Releases are events
Monthly deploys after hours with everyone on a call. Big batches mean big risk and slow, painful debugging.
Service 08 / 14
DevOps
Teams that deploy rarely deploy dangerously. We build the pipeline, testing and observability that make releasing boring — which is exactly what you want it to be.
- Typical duration
- 4–12 weeks
- Engagement
- Team of 1–3 · Fixed scope or retainer
- Right for you if
- Teams where deploying is a scheduled, stressful event
- Companies who learn about outages from customers
- Engineering teams losing days to environment problems
- Anyone without a tested way to roll back
Problems
You're probably here because of one of these.
If more than one sounds familiar, that's normal — they usually share a root cause.
You find out from customers
No alerting, no error tracking, no traces. The first signal of an outage is a support ticket.
Rollback is theoretical
No one has actually rolled back. Under pressure you discover the migration wasn't reversible.
Environments drift
Staging doesn't match production, so testing there proves very little.
Approach
How the work actually runs.
From first conversation to running in production. Typical end-to-end duration for devops is 4–12 weeks.
- 01
Discovery
1–2 weeksWe map the problem before proposing a solution. Stakeholder interviews, constraint analysis, and a written scope you actually own.
- Delivery audit: lead time, deploy frequency, failure rate, recovery time
- Existing pipeline, test and environment review
- Incident history and root-cause patterns
- Prioritized plan targeting the biggest bottleneck first
- 02
Architecture & design
2–3 weeksSystem design and interface design happen together, so the thing we draw is the thing we can actually build.
- Branching and release strategy suited to your team size
- Environment topology and promotion path
- Test pyramid design with speed targets per layer
- Observability plan: metrics, logs, traces and alerts
- 03
Build
3–8 weeksTwo-week iterations against a shared board. You get a working deployed environment from week one and a demo every sprint.
- CI pipeline with parallelized, fast-feedback test stages
- Automated deploys with health checks and auto-rollback
- Ephemeral preview environments per pull request
- Secrets management and least-privilege deploy credentials
- 04
Hardening
1–2 weeksAutomated test coverage, load testing, accessibility audit and a security review before anything touches production.
- Unit, integration and end-to-end test suites
- Load and performance profiling under realistic traffic
- WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility audit and remediation
- Dependency, authentication and access-control review
- 05
Launch
1 weekStaged rollout with monitoring in place before traffic arrives. Rollback is tested, not assumed.
- Progressive delivery with feature flags and canary releases
- Alert routing, on-call rotation and escalation policy
- Incident runbooks and a blameless postmortem template
- Team training on the new workflow
- 06
Operate
OngoingWe stay on. Response-time SLAs, proactive dependency upgrades, and a roadmap review every quarter.
- Uptime, error and performance monitoring with alerting
- Defined severity levels and response-time commitments
- Scheduled dependency and security patching
- Quarterly roadmap and architecture review
Included
What you get, spelled out.
Every item here is part of the engagement, not an upsell discovered halfway through.
CI pipeline
Parallelized builds and tests giving useful feedback in under ten minutes.
Automated deployment
Merge to main ships to production behind health checks, with automatic rollback on failure.
Preview environments
Every pull request gets a real deployed environment for review and QA.
Feature flags
Decouple deploy from release. Ship code dark, enable it when you're ready.
Observability
Metrics, structured logs and distributed traces correlated in one place.
Tested rollback
Reversible migrations and a rollback path that's been exercised, not assumed.
Secrets management
No credentials in code or CI config. Scoped, rotated and audited.
DORA metrics
Deploy frequency, lead time, change failure rate and recovery time, tracked so improvement is visible.
Stack
What we typically build this with.
A default, not a rule. If your team already runs something else and it fits the requirement, we work in your stack.
Docker
The same image in dev, CI and production. 'Works on my machine' ends here.
Kubernetes
At real scale only. Below it the operational cost outweighs the benefit, and we'll say so.
GitHub Actions
CI next to the code, with no separate system to maintain.
Terraform
Infrastructure in version control, reviewable and reproducible from an empty account.
Nginx
Reverse proxy, TLS termination and load balancing. What makes a self-hosted deployment behave like a managed one.
AWS
Widest service coverage and the compliance posture enterprises expect.
Self-hosted
Your own servers, your own datacentre, or a VPS you control. Same containers, same pipeline, no cloud lock-in.
PostgreSQL
Our default. Transactional integrity, JSON, full-text search and row-level security in one engine.
Why Devsock
The difference is in how the work is run.
Ten dimensions where engagements usually go wrong, and what we do instead. Every claim in the right-hand column is something you can verify in the first two weeks.
DimensionTypical agencyDevsock
Estimates
TypicalAn hourly rate and a range that grows once work starts.
DevsockFixed scope and fixed price after a paid discovery. Changes are quoted before they enter a sprint.
Communication
TypicalA weekly status email written by an account manager.
DevsockDirect access to the engineers building it, a shared board you can read any time, and a demo every second week.
Code ownership
TypicalDelivered at the end, sometimes with a proprietary framework attached.
DevsockYour repository, your cloud account, from commit one. No proprietary layer, no licensing.
Testing
TypicalManual clicking before launch, if the timeline allows.
DevsockAutomated suites in CI, load testing at projected peak, and a WCAG 2.2 AA audit before release.
Architecture
TypicalWhatever the available developer knows best.
DevsockA written architecture decision record explaining what we chose, what we rejected, and why.
Security
TypicalAddressed if the client raises it.
DevsockDependency scanning in CI, least-privilege access, secrets management and a pre-launch review as standard.
Accessibility
TypicalOut of scope unless legally forced.
DevsockWCAG 2.2 AA designed in and audited. Keyboard and screen-reader tested, not assumed.
Handover
TypicalA zip file and a phone number that stops answering.
DevsockDocumented architecture, runbooks, and a paid handover period so your team can genuinely take over.
After launch
TypicalA new quote for every bug.
DevsockDefect fixes covered for 90 days. Support retainers carry response-time SLAs in the contract.
Saying no
TypicalEvery request becomes a line item.
DevsockWe'll tell you when a feature isn't worth building, or when the answer isn't software at all.
Work
What we've built, and what it changed.
Live products you can open and use. Each one names the constraint, the approach and what shipped.
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- React Native
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- Stripe
- AWS
Multi-tenant SaaS platform and driver apps for dumpster rental operators
Challenge
Dumpster rental operators run bookings, fleet position, driver assignments and invoicing across spreadsheets, whiteboards and phone calls. Nobody knows where a container actually is, proof of service arrives days after the job, and billing gets reconstructed from memory at month end.
Solution
A multi-tenant SaaS platform with self-serve signup, subscription billing and tiered plans, paired with native driver apps on iOS and Android. Operators get real-time container status, driver scheduling with route optimisation, customer and contract management, and automated invoicing. Drivers receive job assignments and upload proof of service from the field.
What shipped
- Native driver apps published to both the App Store and Google Play
- Multi-tenant architecture with per-operator data isolation
- Self-serve onboarding with a 15-day trial and three subscription tiers
- Real-time inventory and container status tracking
- Driver scheduling with route optimisation
- Automated invoicing and payment processing
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Vercel
Corporate platform for an independent renewable-energy consultancy
Challenge
An independent monitoring and evaluation consultancy for renewable energy projects needed to establish credibility with government, industrial and hospital buyers — a sector where procurement turns on verifiable regulatory standing and a demonstrable track record, not on marketing copy.
Solution
A structured corporate platform built around proof rather than persuasion: service definitions for independent oversight and technical training, a credentials section surfacing regulatory compliance across SECP, FBR, PRA and PEC, team profiles establishing sector experience, and a documented track record of verified installations. Enquiries route directly to the consultancy team.
What shipped
- Structured service architecture across oversight and training lines
- Regulatory credentials surfaced as the primary trust signal
- Track record documented across government, industrial and public-health installations
- Team credibility profiles with sector experience
- Enquiry capture routed to the consultancy team
- Server-rendered and fully indexable
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- PostgreSQL
- Tailwind CSS
- AWS
Training platform with multi-country scheduling and certificate verification
Challenge
A QHSE training provider delivering internationally accredited certifications across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan needed to publish a constantly moving multi-city schedule, take registrations online, and let employers independently verify that a certificate is genuine — the last of which is what makes an accreditation worth anything.
Solution
A training platform combining a published course schedule across multiple countries with online registration, a separate corporate training enquiry path, and a public certificate verification tool employers can use to authenticate credentials. Accreditation bodies and trainer profiles are presented as structured, checkable content rather than a logo wall.
What shipped
- Public certificate verification for employers
- Multi-country training schedule with online registration
- Separate paths for open-enrolment and corporate training
- Course catalogue spanning ISO, OSHA, IOSH, NVQ and Lean Six Sigma
- Accreditation bodies and trainer credentials as structured content
- Server-rendered and fully indexable
Further work sits behind NDAs. We can walk you through the architecture and measured outcomes of those engagements under mutual NDA.
Request a walkthroughFAQ
DevOps — common questions.
Specific to this service. The general questions about pricing, ownership and process are answered on the home page.
Still unsure? hello@devsock.com
Yes. We improve what's there where it's sound rather than migrating for its own sake. Migration only gets recommended when the current tool is the actual bottleneck.
Related
Usually paired with.
Most engagements combine two or three of these. We'll tell you which ones you actually need.
Next step
Let's scope your devops project.
Bring us the problem rather than a specification. Thirty minutes with an engineer will tell you whether this is the right service, what it would take, and roughly what it would cost.
30 minutes
No slide deck, no sales team
An engineer
You speak to someone who builds
A straight answer
Including when it's don't build it