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Developer Hiring Managers that dont understand Devops
As a DevOps engineer with over 20 years of experience I recently faced an interviewer who was genuinely shocked that I couldn’t find the missing number in an array of 1 to 100. Yes, really. This happened in 2025, when GitHub Copilot could solve this in seconds.
Let’s be real: When was the last time you saw a DevOps engineerimplementing bubble sort or reversing strings with recursion? Never, because that’s not what we do. Looking through my GitHub repositories for CharmingSteve, you’ll see what DevOps actually involves:
- Automation scripts for infrastructure deployment
- CI/CD pipeline configurations
- Monitoring and alerting logic
- Infrastructure as Code templates
Wasting Time Hazing Devops Interviewees
Yet, I’ve been asked to “write a program that indexes a million-word book” and create APIs from scratch in whiteboard interviews. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if an interviewer asked me to “calculate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow” – and like the bridge keeper in Monty Python, cast me into the chasm for not knowing whether they meant African or European swallow. These algorithmic puzzles serve only one purpose: hazing זובור.
Modern DevOps engineers use AI tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, and Stack Overflow – and we should! Any interview process that doesn’t allow these tools is testing for an obsolete way of working. When I’m automating a complex deployment or debugging a Kubernetes cluster, you bet I’m using every tool at my disposal. Hiring Managers should verify that Devops interviewies know how to correctly promt AI tools, NOT block from using them!
Devops Interview Tests Should be Work like
What we actually need to test in DevOps interviews:
- System architecture understanding
- Cloud platform expertise
- Containerization and orchestration experience
- Automation and workflow design
- Problem-solving with modern tools
I can write Infrastructure as Code (IAC) all week but ask me to write elevator simulation code on a whiteboard? Sorry, that’s not in my playlist. And it shouldn’t be – because your production environment doesn’t care if I can reverse a linked list. It cares if I can keep it running reliably and efficiently with continous integration and deployment as well as upgrades.
Think Before you waste your time
Some organizations need to update their interview process. Let candidates use AI tools. Test them on real DevOps scenarios. I’ve noticed this problem is particularly prevalent in certain established companies with rigid hiring processes, as well as startups where hiring managers don’t fully understand the DevOps role. If you’re still asking DevOps engineers to implement bubble sort in 2025, you’re not hiring for DevOps – you’re conducting a hazing ritual that filters out experienced infrastructure engineers in favor of algorithm memorizers.
Remember: Your infrastructure doesn’t care about whiteboard algorithms. It cares about uptime, security, and efficiency. Let’s start interviewing for those skills instead.
Want to see real DevOps work? Check out my infrastructure projects at https://github.com/CharmingSteve or read more about my interview experiences at https://charmingwebdesign.com/cant .