During the last year or so, we've interviewed approximately 30 people for a number of roles related to devops, and couldn't find even one to stand up to our requirements. We've also heard of many (many) bad questions and wrong decisions made by interviewers, that prevented them from getting the right person for the job. In this session we’ll discuss the common misconceptions about devops hiring, touch on why it’s so hard to get the right people, and why interviewers should stop looking for "DevOps" and start looking for "Good, Technical People”.
10. "5-7 years of devops experience"???
"Practical experience with most if not all AWS
components"???
"Hands on experience with monitoring tools,
intrusions detections mechanisms…"
And it goes on...
What's Wrong Here?
13. "Operations Engineer"
is a new profession
Design
Maintain
Analyze
Monitor
Build
Automate
complex, large scale, highly
available production
environment
14. Of course you'd rather find and pay
someone who knows everything than
5 who know something.
15. But can anyone be a real expert in all
of these in just 3-4 years???
17. "I'm looking for candidates with a
degree from a major university"
Is there an institute in which you can
learn how to monitor a system?
18. I want someone with at least x years
of experience in…
4 is better than 2?
Can't someone be really bad with 5
years or experience?
19. What's the Right Answer to These
Interview Questions?
● "How do you configure a GRE Tunnel in
Junos"?
● "Which port does Kerberos require"?
● "How do you move a zone file between DNS
servers"?
● "How do you configure an F5 load balancer
to route traffic to the least busy server"?
● etc etc etc
20. "Give me a laptop and I'll
tell you!"
You'd do it yourself…
And you want them to do it too!
21. Now It's Not All Your Fault...
Some of it has to do with job seekers, too
22. What's Wrong with This CV?
(assuming there's someone who can actually
learn all of this in less than 4 years)
23. Does It Indicate If the Candidate
Can:
● Apply the right tool to a problem?
● Learn a new tool when it's needed?
● Solve a problem, any problem?
● Identify there actually IS a problem?
24.
25.
26.
27. Look For:
● Passion and willingness to learn
● Problem solving mentality
● Self motivated individuals
● People that are fun to work with
Tools and experience are important, but are not
the only, and certainly not the most important
factor
39. Improving Goat Production
● Foraging Crops
● Frequent Continuous access to water
● Improved Housing
● Buck Exchange/Rotation
40. Recap
● Plant the seeds to allow your goats to graze
● Give access to the water goats need
● Improve their housing to make happier goats
● Rotate your goats to keep them fresh
42. References
● There is no talent shortage - Andrew Clay-Shafer - http://goo.gl/B7EhHz
● A Culture of Innovation - Patty Mccord - http://goo.gl/PVDdb7
● DevOps Hiring - Dave Zweiback - http://goo.gl/bU9h8C
● The Puzzle of motivation - Dan Pink - http://goo.gl/bBgQBi
● Stop Hiring DevOps Experts (and start growing them) - Jez Humble - http://goo.
gl/JG8ykx
● Fast Delivery - Adrian Cockcroft - http://goo.gl/AHQTGd
● Engineering Your culture - Oren Ellenbogen - http://goo.gl/7UO9Kd
● Netflix Culture - http://goo.gl/iAfn
● Rich Jones - How to hire DevOps - http://goo.gl/qUc289
● Tim Lockwood - How to hire a DevOps Engineer - http://goo.gl/nMjhVm
● Volker Will - Do not hire a DevOps Engineer - http://goo.gl/Zpz6jx
● Improving goat production - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frTJynGPeeU