My Background • Associate Director @ Salt • From London, 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
Introduction • Every DevOps Practice is different • Sometimes we 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
Do you need to hire somebody? • Always look internally 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
Which background do you require? • Compare preexisting strengths within 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
Mindset > Tools • Tools can be learned but mindsets 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
• How will the new team member slot into your 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?
Which skills do we need? 8 • Good knowledge of 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)
Where to find DevOps Engineers? 9 • In high-demand, do 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
Interview Process 10 • An unorganized or poor interview process 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
El crecimiento toma tiempo! 11 • Building a well functioning 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
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