In the last few years I have let me career progression move me away from the day-to-day technical communities in which I used to engage. It used to be the case that I could login to IRC and get immediate feedback from a group of peers on certain ideas, or ask for advice and know where to get sound responses.

In recent months I've been looking to hire a few people into permanent roles for both development and systems administration. I'm still looking.

Having not been attending the meetups and scheduled talks that I'd normally attend, my contacts list outside of my immediate employment is limited, and the vast majority of developers and sysadmins I've previously worked with are gainfully employed at places they're currently happy in.

In the current environment, I'd appreciate feedback on what would make the positions attractive. Where should I be advertising and how should I be engaging with the talent I seek. Is there a thriving DevOps community in London that I need to engage in and can you introduce me?