A Complete Guide to Hire DevOps Programmers

A recent survey from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services stated that 86 percent of companies see the value of DevOps as necessary to have.  

You can find more such eye-opening DevOps stats across the internet that say aloud that DevOps is here to stay!  

This is when a big question arises—how can companies stay ahead of the curve?  

Hiring a skilled DevOps programmer is the answer. They can help you in multiple ways, revolutionizing your software delivery pipeline. 

Although DevOps and DevOps programmers are so popular, a good number of companies are still unaware about a lot of its basics—which is exacerbating the skills gap.  

However, with our guide, everything will seem clear to you. So, here we go! 

Understanding the Crucial Role of DevOps Today 

Do you know why we call it DevOps?  

It is certainly because DevOps is the fusion of development and operation. Product development operations are divided into multiple tasks and phases. All of them either fall under development or operations. DevOps engineers are skilled in both development and operations, so the future of DevOps is very bright. 

However, to achieve a clear understanding and scope of DevOps, you must primarily learn what development and operations exactly are. 

First, the development covers the UI/UX and coding for the product, and then the operations team “runs the show” – for testing and deployment. This in its turn means going back and forth for development and testing, then back to development for bug fixing and other problems. 

And this takes time. However, you can cut the lead time by hiring experienced DevOps programmers, who can manage both development as well as operations.  

This is what the DevOps process mostly stands for. 

Why Hire a DevOps Engineer?  

Before you start hiring a DevOps programmer, you must understand why hiring one is important.  

A DevOps engineer acts as a bridge between the development and operations teams. S/he helps overall software development and deployment, accelerating continuous functioning of software, as well as adjustments, while also making them more stable and trustworthy.  

With the right DevOps engineer on board, your software development cycle will accelerate drastically. It will result in considerable savings and enhanced product quality that is crucial for any firm in the competitive market of today’s society. 

Let us jump to the next section to learn the duties and responsibilities of DevOps programmers. 

What are the Exact Duties of DevOps Engineers? 

Since you understood the role of DevOps, it is time for you to learn what a DevOps programmer actually does:  

Apart from timely security audits, the DevOps programmer implements high-end security controls such as Linux/Unix, SSH keys, AWS accounts, and many more. 

DevOps programmers come up with continuous integration and delivery in CircleCI, Gitlab, AWS CodePipeline, or Jenkins and maintaining them. 

DevOps programmers help reduce the deployment time and make sure of faster deliveries. 

When you hire a DevOps programmer, your servers, infrastructure, cronjobs, and other processes can be effortlessly and automatically scripted. 

DevOps programmers are experts in connecting different VPC networks together, deploying VPN services and can quickly troubleshoot networking problems. 

They help to troubleshoot web applications, database maintenance and administration. 

In simpler words, when you recruit a DevOps engineer—you also get a cloud engineer who will help you achieve better business performance with cloud DevOps automation, a Linux administrator, and a lot many roles.

Must-Have Skills in DevOps Programmers 

While hiring a DevOps programmer, you must focus mainly on three factors discussed below:  

Technical Skills  

Here are some technical skills that a DevOps programmer must possess:  

• S/he must have worked as a Linux administrator for at least 2 years 
• Experience with open-source services like Nginx, MySQL, Apache, and so on 
• Experience with AWS services including Amazon S3, RDS, IAM roles, and so on 
• Understanding of network protocols, TCP/IP, UDP, HTTPS and networking, and so on 
• Experience in deploying and launching web application stacks 
• Experience in managing and resolving issues related to security 
• Micro services background, Docker expertise, and monitoring experience 

Advanced Skills  

Your DevOps programmer can provide exceptional results along the way if s/he has the following skills:  

• Hands on DevOps practice landscape 
• Idea of 12-factor methodology application 
• Worked on Azure EKS, Google Kubernetes Service, Kubernetes Standalone, etc. 
• Expertise in HIPAA, SOC2, or PCI 
• understanding of IaC knowledge and Terraform  
• Can design & implement serverless applications like Amazon 
• Build native cloud architectures 

Soft Skills 

A DevOps programmer works with different teams. For this reason, you must prioritize soft skills while hiring a DevOps programmer.  

The first and most critical soft skill for a DevOps programmer is communication, considering they coordinate with different teams and manage the dev-ops fiasco. 

A DevOps programmer should communicate well with people at different skill levels. An understanding of the project is essential. He/she should have 1-3 years' experience in using collaboration tools online such as JIRA, Slack, or Zoom.  

Teamwork skills are also equally necessary. Without teamwork, collaboration is impossible.  

Along with technical, advanced, and soft skills, a DevOps programmer should also know the top DevOps best practices to streamline a development pipeline.  

Good to Have Skills  

If you a DevOps programmer also possess the below three skills along with the technical and soft skills we discussed above, then s/he is the perfect candidature you should be hiring at the earliest: 

• Understanding of automation:  

When we say understanding of automation, we mean the person should have a thorough knowledge of different automation tools. In simpler words, s/he should be able to select the right tools that will work perfectly for a specific project. Plus, they should also know how to manage separate tests for integration and unit testing.  

• Flexibility with learning and adaptability  

Ensure that the DevOps developer you hire always aims to continuously improve their skills to stay ahead of the curve. Hire DevOps developers who actively explore various trends, learn, and integrate new practices and skills. 

• Visionary Perspective  

A DevOps programmer is greatly futuristic. Futuristic means the ability to foresee the evolution of harmonious development and operations. They should be able to drive a project strategy and see the end from the beginning. This not only inspires technical ingenuity but also better aligns solutions with the needs of the business. 

Must-Have Elements in a DevOps Programmer’s Resume  

Will you rely on a staffing company or carry out a traditional hiring process on your own? Either way, you are supposed to receive hundreds of resumes of DevOps programmers.  

This is when a big question arises—which resume should you shortlist?  

Simply put, you should shortlist the resume that has the following elements in it:  

• Understanding and expertise in networking as well as Linux servers 
• A few DevOps certifications like Terraform Certification, Kubernetes Certification, AWS Certification, or Docker Certification 
• Expertise in handling distinct AWS services like Amazon S3, VPC, and so on 
• Interested in IaC tools, Bash, and so on 
• Exceptional communication & problem-solving skills 
• Must-Ask Questions While Interviewing a DevOps Engineer 

If you have reached this point, it means you have identified the most probable candidate for hiring as the DevOps engineer.  

It is important to note that this position is critical, so the interviewee is unlikely to be an easygoing and talk everything up person. In essence, you should explore something more to understand all aspects of skills and attitude.  

Here are some technical questions to discuss: 

• When you experience regular crashes, how will you find out the reason?  
• Assume that we know nothing about CI and CD. Now, explain to us the differences between these two terms?  
• How do you interconnect two VCPs? 
• How do you choose the right DevOps tools for different needs? 
• Give me some effective ways to save costs in Amazon S3 Buckets? 
• What is the process for troubleshooting a MySQL Database? 
• What are the differences and similarities between DevOps and Agile? 
• Do you think that Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment overlap? 
• Name some DevOps tools that you struggle with. 

How does Ingress work? 

When you are done asking the aforementioned questions, the next questions you must have ask them are:  

• How will you change the overall product development cycle as a DevOps programmer who joins our company?  
• Assume that we have no DevOps architecture. Now, name three problems you will be paying more attention to.  
• List a few best practices for seamless DevOps integration in Java development? 
• Estimate the time the team will need to adapt to a DevOps-integrated change. 
• Tell us how your problem-solving skills can help our company. 
• List the most common challenges you face in a DevOps ecosystem. 
• Where to Find and Hire DevOps Programmers? 

You can find the DevOps programmers from:  

• Staff Augmentation  
• Outsourcing  
• Freelance  
• Job Boards  
• Communities and Groups 

Tips for Hiring the Best DevOps Programmers 

By now, you have already received a lot of knowledge regarding DevOps, DevOps programmers, and things to consider while hiring them.  

Here, in this section, we will tell you some effective tips that will help you hire the top DevOps programmers for your team:  

Be flexible and hire candidates who naturally excel in both modifying codes and maintaining infrastructure.  

Cloud skills are imperative. For that reason, your top choice of a DevOps engineer should be one with direct cloud platform usage.  

Focus on candidates known to automate activity for better operation and efficiency. 

Hire engineers are acclaimed for their effectiveness in developing continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines. 

Find problem-solvers able to come up with innovative solutions adapting to unpredictable circumstances.  

Prioritize cultural fit to integrate into your team’s productive and amiable environment.  

Look for DevOps professionals who can work efficiently together and communicate well 

Check the project portfolios of your candidates, find out the volume of their practical experience, and ask about their technical accomplishments.  

The skills are not enough; ensure your DevOps engineers know your business’s vision and share your values. 

Top 5 Benefits of Hiring a DevOps Programmer  

There are many but here are the top benefits of hiring a DevOps programmer:  

• Enhanced Efficiency: 

According to Markets and Markets, the global DevOps market will surpass USD 25.5 billion in 2028. This is certainly because DevOps programmers streamline the software development lifecycle by utilizing automation to do more through CI/CD pipelines such as testing, building and deployment.  

This automation speeds up delivery, ensuring consistency or reliability through environments. In addition to this, they reduce manual intervention and errors to shrink their development cycles and faster time-to-market products.  

• Improved Collaboration:  

DevOps programmers remove the barriers between developers, operations, and other stakeholders. This is why nearly three quarters of organizations have adopted DevOps practices (source: RedGate).  

By enabling teamwork based on shared responsibility and transparency, DevOps programmers enable conducive cross-functional teamwork. This leads to faster resolution of misunderstandings and team’s shared focus on delivering value. 

• Scalability and Flexibility:  

Another attribute of DevOps programmers is fostering scalability. By making infrastructure code, containers as well as cloud-native promote applications’ portability.  

Thus, applications can be quickly and easily deployed to different environments where the demand is high.  

Plus, cloud-native ecosystems take full advantage of cloud platforms’ elasticity. It allows the system to timely and dynamically adjust to workload fluctuations. 

• Improved Stability and Reliability:  

DevOps programmers also make sure reliability by checking through automated testing, continuous monitoring, and mitigating problems proactively.  

In addition to this, automated testing pipelines confirm changes earlier. On the other hand, constant monitoring tools identify and respond to problems as they arise. This reduces the length of time the system is down and makes the user experience better at the same time. 

Saved Costs: 

DevOps programmers also help optimize resources, reduce waste, and get rid of inefficiencies. Eventually, it implies long-term savings.  

Enabling automation means fewer processes to take care of; cloud-native architectures help reduce the costs of infrastructure.  

More straightforwardly, investing in a DevOps programmer will improve profitability as well as competitiveness within the digital economy. 

Top Benefits of Hiring a DevOps Programmer with a Staffing Agency

Now that you know the benefits of hiring a DevOps programmer, it is time to find the reasons cum advantages of hiring them with a staffing agency:  

• Specialized Talent Pool  

DevOps staffing agencies recruit professionals with experience in the vast DevOps tools, technologies, and methodologies.  

These agencies have garnered a lot of experience over the years in close collaboration with various organizations and top professionals.  

Thus, they are continuously expanding the candidates, helping companies find top DevOps programmers who are suitable for their tasks and properly complement the company’s culture. 

• Streamlined Hiring Process 

DevOps staffing organizations are known to expedite the recruitment of suitable candidates through their in-depth understanding of the DevOp landscape and robust candidate screening mechanisms.  

They collaborate with the hiring manager to understand the company needs and various requirements of the company, enabling them to select and approach only the most qualified candidates.  

From the technical evaluation to the assessment of candidates’ soft skills and cultural compatibility, DevOps staffing firms take care of all recruitment measures, freeing up clients’ hours and assets. 

• Faster Hiring  

DevOps staffing agencies also possess large networks of pre-vetted and highly skilled candidates, hence ensuring a timely recruitment process.  

They have the infrastructure and know-how to not only get the right kind of candidate quickly but also establish an efficient communication channel between employers and employees.  

Also, they manage to complete sourcing, screening, and selection within a short time, allowing employers to onboard DevOps professionals quickly. 

Such speedy recruitment ensures that projects are not delayed, thus ensuring that organizations continue to operate smoothly. 

• Convenient Hiring Options   

The DevOps staffing agencies provide companies with many hiring options, ranging from permanent hire to contract placements and temporary staffing solutions.  

The agencies offer tailored recruitment solutions for companies based on their hiring goals, budget, and profitability considerations, as well as project completion timeline. 

Based on the requirements, the recruitment agencies could help build a DevOps team to complete a short-term or long-term project or help hire a permanent DevOps engineer to join the company’s core team.  

Cost to Hire DevOps Programmers 

If you are wondering how expensive it is to hire DevOps engineers, the short answer is: DevOps is one of the most paid developer types – earning around USD 150k in the United States. DevOps programmers earn an average salary of $7000 to $9000 per month.  

If you wish to save about 40% of costs, take a step ahead and outsource DevOps engineers with VLink. 

Hire DevOps Programmers with VLink  

Employing DevOps programmers with VLink guarantees that you get flawless entry to a fiercely qualified worker group of DevOps methodologies & technologies.  

VLink focuses on various talents and connections within the industry, ensuring that you are paired with a DevOps programmer having exceptional technical abilities while remaining culturally in step with your company. 

We offer streamlined options for DevOps and automation services while providing you with tailored solutions that meet your unique needs.  

When you work with VLink, you save time, money, and stress, and gain access to expert specialists in the DevOps field.  

Our services are to give you the best chance to make sure your dream team works together for a long time. So, are you ready to unlock your software development pipeline’s full potential? If YES, contact our team now!