I’ve been staying busy these days doing a lot of consulting relating to DevOps, Big Data, and Data Science. Part of the services I’ve been offering is assistance in locating qualified candidates for positions in DevOps environments. One thing that I’ve noticed over the last seven months of consulting is that most companies have no idea how to screen and vet a technical candidate; this is mostly because of the fact that you have human resources personnel trying to locate someone for a highly technical position. Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for human resources personnel, but it’s not in the technical hiring process. No matter how long they’ve been a recruiter, unless they’ve worked in the field, it’s unlikely they will have the chops to vet a technology professional.

Welcome to part one of a three part blog series about choosing an SPI provider. Be sure to check back to read part two and part three. In part one, I will be addressing aspects of an SPI provider to take into consideration when choosing one to partner with. In part two, I will delve deeper into a couple of these aspects, as well as giving some recommendations for SPI providers that I believe deliver great value while maintaining performance.