HR Templates | Sample Interview Questions

Devops Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

Use this list of Devops Engineer interview questions and answers to gain better insight into your candidates, and make better hiring decisions.

Devops Engineer overview

When interviewing for a Devops Engineer position, it's crucial to assess the candidate's technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and cultural fit. Look for experience with automation, cloud services, and a collaborative mindset.

Sample Interview Questions

  • Can you tell us about a time you automated a repetitive task? What tools did you use? ️

    Purpose: To gauge the candidate's experience with automation and their familiarity with relevant tools.

    Sample answer

    Sure! I once automated our deployment process using Jenkins and Ansible, reducing deployment time by 50%.

  • How do you ensure high availability and reliability in a cloud environment? ️

    Purpose: To understand the candidate's approach to maintaining uptime and reliability in cloud services.

    Sample answer

    I use a combination of load balancing, auto-scaling, and regular monitoring to ensure our services are always available.

  • What’s your favorite CI/CD tool and why?

    Purpose: To learn about the candidate's preferences and experience with continuous integration and continuous deployment tools.

    Sample answer

    I love using Jenkins because of its flexibility and the vast number of plugins available.

  • How do you handle a situation where a deployment goes wrong?

    Purpose: To assess the candidate's problem-solving skills and their ability to handle stressful situations.

    Sample answer

    First, I would roll back the deployment to the last stable state, then analyze the logs to identify and fix the issue.

  • How do you monitor the performance of your applications?

    Purpose: To understand the candidate's approach to performance monitoring and the tools they use.

    Sample answer

    I use tools like Prometheus and Grafana to monitor application performance and set up alerts for any anomalies.

  • Can you explain the concept of 'Infrastructure as Code' (IaC)? ️

    Purpose: To gauge the candidate's understanding of IaC and its importance in modern DevOps practices.

    Sample answer

    IaC is the practice of managing and provisioning computing infrastructure through machine-readable scripts, which makes deployments more consistent and repeatable.

  • ️ How do you ensure security in your DevOps processes?

    Purpose: To assess the candidate's knowledge of security best practices in a DevOps environment.

    Sample answer

    I integrate security checks into the CI/CD pipeline, use tools like Snyk for vulnerability scanning, and ensure proper access controls are in place.

  • How do you collaborate with development and operations teams? ‍ ‍

    Purpose: To understand the candidate's communication and teamwork skills.

    Sample answer

    I hold regular sync meetings, use collaborative tools like Slack and Jira, and ensure clear documentation is available for everyone.

  • What containerization tools have you used, and what do you like about them?

    Purpose: To learn about the candidate's experience with containerization and their preferences.

    Sample answer

    I've used Docker extensively because it simplifies the deployment process and ensures consistency across different environments.

  • How do you handle configuration management? ️

    Purpose: To understand the candidate's approach to managing configurations across different environments.

    Sample answer

    I use tools like Ansible and Chef to manage configurations, ensuring that all environments are consistent and easily reproducible.

🚨 Red Flags

Look out for these red flags when interviewing candidates for this role:

  • Lack of experience with automation tools
  • Inability to explain basic DevOps concepts
  • Poor problem-solving skills
  • Lack of familiarity with cloud services
  • Inability to work collaboratively with teams