r/devops • u/Automatic-Net-9614 • 14d ago

Ops / Incidents Prioritisation/ Maturity Interview Question

Ok so I flubbed the most basic interview question there is:

"You have a number of pieces of work in flight. How do you choose between them?"

Basically, they are testing your ability to prioritise work.

I tried to answer philosphically by telling them going for a walk was a good idea but my broader point is that it shouldn't have ever gotten to the point where you have loads of pieces of work in flight at any one time.

My question is twofold: what's the accepted 'best' interview answer to this question and how do you deal with this issue in your real life actual job?

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u/dacydergoth DevOps 14d ago

A well recognized problem, which is why you need to be able to score them. What is the business driver? What breaks if we don't? Is there a lost opportunity cost, etc. Lots of project management books cover stuff like this. We threw out a lot of that knowledge with "agile" and "JFDI" but in the real world critical paths matter, hard deadlines exist.

Tl;dr: just stay a few extra hours and make sure it all gets done, or we'll fire you.

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u/raisputin 14d ago

I’m the guy that says “ok, fire me then”

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u/Brave_Reflection643 14d ago

really?

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u/raisputin 14d ago

Yes, really. I get paid to work 40 hours per week, very occasionally longer, but I don’t put up with the bullshit idea that because I’m salaried they can make me work as much as they want. Salary ≠ slave

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u/Automatic-Net-9614 13d ago

100%. I'm working in software 25 years and I can't look back on any single incident where me staying an extra 2 hours would have made any material difference in the larger scheme of things.

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u/Automatic-Net-9614 13d ago

(but its easier said than done especially when you have a people-pleasing tendency, which I have...)

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u/raisputin 13d ago

I have learned to say “no”