In the context of globally distributed teams and highly complex architectures, finding a DevOps engineer who can not only configure pipelines but also deeply understand the infrastructure is not an easy task. We were looking for exactly this kind of specialist for a large international project with a high load and a multi-tier delivery system. The requirements were clear: Kubernetes, experience with CI/CD, understanding of GitOps approaches, ability to work in a distributed team, confident English. And, most importantly, quick inclusion without a long onboarding period.

Volna at https://itvolna.tech became a key partner for us in this process, and the result exceeded expectations.

Technology as a filter, not just keywords

One of the common mistakes of classic agencies is a superficial selection based on matching keywords in the resume. With Volna, everything is different. Already at the briefing stage, it was felt that the managers understand not only the difference between Jenkins and GitLab CI, but also deeper – where Helm is more appropriate, and where it is better to use Kustomize. Instead of standard questions, we were offered to go through the infrastructure landscape of the project, assess current weaknesses, and discuss possible challenges. This allowed us to form not just a candidate profile, but a target model of someone who can strengthen the team not “on paper”, but in practice.

Thanks to this approach, we avoided dozens of unnecessary interviews and received relevant responses from the very first stage.

An experience that doesn’t require micromanagement

The specialist we eventually chose came to the project and almost immediately took over pipeline management, deployment process optimization, and implementation of Helm charts for new services. He quickly adapted to our Kubernetes-based system, suggested improvements in logging and metrics, helped with the implementation of Argo CD, and even optimized the SLA for auto-scaling depending on Grafana + Prometheus metrics.

He also had strong soft skills on his side: despite the difference in time zones and the team’s cultural background, communication was established quickly and smoothly. Connection took place via Slack and Zoom, and thanks to his initiative, we even revised some established DevOps practices within the team.

Speed ​​of selection without loss of quality

I would like to separately note how competently Volna built the entire selection process. We did not have to process feedback for weeks, conduct preliminary interviews or deal with paperwork. The manager immediately offered specific interview slots, sent short summaries for each candidate with an emphasis on relevance, and after choosing a finalist, we simply signed one contract – without the need to separately register the person on staff.

For us, as a product team with a tight schedule, this turned out to be critically important. We were not distracted from core tasks, did not spend resources on administrative support, but received a full-fledged DevOps engineer ready to work on a flexible contract with a clear hourly model.

Why we recommend Volna to other teams

This case became a convincing example for us of how recruiting IT specialists can be not a routine, but a partnership. Volna is not just recruiters. It is a team that knows how to work with technical depth, respects the client’s time and creates an environment in which the result is achieved quickly, but without compromising on quality.

Today, we continue to expand the team through Volna: we have connected a front-end developer on React and are in the process of searching for a second DevOps engineer due to the increased workload. And it is nice that with each new task we have no doubts about who to contact.

If your team is building a complex architecture, looking for flexible formats and wants to work with people who understand production, fault tolerance and zero-downtime deployment, Volna is definitely worth trying. This experience is not about service – it is about trust that is built through results.