75 DevOps Interview Questions And Sample Answers (With Tips)

Updated 12 September 2023

The technical interview is an essential step in any software development hiring process. In a DevOps interview, the questions can range between technical topics and the transferable skills that qualify you for the job. If you are getting ready to interview for a DevOps role, consider reviewing technical, situational and behavioural questions. In this article, we explore examples of DevOps interview questions with some examples to help you prepare for your interview.

4 Example DevOps Interview Questions And Answers

Use the following example interview questions and answers about your DevOps experience to help you prepare:

1. What experience do you have in DevOps?

This common question helps interviewers assess how your skills and expertise fulfil the job requirements. Give examples of the degrees, certifications and other qualifications you have that are relevant to the job description and can distinguish you from other candidates.

Example: "I have a bachelor's degree in software engineering and am currently studying to obtain my AWS engineer certification. In my previous role, I was responsible for forming and overseeing many of the projects the DevOps team completed, and I am confident this experience can be an asset to the team."

2. What are your favourite DevOps tools?

Software developers and engineers must have strong proficiency with an array of tools when implementing DevOps methodologies. Give examples of the tools you have experience with and how they have supported your success in the past.

Example: "The testing framework I have the most experience with is Selenium, however, I enjoy using Jenkins for combining building, testing and deployment processes. I also favour Git when working in paired programming environments, as it allows for collaborative coding in software development."

3. How do you ensure effective team collaboration?

DevOps requires consistent and open collaboration and shared working environments, so interviewers may use this type of question to evaluate your ability to understand others' ideas, communicate effectively and support team goals.

Example: "In my previous role, I would meet with my teammates to discuss the parameters of new projects. During these meetings, we established plans for progress evaluation, conference schedules and informal communication procedures for support purposes."

4. Describe a time when you managed both development and operational processes.

DevOps combines practices from both development and operational teams in an IT department, and the interviewer may want to understand how you applied your leadership skills to direct effective processes between both teams. Describe your experience with planning workflow, gaining input and delegating team roles.

Example: "I have not yet had the opportunity to combine my leadership role between both the operational and development teams. However, my previous employer allowed me to spend my last two weeks mentoring with him to develop my ability to delegate operations and integration and oversee the processes of both aspects of a DevOps team. With this experience, I am excited to have the opportunity to develop further within your organisation."

What Skills Are Necessary For DevOps?

DevOps professionals rely on a combination of technical knowledge and transferable skills to be successful. Their technical skills are highly essential in the development processes and operational management of software engineering projects. Aside from technical expertise and qualifications in software development and computer science, DevOps positions also require:

Research and analysis skills
Interpersonal and communication skills
Creativity and problem-solving skills
Ability to remain flexible and adaptive in fast-paced environments

How Do I Prepare For A DevOps Interview?

The following steps show you how to get ready for a DevOps interview:

Research the company. Review the organisation's website to learn about current projects or challenges you can contribute to and discuss these during your interview.
Prepare a portfolio. Share a brief portfolio of work to highlight your most successful software builds using the DevOps methodology.
List questions to ask. Make a list of questions to ask at the end of your interview to learn more about specific expectations, compensation and other details about the role.
Review coding and programming concepts. Ensure you are aware of recent industry developments and review core concepts that prepare you for practical coding and programming questions.

Additional DevOps Questions

Consider these additional questions when preparing for your DevOps interview:

General questions about DevOps

The following examples include general questions about your DevOps experience:

How did you develop your expertise in DevOps methodologies?
What scripting languages do you have experience using?
How do you see this position supporting your skill development in DevOps implementation?
What operations are essential when combining development and infrastructure?
What do you consider your greatest strengths regarding DevOps implementation?
Can you describe a time when you disagreed with a colleague about the steps to take in DevOps production? How did you resolve it?
What do you consider first when organising a new project?
How do you determine which specifications to deploy for software development?
What distinguishes the DevOps methodology from the agile methodology?
What challenges do you try to prepare for when integrating the DevOps methodology?
How do you determine whether a project should implement DevOps?
How would you use configuration management to address challenges in IT workflow?
What makes DevOps advantageous in software production?
Give an example of your DevOps workflow.
How would you support new IT department members if they are unfamiliar with the DevOps approach?
What roles would you assign when forming a DevOps team?
How would you determine which roles to assign to team members?
What do you consider when setting DevOps KPIs?
What metrics would you suggest establishing to ensure teams meet critical KPIs?
What topics do you feel are most important to discuss during team collaborations?
What is your strategy for preparing formal documentation?
How do you communicate your progress with management, executives and shareholders?

Questions about your DevOps experience and background

The following questions provide examples of what interviewers may ask to assess your background and experience using DevOps:

Describe a time when your integration of DevOps did not fit the project. How did you handle it?
What do you do to help teammates evaluate their work and resolve errors?
How do you set communication parameters in a DevOps environment?
Have you ever completed a project using component-based development?
What do you consider when working in paired programming environments?
How do you approach each phase of the DevOps life cycle?
Explain how DevOps can benefit business operations.
What role does configuration management have in your DevOps projects?
How does infrastructure as code (IaC) relate to configuration management?
When would you use imperative approaches to system configuration in IaC?
What instances call for declarative configuration in IaC?
Why would you integrate continuous monitoring? How would you do it?
What are some effective network monitoring tools you have experience using?
What approaches do you take to handle version control?
What role does automation have in continuous deployment?
If you determine a current project requires a DevOps approach, how would you implement AWS?
How do you process infrastructure code in AWS?
When would you suggest a centralised version control system?
When would you use a distributed control system?
What factors would you consider during the evaluation of a Linux-build system with low performance?

In-depth questions about your DevOps expertise

The following in-depth questions include examples of what interviewers may ask to evaluate your expertise:

When would you integrate two-factor authentication?
What types of testing would you perform to ensure a service is ready for production?
How would you explain the blue-green deployment pattern to non-technical teammates?
How do you use feedback from post mortem sessions to improve future DevOps projects?
What steps would you take to create a small cloud application regarding automation processes?
What tools would you suggest for network docking?
What is your proficiency in GitHub?
How do you feel the functionality of Git benefits DevOps projects?
To which types of applications would you apply Git forking?
When would you use branching?
What do you consider when configuring systems in a client architecture?
What components would you include when using a shift-left process for development and delivery?
What factors are essential when configuring a system in a server architecture?
When integrating development projects in Git, what are some precautions you take to reduce scripting conflict?
How would you handle a merging conflict when using Git?
When would you choose to rebase in Git over merging?
How would you help a teammate revert a defective Git commit if they accidentally make it public?
How would you move Jenkins to another server?
When would you suggest using a Selenium grid?
How can Jenkins support continuous integration?
Assuming the IT department has multiple projects in the Jenkins dashboard, how would you approach building them all at once?
Have you ever used Ansible for your automation processes?
What instances would it be appropriate to use ad hoc commands in system configuration?
How would you write the syntax for the creation of a docker image?
How do you use docker containers to support the creation of docker images?
What practices do you follow when creating docker files?
How would you integrate docking containers into a virtual machine?
Which tools do you find most effective for regression testing?
What do you consider when using dependency management in automation testing?