Robert Szczepanek

The IT Odyssey: Cracking the Code of the UK Job Market In the realm of Information Technology, the UK marketplace is akin to a vast network of interconnected dungeons, each filled with puzzles, traps, and treasures. You, the valiant IT candidate, must navigate this labyrinth with the precision of a master coder and the strategy of a seasoned project manager. 🗡 The Quest for the Holy Grail of Positions  The search for the perfect IT role is like debugging a complex program—tedious, requiring immense patience, and occasionally making you question your life choices. You’re looking for that one job that doesn’t require you to have coded the next Facebook in your spare time. 🤼‍♂️ The Battle Royale of Competition The competition is as intense as a midnight launch of a new gaming console. You’re up against legions of fellow tech wizards, each armed with their own arsenal of certifications, GitHub repositories, and Stack Overflow reputations. 👻 Ghosting: The Silent Server Error  Being ghosted by employers is like sending a request to a server and receiving no response—did it timeout? Did it crash? You may never know. It’s the ‘404: Feedback Not Found’ of the job search world. 🤦‍♂️ The Echo Chamber of Silence Post-Interview  The lack of feedback after an interview is like running a script and getting no output. Was there a syntax error? Did it execute correctly? The console remains blank, leaving you to wonder if you should just turn it off and on again. But don’t let the system overload you! Here are some tips to keep your spirits up and your skills sharp: ☁ Network in the Cloud Connect with professionals in virtual meetups, LinkedIn groups, and online forums. Your next opportunity might just be a DM away. 🖥 Refactor Your CV Treat your CV like code—constantly refactor it to be cleaner, more efficient, and more impressive to the hiring algorithms. 🗣 Speak in Code Well, not literally. But do tailor your language to the IT crowd. Drop in terms like ‘agile’, ‘full-stack’, and ‘cloud’ to catch the right eyes. 🐞 Debug Your Approach If something’s not working, debug it. Change your strategies, learn new skills, and don’t be afraid to ask for help from your network. So, put on your best geek t-shirt, fire up your favourite IDE, and prepare to conquer the UK IT job market. Remember, every great developer started out with a ‘Hello, World!’—and every great IT career starts with ‘Hello, Interviewer!’ If you need any help, then do get in touch. Good luck, and may the source be with you! #jobsearch #jobhunting #ghosting #jobs #ITjobs #developerjobs

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For those of you new to Terraform, check out this video from my colleague Sarah Lean. It’s a good place to start for an aspiring Azure Terraformer!!! 😊 https://lnkd.in/eTaZF738

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⁉️Are DevOps teams being noticed and recognised fairly within organisations⁉️ A number of DevOps Engineers & Managers explained to me that sometimes being a DevOps Engineer can be a thankless task😓 When you perform well, everything is ticking along perfectly and nobody notices😶‍🌫️ However when things go wrong, the DevOps team are the first to come under fire and receive criticism🤬 A bit like an analogy I saw that describes a DevOps team as the screen writers, video editors and camera crew behind the scenes producing a movie🎥 Without them there would be no film, but very few actually acknowledge their work unless it goes wrong😕 The psychological safety, motivation and happiness of DevOps teams is directly impacted by this issue, and organisations must ensure that they are addressing it immediately⚠️ DevOps Engineers are crucial to any organisation that they are a part of, and if your business does not treat them fairly and give appropriate recognition they will move to somewhere that does👋 If there is anyone in the DevOps space that currently feels this way or has observed this before, and would like to speak please feel free to message me directly on here. #devops #recognition #teams #psychologicalsafety

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Building a DevOps culture or migrating from on-prem > cloud are great ideas. Ideas that are hard to execute because the availability of cloud experts is too few I recently told a client I am hiring for; “It won’t be you interviewing 3 people and hiring the best one - it will be one engineer “interviewing” 3 companies and taking the highest offer” I am currently hiring for 🔸 AWS Cloud Architect 🔸 Infra Engineer (on-prem > AWS cloud) 🔸 DevOps - HR Tech from Singapore 🔸 DevOps - Series B Healthtech 🔸 DevOps Lead - Fintech (Investing / trading) Whether you are a Cloud, SRE, DevOps for Infrastructure engineer I would love to tell you more. Not looking for PMs, Delivery or People managers - looking for hands on ICs who can get these projects moving. Mix of remote and hybrid jobs, based in KL, link to careers page in the comments Capcon

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Who is coming to the London DevOps meetup next week? It's a big one... Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be hosting at their Liverpool Street office and there are three brilliant talks lined up. 📅 Wednesday, 9th October 🕕 6pm - 9pm 🏢 1 Principal Place, London EC2A 2FA Check out the full agenda and sign up to attend via the meetup page. We look forward to seeing everyone there! #devops #meetup #londondevops

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Curious about the DevOps market? Halcyon Knights have created Market Insight reports specific to different areas of IT - here's a snapshot overview of the DevOps market. 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭 - Diversity is often front of mind when hiring though with only 18% of DevOps Engineers being female, this becomes very competitive 𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐞 - With only an average of 1.6yrs, DevOps Engineers tend to move around often though this can be due to a high number of contractors in the space and recent cut backs in the market 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 - Mid Level Engineers are in high demand, we've seen a focus in investing in the training and development of Engineers recently instead of investing in the cost of hiring more Senior Engineers. If you'd like a copy of the full report, feel to send me a message on LinkedIn or to [email protected] 😊

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Another fantastic review for Evelyn Hay who covers the #devOps market in #switzerland here at iO Associates - UK/EU If you need support finding the right candidate or your DevOps team speak to Evelyn Hay! #testimonial #review #customerservice #happyclients #switzerland #devops

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Importing Existing Cloud Resources into Terraform https://lnkd.in/e_yPu-ZN #TerraformMigration #CloudInfrastructureAsCode #TerraformAutomation #CloudResourceImport #InfrastructureMigration #TerraformOnboarding #CloudToTerraform #AutomateWithTerraform #CloudResourceManagement #TerraformIntegration

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Discover how to optimise resource utilization & save millions with KEDA! Watch this talk by Solène Butruille, as she delves into the power of Kubernetes Event-Driven Autoscaling, from setup challenges to actual cost savings. View talk @ devoxx.co.uk/talk?id=5732

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Are you considering moving your server workloads to AWS EC2 but feel a bit uncomfortable leaving the Hypervisor world behind? Prior to becoming an AWS Partner we used Hyper-V to manage customer workloads but since moving to AWS we've completed hundreds of Windows and Linux server migrations to EC2 and would never go back! AWS delivers all the key components you need to allow you to run virtual server workloads securely, efficiently and cost effectively without the need for a Hypervisor. - AWS Application Migration Service (agent-based) works really well delivering a seamless server migration process. - Amazon VPC has all the networking tools you need (subnets, IP, routing, gateways etc). - EC2 instances combined with EBS storage provides a robust, flexible and reliable server platform. - AWS Organisations allow for multi-account management while IAM provides for identity and access management. - Ongoing network and server monitoring/maintenance on EC2 is straightforward and secure with services like AWS Patch Manager, Cloudwatch, GuardDuty etc. - Plus there are simple but effective FinOps tools (eg. budget alerts) built in at no additional cost. As Broadcom make it clear their interest is only with larger clients, this might be the perfect time for those with smaller on-prem VMware deployments to make the move to public cloud infrastructure. Our advice would be to take some time out and compare the costs and features of running your own Infrastructure/VMware environment versus using AWS EC2. And as always, reach out to us if needed, we’re here to help. https://bit.ly/4aemzrM #vmware #vcsp #cloudmigration #broadcom #migratetoAWS #AWSCloud #AWSPartners #AmazonWebServices #smbcloud

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IT Infrastructure: The Real MVP Behind England's VAR Penalty Decision Remember England's pivotal VAR penalty decision in the Euros semifinal? It wasn't just the players and referees in the spotlight—robust IT infrastructure played a crucial role too. Why IT Matters: 1.Instant Analysis: High-speed data processing provided real-time review and accurate decisions. 2.Reliable Connectivity: Ensured seamless communication between referees and VAR officials. 3.Secure Systems: Protected sensitive match data and maintained integrity. Just as England's skill was crucial on the field, cutting-edge IT infrastructure was the silent hero ensuring fair play and a world-class viewing experience!

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The Octopus Kubernetes agent is GA 🎉 In May, we introduced a new way to deploy to your Kubernetes clusters using the Kubernetes agent. Since then, our early adopters have used it to complete over 200,000 deployment tasks. 🚀 This let us validate lots of use cases and make improvements. Now, the Octopus Kubernetes agent is generally available and our recommended way to deploy to Kubernetes in Octopus Cloud. Read all about it in our blog post: https://lnkd.in/gEgwaEBu

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Learn how Oracle Labs is simplifying cloud-native development and reducing operating costs, despite the complexities of Docker and Kubernetes. Watch Eric Sedlar's Devoxx UK session and explore the future of Cloud Native Java with Graal. View talk @ devoxx.co.uk/talk?id=52101

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📢Top Tip📢 🚀How can a DevOps/Platform Engineer instantly stand out in a crowded amount of applications?🚀 ⌚How have YOU helped to save time? 💶How have YOU helped to save money? ☁️Multiple Platform & DevOps Engineering managers have told me that they prefer engineers to make it EASY for them to SEE exactly what they have done in these two key areas to instantly stand out☁️ #devops #platform #SRE #tethr #cloudengineering

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Running a 8+ interview stage is somewhat ok, until the candidate doesn't get an offer. You'll be on your 9th interview, will have received positive feedback to date, and then be absolutely gob smacked to hear you were pipped to the post or went in a different direction. Hiring managers effectively pull the pin on a grenade and walkaway when they run an exhausting process which results in no offer & no feedback. It's a talent acquisition nightmare, an employer brand wrecker and does no good for your relationship with external recruiters. The best advice I can offer (besides don't do so many interviews...): Be honest. If you're putting someone through the wringer, tell them they're 1 of 3 candidates you're considering, be straight about what the process entails, tell them you have reservations (+ what those are!) and therefore they can make a call to eject themselves from the process before they're too invested.

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Shifting to Terraform is the first piece of the puzzle. Automating and governing cloud infrastructure with Terraform is the next level. ControlMonkey offers the most comprehensive Terraform Automation solutions for companies with large-scale environments. With tools for shifting 1000s of cloud resources to Terraform in a few clicks, Terraform CI/CD, Cloud Asset Inventory, AI-powered Drift Detection & Remediation, and many more, ControlMonkey is the one-stop-shop to manage and govern your cloud with Terraform truly. We invite you to Booth #348 for a technical discussion about Terraform, Automation, Cloud Governance, and everything in between. If you're managing large-scale environments and looking to increase your cloud team efficiency while reducing risks, drop by our booth and learn more about us. (: Looking forward to seeing you there. 😎 You can book a time to meet us there: https://lnkd.in/dgaVARYi #aws #devops #terraform #opentofu #reinvent

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UK Cloud engineers have experienced a substantial surge in salaries, with an impressive increase of 20-25% in recent years. Take a look at the trend: - 2020: £45,000 - 2021: £48,000 - 2022: £52,000 - 2023: £58,000 - 2024: £60,000 These changes have been observed firsthand while engaging with engineers. If you are a Cloud engineer overdue for a pay rise, now is the opportune moment to negotiate. Reach out for advice. #CloudEngineering #SalaryTrends #CareerGrowth #ITJobs #TechCareers

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Choosing the right deployment method in Azure is key to the success of your cloud projects. From ARM Templates to Terraform, each tool offers unique advantages tailored to different scenarios, whether you're managing single or multi-cloud environments. This article explores various Azure deployment methodologies, helping you make an informed decision that aligns with your project’s requirements and your team’s expertise. https://zurl.co/ycyW #Azure #CloudComputing

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