How to find and recruit dedicated DevOps engineers

Are you struggling with the drawbacks of traditional development methodologies? Then you, most likely, have already thought of implementing DevOps as the best way out. 99% of companies that have adopted this operating model assert that it had a positive effect.

But with such a decision, you can face another challenge: where and how to find experienced and conscientious DevOps engineers? The demand for such specialists is constantly growing. In 2023, this position entered the top 5 most popular IT job openings globally. 38.1% of recruiters from all over the world are looking for these professionals.

With such a high demand for these experts, quite a few good ones may be open to new job opportunities. How to solve this challenge? From this article, you will learn where and how to hire DevOps engineers.

What is DevOps, and why is it so popular?

This is the software development methodology which involves:

• Improved communication and cooperation between development and operations departments.
• Flexibility and development in multiple iterations.
• Automation of deployment and delivery processes.

Why do businesses choose this methodology?

Implementation of this workflow model results in numerous benefits, such as:

• Fastening time to market. It allows an organization to outperform competitors by realizing the ideas and introducing updates more rapidly.
• Boosting development quality. Thanks to improving communication and collaboration between development and operations departments, it is possible to avoid misunderstandings that may affect the quality negatively.
• Getting greater agility. This is possible thanks to numerous iterations and continuous deployment and delivery. It gives an opportunity to improve the products constantly, releasing updates as soon as it is needed.
• Enhancing customer satisfaction. This operating scheme allows gaining better adjustability to the target audience’s changing demands. This helps to cater to clients as effectively as possible.
• Boosting productivity. It can be achieved by lifting staff spirit through improving cross-team communication and automating some processes.
• Reducing IT costs. It is possible to cut spending thanks to raising productivity and automating some tasks.
• Eliminating errors. Companies that use DevOps can enjoy the absence of human mistakes thanks to automation.
• Reducing downtime due to force majeure. This can be reached by speeding up the time required to recover from breakdowns and failures.

What should a good DevOps developer be like?

Would you like to make your business thriving and highly competitive through the advantages of this operating model? Then you will naturally consider hiring professionals in this field. What should a good specialist be like? Here are the key skills and competencies of a top-notch expert:

• Highly developed soft skills. While technical hard skills are essential for all software engineers, soft skills are equally important for DevOps engineers. They must have excellent communication skills to interact effectively with colleagues. Additionally, they should have stress tolerance and a good ability to resolve conflicts. These qualities can help them to avoid misunderstandings that can negatively affect the development process and outcome. Moreover, if the team is multinational, specialists must speak foreign languages to communicate effectively with all colleagues.
• Understanding of relevant DevOps tools. A true expert should be able to work with all the instruments used within this methodology. For example, software to automate certain tasks (like CI/CD tools), as well as programs to improve interaction between departments (e.g. task managers like Asana).
• Coding skills. Obviously, a developer needs to know how to write code. The ideal candidate for you should be a pro in a programming language that will help you achieve your business goals. It can be Java, PHP, C#, or others.
• Scripting skills. Professionals in this area must be proficient in programming languages that allow them to write scripts to automate certain tasks (e.g. JavaScript, Python, Bash). This can optimize processes and save a lot of time.
• Infrastructure management mastery. A stable and secure infrastructure is crucial for quality development. Therefore, the specialists must be proficient in setting up and maintaining networks and servers. Moreover, under this work model, infrastructure as code is mainly used, they must be able to work with such tools as Puppet, HashiCorp, Google Cloud Platform, and other software for automating infrastructure management.
• Security expertise. This pattern of work provides for high-quality and rapid development. And security issues can lead to gaps in both: they significantly reduce the quality of the product, and they take a long time to fix. So the best way out is to avoid them from the very beginning. That's why developers should be real security aces to prevent their code from having problems of this kind.
• Support and maintenance skills. Good professionals must be able and willing not only to develop a product but also to support it in the future. They should be able to monitor code performance and fix bugs and failures when necessary.

The best places to find DevOps talent

You already know what good specialists in this area should be like. But where to look for them?

IT outsourcing company

If you strive for the best result within a tight deadline, the perfect option is to turn to an outsourcing IT company. Devico is ready to take over the entire hiring process and supply you with highly qualified DevOps engineers fitting your needs.

But if you have enough time and budget to organize the hiring process by yourself, here are some places where these professionals can be found.

LinkedIn

This is a professional social network where specialists in various fields from all around the world connect with each other. This is a place where many recruiters can match with their ideal candidates. By building a network consisting of multiple useful professional acquaintances, they will be able to fill vacancies in a high-quality way without excessive time commitment.

GitHub

It is a popular platform for software engineers. It allows them to create, store, and share their code. Many specialists use it as a repository for their portfolios. Here, you can choose specialists not just by resumes and recommendations, but immediately evaluate their experience by real examples of work.

Stack Overflow

It's a huge community for developers from all over the world. Here, they have a great opportunity to communicate and learn from each other. And for recruiters, there is a whole Jobs section here, where it is possible to post a job advertisement that will be seen by thousands of candidates.

Industry events and conferences

An online search provides excellent opportunities to fill vacancies with the right professionals. However, sometimes finding the perfect employee offline can be an even better option. In this case, specialized events and conferences will help you. There, you can meet the right experts and get to know them in person right away.

Even if you don't meet the needed professionals directly at the event, you will get a great opportunity for professional networking. Perhaps someone in attendance knows a good DevOps engineer who is open to new opportunities and can recommend them to your company.

Recruitment best practices and recommendations

When looking for professionals, it is important to be consistent and clear. Here are some practical guidelines for each step of DevOps recruitment.

Preparation

In this phase, decide on the purposes of looking for specialists and draw up a "portrait" of the ideal candidate. In addition, define the conditions you can offer to applicants. Determine the salary range and possible bonuses that will help attract new employees.

While doing this, focus on market salaries. If you need to hire a top-notch specialist urgently, it's a good idea to offer a slightly above-market compensation. The same works for perks: look at what competitors are offering in similar job openings and consider whether you can offer the same or even better.

Job description creating

Many hiring managers focus only on describing the requirements for applicants, the competencies needed, and the tasks that await to be performed. However, you should remember that not only does the company choose the candidate, but the candidate also chooses the company.

Therefore, to make your organization more attractive to experienced applicants, it is important to pay attention to the description of:

• company culture;
• the benefits of working in your organization;
• career development opportunities.

Interviews and technical assessments

To determine if a candidate is appropriate, use the following techniques:

• Learn more about the candidate’s background. Ask potential employees to tell more about the project they worked on, how they did that, what responsibilities they had, how they completed tasks, what difficulties they had, how they solved them, etc.
• Define if this is the best fit for your company. Do not just ask standardized HR questions you’ve found on the Web. Make the questions customized for the needs and requirements of your company. Ask about what is really important for you.
• Assess portfolio. Almost all experienced developers have a portfolio of code on GitHub. Look through it to understand whether a candidate has appropriate technical skills.
• Ask technical questions related to DevOps. Pay special attention to such topics as infrastructure, version control, and deployment.

DevOps engineer recruiting challenges

It is not that easy to find and hire DevOps engineers. Let's take a look at the challenges you may face.

Shortage of experienced specialists

Yes, there are thousands of developers in the world, but not all of them are true professionals. Since this field is very promising, the market is full of aspiring engineers who may lack the right knowledge and skills to complete the tasks successfully.

Moreover, the demand for specialists in this field is constantly growing. There are more than 275 thousand vacancies for such professionals in the USA alone, and this number is expected to grow by 21% by 2028. With such an abundance of job openings, recruiters are competing fiercely for truly experienced experts.

Lack of DevOps expertise in the company

Your company has decided to hire DevOps experts because it does not yet have professionals in the field. But to find a truly top professional and not an impostor, you need to be able to properly assess the candidates’ knowledge, skills, and competencies. And how can you do this if your organization does not have employees who specialize in DevOps yet? It may result in a vicious circle.

Time spending

Finding an employee, especially a senior-level one, is not an easy endeavor. Sometimes it can take up to several months to find the ideal candidate. This can be a significant challenge if you plan to start implementing your business ideas urgently.

Budget shortage

It takes not only time but also money to recruit DevOps engineers. These costs include:

• Remuneration for HR specialists’ and hiring managers’ working hours.
• The fees of job boards or other search channels.
• Payments to recruitment agencies if you choose to use them for DevOps staffing solutions.

If a company doesn't have extra financial resources, which is especially true for small organizations or startups, allocating a budget for the recruiting process can be a real challenge.

Why is it worth turning to an IT outsourcing company?

Do you want to get highly qualified professionals, avoiding the challenges related to their recruiting at the same time? Then outsourcing DevOps can be the best solution.

Outsourcing IT companies focus on building a strong team. They devote significant time and budget to finding, hiring, and keeping professionals with diverse backgrounds and skill sets to cater to every client.

Cooperation with an IT outsourcing DevOps team is associated with numerous benefits, such as:

• Speed. You don't need to spend time searching for specialists. When you turn to an external company, you immediately get top-notch professionals at your disposal.
• Savings. You don't need to spend your budget on recruiting. Furthermore, you don't need to pay monthly salaries to DevOps engineers or provide paid vacations and sick leaves to them. You pay only for the volume of services rendered to you.
• High professionalism. Trustworthy IT outsourcing companies can boast high expertise, rich experience, and varied skills of their employees. In their team, there are usually several engineers with diverse skills. Depending on your needs, the company can pick specialists who are ideal for each set of tasks from DevOps consulting to development and further support.

Conclusion

DevOps is becoming more and more popular because it helps organizations gain more productivity, speed, flexibility, and competitiveness. Hiring engineers with experience in this field can take business to the next level.

However, this process may be associated with multiple challenges because the demand for such specialists is continuously growing. Companies often face a lack of expertise that helps to assess the candidates’ skills, an abundance of irrelevant applications, extra time and money spending, and other difficulties.

To avoid possible complexities, consider resorting to an IT outsourcing DevOps team. This will save you from having to search for professionals on your own. You can get top-notch experts at your disposal as soon as you start cooperating.

Boost your business growth by implementing DevOps without extra spending for engineer recruiting! Contact Devico to learn more about our DevOps experts and the services we provide!