Devops Hiring (But Also Some Generally Applicable Advice)

Uri CohenHead of Product @ GigaSpaces

@uri1803

What's Wrong With This?

Or This?

5th Anniversary of Devopsdays

Let's Talk Problems

Problem #1: "We can't find talent"

"There's no talent shortage!"Andrew Clay Shafer

Do We Know What to Look for?

"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?

You're Looking for a Super Hero

"Operations Engineer" is a new profession

"Operations Engineer" is a new profession

DesignMaintain

Analyze

Monitor

Build

Automate

complex, large scale, highly available production

environment

Of course you'd rather find and pay someone who knows everything than

5 who know something.

But can anyone be a real expert in all of these in just 3-4 years???

(You convince yourself that) You want the Best and Willing

to Wait for It

"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?

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?

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

"Give me a laptop and I'll tell you!"

You'd do it yourself…And you want them to do it too!

Now It's Not All Your Fault... Some of it has to do with job seekers, too

What's Wrong with This CV?

(assuming there's someone who can actually learn all of this in less than 4 years)

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?

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

Problem #2: "We can't

grow and retain talent"

This Is Michael Ducy

and besides being one of the smartest people I know, he says your engineers are

kinda like goats

Goats Are Intelligent

Goats Are Multi Purpose

Goats Are Multi Purpose

Goats Are Multi Purpose

Goats Are Multi Purpose

Goats Are Multi Purpose

Goats Are Multi Purpose

Improving Goat Production

Improving Goat Production

● Foraging Crops

● Frequent Continuous access to water

● Improved Housing

● Buck Exchange/Rotation

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

Big Thanks!

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