[jwitko]

This article was written in 2014 but I can personally attest from my experience it is still just as relevant and true. As the owner / operator of a DevOps As a Service company I see all too often people trying to replace dedicated infrastructure and cloud architecture experts with "Someone who has more of a 70% developer 30% devops background". It's unfair to the person being hired with unrealistic expectations and typically damaging to the company in terms of lost time and productivity.

[HillaryBriss]

i know of a company that has defined a position where a single person designs and sets up some technical equipment for two totally different departments led by two different, competing bosses.

this job-holder is routinely overworked and faces extreme demands on their time, requiring on-site presence both early in the morning and late at night. the job-holder must mediate interdepartmental conflict (two bosses). and there's no path to promotion.

the company keeps losing people in this position. it keeps casting a wider net, bringing in people from further and further away.

this is a solid, successful company with a reputation as one of the very best places to work in the county. but it has never bothered to redefine the position into two or more separate jobs. it's just churn and burn.

i'm not sure what the moral is. managers exploit the labor pool until they can't any more. then they look for another labor pool. if that doesn't work they whine and complain that they "can't find workers" to fill their jobs.