Almost every company will inevitably need a team for Site Reliability Engineering to guarantee that the software they use or deliver is highly reliable and scalable. But for the Site Reliability Engineering process to take place effectively in the company, the company needs to have an excellent and well-qualified team of Site Reliability Engineers (SREs).
What skills should you look for in a Site reliability engineer? If you desire to become a Site Reliability Engineer or if you are searching for one, you must know what the necessary skills are. In this article, we will explore not only the technical skills that a Site Reliability Engineer needs to possess but also the non-technical ones.
Are Non-Technical Skills Important?
If you are a highly-skilled developer, you can create software or a website without facing any technical issues. However, if you do not have the skills needed to interact with your co-workers efficiently or how to solve issues outside of your main task area, you might encounter problems.
Despite your excellent technical skills, it will be tough to work with you, mainly if you cannot communicate effectively with your team. How will your team members know what their work is if you do not tell them? Or, how can they approach you and request you for individual favors if you do not have good listening skills?
So, the first essential quality of a Site Reliability Engineer is to possess both technical and non-technical skills.
What are the Skills You should Look for in a Site Reliability Engineer?
It is difficult to function as an effective SRE if you do not know how to code, develop, and configure the product concerned. So, excellent technical skills are vital for you to perform as an effective SRE. However, what about suitable non-technical skills?
Here are the skills of a Site Reliability Engineer:
Problem-solving
The first and most important skill of any SRE is to be adept at problem-solving. Site Reliability Engineering refers to bridging the gap between production and operation. The main goal of the process is to ensure that the product is highly reliable and scalable.
During the whole process, there will be issues from both the development team and the operations team. It is the role of Site Reliability Engineers to help solve these problems. Logical thinking skills are mandatory for the role of an SRE.
It is also significant that you can have composure under extreme pressure and stress. You should be a person who does not panic in such situations: instead, you should stay calm and try to work out a feasible solution.
One of the critical tasks of an SRE is to handle on-call and emergency support.
Teamwork
Working with a team is inevitable, especially when you are working on a big project. Thus, you need to be socially active while being aware of the boundaries of maintaining professional relationships with your co-workers.
Besides having excellent interaction skills, it is also indispensable that you have exceptional listening skills. Teamwork means considering the involvement of everybody, and so it is not only your ideas that will receive the honor.
It is important to accept constructive criticism from your workmates in a positive sense. It makes your product better and helps you to evolve more, both as a person and a professional. A good team of Site Reliability Engineers can guarantee the success of a product and an organization. This is the reason why a Site Reliability Engineer should develop his or her technical as well as non-technical skills to become the best in the field.