Talk deck from devopsdays chicago 2019

1. How to find (and retain) your
hardest to hire positions
DevOpsDays Chicago 2019

2. @petecheslock
Pete Cheslock
VP, Products - CHAOSSEARCH
@petecheslock - Twitter
Past: Threat Stack, Dyn, Sonian
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After nearly 20 years in
Technical Operations…
Traded in my Pagerduty
account for Hubspot
Pete Cheslock
VP, Products - CHAOSSEARCH
@petecheslock - Twitter
Past: Threat Stack, Dyn, Sonian

4. @petecheslock

5. @petecheslock
Where this all began…
• DevOpsDays Austin 2013
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And then the talk was accepted…
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Docker was very new.
Solomon’s talk was
March 21st, 2013
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Has the recruiting and hiring process changed?
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Incorrect assumptions over the last 6 years?
Actionable ways to improve the Employee/Company relationship
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Disclaimer
• I still believe there is no One True Way™ to recruit/retain
• This talk is largely based on my personal experience
• But also from books, blogs, personal interactions and…
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11. @petecheslock
Disclaimer
• I still believe there is no One True Way™ to recruit/retain
• This talk is largely based on my personal experience
• But also from books, blogs, personal interactions and…
• …Doing the wrong thing a bunch of times.
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Kinda Important Note
You may not be able to keep everyone.
People will eventually leave
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Is Company Name Recognition Still Important?
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Is Company Name Recognition Still Important?
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probably not

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The Team
02 The Technology
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03 The $$$

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Has Recruiting Changed?
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Has Recruiting Changed?
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The bad are still bad.

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Has Recruiting Changed?
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Good recruiting is
playing the long game

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Relationships still Matter
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Hiring is a Key Part of Retention
The wrong hire can destroy:
teams
projects
motivation
your sanity
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Who are the right hires?
Do your checkbox hires work?
Do you lose people at the whiteboard?
What if those are bad ways to hire?
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What If Instead?
Hire for:
Intellectual Curiosity
Aptitude to Learn
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Ditch the Whiteboard
Instead:
Clearly Defined
Aligned with the Role
Increasing Levels of Difficulty
Time-boxed
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What We Did
Build an API Server
Any Language
Responds with Current Time
4 Hour Max
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Escalating Difficultly
Add Time Zone Conversion
Deploy somewhere
Add SSL support for deploy
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I missed this last time
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Keeping people starts with hiring the
right people

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Losing People is still the worst
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Why Do We Lose People in the First Place?

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Why Do We Lose People in the First Place?
What Drives Us?
• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us: Dan Pink

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Autonomy
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Autonomy
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• Align work with an owner
• Back off and let them work
• Offer support as needed
• Filter unnecessary distractions
How Can Work Get Done?
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Mastery
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• Get better at something
that matters
• Continuous Learning
• Skill Improvement
• Not JUST technical skills!

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• Being a part of something
greater
• Fulfilling, important work that
matters
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Purpose

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“I want to write code that no
one will ever use.”
- Nobody, Ever.

36. @petecheslock
Open Source Projects
• Gives people ownership
• Can make it easier to recruit later
• Costs can be minimal
• Benefits can be massive
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Open Source Projects
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Let’s Talk About Your Remotes
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Some things didn’t age well…

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Some things didn’t age well…

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Money
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Money
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“Everyone takes a pay cut to be here”
Above market offer turns into a huge bump

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Money
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Pay people enough to take the issue of
money off the table

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Money
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Pay people enough to take the issue of
money off the table
STPR

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Underpay Engineers At Your Own
Risk
Money

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But We Have Stock Options!
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• Are you a founder?

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But We Have Stock Options!
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• Are you a founder?
• Were you granted Restricted Stock? (at a very low price?)

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But We Have Stock Options!
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• Are you a founder?
• Were you granted Restricted Stock? (at a very low price?)
• Does your grant have protections for change of control?

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But We Have Stock Options!
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• Are you a founder?
• Were you granted Restricted Stock? (at a very low price?)
• Does your grant have protections for change of control?
• Is there a convertible note on the company?

51. @petecheslock
But We Have Stock Options!
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• Are you a founder?
• Were you granted Restricted Stock? (at a very low price?)
• Does your grant have protections for change of control?
• Is there a convertible note on the company?
• What is the liquidation preference on the shares?

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There are too many reasons why you
probably won’t get rich at your startup.
But that doesn’t mean you don’t have a
chance to make money in other ways.

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There are too many reasons why you
probably won’t get rich at your startup.
If you work at a public company and you
were granted RSU’s none of this applies.

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I did all that and someone left anyway
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Congratulate them
Ask them for honest feedback
Wish them the best in their new role

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High Levels of Trust
Across the Organization
Personal Ownership
and Responsibility

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Challenging Meaningful Work
Employee Ownership
High Levels of Trust

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Treat them like adults

58. https://chaossearch.io
DevOpsDays Chicago 2019