💡 KEY INSIGHTS
Hiring a DevOps engineer can be difficult. You need someone skilled and a good fit for your team. It's hard to find these professionals. This leads to the question:
Should you spend time and money to hire someone yourself, or is there a better option?
Toptal is a platform that makes it easier to find skilled DevOps engineers. It helps you find top talent without having to go through a lot of resumes and interviews. But is it better than hiring someone directly?
In this article, we'll look at how Toptal works when hiring DevOps engineers and compare it to traditional hiring methods. We'll discuss the hiring process and the quality of candidates to help you decide which method is best for you.
The Pros & Cons Of Hiring In-House vs. Outsourcing
Deciding between in-house hiring and outsourcing?
Each option has advantages and challenges. The key lies in understanding the project's scope. Is it short-term, needing talent for just a few months, or does it require a long-term commitment? Also, consider your readiness to handle employee benefits like health insurance and 401(k) contributions.
The answer to these questions isn't straightforward and varies with each unique situation. To guide you, here's a rundown of the benefits and drawbacks of both in-house hiring and outsourcing.
In-House Teams
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Outsourced Teams
Pros | Cons |
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Major Issues Faced By DevOps Engineers
DevOps is important in software development and IT because it helps connect the teams that develop software with those that operate it. DevOps engineers are essential for delivering software smoothly but face several challenges.
- Managing Complexity: DevOps in large companies can be very complicated. Engineers use many different tools and technologies. They need clear documentation, automated deployment systems, and a good understanding of their technology setup to handle this.
- CI/CD Hurdles: Effective continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) systems are important but difficult to set up, especially when dealing with different types of software. The solution is to standardize these processes and use automation tools.
- Security Concerns: As DevOps becomes more common, it is challenging to include security from the start. Solutions include using security tools, conducting regular security checks, and training developers in secure coding practices.
- Tech Stack Choices: The constantly changing selection of DevOps tools can be overwhelming. Engineers should keep learning and choose tools that suit their workflow.
- Cultural Resistance: Switching to DevOps can be hard in traditional settings. To overcome this, it's important to promote a change in workplace culture, encourage teamwork, and explain the benefits of DevOps.
- Monitoring Challenges: Ensuring that software runs well in real-world use is difficult. Solutions include monitoring tools, effective logging, and automated alerts to spot issues.
- Resource Scalability: DevOps teams need to manage resources flexibly to handle increases in user traffic. This involves using automatic scaling, balancing loads, and adopting cloud-based technologies.
Toptal’s Approach To DevOps Talent
Toptal uniquely hires DevOps engineers. Instead of using common job boards and typical hiring methods, Toptal carefully selects candidates. They focus on finding the best fit, considering technical skills and how well someone works with different teams and handles various projects.
Toptal doesn’t just look at resumes or conduct basic interviews. They thoroughly test each candidate's technical abilities, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. This means the DevOps engineers you get from Toptal are good on paper and proven in real work situations.
Their hiring process is also fast. In the fast-paced tech world, Toptal understands the need to quickly find the right person, often managing to do so in just a few days. This can be very helpful when you need to start a project quickly.
Additionally, Toptal offers flexibility. Whether you need a DevOps engineer for a short project or a permanent team member, Toptal can accommodate your needs. They provide skilled professionals for as long or as short as you need them.
Let’s look at what creative and results-oriented leader Hyam Singer has to say about the cost of Toptal vs. In-House Hiring:
Real Employee Cost Calculator
This tool applies the cost-accounting approach explained in the following article.
Use the calculator in the article to assess the actual expenses of hiring contractors versus employees, considering their respective salaries and hourly wages.
A Typical Flawed Analysis
Consider the following scenario:
“Andre’s gotten funding for his company and is looking to staff his development team. He needs top software engineering talent, and he needs it fast. Andre was ready to bring on Roger, a freelance consultant who came highly recommended, but backed off upon learning that Roger’s rate was $70/hour. That seemed way too expensive. After all, Andre reasoned, that’s equivalent to an annual salary of over $145K, based on a typical 2,080 work hours per year. In contrast, Andre is sure he can hire a great developer as an employee for $100K or less. So Andre decides to look for an employee to hire instead and save money.”
Unfortunately, Andre made a common mistake in his financial analysis by making it too simple.
Hiring an employee usually costs more than using a consultant. This isn’t just about how much they get paid per hour or their salaries. Andre didn't realize that choosing a consultant could have saved money.
Many business owners don't fully understand all the costs involved with their employees. For businesses that sell products, such mistakes can lower their profits. Businesses that provide services might end up spending more on providing the service than they make from it.
This problem isn’t new, but good methods are available to calculate labor costs better. These methods help provide a clearer financial picture and help make better choices, like hiring an employee or a consultant. Here’s the important information:
The Process Isn’t as Straightforward as It Seems
Scenario (cont.)
“Let’s assume that Andre finds an employee, Pete, for $95K/year. Evaluating costs on an hourly basis, Andre believes that Roger will cost him $70/hour, whereas Pete (using the standard 2,080 work hours per year) will only cost him around $45/hour.”
Or does it?
For Andre, the situation is more complicated than it seems when you think about the costs related to employees. Here's why:
People reading this might think Andre just needs to add benefits like health insurance and retirement plans to his costs. But it's not just about these benefits. Have you thought about including the cost of employee vacations when calculating how many hours they work in a year?
Here is a common list of company-paid benefits associated with each employee:
- Health, dental, and life insurance
- Annual bonus or 401(k) contribution
- Employer-paid portion of payroll taxes
*$95,000 Pete's Base Salary
*$15,000 Pete's Insurance (medical, dental, life) - employer-paid part
*$2,500 Pete's Annual Bonus / Company 401(k) Contribution
*$8,000 Payroll taxes (employer's part)
**$120,500 A more accurate total annual cost (salary + benefits)
However, this figure still doesn't fully represent Pete's total cost to the company.
Benefits are just a small part of the total employee cost.
Cost of Employee Benefits? There's More Than Just Benefits
Running a business can be exciting and difficult, costing money. This includes paying for office space, phones, computers, administrative staff, and payroll services. Employees use these things for free.
Even though employees don't pay for these facilities, they still get the advantage of using them. So, some of these costs should be considered part of what it costs to have each employee. Here are some examples of these kinds of business costs:
- Accounting and legal fees
- Advertising costs
- Bank fees and charges
- Office and technical equipment
- Conference and travel expenses
- Corporate taxes
- Staff recruitment and training costs
- Rent and utility expenses
This extensive list is not exhaustive; other unique indirect costs might apply to different companies. These indirect costs can lead to a company inadvertently incurring losses through employment.
Factoring in All Costs
So, how should these expenses be allocated across each employee to reflect their real cost more accurately?
A simple way to consider this is by examining how much each employee costs the company besides their salary. You could add all these extra costs and split them equally among all employees, then add this amount to what each person gets paid annually. However, this method isn't very accurate.
Also, an experienced systems architect might use more of the company's resources than a new programmer.
A common way to deal with this is to assume that the more someone earns, the more company resources they use. Here's a basic way to show this:
Annual Salaries: | Allocation of Indirect Expenses: |
---|---|
Sue $75,000 | Sue 50% ($75,000 / $150,000) |
Bob $50,000 | Bob 33% ($50,000 / $150,000) |
Ted $25,000 | Ted 17% ($25,000 / $150,000) |
Yet, this method is still somewhat simplistic.
Consider that some employees' salaries (like those of the COO, CFO, and administrative staff) are part of the infrastructure costs. A deeper analysis reveals that costs should be categorized into pools for accurate distribution:
- Fringe benefits, like healthcare and retirement contributions.
- Overhead costs, like rent and computer equipment.
- General & Administrative (G&A) expenses, like executive salaries and legal fees.
Such categorization leads to complex calculations similar to those in the Defense Contract Audit Agency’s Cost Accounting Standards. These calculations help determine an “indirect rate” for each category, giving the company a more precise cost when applied to an employee's salary.
Different companies use different multipliers, and these can change every year. For government contracts, the typical multiplier is about 1.99, usually ranging from 1.5 to 2.5.
Scenario (cont.)
“Returning to our true cost of an employee example, Pete’s real hourly cost to Andre’s company isn’t $45/hour; we now see that it’s probably much closer to $90 per hour ($45 x 1.99). On an annualized basis, this means that Pete doesn’t cost the company $95K; rather, Pete roughly costs the company around $190K/year ($95K x 1.99)! Suddenly, this no longer seems like such a bargain.”
Consultant Salary Calculator
It's important to remember that a consultant uses fewer company resources than a full-time employee because they don't get company benefits. So, the real cost of a consultant only includes general and administrative expenses. Costs like benefits and overhead don't affect how much a consultant costs.
Scenario (cont.)
“So, in our example, we can more accurately estimate Roger’s real cost to Andre’s company as being around $83/hour (i.e., $70 x 1.18, based on the typical G&A rate of 18% quoted earlier). This would equate to an annualized cost of roughly $170K (again, using the standard figure of 2,080 work hours per year).”
A Fair Financial Comparison
Having accurately factored in the actual expenses associated with Pete the employee and Roger the consultant, we're now able to draw a fairer financial comparison between their respective costs.
What Andre thought:
Andre thought Pete the employee was only costing his company around $45/hour, whereas Roger the consultant would cost his company $70/hour.
The reality:
Pete the employee is costing Andre’s company around $90/hour, whereas Roger the consultant would only cost his company around $83/hour.
Therefore, we reaffirm the timeless saying that appearances can be deceptive.
Additional Factors to Keep in Mind
- Financial Risks: Hiring an employee can be more expensive than hiring consultants. Companies can quickly hire or fire consultants, but often keep underperforming employees to avoid lawsuits, which can be costly.
Consultants, however, can be let go quickly and easily if they are not doing a good job.
- Impact of Recruiting Fees: Hiring employees also involves recruiting fees, which can add to the total cost. Using consultants helps avoid these fees. These fees are part of the company’s overall expenses and make the cost of having employees higher.
Toptal helps you quickly find and hire the top 3% DevOps engineers. They make the hiring process easier and faster without the long-term costs of a full-time employee. Toptal is a good option for hiring high-quality, fast, cost-effective DevOps.
Fit vs. Ability
Companies must build a good team when hiring. They need to pick people who know their stuff technically and work well with others.
This involves deciding what matters most in a new hire, like their skills, past work experience, knowledge about the industry, how well they fit into the company culture, or how much they expect to be paid. Balancing these factors can be tough.
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Benefits Of Pursuing A DevOps Career
DevOps combines technology skills with important communication and management skills to improve how an organization delivers applications and services. It's not just a temporary trend; it's becoming a popular career choice for many IT professionals and people with experience managing processes.
- Abundant Career Opportunities
The DevOps job market faces a notable skills gap. Numerous positions across the UK seek individuals with DevOps or platform engineering skills, offering a wealth of job prospects for those pursuing a career in DevOps.
Mat Knutton, Associate Director at Robert Walters Manchester, observes:
Finding top talent is more challenging than ever. The demand for DevOps professionals greatly exceeds the supply, with only about 25,000 to 30,000 currently employed in the UK. DevOps Engineers are in high demand. DevOps Engineers have the opportunity to work in any company within the IT sector. Start-ups are integrating DevOps models from the outset, while consultancies and large tech multinationals are creating new roles to enhance their tech teams.
- Constantly Evolving Field
DevOps is a relatively new approach that is subject to continual advancement and innovation, offering exciting opportunities for those joining the field.
Mat adds:
DevOps is still maturing in the tech industry, leading to ongoing enhancements as new tools and technologies emerge, improving its organizational effectiveness. Disruptive technologies like automation, microservice architecture, and serverless technologies are reshaping DevOps. The emergence of DevSecOps, blending IT operations with security, makes it an exciting time to establish a career in this area.
- Secure Your Future
In 2017, 78% of CIOs and CTOs considered implementing DevOps, as reported by Calsoft, a Californian software engineering company. This trend is expected to continue, highlighting a sustainable career path in this growing field.
DevOps is transforming business technology, and more senior specialist roles are expected to emerge in the next five years. Mat explains:
DevOps merges technical skills with interpersonal abilities, critical thinking, and a drive for positive change. It offers a comprehensive view of the business, ensuring a significant role in shaping the future technology landscape and providing numerous internal progression opportunities.
- Learning and Growth Opportunities
A career in DevOps involves deploying a diverse skill set, constantly refined through new challenges and learning opportunities.
The career is endlessly engaging, covering a wide spectrum of tasks. As part of the DevOps cycle from development to deployment, you'll continually enhance your knowledge, encountering new technologies and learning to expedite the deployment of high-quality software. Your role in the DevOps ecosystem broadens your business understanding, as you work to maintain a productive relationship between operations and development teams.
- Significant Business Impact
DevOps Engineers play a crucial role in delivering concrete business results.
DevOps eliminates traditional barriers between different organizational functions, enabling a focused approach to application and service delivery. Few roles offer such a significant impact on business, allowing you to directly see how your efforts improve software quality and delivery.
- Attractive Flexibility and Benefits
DevOps Engineers enjoy some of the most competitive flexibility and compensation benefits in IT.
In the UK, the average salary for DevOps Engineers is about 20% higher than the IT sector average. Salaries vary based on location, company type, and role, ranging from £55k to £130k. Additionally, more US companies are hiring UK-based DevOps Engineers for remote work, offering the convenience of working from home with the benefit of a higher US salary.
Choosing The Right Engineer Ratio For Your Team
Selecting the right team of engineers is crucial for product success. Achieving a balance between DevOps engineers and software developers is challenging, but comprehending their roles, responsibilities, and advantages eases this process.
What Distinguishes a DevOps Engineer from a Developer?
DevOps engineers, software developers, programmers, or coders are essential in software development teams. They share similarities but have unique roles, responsibilities, and skills, which we will explore.
DevOps roles often include:
- Platform Engineer
- Build/Release Engineer
- Release Manager
- Automation Engineer or Architect
- Cloud Engineer
- Security Engineer
- Cloud Systems Administrator
- Infrastructure Engineer
- Systems Engineer
- Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)
- System Administrator (Sysadmin)
- AWS / GCP / Azure Engineer
- DevSecOps Engineer
- Observability Engineer
- FinOps Consultants
Key distinctions exist among DevOps roles such as Platform, SRE, Cloud, Build Release, FinOps, and traditional DevOps engineers. DevOps focuses on collaboration and automation, with each role bringing specialized expertise to enhance IT efficiency and reliability.
Roles and Responsibilities: DevOps Engineer vs Software Developer
DevOps engineers manage software release systems and collaborate with developers, aligning with industry standards and utilizing DevOps tools. Software developers focus on creating scalable applications, coding, integrating data services, and testing.
Does Full Stack Include DevOps?
Full-stack developers cover the entire development process and are increasingly incorporating DevOps practices. However, DevOps requires a broader scope and mindset shift for operational success.
DevOps vs Full Stack Developer: Key Differences
Full-stack developers manage both front and backend development and deployment. DevOps engineers oversee application infrastructure and operations, utilizing DevOps tools and cloud systems.
Dev vs. DevOps: Skill Set Comparison
Developers specialize in languages like Java, while DevOps professionals are skilled in web and cloud services such as AWS, GCP, and Azure and are familiar with various programming languages. They also understand system operations and manage CI/CD pipelines and cloud operations.
DevOps Engineer vs Developer: Which is Better?
The choice depends on project needs. Developers build applications, whereas DevOps engineers optimize the development process with cloud services, agile methodologies, and advanced QA techniques for seamless, error-free operations.
Differences Between DevOps and Software Development Teams
Software development teams focus on building applications. DevOps teams automate the development process, enhancing collaboration and maintaining environments for continuous deployment and improvement.
Understanding DevOps Culture
DevOps culture involves shared responsibility, continuous learning, automation, and tool integration. It’s about seamless communication and continuous improvement.
Responsibilities in a DevOps Culture
DevOps engineers handle application development, deployment, system operations, automation processes, security, and performance monitoring.
Who Do DevOps Engineers Report To?
DevOps Engineers' reporting structure varies, but they ideally collaborate with development, infrastructure, IT operations, and security teams.
Impact of DevOps on Software Development
DevOps introduces agile methodologies and automates tasks, revolutionizing software development with CI/CD, automated testing, microservices architecture, and cloud adoption.
Mastering DevOps Tools for Product Development
DevOps tools like Docker, Jenkins, and Kubernetes optimize product lifecycle management by managing version control, testing, integration, deployment, and monitoring.
DevOps Culture: Fostering Success and Continuous Improvement
DevOps encourages a culture of rapid feedback, high software quality, and continuous improvement, enhancing software development efficiency and success.
Evolution and Future of DevOps
DevOps is evolving towards AI-assisted practices (AIOps), wider microservices adoption, and a focus on security (DevSecOps).
Benefits of Hiring DevOps Engineers
DevOps engineers improve deployment frequency, reduce complexity, lower failure rates, and enhance productivity and culture. They drive Continuous Integration & Deployment.
Challenges in Hiring DevOps Engineers
Difficulties include finding skilled professionals, managing salary expectations, and investing in training.
Choosing Between Full Stack Developers and DevOps Engineers
The decision hinges on company and project needs, considering the operational agility DevOps engineers offer versus Full Stack developers' comprehensive development skills.
DevOps Engineers’ Contribution to Software Development Teams
DevOps engineers enhance systematic efficiency, scalability, consistency, and accelerated market time, boosting the performance of software development teams.
Balancing Developers and DevOps in the Cloud
Developers and DevOps engineers have distinct roles in cloud operations, contributing to application development and management.
DevOps Engineers in Cloud Operations
DevOps engineers strategize, select tools, manage cloud deployments, ensure security, and enable scalability, leading to improved collaboration and software delivery.
Cloud Development: Roles of Developers and DevOps
Developers build cloud-ready applications; DevOps engineers deploy and manage them, making both essential for successful cloud projects.
Cloud Migration: DevOps vs Software Developers
Software developers adapt applications for the cloud; DevOps engineers enhance software processes to fit cloud architecture, ensuring smooth migration.
DevOps in Cloud Software Development
DevOps brings automation, speed, agility, and quality to cloud development, which is essential for rapid deployment and collaboration.
Collaboration of Full Stack Developers and DevOps in the Cloud
Full-stack developers and DevOps engineers work together for efficient, resilient cloud projects.
Becoming a DevOps: Skill Acquisition for Engineers
Engineers can transition to DevOps with technical skills, continuous learning, and adaptability.
Skills for Cloud DevOps Engineers
Essential skills include understanding cloud services, automation, CI/CD pipeline management, containerization, monitoring, and security best practices.
Training for Aspiring DevOps Engineers
Training involves formal education, hands-on experience, workshops, tech talks, and mentorship programs.
Scope of DevOps
DevOps encompasses coding, scripting, configuration management, CI/CD methodologies, and cloud services understanding.
DevOps Statistics for Teams
The number of DevOps engineers varies by company size and needs, with ratios and salaries differing across organizations.
DevOps Adoption: Worthwhile Consideration
Adopting DevOps involves integrating teams to improve collaboration, efficiency, and automation, with pros and cons to consider.
DevOps Success Stories
Companies like Netflix and Etsy have seen significant improvements from adopting DevOps practices.
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DevOps Engineering Services
These services offer assessment, CI/CD pipeline setup, cloud management, monitoring, security integration, and training to transition to DevOps practices.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Skills are Essential for a DevOps Engineer?
Key skills include proficiency in automation tools (like Jenkins, Ansible, and Kubernetes), understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), programming knowledge (commonly Python, Ruby, Java), system administration, continuous integration, and continuous deployment (CI/CD) methodologies, and familiarity with containerization technologies.
What is the Role of a DevOps Engineer in a Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)?
In the SDLC, a DevOps Engineer plays a role in almost every phase. They automate and improve development and release processes, ensure seamless collaboration between development and operations teams, manage infrastructure, oversee continuous integration and deployment, and maintain the operational stability of software systems.
What is CI/CD in DevOps?
CI/CD is a method used to frequently deliver apps to customers by introducing automation into the stages of app development. The main concepts attributed to CI/CD are continuous integration, deployment, and delivery. CI/CD bridges the gaps between development and operation activities and teams by enforcing automation in the building, testing, and deploying applications.
Why is Cloud Knowledge Important for DevOps Engineers?
Cloud platforms offer a flexible, scalable, and efficient environment for deploying and managing applications. Knowledge of cloud services (like AWS, Azure, or GCP) is crucial for DevOps Engineers as it enables them to leverage cloud resources effectively for various stages of the software lifecycle, including deployment, scaling, and ensuring high availability.
How Does DevOps Contribute to Software Quality?
DevOps improves software quality by promoting frequent and incremental updates, which ensures quick feedback and rectification of issues. Automated testing, continuous integration, and continuous deployment allow for early defect detection and ensure software reliability.
Can a Developer Transition to a DevOps Engineer Role?
Yes, a developer can transition to a DevOps role. It requires additional automation, cloud computing, system administration, and network operations skills. Continuous learning and hands-on experience with DevOps tools and practices are key to this transition.
Wrap Up & Insights
Finding a great DevOps engineer doesn't have to be difficult. Toptal makes it easier by providing top-quality candidates right to you. Their process is quick and straightforward, removing any uncertainty about hiring.
Choosing Toptal means you’re choosing reliability. You're not just filling a job; you're hiring a skilled professional ready to start immediately. Whether your project is short-term or you're planning for the future, Toptal provides the flexibility and quality that businesses need today.
If you want to find excellent DevOps talent quickly and efficiently, Toptal is a great choice. It's about making smart decisions in a technology-focused world, and Toptal offers a good option.