Ways to Choose Best DevOps Outsourcing Company

Last Updated on August 13, 2021 by Aaron Thompson

In today’s changing IT landscape, there are many companies and agencies offering DevOps as a service solution. So how do you separate the good service providers from the rest and decide which one is right for you? Is it just about technical skills and knowledge of DevOps best practices? In fact, it is a combination of technical skills, DevOps knowledge, and casual consulting skills. Here are some things to consider when looking for a Devops outsourcing company.

They must have empathy

When you have your first meeting with a prospect, make sure they are actively listening to what you are trying to tell them. You need to get an opinion on the matter.

A good DevOps provider will ask for feedback on whether they have understood the problem correctly. The keyword here is empathy. They should be able to be placed in your place.

Many DevOps providers, especially the most experienced ones, act instinctively. They are there, they are doing this, and they are in a hurry to offer possible solutions and DevOps KPIs that need to be monitored to reach them. So if a prospective service provider invests his two cents in release and deployment management or something else while you’re in the process of explaining the problem, this should be a red flag early in the process.

So, in addition to interviews about their technical skills, experience, and general IQ in DevOps, makes sure they empathize with you and proceed methodically.

They have to be open

DevOps is sometimes referred to as “Agile Delivery” because DevOps and Agile are closely related. If we take this any further, many believe that DevOps delivery is something that can only be achieved in an agile team.

While most experts will agree that you can take full advantage of the DevOps methodology within an Agile team, your company can use the waterfall model and there may be some good reasons for doing so. If so, a DevOps consultant should be able to come up with concepts that can help you make a profit quickly. This can, for example, reduce build and provision time from a few hours to a few minutes. Such goals may seem uncertain to the service provider, but they can take a lot of pressure off your team and give them time to look for other things to optimize. If in the adjustment process you find that you reflect some basic flexible methodology, it is worth considering whether or not you commit to making such changes.

However, a DevOps provider should not impose its agile process as a prerequisite for implementing a DevOps process.

They must have the necessary experience

The DevOps service provider you hire must have at least five years of experience with automation tools such as Puppet, Ansible, Chef, and SaltStack as well as a high level of knowledge in Python, Ruby, PHP, and Java. They should also be familiar with Jenkins’ continuous integration tools, CruiseControl, CruiseCrontrol.NET, to name a few. It is also very useful if you have experience in code implementation, database administration, system design, and experience in software architecture.

During interview, be sure to ask if they have a certificate in project management, risk management or a Scrum Master or at least experience in these areas. It doesn’t matter where the service provider is, because the provider that best suits your specific needs may not be in the same city, state, or even country.

DevOps consultants must constantly travel to your site’s location to monitor and study processes and make recommendations on how to improve them, and in today’s world, it is possible to travel from A to B in a relatively short time and budget.

Service providers don’t need to have experience in your particular area of business, but they should understand very well that your company’s business needs and technological changes must go hand in hand. Everything they do should be based on sound business principles. Make sure you discuss any business results you want to see as a result of implementing DevOps before discussing procedural changes.

They shouldn’t jump to conclusions

Most DevOps solution providers work with multiple customers and therefore it will be very easy for them to talk about how inefficient the processes in your company are.

A good DevOps service provider will do everything possible to avoid such thinking and will try to find the main reason why the process existed before. Instead of telling you how bad it all was, ask them why you chose to pursue such a process. For example, if construction time is two and a half hours, they need to focus on the problem and solve it instead of lifting their nose and talking about it. Maybe you’re using an old ANT script?

Maybe it’s something else. The point is that they shouldn’t come and judge from day one. You should be familiar with all the processes and then provide feedback, understand why you are using them, and then provide solutions to fix the problem.

Promote a friendly atmosphere

There is a lot of information about agile and its methodology that the human element is missing. When team members don’t understand each other, it creates problems regardless of the methodology. DevOps service providers must be able to form teams that understand each other’s issues and help each other out.

To form such a team, service providers must set a good example themselves. They should arrange team lunches from time to time, encourage daily face-to-face meetings, and talk to team members to raise their concerns. You don’t need a bunch of cool, unresponsive people because that’s not the definition of a team.

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