Skip to main content

DevOps Common Interview Questions

Approach​

Preparing for the interview is as crucial as the hands-on knowledge. So you need to be ready. Following the Agile MVP style, each module is linked to common interview questions, so you should be ready for the interview at any phase.

After you finish the module content and the module project, you review the interview questions and ensure you understand each one well (but not necessarily 100%).

tip

The common interview questions are basic and usually used in the screening (filtering) interview phase. Once you finish them, move forward with the Interview Scenario Based Questions

Module 1​

Roadmap Module: Welcome to the DevOps World

  • What is DevOps and what is the need for it?
  • What are the fundamental differences between DevOps & Agile?
  • What is a DevOps Engineer?
  • What is Requirements to Become a DevOps Engineer?
  • What are the three important DevOps pillars?
  • What are the various stages of DevOps?
  • What are the key components of a successful DevOps workflow?
  • What are the different phases of the DevOps lifecycle?
  • What are some technical and business benefits of DevOps methodology?
  • How would you strategize for a successful DevOps implementation?
  • What are the core operations of DevOps in terms of development and infrastructure?
  • What is Diffrance between DevOps & SRE & Cloud & Platform Engineer?

Resources​

Module 2​

Roadmap Module: Basics - DevOps Core

  • What are Python's key features that make it suitable for Cloud and DevOps?
  • Explain the difference between list, tuple, set, and dictionary.
  • What is the difference between global and local scope?
  • What is an iterator in Python?
  • Can you copy a List in Python by simply writing list2 = list1?
  • What is indentation in Python, and why is it important?
  • How can you return a range of characters of a string?
  • What is a Git Repository?
  • Explain the concept of branching in Git?
  • What's the difference between git fetch and git pull?
  • What is Git squashing?
  • What is a merge conflict in Git?
  • What is git prune?
  • What is git rebase?
  • What is the difference between Git merge and Git rebase?
  • What is the Linux file permission model, and how does it work?
  • What is sudo command in Linux?
  • What is shell in Linux?
  • What is the difference between hard links and soft links in Linux?
  • How do you list all the processes running in Linux?
  • What are the most important Linux commands?
  • What is the chmod command in Linux, and how do you use it?
  • What is the find command, and how do you use it?
  • What is the grep command used for in Linux?
  • What is the sed command used for in Linux?
  • How do you check the status of a service or daemon in Linux?
  • What is the difference between /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files?
  • How do you schedule recurring tasks in Linux?
  • What is the purpose of the sudoers file in Linux, and how do you configure sudo access for users?
  • How do you change the ownership of a file or directory in Linux using the chown command?
  • How are files organized in Linux?
  • What is Bash?
  • What is the difference between a regular user and a root user?
  • What is the difference between RPM-based and Debian-based distributions?
  • What is the difference between a shell and a terminal in Linux?
  • What is Docker?
  • What are the features of Docker?
  • Name and explain the components of Docker.
  • What are the difference between containers and virtualization?
  • How to start, stop, and kill a container?

Resources​

Module 3​

Roadmap Module: Start - Laying the Base

  • What are automation testing and continuous testing?
  • What is CI/CD?
  • What are the benefits of CI/CD?
  • What are tools commonly used for CI/CD?
  • Explain the concept of a pipeline in CI/CD.
  • What is the importance of code quality in CI/CD?
  • How do you implement testing in CI/CD?
  • How does version control integrate with CI/CD?
  • What is GitHub Actions?
  • What are the benefits of using GitHub Actions?
  • How do workflows work in GitHub Actions?
  • What are the different components of a GitHub Actions workflow?
  • What are runners in the context of GitHub Actions?
  • What are the differences between a job and a step in GitHub Actions?
  • How do you manage secrets in GitHub Actions?
  • How do you define a workflow trigger in GitHub Actions?
  • How do you run a job only on specific branches?
  • How do you pass environment variables across jobs?
  • How do you specify a particular runner version?

Resources​

Module 4​

Roadmap Module: Expand - Constructing a Shell

  • What is Kubernetes?
  • Explain the architecture of Kubernetes.
  • Explain the concept of container orchestration.
  • What is a Namespace in Kubernetes?
  • What is a Pod in Kubernetes?
  • How does Kubernetes handle container scaling?
  • What is the difference between a StatefulSet and a Deployment?
  • What is a service in Kubernetes?
  • How does Kubernetes manage configurations?
  • Describe the role of the master node in Kubernetes.
  • Explain the concept of ingress in Kubernetes.
  • What is a ConfigMap in Kubernetes?
  • How do rolling updates work in a Deployment?
  • What is a Persistent Volume (PV) in Kubernetes?
  • What are some CI/CD best practices?
  • How do you promote CI/CD best practices within a team?
  • What is the difference between monitoring and observability?
  • What are the primary components of observability?
  • How does a trace differ from a log?
  • What are some best practices for logging?
  • How would you set up monitoring for a Kubernetes cluster?
  • What are the main differences between Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS)?
  • What are some common cloud security threats, and how can they be mitigated?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a public cloud versus a private cloud?
  • Can you describe the role of virtualization in cloud computing?

Resources​

Module 5​

Roadmap Module: Transform - Finishing the Structure

  • What is the product backlog?
  • What is the sprint backlog?
  • What is system integration?
  • What are the different types of system integration approaches?
  • Explain the concept of RESTful APIs.
  • What are the different phases of a system integration project?
  • What is continuous testing?
  • What is automation testing?
  • What are the benefits of automation testing?
  • What are the key elements of continuous testing tools?
  • Explain the term Infrastructure as Code (IaC) as it relates to Configuration Management.
  • What are the benefits of Infrastructure as Code?
  • Why is Terraform used for DevOps?
  • What are the key features of Terraform?
  • Explain the uses of Terraform CLI and list some basic CLI commands?
  • What are modules in Terraform?
  • What is a private module registry?
  • What are the components of Terraform architecture?
  • What is Kubectl?
  • How do you automate Kubernetes deployments?
  • What are the benefits of using Kustomize?
  • What are the key components of Kustomize?
  • Explain the concept of overlays in Kustomize.
  • What is Helm?
  • What are the benefits of using Helm?
  • What are the different types of Helm charts?
  • What is Monitoring in DevOps?
  • What is Logging?
  • How does monitoring differ from logging?
  • What are logs, and why are they important?
  • What is OpenTelemetry?
  • What is log aggregation, and why is it essential?
  • How do you implement centralized logging?
  • What is Continuous Delivery?

Resourcecs​

Module 6​

Roadmap Module: Optimize - Keep Improving

  • Why are sprint retrospective meetings important?
  • What are some common performance optimization techniques?
  • What is caching and how does it improve performance?
  • What are the different types of caching?
  • Explain the concept of lazy loading.
  • What are some ways to optimize images for web performance?
  • What is a content delivery network (CDN)?
  • How can database optimization improve performance?
  • What are some best practices for optimizing web applications?
  • How can you improve the performance of database queries?
  • What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous operations?
  • What role does a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) play in securing the supply chain?
  • What is security testing in the context of CI/CD?
  • Why is security testing important in CI/CD?
  • What are the common types of security testing?
  • What is Static Application Security Testing (SAST)?
  • What are the common tools for SAST?
  • What is the concept of ‘shift-left’ in security testing?
  • How does container security testing work in CI/CD?
  • How do you implement a Git workflow in a team environment?
  • Explain the Git workflow.
  • Explain the concept of drift in Terraform.
  • What are some ways to prevent or handle drift in Terraform?
  • How does Kubernetes support multi-tenancy, and what is the role of namespaces in achieving isolation and resource allocation for different teams or projects?
  • How do you manage multi-tenancy in Kubernetes?
  • Explain Kubernetes Architecture.
  • Explain the concept of a Custom Operator in Kubernetes.
  • How does Kubernetes manage configuration?
  • What is a ConfigMap?
  • How does Kubernetes handle container scaling?
  • Explain the difference between a StatefulSet and a Deployment.
  • What are Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs)?
  • How can Helm charts be versioned and maintained?
  • How do you handle Helm chart updates and version upgrades in a production environment?
  • How do you manage Helm chart updates in a rolling deployment strategy?
  • Explain how Helm handles versioning for charts and releases.
  • How do you handle Helm chart versioning when working with multiple teams and environments?
  • How do you version Helm charts for continuous delivery pipelines?
  • How do you integrate Helm with GitOps practices?
  • How can you automate the deployment of Helm charts in a Kubernetes cluster using GitOps practices?
  • explain Continuous Deployment and its advantages.
  • In what situations would a Continuous Deployment strategy not be appropriate?
  • Can you explain how Continuous Delivery differs from Continuous Deployment?
  • Can you explain the difference between Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment?
  • What is GitOps, and how does it differ from traditional CI/CD?
  • Describe the process of blue-green deployment.
  • What is GitOps?
  • What is difference between DevOps and GitOps?
  • What are benefits of GitOps?
  • Why do we need GitOps?
  • What are GitOps Tools?
  • What is ArgoCD?
  • Explain ArgoCD Architecture and its components
  • ArgoCD Architecture Components
  • Explain How does ArgoCD Works | Explain GitOps Pipeline
  • How ArgoCD is different from other CD Tools?

Resources​

Module 7​

Roadmap Module: Capstone Project

The questions for this section are dynamic based on the actual capstone project.

Done? Move forward with the Interview Scenario Based Questions.