Hire DevOps Engineer in 7 Easy Steps

The market research predicts that the demand for DevOps in the market will grow worldwide at a growth rate of about 19% by the year 2020. Companies from various service sectors, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and other industries are looking to hire DevOps Engineers. This will speed up their application development and retain a grab in the market.

Currently, the high demand to hire DevOps Engineer is becoming the responsible factor for complicatedly hiring the right talent and skilled candidate. As a matter of fact, every company is different, as their demands. Therefore, it is becoming difficult for companies to hire the right DevOps Engineer who will meet their demands.

Hence, to minimize the concern of such companies, we will discuss in detail about how to hire DevOps Engineers in this blog. But before that, we will learn about who is a DevOps Engineer first.

Source: BurstShopify Website

Who is a DevOps Engineer?

A DevOps Engineer is a qualified person who understands the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and has quite a good understanding of working over numerous automation tools for the development of Digital Pipelines (CI/CD Pipelines).

The DevOps Engineer used to work with developers and the IT staff to verify the code releases. DevOps Engineers are basically, either the developers who gain interest over code deployment and network operations or sysadmins who develop a passion for coding and scripting. Then move to the development side where they can improve the planning of codes and deployment.

A DevOps Engineer can play a variety of job roles and responsibilities. These are as follows:

1. DevOps Evangelist: Is the principal leader (officer) responsible for DevOps implementation.
2. Release Manager: Is the responsible person who releases new features and ensures post-release stability in the product.
3. Automation Expert: Is the person responsible for achieving automation and harmony of tools.
4. Software Developer or Tester: Is the person responsible for developing and testing the codes.
5. Quality Assurance: Is the person responsible for ensuring the quality of the product and confirms its availability on time.
6. Security Engineer: Is the person responsible for monitoring the quality and security of the products.

 

The DevOps Engineer also needs to be an expert over working with multiple DevOps monitoring tools. Check out the latest 10 DevOps Monitoring Tools (2020).

After learning about what the DevOps Engineers are, their job roles and responsibilities what they can perform, and while checking out the latest 10 DevOps Monitoring Tools, the question still remains answered – how to hire DevOps Engineer?

It is a very important and complicated question to be answered by any company considering that their requirements are usually different. So, we are not taking any industry-specific definitions to hire the DevOps Engineer. Here, we will learn about in general to hire DevOps Engineers. Let us take a look over 7 easy steps to hire a DevOps Engineer.

Source: BurstShopify Website

Follow 7 Easy Steps to Hire DevOps Engineer

Every Company is different, so are their demands and requirements. Therefore, nothing in particular is right or wrong. It all depends on your technology stack, infrastructure, team members skills, and individual goals while being a company you are looking to achieve by hiring an individual DevOps Engineer. So, keep all these individual requirements in mind, while deciding whether you need to hire a DevOps Engineer to fulfill those gaps or not.

So, let us take a look over all these 7 steps to hire DevOps Engineer one-by-one:

1. Filling the Gaps

To identify the gaps, you need to first learn about the strengths of your existing team. Then, aim to close these gaps by hiring DevOps Engineers.

Now, you may assign a budget to hire DevOps Engineers and spend weeks searching for the best Software Engineer, who can efficiently work over Docker and Kubernetes. But, I would suggest to don’t just look for these specifications only because these are trendy technologies. Rather, find a person who can provide the maximum value to your business and go from there.

Usually, the companies start searching for a full-time permanent employee, but there are other ways to fill the gaps too. Suppose you want to design, implement, and build a new DevOps Environment, one of the best options is to find an experienced person who has done this multiple times already.

Along with an experienced DevOps Engineer, you can hire a junior full-time employee parallelly. Due to this, you are having an experienced developer and also getting the junior trained. Recruiting two persons at a time can be expensive, but the knowledge they bring can be invaluable, especially when the work gets completed before the allotted time frame.

2. Define your Requirements and Team Compatibility

Before moving towards hiring DevOps Engineers, it is important to define the Expertise required and Team Compatibility.

1. Expertise Requirement

• Experience in the related technical field. For example, Network Engineering, Software Development, or Operations.
• Track record of existing system monitoring and reporting at regular intervals.
• Strong working knowledge on Operational best practices in the Software Development Cycle, ranging from security, data duplication and redundancy, disaster recovery, scaling, and many more.
• Adaptable and Comfortable in learning new technologies, but not overly focused on new tech.
• Comfortable handling and maintenance of big data.
• Exercise “work smarter, not harder” attitude in their work and focused on efficiency maximization.
  

  b. Team Compatibility

• Should be aware of teams’ preferred Development Methodology (like scrum, agile, and many more) and Tech Stack (popular for DevOps includes, but not limited to GO, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, and so on).
• Supports and fulfills the long-term needs of the system, despite the needs being unpopular.
• Can work in collaboration with teammates to solve technical issues without blaming any individual.
• Should be a calm and composed person, and work in an organized manner under the stressful, ambiguous, and time-sensitive situation.
• Should possess strong leadership qualities to align and guide numerous stakeholders together and achieve the common goal.

3. Application and Infrastructure Planning, Testing, & Development

The major responsibility of the DevOps Engineer is to fulfill the immediate business needs. They are skilled in writing code in several languages and can carry out such work very effectively in their day-to-day work. They also must be skilled in testing and planning while integrating and adding multiple systems.

1. Maintaining CI/CD Pipelines

   The DevOps Engineers are responsible for building the CI/CD Pipelines. It also makes sure that all the processes, people, and tools are working in sync. They can look for the area of improvement and optimize the Pipeline codes on the go. The efficient DevOps Engineer allows the team to maintain its pace of testing.

2. Automation Implementation

   Automation Implementation is the reason why the majority of organizations hire DevOps Engineers. They not only implement automation but also boosts the efficiency of both IT and engineering.

3. Ensure Security

   The DevOps Engineers provide support to the clients with the infrastructure they build. The best way to ensure safety is by building reliable software. One of the most valuable skills of DevOps Engineers is to write secure codes which protect the cloud data from virus attack or hackers.

4. Ongoing Monitoring

   Hiring DevOps Engineers will make sure the effective action on the collected data is one of the crucial activities for every organization. To ensure the effectiveness, DevOps Engineers monitor their apps and infrastructure to detect any kind of error and troubleshoot possible issues on time.

   4. Define Important Skills for DevOps Engineer

There are many differences in job requirements for junior and senior DevOps Engineers. Let’s examine them closer.

Skills Required for Junior DevOps Engineers

• Should have an understanding of Agile, Waterfall, SDLC.
• Should have an understanding of Version Control Tools.
• Possess knowledge of CI/ CD Tools.
• Good working skills in at least one programming language.
• Should have an understanding of Docker images, containers, and registries.
• Good knowledge of Infrastructure Management Tools.
• Firm understanding of Cloud Computing.
• Should have Good Communication Skills in English (written, spoken).
• Possess Soft skills (self-motivated, detail-oriented, strong team player, and other skills).

Skills Required for Middle DevOps Engineers

• Good working knowledge of CI/ CD Tools.
• Strong knowledge of Version Control Tools.
• Excellent working experience with Bash Scripting/Troubleshooting.
• Minimum knowledge of 2+ Programming Languages.
• Great understanding of Cloud Computing Services.
• Strong Infrastructure Management Skills.
• Have proficiency in Automation Tools.
• Good command over Communication Skills in English (written, spoken).
• Possess Soft skills (like a self-motivated, detail-oriented, strong team player, and evolve your working with time).

Skills Required for Senior DevOps Engineers

• Should have proven expertise in using CI/ CD Tools.
• Possess proficient knowledge of Version Control Tools.
• Excellent working experience with Bash Scripting/Troubleshooting.
• Minimum knowledge of 3+ Programming Languages.
• Should have strong proficiency in Cloud Computing Services.
• Should have Expert-level Infrastructure Management Skills.
• Great proficiency in Automation Tools.
• Should have excellent Communication Skills in English (written, spoken).
• Possess Soft skills (like a self-motivated, detail-oriented, strong team player, and evolves working with experience).

5. Offered Salary Structure and Required Experience to Hire DevOps Engineer

We have just learned about the requirements of the company for hiring a DevOps Engineer. With such a huge requirement list, there is no doubt that the salaries of DevOps Engineers are also pretty high. However, the salary greatly varies based on many factors, and some are as follows:

• individual skills of DevOps Engineers.
• country, where you are residing or employed.
• professional experience for the related jobs.
• the company you are working with, etc.

Apart from salary, the company’s requirement also varies in terms of technological expertise and experience. Therefore, being a company while hiring a DevOps Engineer, make sure to define your expertise and experience requirements properly and clearly. This will help to find the right candidate without wasting much time.

Define your job description to hire DevOps Engineer in the following manner;

1. Firstly, make a small Introduction, including the company’s name, the job post you are hiring for, along with summarized job information in 2-3 lines.
2. Secondly, in detail, describe the Job Role and Responsibilities. The Job Role will define exactly what type of candidate you are looking for like passionate, dedicated, technical expertise, and many more. Whereas, Job Responsibilities will define exactly what the candidate has to do in the company along with the required and preferred expertise. Try to mention all the details in points not in paragraphs, to make it quick and easier to understand for any candidate.
3. Finally, specify the Offered Salary and the contact details to share the application and any kind of required assistance.
   

   6. Interview Questions to Ask with DevOps Engineers

After defining all your requirements properly, it becomes definite that you are going to get the applications from the qualified candidates. Now, when you have a good number of applications, it is time to short-list the candidates which can fulfill your company’s requirement and complete the task of hiring DevOps Engineers.

Choosing good-looking CVs are not enough. Now, you have to make sure to filter the right candidate and hire qualified DevOps Engineers. This is to determine whether any of them are a good fit or not. During the Interview session, asking the right questions with each candidate will do the trick. Also, don’t forget to ask them about their hard and soft skills which will help you analyze which makes them the perfect addition to your team.

Interview Questions based on Hard Skills

Here are a few examples of interview questions for Junior, and Middle/Senior developers to check their hard skills. These following questions will help you to hire a DevOps Engineer who could be a good match with your existing team.

• On which DevOps tool do you have experience of working? Would you go for mastering over any other tool?
• What is the Version Control System, and why should it be used in any system?
• What is the importance of Configuration Management Processes and Tools?
• Could you briefly explain the concept of “Infrastructure as Code”(IaC)?
• What does Continuous Integration mean and how you could ensure it?
• Define the difference between Orchestration and Classic Automation? Can you mention some standard Orchestration Solutions?
• Why is the proper instrumentation and measurement important for DevOps culture?

Interview Questions based on Soft Skills

Many Companies equally value personality and soft skills, along with technical expertise. So, to make sure, hire a DevOps Engineer who is apt for your team. You can add these following questions during the interview to make sure the candidate fits in your company’s work culture.

• How would you describe the functions of an ideal DevOps team?
• What skills, according to you, you have learned and will help you to get better in a DevOps role?
• What does the perfect release look like? Who is involved, and what is your role?
• How would you diagnose and fix a problem in production?
• Suppose a deployment just failed. What steps will you take to remediate the situation?
• What would you do to improve DevOps strategy in our company?

7. 3 Easy Ways to Find Qualified DevOps Engineers

When it comes to hiring DevOps Engineers, there are 3 popular options to find a suitable candidate to fulfill the company’s requirements. Nowadays, these options are much more preferred than advertising and searching manually. Recruitment is a very tedious process and attracting the right talent at your place is not always possible. So, these 3 following options are much more popular in the market.

1. Hiring Freelancers from Freelance Websites,
2. Consulting with Recruiting Agencies, or
3. Hire DevOps from Outsourcing Companies (IT Companies).

Now, let’s take each option in detail and hire a DevOps Engineer to fulfill your company’s needs and build a great team.

1. Hiring DevOps Engineers from Freelancers Web Portals

The Freelancer platforms are very popular when it comes to hiring any specialist in the IT sector. Such platforms are quite an interface to manage. Just set up an account, create a job post, choose a freelancer or a team of freelancers, and start working over it under a contract.

However, hiring DevOps Engineers from Freelancers platform has its pros and cons as well. Let’s take a look over it and be aware of the possible pros and cons that can boost or ruin your business.

Pros

• Can hire DevOps Engineer in much cheaper rates;
• Instantly check Reviews from their previous clients and decide to hire or not;
• Can go through a wide range of specialists in minimum time;
• It is a great platform to hire DevOps Engineers for implementing minor changes and short-term projects.

Cons

• No guarantee of in-time completion of assigned task;
• No formal contract can be signed between the company and the developers;
• It may increase the language barrier because of hiring from different locations;
• Can affect the workflow due to different time zones;
• It becomes complex for management to keep an eye over every individual’s work progress and may cause more harm than good.
  

  2. Hire DevOps Engineers with Recruiting Agencies

Recruiting Agencies is another widely used option and usually exists before Freelancers. To work out with recruiting agencies, you need to inform the recruitment agency about the available position. As a result, they will identify the qualified candidate based on your requirements while doing a thorough background check that they are open for such availability or not. After that, on candidates affirmation, they used to guide the candidate to visit your office on a definite day and time along with required documents to carry-forward the further hiring process. In contrast to this, many recruiting agencies themselves do the complete hiring process for the companies.

For such service, the recruiting agencies used to charge the company, and the cost of their assistance may vary based on their service model. Such models are as follows;

• Executive Search: the employer pays a definite fee for the service of filling the DevOps Engineers
• On-Demand Recruitment: provides flexible support to the company at an hourly rate.
• Recruitment Process Outsourcing: the employer completely depends on the agency and trusts the entire recruiting function to the agency.

Let us take a look over the Pros and Cons of choosing the option of Recruiting Agencies and are as follows;

Pros

• Opting recruiting agencies will give you more time to carry-out important strategic tasks;
• Provides access to more qualified candidates in your team.

Cons

• Do more expenses over the recruiting process as compared to Freelancers option;
• It will minimize your control over the complete recruitment process;
• Provide you with indirect candidate access;
• May arise potential communication issues between candidate and company.
  

  3. Hire DevOps Engineers through IT Companies

Well, going with the option of hiring DevOps Engineers through IT Companies would be the best option. With this option, you can get the best DevOps Engineers for any project size and budgets. It is also less expensive than hiring in-house employees. You only need to look for reliable sources to hire DevOps Engineers.

Despite that, IT Companies also had few Pros and Cons while going with the hiring process. Let us take a look over the following pros and cons in hiring DevOps Engineers;

Pros

• IT Companies are a very Cost-effective decision;
• It can Guarantee of expertise and reliability in DevOps Engineers;
• Can provide Dedicated manager for each project;
• It will boost team experience and quality work.

Cons

• Different time zones;
• Possible language barrier.

Outsourcing an individual expert or the entire theme through an IT company is a very feasible option to go with. Such candidates are not only qualified but have all the technologies in place. To work with such DevOps Engineers, you will only be required to share the project’s details and provide little cooperation during the process.

The option seems very feasible as it makes things easier to manage. Yet, be aware while finding the right outsourcing company. It is a great challenge for any company to look for reliable and trusted outsourcing companies.

You can find a variety of options for outsourcing companies on Google search. But think beyond this and look for these Google searched companies while finding accurate information and reviews about them. You can also go with referrals in hiring DevOps Engineers from a reliable source.

Our Company also provides DevOps Engineers for your team extension service.

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Our Dedicated Team Set-Up Process

It is very simple. First, we gather client project requirement details. Then, get over on mutual consent for the desired workflow, team size, deliverables, and deadlines. Furthermore, we assign a team by choosing the best-suited expert based on your project’s needs. Then, we share their CVs and previous work details. Based on your candidate selection, we invite you to perform the final interview and define the team.

If everything gets integrated smoothly into your ongoing project, then we will start working, but if not, then we always make sure to look for the right candidate and perform the same procedure again. As a result, you complement your team with the required DevOps experts you need while finalizing all work successfully without any recruitment hustle. For any assistance or any other services, you can contact us, and the EngineerBabu team is here to help you in any manner we can.