operations to shorten the development lifecycle while allowing for frequent, close-aligned releases with business objectives. It uses toolchains across coding, building, testing, packaging, releasing, configuring, and monitoring. Key principles include incorporating business needs, decomposing user stories methodically, and using clouds to improve computing. DevOps emerged from agile methodology and blends development and operations roles. Career paths can begin as system administrators who gain programming skills or developers who learn operations processes.