Operations developers are a new species of organisational talent we are only beginning to catalogue. Treat the information here like rough scratching on paper, notes from the field.
We’ve spent over hundreds if not thousands of hours spent speaking to and observing people we now call ‘Operations Developers’ and we’re beginning to see certain patterns emerge.
Traits of an OpsDev
We have found that operations developers deviate quite substantially from the idea of what a developer or engineer is. They have the analytical, systems-thinker traits that most engineers do, but they are are also remarkably empathetic as well. Temperamentally, they might be closest to product managers or a technical customer success manager.
- internal customer success product hybrid, person.
- more technical people than your non tech, can interface with your technical team
- Highly empathetic
- Computational thinker (requires unpacking)
- Systems thinker (architectural mind)
- Analytical
- Mix between an engineer and a product manager
- Uses no-code tools to do their jobs (necessary, due to their light-weight nature)
Here’s OpsDev and Supersynchronous Guild co-founder Connor McCormick talking about the role of empathy in operations development.