DevOps and The Big 5 Personality Traits
Disclaimer: I AM NOT A PSYCHOLOGIST Background: - Tech support for 7 years - Interest in DevOps - 2 years - Interest in psychology
The Big Five Personality Traits
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Skills required for DevOps Understand QA Processes Competent Generalist Sysadmins Skilled Programming Understand SDLC Technical Expertise Soft Skills Up to Date Source: thenewstack.io
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