currently living in NYC supporting the growth of Salt’s US operations (22 employees in NYC, 180 globally) • Responsible for the hiring, growth and scaling of DevOps teams ranging from small startup companies to some of the biggest names in technology • Supported DevOps Transformations utilizing consultants as well as providing full-time permanent staff to my clients 2
have a whole dedicated DevOps team to support other project teams, other times we have individual DevOps experts imbedded within other teams • Your current technology department, development environment and infrastructure setup will determine the route you take • DevOps doesn’t finish, you will always be improving and making small incremental changes 3
first – organic growth is best • Can we retrain our internal teams to adopt DevOps processes? • Ask ourselves WHY are we hiring this person and what value do we need them to provide to the team • Growing the team internally can come with long-term benefits such as loyalty to the people, environment and a true sense of ownership for having been a part of the overall journey • There is also a long list of benefits to hiring someone externally to bring in new knowledge to the team 4
your team • Software Engineering background versus Infrastructure/Operations • Aim to close the skills gaps • Find the person who will provide the most value in YOUR environment and go from there 5
are harder to change - They might use a wide variety of tools and technologies but what problems are they solving? - Are they a curious person? - Are they open-minded and still learning to improve upon their current knowledge? #ContinuousLearning - When have they failed and learned from their mistakes? 6
organization? • Will they connect well with the team? • Be wary of people’s egos and how this will impact others • A good leader must understand how to smoothly onboard new members Culturally fit for your team?
software development practices as well as Infrastructure & Operations • Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery/Deployment (Jenkins, TravisCI, TeamCity, Bamboo) • Configuration Management (Puppet, Chef, Ansible, Saltstack) • Version Control (GIT, SVN) • Scripting (Python, Java, Bash, PHP, Ruby, Powershell) • Cloud Infrastructure experience is helpful whether you have or haven’t moved to the cloud yet (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Private Clouds) • Knowledge of Container Orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, Mesos, Marathon, Rancher)
not expect this to be solved overnight • Be flexible and realize that the candidates hold the power in the DevOps space, this is very different to hiring a Java or Python Developer • Start within your network and meet potential new hires at local events (such as DevOpsDays! Or Docker Havana Meetup and more) • Host your own event or Meetup by inviting people to your office where you can later elaborate about your open vacancies • Ask your friends and people you have worked with previously • Use LinkedIn.com to search and advertise your vacancies
will mean missing out on hiring opportunities • Have a plan in advance, you should know your interview process before finding the candidate • Keep it simple! 2 or 3 rounds of interviews is usually sufficient: -1 phone interview (30 minutes to 1 hour) -1 face to face interview with yourself and other senior team members. Also have the team take them for lunch or a beer after work -If required, meet them once more to close the process or have 1 final call if there are any doubts on either side
team takes months and sometimes many years • Expect to make mistakes, just learn from them • Stay open to feedback from those above and below you in your organization • Continuously learn and improve • Focus on small improvements to achieve a long-term greater goal • Many challenges lie ahead, continue collaborating with those around you and stay part of this amazing Cuban technology community
devopsdayscuba
chriscoyier
dougneiner
danielanewman
ufuk
iamctodd
destraynor
jlugia
3n
holman
eileencodes
akosma
pedronauck
