DevOps and The Big 5 Personality Traits

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1 DevOps and The Big 5 Personality Traits

2 Disclaimer: I AM NOT A PSYCHOLOGIST Background: - Tech support for 7 years - Interest in DevOps - 2 years - Interest in psychology

3 The Big Five Personality Traits

4 Openness to Experience Disposition to be imaginative, unconventional and autonomous, has an appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, abstract thinking and variety of experience. Dimensions: - Intelect (not the same as IQ) - measure of interest in abstract ideas - Creativity - measure of interest in and/or proclivity towards art, beauty and innovation.

5 Openness to Experience High Explorer The Good: imagination, creativity, flexibility The Bad: ambiguous, distracted, reinventing the wheel, seeks complexity Optimal contribution: new ideas / creative and innovative solutions Adequate Professions: entrepreneurs, architects, artists, theoretical scientists Low Preserver The Good: vigilance, practical, concrete, pragmatic The Bad: narrow minded, ultra-conservative, conforming Optimal contribution: pragmatic implementation, attention to details, stability Adequate Professions: financial managers, performers, applied scientists

6 Conscientiousness Measure of obligation, hard work, attention to detail, persistence, efficiency, cleanliness and adherence to rules, standards and processes. Dimensions: - Industriousness -> characteristic or habitual devotion to work and duty - Orderliness -> the propensity to be clean and neat and to keep objects in their desired places

7 Conscientiousness High Focused The Good: organized, disciplined, persistent, dependable The Bad: workaholic, boring, formalist, craving for achievements Adequate Professions: high achievers, leaders, executives Low Flexible The Good: fun, imaginative, creative, relaxed, multi-tasking The Bad: spontaneous, impulsive, unreliable, easily distracted Adequate Professions: researchers, detectives, consultants

8 Extraversion A measure of general sensitivity to positive emotions such as hope, joy, anticipation and approach, particularly in social situations. Dimensions: - Enthusiasm -> measure of spontaneous joy and engagement - Assertiveness -> measure of social dominance, often verbal in nature

9 Extraversion High Extravert The good: enthusiastic, action-oriented, sociable, outgoing, trust others The bad: need attention, risk prone, low energy when alone Adequate professions: sales, politics, arts Low Introvert The good: stoical, self-sufficient, independent, can work alone The bad: reserved, retiring, deliberate, skeptical Adequate professions: production managers, natural scientists

10 Agreeableness A measure of trust, friendliness, compassion, cooperative attitude, compliance, caring and gentleness. Dimensions: - Compassion -> measure of interest in the problems of other people - Politeness -> measure of conflict avoidance

11 Agreeableness High Adapter The good: friendly, helpful, cooperative, empathetic, tolerant The bad: conformity, lack of focus, over trust, lost sense of self Adequate Professions: teachers, social workers, psychologists Low Challenger The good: objective, tough decisions, individuality, expressive, persistent The bad: self-centered, suspicious, ruthless, hostile, rude, need for power Adequate Professions: advertisers, managers, military leadership, critics, soldiers

12 Neuroticism A tendency to exhibit poor emotional adjustment and experience negative or unpleasant emotions easily, such as anxiety, insecurity, depression and hostility Dimensions: - withdrawal -> measure of anticipatory anxiety - volatility -> measure of mood variation

13 Neuroticism High Reactive The Good: vigilance, responsive to threats, sensible The Bad: easily stressed, anxious, over emotional Adequate Professions: social scientists, customer service. Low Resilient The Good: calm, secure, self-satisfied, unflappable, resilient The Bad: unflappable, laid-back, impervious, indifferent Adequate Professions: airline pilots, military snipers, finance managers, engineers

14 Challenges in adopting a DevOps philosophy Fear of change Automation: Infrastructure, Code Testing, Workflows Configuration Management Source control Self-serving bias In search of the escape goat Group Identity Source: techbeacon.com Dev VS Ops

15 Skills required for DevOps Understand QA Processes Competent Generalist Sysadmins Skilled Programming Understand SDLC Technical Expertise Soft Skills Up to Date Source: thenewstack.io

16 DevOps engineer - temperamental profile Main traits: Openness to experience - High (Explorer) Neuroticism - Low (Resilient) Secondary traits: Conscientiousness - High (Focused) => Reliable Innovator Extraversion - High (Extravert) => Excellent Communicator; Creative Visionary Agreeableness - High (Adapter) => Flexible solutions; Integrated Views Key positions: - Team Leader = Focused + Extravert - Coach = Focused + Adapter

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