diff --git a/lib/ci/gitlab_ci_yaml_processor.rb b/lib/ci/gitlab_ci_yaml_processor.rb
index ddf34b60a85..b8ede3a7edc 100644
--- a/lib/ci/gitlab_ci_yaml_processor.rb
+++ b/lib/ci/gitlab_ci_yaml_processor.rb
@@ -45,7 +45,10 @@ module Ci
     end
 
     def job_variables(name)
-      @jobs[name.to_sym].try(:fetch, :variables, []) || []
+      job = @jobs[name.to_sym]
+      return [] unless job
+
+      job.fetch(:variables, [])
     end
 
     private
@@ -123,7 +126,7 @@ module Ci
       end
 
       unless @variables.nil? || validate_variables(@variables)
-        raise ValidationError, "variables should be a map of key-valued strings"
+        raise ValidationError, "variables should be a map of key-value strings"
       end
 
       if @cache
@@ -216,9 +219,9 @@ module Ci
     end
 
     def validate_job_variables!(name, job)
-      if job[:variables] && !validate_variables(job[:variables])
+      unless validate_variables(job[:variables])
         raise ValidationError,
-          "#{name} job: variables should be a map of key-valued strings"
+          "#{name} job: variables should be a map of key-value strings"
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/spec/lib/ci/gitlab_ci_yaml_processor_spec.rb b/spec/lib/ci/gitlab_ci_yaml_processor_spec.rb
index 8813a724774..5f4b63bcafb 100644
--- a/spec/lib/ci/gitlab_ci_yaml_processor_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/ci/gitlab_ci_yaml_processor_spec.rb
@@ -786,14 +786,14 @@ EOT
         config = YAML.dump({ variables: "test", rspec: { script: "test" } })
         expect do
           GitlabCiYamlProcessor.new(config, path)
-        end.to raise_error(GitlabCiYamlProcessor::ValidationError, "variables should be a map of key-valued strings")
+        end.to raise_error(GitlabCiYamlProcessor::ValidationError, "variables should be a map of key-value strings")
       end
 
-      it "returns errors if variables is not a map of key-valued strings" do
+      it "returns errors if variables is not a map of key-value strings" do
         config = YAML.dump({ variables: { test: false }, rspec: { script: "test" } })
         expect do
           GitlabCiYamlProcessor.new(config, path)
-        end.to raise_error(GitlabCiYamlProcessor::ValidationError, "variables should be a map of key-valued strings")
+        end.to raise_error(GitlabCiYamlProcessor::ValidationError, "variables should be a map of key-value strings")
       end
 
       it "returns errors if job when is not on_success, on_failure or always" do