DevOps Skills to Look For
Before you hire a DevOps engineer, you should make sure they possess all the necessary skills to fit your vacancy perfectly. In each organization, a DevOps position could include different responsibilities, so you should tweak the list of skills to your current needs. At the same time, you can use the following list as a guide to follow.
Technical Skills
- Version control proficiency. A strong grasp of version control tools like Git empowers DevOps engineers to manage the development process efficiently.
- Agile methodology understanding. A seasoned DevOps engineer should understand Agile principles well for effective project management.
- CI/CD mastery. CI/CD streamlines software development by automating tasks and mitigating coding errors. A proficient DevOps engineer must demonstrate both theoretical understanding and practical experience in CI/CD environments.
- Multi-language proficiency. A comprehensive understanding of popular languages like Python, Java, Scala, R, and Go is imperative for effective software development.
- Container expertise. Containers are used to optimize resource utilization and deploy software across multiple operating systems efficiently, so DevOps engineers should possess adept knowledge of container functionality.
- Database knowledge. When you hire DevOps programmers, you should make sure they’re well-versed in various Database Management System technologies such as MongoDB, Cassandra, Oracle, and MySQL.
- Cloud computing competence. DevOps engineer's proficiency in working with diverse cloud computing systems like AWS, GCP, and Azure is important for organizational efficiency of software development.
Soft Skills
- Communication. Clear and effective communication is crucial for collaborating with cross-functional teams, especially when hiring remote DevOps.
- Adaptability. DevOps engineers need to swiftly adapt to evolving technologies and changing project requirements.
- Time management. Prioritizing tasks and managing time effectively is essential for meeting project deadlines.
- Leadership. Demonstrating leadership qualities facilitates guiding teams toward common goals.
- Attention to detail. DevOps demands meticulous attention to detail to ensure the reliability and quality of solutions, given the potential impact of even minor errors.
- Continuous learning. DevOps requires a commitment to ongoing learning to keep pace with evolving technologies and industry trends.
DevOps Languages and Tools
Another important aspect to check before you hire DevOps developers is their proficiency with essential languages and tools required for their job.
DevOps Languages
- Python. Widely used for automation, scripting, and building infrastructure tools.
- Bash. Essential for writing shell scripts to automate tasks on Unix/Linux systems.
- YAML/JSON. Used for writing configuration files in tools like Ansible, Kubernetes, and Terraform.
- PowerShell. Commonly used in Windows environments for automation and scripting tasks.
- Ruby. Used in configuration management tools like Chef and Puppet.
- Go (Golang). Gaining popularity for building scalable and efficient infrastructure tools.
- JavaScript. Useful for working with web applications and various DevOps-related tools.
DevOps Development Tools
- Git and SVN are used for continuous development and allow DevOps teams to write code in any programming language.
- Selenium and TestNG enable continuous and reliable testing of software products.
- Jenkins is an open-source automation tool primarily used for continuous integration helping developers quickly identify and resolve any issues.
- Puppet and Docker are used for configuration management and are essential for Agile projects that require frequent software delivery and scalability.
- Splunk is a data analytics tool used for continuous monitoring, analysis, and visualization of large volumes of real-time machine data.
Essential Interview Questions to Hire a DevOps
Once you find developers who meet your job requirements, you must have a closer look at them during technical interviews. By clearly identifying their hard skills, you’ll be able to make the right hiring decision.
- What software deployment stages are there?
- Can you explain what configuration management is?
- What is CI and how does it influence the software development process?
- Why would you use Secure Shell?
- How would you execute Infrastructure Code in AWS?
- How do continuous and automation testing differ?
DevOps Salaries
When hiring for DevOps positions, you should understand the market situation in order to calculate your budget. Here’s what median yearly DevOps salaries (gross) look like according to the 2023 Stack Overflow Research:
- The USA - $160,000
- Canada - $84,575
- Germany - $70,679
- United Kingdom - $93,104
- India - $26,051
How to Hire DevOps Effectively
To find DevOps developers who will become a valuable asset to your software engineering team, you should stick to some golden rules:
- Create a clear job description that includes roles, responsibilities, required skills and experience, salary range, company;
- Define your hiring budget and choose recruitment methods according to the allocated resources;
- Ask only relevant interview questions only to learn about candidates’ hard/soft skills, and values to make the right hiring decision.
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