Learning to Teach Ops

@JohnContad@REATechBlog

It all started with a problem…

…Youth!

And so we tried dumb things.

• “You should be on pager…”• “You should fix a couple of boxes...”• “We’ll synthesize a couple of

problems for you...”

The problem with teaching Ops.

• Ops is experiential.• “Defensive” Ops cannot be

scheduled.• “Offensive” Ops needs a lot of

knowledge baselines.

Linux

AWS

Networking

DNS

Cats

The Whiteboard Exercise.

• Shows levels of established proficiency.

• No “faking” of knowledge.• Delineates domains that need work.• Exposed what I don’t know myself.

What now?

Stumbling through Instructional Design

• V.A.K. Learning Styles• The Teachback Method• Knowledge checks

Anyone can play guitar Ops

• Faster pickup of Ops skills• Repeatable template for Dev/Grad

onboarding• Anyone else can do it

More to come…

• Metrics! Measure improvement.• How to train trainers to train.• How to scale to more people

concurrently.• How to scale with limited resources.

In closing.

We’re Hiring!

@JohnContad@REATechBlog