An Interview With Rachel Kline
Be aware of who is behind each deployment. Each member must get the proper role permissions and take accountability, as it can impact the quality and overall success of the process. You will want someone to avoid messing up with your databases or breaking your apps for hours or days.
In today’s fast-paced digital world, DevOps has emerged as an essential philosophy, bridging the gap between software development and IT operations. A successful DevOps team not only speeds up the delivery process but ensures quality and reliability. However, creating such a team requires a harmonious amalgamation of tools, culture, processes, collaboration, and more. What are the critical components of a top-notch DevOps team, and how can organizations integrate them for optimum results? As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Oscar Caballero.
Oscar Caballero is the current Technology Lead for Hylink Group. Originally from Colombia, he joined the company in 2022 and has had experience in programming for the last 15 years. He works in Hylink’s Forage team, elevating specific services and processes to help drive business growth.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?
I started my career as an industrial designer. About 11 years ago, I was working in an internship for a company that was developing VR and AR solutions called Higuera Studios in Bogota, Colombia. During my internship, I had to help build a digital ebook called Axel’s Chain Reaction. This internship not only allowed me to understand programming interfaces and the animations that come alongside them, but it also helped me fall in love with interactive solutions and how they impact the way people recognize your brand.
Experiencing the first Oculus headset was a game changer for my view of technology. Though it was very new at the time, it became more than just the graphics and what people experienced behind it. There was a lot of work involved in the creation of content for the Oculus Rift and I tried to learn as much as I could about low poly modeling, PBR (physically based rendering), graphic optimization, design systems, databases, and how to connect people through a network. We were creating VR experiences not only for one person but for multiple users who could interact with each other.
Working for WebGL was extremely impactful. We were able to put some of those 3D graphic elements directly on the web; I started to learn web development, which made me discover another field that I love; since then, I’ve been experimenting with multiple frameworks and technologies to build products with the latest technologies possible.
The pandemic, for example, was one of our most successful periods for me. I explored a lot of new tools, and almost every week, I had to create a new solution or experiences for embracing virtuality; companies had to communicate internally and externally with their brand, and I was there to make them happen.
I started at Hylink as an experienced developer and was mentored to become more than a coder. Here, we are always looking for the best people to work with, working alongside with other departments to create new tools for our clients. Now, as a Technology Director, I have been given the opportunity to use my interests in design and technology to build a great team where we can continue building great stuff the way we always do.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I cannot name just one person who helped me get to where I am today. But my family has helped and inspired me. My mother and my wife are two very prominent people that helped me reach my goals. They kept pushing me hard during university and encouraged me to accomplish my plans and responsibilities. I would not be where I am right now without them.
Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?
You will always find a solution when you come to me for a problem; my background has always been based on providing solutions. If you tell me that there is a problem that we need to solve, I will look through every angle to see the different ways we can solve the problem. There are always multiple methods of solving the problem, and I always come up with the best solution.
Persistence and support also played an important role in my career. I’ve been surrounded by a supportive network of mentors, colleagues, and friends who encouraged, guided, and gave me constructive feedback during challenging times that keep me motivated. Consistently demonstrating dedication, reliability, and a willingness to go above and beyond helped me reach many opportunities for advancement.
Lastly, my adaptability is one of my key strengths. You can put me in different situations, and I will always learn and put my best foot forward in those areas. This openness to exploring the unknown enables me to seamlessly integrate into different departments, fostering learning ability and adaptability in the face of new and unexpected changes.
Which skills are you still trying to grow now?
As always, I want to get more mature in business. In my field, it is crucial not only to be updated with the latest advances in technology to come up with great products but also to have a business management mindset. It boosts the solutions we sell and helps the team fulfill the needs of our clients while offering the best support. Now, I’m into selling tech using the most simple language and developing long-term relationships with our clients, and I will never stop learning as I continue my career as a technology director.
Let’s talk about having a successful DevOps team. What are the key goals a DevOps team might identify for a digital transformation journey?
Always keep the processes clean and simple for the company. In a DevOps team, it can tend to be more solid and stable. So, having a clear understanding of the company’s processes can make the digital transformation journey smoother. It is crucial for the team to document everything and keep a checklist of their tasks.
It is also important for the DevOps team to regularly check and follow their processes. The DevOps team means a lot to the company because the information on the servers is private and holds a lot of value. Everyone in the DevOps team should ensure they keep their processes in the correct condition and configuration.
Are there any challenges or common pitfalls that DevOps teams should consider?
Be prepared for any risks. Suppose your company does not have a risk management process documented with guidelines. In that case, it will be difficult to solve any common issues that might occur. It is important to take care of situations when they happen and avoid waiting until later to fix them.
How can effective collaboration and communication among team members enhance the productivity and success of a DevOps team, and what practices can facilitate this?
There are specific tasks that an entire DevOps team has to work together for. Effective collaboration and communication help enforce these relationships. There is always something custom that the DevOps team has to create. As a result, tweaks will constantly be made. It is important to be patient and understanding so the team can develop and produce the best quality work.
A team should keep track of every single step in the pipeline. This includes knowing who is responsible for which section. That way, each team member can take accountability and can effectively communicate with one another.
Nothing should be taken by surprise for a DevOps team.
What role does CI/CD play in DevOps, and what are the best practices for implementing CI/CD pipelines to ensure a seamless and reliable software release process?
CI/CD is an abbreviation for “continuous improvement” and “continuous development.”, it is extremely important because we are constantly developing, maintaining, and implementing new changes. These changes require repeatedly being deployed to different environments. The role of CI/CD is automating the process of deploying your changes directly to a specific environment like staging or production, preventing downtimes or publishing changes without testing that could affect the performance of your tech solutions.
In our case, we make our processes fit our needs. Thus, we use two different pipelines for CI/CD with different purposes. Some pipelines are easier to handle, but some require more attention.
It is important to constantly test your processes and require approvals from others to ensure a seamless and democratic software release process.
How does fostering a DevOps culture and mindset contribute to the overall success of a DevOps team, and what strategies can organizations use to promote this culture among their development and operations teams?
Imagine DevOps culture as the “mindset” or “way of working” within an organization where professionals collaborate, with a sense of shared responsibility for delivering high-quality software efficiently and reliably.
To keep it simple, organizations with a DevOps team must focus on establishing a culture of collaboration where shared goals are clear, where everything that does not add value is automated, where everybody is hungry for continuous improvement, and where communication has the smoothest environment for rapid feedback.
The greatest thing about this is that it can be applied to other departments and you will get great results too.
What are the “5 Essential Components of a Successful DevOps Team”?
1. Document all your processes; rules are important to ensure that your team keeps track of progress and knows what to do with any casualties that might occur along the way.
2. Be aware of who is behind each deployment. Each member must get the proper role permissions and take accountability, as it can impact the quality and overall success of the process. You will want someone to avoid messing up with your databases or breaking your apps for hours or days.
3. Version Control and continuous testing are great ways to ensure your processes are safe, even if something terrible happens. Create a solidified version of everything, in case you need to go back and retrace your steps. Having this type of backup ensures that your team always has something to fall onto.
4. Have a proper CI/CD. There are plenty of solutions for CI/CD; find the right one for your company. It does not fit all the companies in the world, but it must fit yours. It will help ensure continuous monitoring and observations of your work besides accelerating a lot of the manual work that can bring to human errors.
5. Communication. In general, it is like the glue that holds a DevOps team working properly, ensuring everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals. When team members communicate effectively, they can share ideas, identify and solve problems faster, and coordinate their efforts smoothly. This means fewer mistakes, faster delivery of projects, and a happier, more productive team overall. Communication is essential for a team to thrive, Whether through regular meetings, chat platforms, or just talking to each other.
What emerging trends do you foresee in the landscape of DevOps that could significantly impact digital transformation strategies in the future?
I expect that we will have more solutions for deploying applications that will involve almost no code in the future. Integrating AI and machine learning technologies into DevOps processes can optimize automation, improve predictive analytics for identifying and resolving issues, and enhance decision-making capabilities.
More serverless architecture abstracts the infrastructure management, allowing teams to focus on building and deploying applications without worrying about server provisioning or scaling.
Additionally, with the increasing emphasis on security in software development in the era post-AI, there’s a trend toward integrating security practices earlier in the development lifecycle (shift-left). There is a need for collaboration between development, operations, and security teams to build security into every stage of the DevOps pipeline.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
If I could inspire a movement that would bring the most good, I would focus on the health and well-being of those around me. It is important to emphasize each individual’s strengths to help them become their most excellent version. Caring about others and ensuring that each person is doing their best is crucial to who they become in the future. I would try to emphasize the betterment of each individual and person.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Oscar Caballero Of Hylink Group: Five Essential Components Of A Successful DevOps Team was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.