How getting into the mind of a DevOps can lead to better recruitment

DevOps has gone from a tech buzzword to one of the most fought-over roles to fill inside companies.

To put it in simple words, DevOps is a mindset, a movement to make software better and help engineering teams flow more efficiently. It is the merger between development and operations in order to create software that is both dynamic and scalable.

With passive candidates making up 75% of the worldwide workforce, you have to make sure to stay ahead of the game when it comes to recruiting DevOps engineers.

I’m a firm believer that to optimize a recruitment process, it’s essential to comprehend the role you are looking to fill. What better way than to actually understand how your ideal candidate thinks during the SDLC?

1. Research:

• It starts with DevOps engineers asking themselves “How can I make my business/colleagues better?”
• They then determine the scope of the project and start their research in places such as Github, Stack Overflow, webinars, conferences, and local meetups, with friends and colleagues, among others.
• DevOps also check if current elements can be recycled and how much support is available. Will they be using external services?
• The deliverables of this stage include documentation that supports the proceeding or opposing of the technology being researched.
• Cost/benefit analysis
• Vendor recommendation
• Presentations to managers and executives to get approval
• Collaboration is usually with other engineers, product managers, and business stakeholders.

2. Design:

• The primary goal of this stage is to determine how this new tech fits into the business or software stack.
• Will this scale and does it fit with the company’s engineering needs?
• Where will resources come from?
• At this stage, DevOps should deliver product specifications, architecture diagrams, timeline documents, and cost estimates.
• Have in mind that not all projects for DevOps include a design phase.

3. Build:

• Requirements are usually added in the build phase.
• DevOps should keep stakeholders informed on their work.
• Some questions they may have in this stage include “Were any requirements overlooked?” “Are more resources needed to make this work?”
• There should be documentation of what has been created as well as training sessions on how it works.

4. Test:

• The goals for this stage are:
• Meet specifications and match requirements.
• Validate scalability and security.
• Guarantee that value is being added to the business.
• DevOps must also create tests that mimic what they need to accomplish.

5. Deploy:

• The goals here are to make the product available, ensure its functionality and gather data on validation.
• They also need to review that tests are providing the correct feedback and define how success will be measured.

I hope that these insights will help you think less as a recruiter and more as a DevOps engineer. And if you have other insights that you believe should be included please feel free to send them over.

Hey, anything that helps us understand better this highly searched profile is more than welcome.

As with any search, before starting, be certain of who will the ideal candidate be. Not every company sees the DevOps methodology the same way, it’s best to start the hunt knowing exactly what you’re looking for instead of throwing stuff to a wall and seeing what sticks.

Looking to review soft skills as well? Check out these 8 questions.

Daniella Meneses

Chief Growth Officer

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