How to hire a sysadmin?
September 15, 2014 8:34 AM   Subscribe

I work for a web-based software startup, and we need a kick-ass system administrator. Problem: how to find one?

Up to now, I've been handling the sysadmin end of things in addition to development work, but we're growing enough that the sysadmin end is eating up most of my time and getting beyond my abilities.

We work with a niche technology that has a smaller but very dedicated following, and we have some of the best-known people in that technology are involved in the company, which makes hiring developers relatively straightforward.

System administrators, on the other hand, are a different deal. We're doing interesting work (we're far beyond your basic LAMP stack), but don't have anything obvious that would attract the best. There's a huge pool of talent (and not-so-talented) out there, and we don't have a network to rely on to find the right person.

We need someone not just to keep servers running but help architect our platform. They will be expected to become conversant with the technology we're using, but not necessarily experts. They will have some direct interaction with customers.

So, where do we go to look for this system administrator, and what are the questions to ask?

A bit of background if that helps to direct the search:
  • Everyone at this company works remotely; we don't have a physical office. The candidate can be anywhere with a good Internet connection (but an excellent command of English is required).
  • It's a full-time position but hours are flexible (indeed, they must be, since we are dispersed in many time-zones).
  • Our infrastructure is running mostly on AWS. We do a bit with other IaaS providers as well, and will likely be doing more in the relatively near future.
  • Everything runs on Linux.
  • Scaling is crucial. We will need to support thousands of servers.
  • Security is crucial. We deal with proprietary and sensitive data.
  • The software we develop runs mostly on the cloud, but we also support installations on clients' physical infrastructure.
I'm keeping this pretty vague, but once we have a job posting ready with more details, I'll probably put it up on jobs.mefi. That said, if you think you're the one or know someone who is, feel free to MeMail!
posted by Emanuel to Computers & Internet (13 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Advertising on LinkedIn, HN Jobs and MeFi would be my where to hire plan.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:40 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: We need someone not just to keep servers running but help architect our platform
and this
Scaling is crucial. We will need to support thousands of servers.
and this
Security is crucial. We deal with proprietary and sensitive data.


put you far far beyond what I think of as the skillset for a "sysadmin," a term which, if I hear it all anymore, refers to someone who can set up email accounts and run a few Linux scripts by rote when a server goes down.

You should definitely put "engineer" in the job title. Not sure exactly what to call this, but maybe "Infrastructure engineer?" If you can attract developers no problem, this shouldn't be a problem either, as long as you offer a decent title and equivalent or greater pay than what you're giving the developers.
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:07 AM on September 15, 2014 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Yup.

It sounds like you want two things:

1) A Systems Architect/Engineer to get you from "neat startup with a couple hundred/thousand users" to "something that can make the frontpage of reddit/HN and not die a swift death".

2) A System Administrator to help 1) do the actual buildout and keep it running 24/7.

Now, obviously, 1) pays a lot more than 2), but getting one person to do both jobs well will be tough.
posted by Oktober at 9:12 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]


Google calls these kind of people Site Reliability Engineers btw & they put a lot of effort into recruiting them.
posted by pharm at 9:17 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Stackoverflow careers should be your first (and possibly only) stop.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:36 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm a Salesforce Admin, and the user group is a good place to advertise. See if there's a group on LinkedIn and post your job there.

I was hired by a recruiter. Which is another avenue.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:42 AM on September 15, 2014


Google calls these kind of people Site Reliability Engineers

The other job title/role to keep in mind is DevOps.
posted by asterix at 10:22 AM on September 15, 2014


Best answer: I would look for a AWS Certified Sysops Admin or a AWS Certified Solutions Architect. Good candidates are going to be few and far between so I would actively seek out potential hires via Meetup groups (example), StackOverflow (example), LinkedIn groups (example) and Indeed (example).

HN jobs referenced above is great but I believe it's exclusive to YCombinator members. But, you can post to the recurring monthly Who's Hiring thread (Sept-2014).

Good luck!
posted by rada at 10:59 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Nthing above comments about how this is beyond what you should be asking a sysadmin to do. This is two positions, at least. If you want an architect, hire an architect. It sounds like you need the architect first and can fill in the sysadmin position later once there's more of a system to administrate.

As a senior programmer/admin/architect/manager type person who's looked at lots of job listings in a long career, I can say I personally would be scared by the fact you're a startup. Somebody who's senior enough to qualify for the job you're offering might also be far enough along in life that they have a mortgage and/or kids and can't afford to take a risk on equity that may or may not materialize. So I guess the other thing to be careful of is that you want to avoid using coded language that implies the sort of low-salary-with-equity position that "startups" tend to have.

The people with the mix of skills you want have probably already gravitated towards expensive centers of tech work (SF, Austin, NY, DC/VA) so you'll have to be prepared to pay the sort of salary that would tempt somebody like that away from whatever job they have now. Extra points if you have people in one or more of those areas who can go to meetups and recruit in person. You could also just get lucky and find somebody who never moved from somewhere cheap and internet-friendly, but it is SO MUCH EASIER to hire people in person than with remote screening and interviews.

And since my wife will be annoyed at me if I don't say this: if your salary is competitive and you decide you're looking for an architect and not a sysadmin, MeFi mail me. I'm not interested in a sysadmin job, but designing for scale is fun.
posted by fedward at 7:22 PM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I am a security engineer with an IT Risk background and you may need a dedicated security person, depending on how serious you need to be about security. I find that many devops/engineers feel that security is a hinderance to speed and turning out product and therefore may not have the full skillset required if security is crucial. Sometimes they simply do not have enough to devote to security given the other requirements of their day-to-day.

Since you have sensitive/proprietary data you may be subject to certain requirements around that data that may require more than 1/3 or 1/4th of a person's time, especially as you scale up. I would also add that while many skills are transferable, you should definitely seek someone with a solid AWS background. That will probably limit your pool somewhat.

I have to echo fedward as well - regarding comp, perception of startup culture, and cost of living in major tech centers are items to take into consideration.
posted by carmenghia at 8:59 PM on September 15, 2014


Best answer: Just to re-iterate what other people have said: this sounds like a role for a high-quality candidate who is going to demand a correspondingly high-quality salary. Someone who can architect a secure system that scales out to thousands of servers is someone who can walk into any silicon valley company, name a price and probably get it. Think several hundred thousand $ a year in base salary alone, before accounting for share options, bonuses, etc etc, and that's for someone with just a year or two experience. A senior dev at one of the major SV companies is likely to have a much larger total compensation package.

The people you need to target are those who can do this job, but are (for whatever reason) unwilling to move to SV, for whom working at home at a salary greater than that which they could otherwise make locally would be a huge incentive for them to join your company. You could start by approaching local-user groups in high-tech university cities and asking them for contacts or recommendations. Advertise on Stack Overflow & maybe LinkedIn.

I'd also second the points that you're unlikely to find all of these skills in a single individual and even if you do, the administration and security aspects may well be more than a single person can manage, especially if you're the kind of company that actually gets more than the usual background level of internet hackery.

(Like fedward, I'm available if you want to talk. Feel free to drop me a line in private, even if just to bounce some ideas around.)
posted by pharm at 2:49 AM on September 16, 2014


Best answer: I may be misreading (I'm a developer), but "sysadmin" is a borderline insulting term for that kind of work. I worked with a guy who does that for the biggest names in eCommerce, and even fifteen years ago he was the smartest one in the room. He had titles like Operations Manager, Senior Systems Engineer, Principal Systems Engineer, Principal DevOps Engineer, and Principal Production Engineer. If you're looking for someone who can architect, deploy, scale, and secure everything and still be customer facing, I think the term you might be looking for is "cofounder." Definitely plumb the non-coastal C.S. programs if you can, maybe you'll luck out and find someone who is underutilized for family reasons. YCombinator is definitely also a good place to look.
posted by wnissen at 12:27 PM on September 16, 2014


Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. This feedback is extremely helpful in honing exactly what kind of contributor(s) we're going to be looking for.
posted by Emanuel at 4:21 PM on September 16, 2014


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