Some experts argue whether DevOps is more of a work philosophy, a set of development tools, or a software development methodology. And, to be fair, it’s simply all of these at once.
The main idea behind DevOps is to create a closer connection between the software development and operations team so the product(s) they work on can be updated and released faster. In smaller startups, this can even mean merging the team of devs and operations into one. Most often, however, DevOps engineers work simply as a connector between the two.
Of course, this is the simplest of explanations. Investing in DevOps engineering can bring several business gains to your company and transform the development process for the better. In the guide below, you’ll learn not only what those gains are but also why and how to hire DevOps engineers that can make your DevOps transformation successful.
Why should your business invest in DevOps?
By bridging the gap between software developers and operations, DevOps aims to build cross-team cooperation that supports a product throughout its whole lifecycle. What does it exactly mean for you?
- Faster delivery of both new features and issue fixes.
- Better cross-team collaboration leading to innovation.
- Earlier detection of issues.
- Continuous deployment providing customers with a better, constantly refreshed experience.
- Customer feedback implemented in the product faster.
- Improved performance of all involved teams.
- Better prioritization of unplanned workload.
Why should you hire DevOps engineers?
If you want to make use of the benefits DevOps provides, you need to hire DevOps engineers. To put it simply, the role combines some responsibilities of a software developer with some of an operations team member (e.g. system admin) and mixes these with the DevOps philosophy.
What are some of the tasks that DevOps engineers do?
- Implement automation (e.g. by writing scripts).
- Monitor the product and infrastructure to detect issues as soon as possible.
- Set up and improve IT infrastructure.
- Test code written by software developers.
- Manage relevant projects to introduce DevOps philosophy in them.
- Ensure cybersecurity.
- Set up processes and introduce tools that support continuous delivery.
- Design processes that help with troubleshooting prioritization.
- Coordinate the cooperation of software developers and operations.
- Mentor relevant coworkers on DevOps implementation.
Hard skills to look for when you plan to hire DevOps Engineers
As DevOps engineers share tasks of both typical software developers and members of the operations team, the role requires a huge amount of technical knowledge from both of these worlds. What hard skills are we exactly talking about?
- The programming languages, frameworks, and libraries used at your company
There is no specific checklist of programming languages and surrounding technologies that your DevOps engineer should know. It depends simply on what your company already works with or will work in the near future. Clarify your requirements before you start hiring and then look for the best match among your candidates.
- Experience with version control tools
Most likely Git/GitHub. There is simply no DevOps without version control tools.
- Experience with cloud technologies
Once again, this will depend on what your company uses. The most typical choices include Azure and AWS.
- Experience with operations on Linux
You don’t need to hire GitHub developers who know Linux Bible by heart but previous experience and proficiency in Linux are crucial for cloud integration.
- Proficiency in container orchestration tools
The key to the successful development of microservices. The most popular tools, in this case, are Kubernetes and Docker.
- Experience with continuous integration tools
A vast category of tools that help DevOps engineers in automating the delivery of new features and fixes. Popular choices include Jenkins, CircleCI, and Bamboo.
- Proficiency in scripting tools and languages
Scripting takes DevOps engineers one step closer to automation. With good scripting skills, DevOps experts can save time and speed up the delivery process. Scripting can be done using multiple languages and tools, including Python, Ruby, Perl, Bash, Powershell, and more.
Crucial soft skills for DevOps engineers
When you plan to hire DevOps engineers, don’t forget to include soft skills in the checklist for your perfect candidate. Although DevOps engineering is a very technical role, it also requires great communication skills to achieve fruitful cooperation with other DevOps experts, software developers, and operations teams.
What specific soft skills should you be looking for when you want to hire DevOps developers? We asked the experts and this is what we heard back…
- Passion for technology
DevOps is an ever-changing world that doesn't sleep. New innovations, tools, and features seem to pop up on a daily basis — and while not all of them will end up being a viable solution for your company, great DevOps engineers can spot the ones that can truly transform your product and business.
- Proactivity
You can also hire a DevOps engineer with a desire to push your software development and operations to innovation. The best DevOps experts can truly get to the bottom of your processes and find ways to improve areas that have seemed to be already perfected.
- Empathy
But in the pursuit of DevOps transformation, one should not forget that software developers and operations are still people — they can make mistakes or simply not be able to keep up the pace that DevOps pushes for. Empathy and being able to understand the other side is therefore crucial for agreeing on a middle point.
The importance of DevOps developer job interview
Because DevOps engineering covers so many different tasks, it might seem difficult to check the skillset of your candidates. That’s why it’s so important that when you want to hire DevOps developers, you should include a true DevOps expert in the interview process. If you do not have extensive experience with DevOps yourself, you should consider asking someone else for support — this can be either another DevOps engineer, a software consultant, or an IT project manager. Such experts can help you assemble the perfect set of tasks and questions to ask your candidates.
To give you an idea of how such an interview process may look like, we showcase below some of our favorite DevOps developer job interview questions.
- How do you approach measuring the performance of a server?
- In what situation would you NOT implement a CDN?
- What is a configuration drift and what problems are caused by it?
- The Cathedral vs The Bazaar model — what are they and what are the differences?
- Where do we use exponential backoff?
- When would you use a virtual IP in your job?
- What’s the Sidecar Pattern?
- What’s the Branch by Abstraction technique?
- Which language do you prefer for scripting? Why this one?
- How would you approach deploying software to 5000 systems?
How to hire DevOps engineers that truly match your business
Don’t stop on assessing only the skills, though. When you want to hire DevOps engineers, you should also consider the company fit for the best results.
We recommend looking especially close at the following two areas:
- Industry fit
Hire DevOps developers who have previously worked with businesses within your industry for improved efficiency and performance - especially in their early days at your company. Such experience means they already understand (at least to some extent) the challenges on your market and have possibly worked on solutions to these challenges.
- Company culture fit
Improve cross-team collaboration even further by hiring a DevOps engineer who shares the values of your other employees and your business as a whole. Look for a match in areas like approach to remote work, attitude toward diverse work environments, preferred management style, or ways for self-development within the company.
Who else you will need on the path to success?
DevOps engineers can be a critical addition to your team — but hiring even the best DevOps developers won’t be enough for your product to win the market. As DevOps experts are highly dependent on the quality of work of software development and operations teams alike, you also need to constantly support these two areas of your company.
And whether you are looking for a software consultant, back-end developers, or IT project managers, Ideamotive can help you hire them fast. We run an industry-leading network of IT talents and always connect you only with the people who match your project and business the most.
Get in touch with our Ideamotive experts today and build an award-winning team.
