Hire DevOps Engineers to Release Stuff With Machine Gun Speeds
In a world where anyone able to write a few lines of code calls themselves a guru, hiring a qualified DevOps engineer has become difficult.
In a world where success and efficiency are the new gods, business owners go mad at the idea of not hiring the absolute best DevOps staff.
In a world where speed is holy, you cannot afford to search for good DevOps experts for too long.
With all this in mind, is it even possible to hire a DevOps engineer who is reliable and skilled in less than 24 hours?
Just keep on reading. We do have what you need.
Caio S.
// senior devops
Caio is equipped with an extensive background in IT; he took the position of an Infrastructure Engineer for 10 years and then switched to DevOps, where he keeps working since 2019.
Leandro B.
// senior devops
Over twenty years of experience under Leandro's belt gained him the status of DevOps heavy puncher with impressive expertise. The thing that unites Leandro's work is no mistakes.
Christos A.
// senior devops engineer
Meet a Senior DevOps Engineer, quick thinker, and challenge seeker. Christos takes pride in his craft and has well-formed, defensible opinions.
What is DevOps?
Answers may drastically vary in different companies. In brief, we’d say DevOps is a combination of tools, methodologies, and practices aimed to optimize the development cycles while maintaining high-quality software output.
In other words, hiring a qualified DevOps engineer will allow you to release software faster without losing quality.
DevOps vs Agile
Before DevOps united software development and operation, there was the waterfall model, then came Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and other methods.
Despite this variety, you might still want to prefer DevOps, but since the comparing of DevOps vs. Agile is a widespread topic, we will do that below.
DevOps
Agile
1.
Bigger teams allow faster end-to-end releases
DevOps: Bigger teams allow faster end-to-end releases.
Agile: Smaller teams can handle smaller releases.
Smaller teams can handle smaller releases
2.
Focuses on constant testing and delivery
DevOps: Focuses on constant testing and delivery.
Agile: Focuses on keeping up with changes in the customer’s needs.
Focuses on keeping up with the customer’s needs
3.
Caters to the business and technical needs
DevOps: Bigger teams allow faster end-to-end releases.
Agile: Smaller teams can handle smaller releases.
Caters mostly to the technical needs
4.
The code is delivered daily or hourly
DevOps: Caters to the business and technical needs.
Agile: Caters mostly to the technical needs.
The coding task is usually divided into sprints
5.
Automation (Git, Puppet, Docker, etc.) is one of the main priorities
DevOps: The code is delivered daily or hourly.
Agile: The coding task is usually divided into sprints.
Does not focus on automation
TL;DR
DevOps is your bet if you want to rapidly develop and deliver completed business solutions to your customers.
If you want your software to perfectly align with the customer’s needs, choose Agile.
True benefits of DevOps
What you’ll read is just the tip of the iceberg on the possible advantages of using DevOps over Scrum and Agile. Some of them are below — the rest is for you to discover.
Reduced time-to-market (hence possible increase in ROI)
Increased innovation speed
Improved customer experience
Risk mitigation
Seamless software testing, constant releases and deploys.
Prompt team collaboration (Dev&Ops)
What are the skills of a decent DevOps engineer?
Their specific set of tasks is difficult to cram into the typical “DevOps vs Software Engineer” comparisons.
They are people who:
- Efficiently use automation in the development of CI/CD pipelines;
- Have a good understanding of the software development lifecycle;
- Know multiple programming languages;
- Work with engineering staff to establish a connection of code elements including Software Development Kits (SDK) or libraries;
- Integrate other components (messaging or SQL data management) required to facilitate software release with production infrastructure and operating systems.
DevOps roles and responsibilities
Here are some tasks you want to hire DevOps engineer for:
- Writing code, testing, configuration, and maintenance of IT solutions;
- Bridging the gap between engineering and external stakeholders;
- Troubleshooting and fixing bugs;
- Processes and updates automation;
- Keeping the team together and connecting with clients;
- Writing documentation for back-end features;
- Providing input on unexpected analytical situations;
- Design, creation, and implementation of applications.
Why is it so damn hard to hire a DevOps engineer?
Okay, now you 100% know what kind of a DevOps engineer you want. From here, it all should be simple: just go and hire an expert, right?
Nope. Most possibly, you will run into a number of problems right from the start.
Problems
What it means for you
Misunderstanding of the DevOps processes and methodologies
Misunderstanding of the DevOps processes and methodologies
What it means for you
Some candidates may call themselves DevOps engineers without actually being them
Huge DevOps skills shortage
Huge DevOps skills shortage
What it means for you
It can be difficult to find a good candidate with a needed skill set, unengaged with other projects
To become a DevOps, you need at least 5+ years of experience in IT
To become a DevOps, you need at least 5+ years of experience in IT
What it means for you
The market is very slowly replenished with qualified specialists
A DevOps engineer salary can be indecently high
A DevOps engineer salary can be indecently high
What it means for you
Hiring one can seriously affect the budget of a small company.
Speaking of in-house DevOps salary
If you were planning to hire DevOps engineers in the United States, be prepared for an unpleasant surprise. You will need to pay around $100,000 per year to enjoy all the benefits of DevOps methodology.
Calculating the overall annual cost of hiring an in-house DevOps engineer, don’t forget about hidden expenses:
Social Security and MediCare taxes
Office rent
Paid vacations and days-off
Also, keep in mind that you will have to pay your in-house employees even during off-seasons when there is little work to do.
Even if you hire DevOps engineers elsewhere, your expenses will probably hit the ceiling. Here is a DevOps salary in the UK:
That’s over $53,000 per year. To us, it still looks like a lot.
Shocking truth! You don’t need in-house developers
For startups and medium enterprises with budget constraints, hiring in-house developers can be difficult and costly.
Luckily, there is an alternative way to hire DevOps engineers. Yep, we are talking about remote specialists.
The offshore developers market is much bigger than any job board with official vacancies for in-house DevOps engineers. You can find offshore engineers with any skill sets and rates.
Usually, people outsource their tasks to the bidding platforms — such as Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, or PeoplePerHour. Here is their typical working model:
You post a job of any nature
You get bids (proposals) from the offshore devs
You choose from a pool of unvetted devs
You post a job of any nature
You get bids (proposals) from the offshore devs
You choose from a pool of unvetted devs
While hiring on such a platform can be effective in some cases, there also some risks:
- Blackmailing;
- Low-quality work;
- Security breaches;
- Ghosting;
- Mishiring.
Where to hire the best offshore DevOps engineers
You probably thought the US was the answer?
Think twice.
When hiring in the US, you indeed alleviate or even eliminate the risks related to reliability, safety, and the quality of work. Remote DevOps engineers from the US adhere to strict quality standards, value their reputation, and will often do their best to exceed your expectations.
This is for «YES.»
However, the «NO» part can still be a stronger argument for small businesses.
Costs of hiring remote full-time DevOps engineers from the US can be astonishingly high. On average, they will cost you $80-100 per hour!
The graph below shows the hourly rates of the offshore DevOps engineers in the US according to states:
DevOps Developers
Salary & Hourly Rates
remote devs’ Average Hourly Rate
$81-100
remote developers’ Average Hourly Rate
$81-100
That’s bad news. Usually, people hire freelancers to get the job done and save some money. But, with the bummer rates like that, saving can be difficult.
The good news is that you can still hire highly skilled DevOps engineers without ravaging your budget.
Where? The answer is: on vetting platforms.
Where?
The answer is: on vetting platforms.
What’s the deal with vetting platforms?
Unlike bidding marketplaces, vetting platforms prioritize quality over quantity. Usually, each of them has a talent pool of verified developers.
To get there, a developer must undergo a number of preliminary tests and checks. These procedures are called vetting and are meant to distill the most skilled and reliable candidates. Losers are mercilessly dumped.
A platform itself acts as a mediator matching customers with offshore devs, for a commission. Such platforms often have regulations to deal with freelance snugs, and provide security guarantees.
For customers, the benefits are obvious. They get to work with some of the best experts on the market for affordable rates.
Is there a vetting platform exclusively for startups?
There is one that we know of – us!
Lemon.io was designed specifically to help startups and smaller companies to find qualified and trustworthy developers for their projects. We are a small company, too – maybe, smaller than yours.
We know how it feels to be restricted by budget.
We know the price of the early hiring mistake.
We know how it hurts to pay for under-baked code that is barely working.
We’ve been in your shoes.
We won’t profit from your problems.
We’ll help you solve them.
Lemon.io has got your back
What we do?
- We lure offshore developers in (DevOps engineers included).
- We test their skills far and wide.
- We select the best of the best. Top 4% to be precise!
- We assign our champions to your projects.
How we do it?
Ever heard of the US Ranger training program? For the past 12 years, only 49% of rangers have made it out of training.
Our vetting process is tougher. Only 4 out of 100 applicants make it into our talent pool of 350+ elite developers.
We squeeze them like lemons — taking the juiciest ones!
-
Background and reputation checks
-
English test
-
Proficiency test
-
Live interview
How much does it cost?
You might think that our carefully picked DevOps engineers cost a lot.
Nope. In fact, you can hire a DevOps engineer from Lemon.io for $45-60.
How come the rates are so low?
most of our developers live in Ukraine – the country in Eastern Europe with the costs of living about 40% lower than in the United States.
so, we can afford charging lower commissions than our big competitors.
we do have a legal address, but we don’t have an office. We don’t need it! All of our employees work remotely.
our maintenance costs are mostly salaries.
our overhead expenses don’t exceed $60,000.
so, we can afford charging lower commissions than our big competitors.
our maintenance costs are mostly salaries.
Hiring from Lemon.io means
Access to the talent pool of 350+ developers
Any project. Any time. Any skill set you require.
Precise matching within 24 hours
We dare you to find a vetting platform with the matching process more accurate and fast than ours.
Responsive and helpful support team
Although we are not sure you will ever have problems with our service.
Additional guarantees
If you don’t like the expert we assigned to your project, we will find you the new one – completely free of charge.
We’ve got your six
The success and safety of your project is our priority.
- We make sure that your projects are confidential.
- Upon payment, you immediately get access to intellectual property.
- Lemon.io is an American C-corp registered in Delaware and compliant with laws of the United States.
No muss no fuss
This is your chance to hire DevOps fast and easy. True masters are few. They are in high demand. They charge astronomical sums.
But here in Lemon, we always have affordable DevOps engineers up our sleeves to assign to your projects.
To make things straight, here is our short FAQ instead of a takeaway message
What is a DevOps engineer?
DevOps (Development + Operations) is a field where technical agility is fruitfully united with managerial (operational) dexterity. To put it simply, brilliant DevOps engineers enhance the development cycle and control the software output to ensure the highest quality of the final product.
Do your offshore developers at Lemon.io choose the projects they will work on?
Without any doubt. All of them are free to schedule their professional life and goals — we just help them keep to the chosen schedule.
How many developers are there now on Lemon.io?
In ancient times, when we used to call ourselves CodingNinjas, we used to have 100 offshore devs. Now their number is fastly approaching 500 — and that’s not the ceiling.
Do you check the code of your devs?
We only hire senior-level (rarely — strong mid-level) devs. No juniors — no spaghetti code. Years of experience and clean track records are the surest guarantees.
In case you have any questions, feel free to contact our manager Kate. She will gladly help you figure things out.
