Hiring for Helm Experience: The Complete Guide

What Helm Engineers Actually Build

Before writing your job description, understand what Helm work looks like at different companies. The complexity varies dramatically based on your Kubernetes maturity.

Streaming & Media

Spotify uses Helm as a core component of their Backstage developer portal:

• Standardized Helm chart templates for all microservices
• Custom Helm plugins integrated with Backstage catalog
• Automated chart versioning and dependency management
• Library charts providing shared configurations

Netflix employs Helm for their developer tools infrastructure:

• Complex charts for internal development environments
• Multi-environment value overrides (dev/staging/prod)
• Integration with their custom deployment orchestration
• Chart testing pipelines with Helm unittest

E-Commerce & Retail

Shopify relies heavily on Helm for deployment standardization:

• 100+ custom Helm charts for merchant-facing services
• Helm hooks for database migrations during deployments
• ArgoCD + Helm for GitOps-style continuous delivery
• Chart repositories with automated security scanning

Airbnb has built an extensive Helm ecosystem:

• Internal chart repository serving 1,000+ microservices
• Library charts for common patterns (web services, workers, cron jobs)
• Helm-based developer self-service platform
• Integration with their custom service mesh configuration

Enterprise & SaaS

Adobe uses Helm across their creative cloud infrastructure:

• Multi-tenant Helm deployments with strict isolation
• Complex subchart dependencies for enterprise applications
• Helm Secrets integration for secure credential management
• Automated chart promotion across environment stages

Salesforce leverages Helm for their Kubernetes platform:

• Standard chart structures enforced by policy
• Custom Helm operators for application lifecycle management
• Advanced templating for multi-region deployments
• Comprehensive chart documentation and onboarding

Understanding Helm: Charts, Templating, and Releases

Helm organizes Kubernetes resources into packages called "charts." Here's what your candidates should understand:

Chart Structure

A Helm chart is a directory containing:

• Chart.yaml: Metadata about the chart (name, version, dependencies)
• values.yaml: Default configuration values
• templates/: Kubernetes manifest templates using Go templating
• charts/: Subcharts (dependencies)

Strong Helm candidates understand how these pieces interact. They can explain why you'd use subcharts vs. library charts, when to split values files, and how to structure templates for maintainability.

Templating Power and Complexity

Helm uses Go's template language with additional functions from Sprig. This ranges from simple to complex:

Simple: Injecting values into manifests

• Variable substitution: {{ .Values.replicas }}
• Conditionals: {{ if .Values.ingress.enabled }}
• Loops: {{ range .Values.extraEnvVars }}

Advanced: Chart library patterns

• Named templates and partials
• Template inheritance with include and tpl
• Generating complex structures programmatically
• Cross-chart value sharing

Expert: Production-grade patterns

• Library charts for organizational standards
• Schema validation with values.schema.json
• Post-render hooks for Kustomize integration
• Helm SDK for custom tooling

Release Management

Helm tracks deployments as "releases" with built-in versioning:

• helm install: Create a new release
• helm upgrade: Update an existing release with new chart/values
• helm rollback: Revert to a previous release version
• helm history: View release history with revision tracking

Senior candidates understand release lifecycle, atomic upgrades, rollback strategies, and how Helm stores release state (Kubernetes Secrets by default).

Helm vs Kustomize: A Critical Hiring Distinction

This is increasingly asked in interviews. Understanding the tradeoffs reveals Kubernetes maturity:

When Teams Choose Helm

• Complex applications: Multi-component apps with many configuration options
• Third-party software: Installing databases, monitoring stacks, ingress controllers
• Distribution: Sharing charts publicly or across teams
• Templating needs: Dynamic configuration based on environment/context
• Companies using this: Spotify, Airbnb, Shopify

When Teams Choose Kustomize

• Simpler applications: Straightforward services without heavy configuration
• GitOps native: Works seamlessly with ArgoCD and Flux
• No templating: Plain YAML with overlays and patches
• Kubernetes native: Built into kubectl (no additional tooling)
• Companies using this: Intuit, Lyft, many Google-adjacent companies

The Modern Reality: Using Both

Many organizations use both tools together:

• Helm for complex charts (databases, third-party software)
• Kustomize for environment-specific overlays
• Helm post-renderers piping output to Kustomize
• ArgoCD supporting both natively

Interview insight: Ask candidates about this tradeoff. Those who dogmatically prefer one tool haven't worked in diverse environments. Pragmatic engineers choose the right tool for each use case.

GitOps and Helm: Modern Deployment Practices

GitOps has become the standard for Kubernetes deployments. Helm integrates into GitOps workflows in several ways:

ArgoCD + Helm

The most common pattern at companies like Shopify and Adobe:

• ArgoCD natively understands Helm charts
• Charts deployed from Git repositories or Helm registries
• Value overrides stored in Git alongside application definitions
• Automatic sync on chart or values changes

Flux + Helm

Common at companies adopting the Flux ecosystem:

• HelmRelease custom resources define deployments
• HelmRepository resources point to chart sources
• Values and chart versions managed declaratively
• Automatic image updates with Flux's image automation

Chart Repositories and OCI

Modern Helm supports OCI registries for chart storage:

• Harbor, GitHub Container Registry, AWS ECR for charts
• Versioned artifacts with signature verification
• Integration with existing container registries
• ChartMuseum for self-hosted repositories

Interview signal: Ask how candidates manage chart versions in GitOps. Those who describe pulling latest versions for production don't understand release management. Look for pinned versions, automated updates, and promotion workflows.

Recruiter's Cheat Sheet: Spotting Great Candidates

Conversation Starters That Reveal Skill Level

Instead of asking "Do you know Helm?", try these:

Resume Signals That Matter

✅ Look for:

• Chart authorship experience ("Built 20+ internal Helm charts")
• Specific tooling (ArgoCD, Flux, ChartMuseum, Harbor)
• Scale metrics ("Chart repository serving 50+ teams")
• Library chart experience ("Created library charts for service mesh configuration")
• GitOps integration ("Implemented Helm-based GitOps pipeline")

🚫 Be skeptical of:

• Only helm install/upgrade experience (consumer, not creator)
• No mention of values management or secrets
• "Helm expert" without specific chart authorship
• Listing Helm without corresponding Kubernetes depth
• Generic descriptions ("Used Helm for deployments")

GitHub/Portfolio Signals

Strong candidates might have:

• Public Helm charts with meaningful complexity
• Contributions to official charts or bitnami charts
• Helm plugins or tooling extensions
• Chart testing examples with unittest or ct

Common Hiring Mistakes

1. Requiring Helm Without Kubernetes Depth

Helm is a layer on top of Kubernetes. Someone who deeply understands Kubernetes can learn Helm in days. Someone who knows Helm syntax but not Kubernetes fundamentals will write broken charts.

Better approach: Require Kubernetes expertise and list Helm as preferred. The underlying platform knowledge matters more.

2. Conflating Chart Consumer vs. Chart Author

Using helm install prometheus is trivial. Building production-quality charts with proper templating, hooks, testing, and documentation requires significant experience.

Shopify's approach: They distinguish "uses Helm" (most engineers) from "builds Helm infrastructure" (platform team).

3. Ignoring the GitOps Context

Helm doesn't exist in isolation—it's part of a deployment ecosystem. A candidate who knows Helm but has never worked with GitOps, CI/CD pipelines, or chart repositories is missing critical context.

Better approach: Ask about their full deployment workflow, not just Helm syntax.

4. Over-Indexing on Helm for Platform Roles

For platform engineering roles, Helm is one tool among many. Deep Kubernetes expertise, Terraform/Pulumi for infrastructure, and programming skills (Go, Python) often matter more than advanced Helm templating.

Better approach: Test for systems thinking and automation skills, not just Helm syntax.

5. Not Specifying Your Helm Ecosystem

Companies use Helm differently. Are you using ArgoCD or Flux? Helm 3 or (rarely) Helm 2? OCI registries or ChartMuseum? Internal charts or mostly third-party? Being specific helps candidates self-select.

Better approach: Document your actual Helm ecosystem in the job description.

Advanced Topics: What Separates Senior Helm Engineers

Helm Hooks and Lifecycle Management

Hooks allow running jobs at specific points in a release lifecycle:

• pre-install/post-install: Database migrations, secrets provisioning
• pre-upgrade/post-upgrade: Blue-green cutover, cache warming
• pre-delete/post-delete: Backup creation, resource cleanup
• test hooks: Release verification tests

Senior engineers understand hook ordering, failure handling, and when hooks are overkill vs. necessary.

Library Charts and Organizational Standards

Large organizations create library charts to enforce standards:

• Common labels and annotations
• Security context configurations
• Resource limit defaults
• Monitoring integrations

This is advanced work requiring deep understanding of Helm templating and organizational deployment patterns.

Chart Testing and CI/CD

Production-grade chart development includes:

• helm lint: Syntax and best practice validation
• helm template: Render templates without installing
• helm unittest: Assert template output
• chart-testing (ct): Test chart changes in CI
• kind/k3d: Local cluster testing before merge

Schema Validation

Modern Helm charts use values.schema.json to validate input:

• Type checking for values
• Required fields enforcement
• Enum constraints for valid options
• Documentation generation from schema

Helm in the Modern Kubernetes Ecosystem

OCI Registries Are the Future

Helm 3.8+ supports OCI registries natively:

• Store charts alongside container images
• Use existing registry authentication
• Benefit from registry features (scanning, signing)
• Simplify chart distribution infrastructure

Helm + Kustomize Post-Renderers

The best of both worlds:

• Helm for complex templating and packaging
• Kustomize for environment-specific patches
• ArgoCD/Flux support both natively
• Reduces chart complexity by moving overlays to Kustomize

Helmfile for Multi-Chart Orchestration

Organizations with many charts often use Helmfile:

• Declare multiple releases in a single file
• Environment-specific configurations
• Dependency ordering between releases
• Secrets management integration

This is common at companies like Airbnb managing hundreds of services.