12 Sample DevOps Interview Questions and Answers

DevOps is a tech project management methodology that brings software development and IT operations teams together to develop high-quality software in a faster time-to-market. Want to become a team player—or leader—in software development? First, you’ll need to learn how to answer common DevOps interview questions to impress a potential employer.

The time and effort you put into preparing for an interview will pay off. According to Monster’s salary data, DevOps engineers typically earn between $99,595 and $142,739 per year. Plus, you’ll have plenty of job security. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 25% increase in new software development jobs over the next decade.

If you’re not sure which questions you’ll encounter during a DevOps job interview, don’t worry. The sample DevOps interview questions and answers below provide examples of what to say when you meet with a hiring manager. Try setting up a mock interview with a friend, so you can practice saying your answers out loud before the real thing.

DevOps Interview Questions

1. What Is DevOps and Why Is It Important for Software Development?
2. What Tools Do You Use in Your DevOps Process?
3. Do You Have Any Experience Working in an Agile Environment? How Can You Apply Your Agile Experience to a DevOps Role?
4. What Are Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment?
5. How Do You Ensure Scalability and Performance in DevOps?
6. Describe DevOps Key Performance Indicators.
7. What Is Azure DevOps Used For?
8. What Is the Difference Between a Build Pipeline and a Release Pipeline in Azure DevOps?
9. What Is Git and How Is It Related to Azure DevOps?
10. What Role Does AWS Play in DevOps?
11. What Steps Would You Take to Set Up a Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery Pipeline in AWS DevOps?
12. How Would You Implement Infrastructure as Code in AWS DevOps?

Basic DevOps Interview Questions and Answers

The first few interview questions for DevOps roles will focus on describing why DevOps is important, DevOps tools, and working in an Agile environment.

Question #1: What Is DevOps and Why Is It Important for Software Development?

Employers may start an interview by gauging your understanding of DevOps and its role in software development. Create your answer with these details in mind:

• A definition of DevOps.
• The goal of DevOps.
• The benefits of DevOps.

How You Could Answer?

“DevOps is a software development methodology that combines development and operations. Its goal is to streamline the software development process by bringing together development and IT operations teams to work in a collaborative and integrated way.

This approach helps to reduce the time and cost involved in developing and deploying software, while also improving the quality and reliability of the end product. DevOps encourages a culture of continuous improvement, with frequent feedback and testing, which helps to identify and resolve issues quickly. It also supports automation, which eliminates many manual tasks and reduces the risk of errors.”

Question #2: What Tools Do You Use in Your DevOps Process?

When you work in DevOps, you’ll use a variety of tools for team collaboration, communication, automation, and quality assurance. Create your answer to this question by describing the following:

• The types of DevOps tools you’re proficient in.
• Specific tools you’ve used (e.g., Ansible, Jenkins, and Kubernetes).
• The purpose of each tool.

How You Could Answer

“The DevOps tools I’m proficient in are:

• Continuous management tools such as Ansible, Chef, and Puppetfor infrastructure management and automation.
• Continuous integration tools such as Jenkins, Travis CI, and CircleCI to integrate code changes and test them continuously.
• Continuous delivery tools such as Docker and Kubernetes for containerization and deployment automation.
• Version control tools such as Git to manage and share code changes.
• Monitoring and logging tools such as Nagios, ELK stack, and Prometheus to track and analyze performance and issues.
• Collaboration tools such as Slack, JIRA, and Trello for project management and team communication.”

Question #3: Do You Have Any Experience Working in an Agile Environment? How Can You Apply Your Agile Experience to a DevOps Role?

DevOps builds on Agile’s iterative approach to software development by implementing continuous integration and delivery, lean practices, and automation throughout the entire software lifecycle. Having previous Agile experience can help you transition into a DevOps role. Here’s how you can create your answer:

• Briefly describe your experience working in an Agile environment.
• Explain what you understand about working in an Agile environment.
• Describe how you would transition into a DevOps role.

How You Could Answer

“Yes, I do have five years of experience working in an Agile environment. I’m familiar with Agile principles such as collaboration, adaptability, and continuous improvement. In my previous role, I worked with cross-functional teams that followed Agile methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban.

I coordinated tasks and resource allocations across various departments, ensuring smooth communication and collaboration between teams. I have also participated in daily stand-up meetings, sprint planning, retrospectives, and backlog grooming sessions. I used tools such as Trello and Jira to manage and track project progress, workflows, and tasks.

My experience with team collaboration, communication, continuous improvement, and project management tools in Agile would help me to transition into a DevOps role.”

DevOps Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

The next three DevOps interview questions will cover continuous integration, continuous delivery, continuous deployment, scalability, performance, and DevOps KPIs.

Question #4: What Are Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment?

Continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment are critical for streamlining software development workflows and increasing efficiency and productivity. To demonstrate your knowledge of these three processes:

• Define continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment.
• Describe how each process streamlines software development projects.

How You Could Answer

“In DevOps, continuous integration ensures that all code is regularly and automatically merged into a shared repository. This helps to decrease the possibility of errors and conflicts that may arise when developers work on the same code. It also allows developers to focus on creating new features and improving existing ones.

Continuous delivery allows teams to deliver code changes more frequently and reliably. It focuses on automating the process of building, testing, and deploying code changes in a continuous manner so they can be reviewed. This eliminates the need for manual intervention and reduces the risk of errors.

Continuous deployment is the process of automatically deploying code changes to production as soon as they are tested and deemed safe to go live. This ensures that code changes and new features are released to production quickly and efficiently. It also minimizes downtime and the risk of errors and bugs.”

Question #5: How Do You Ensure Scalability and Performance in DevOps?

Scalability and optimal performance are crucial to DevOps. When you answer DevOps interview questions about scalability and performance, explain how you use:

• Cloud computing services.
• Containerization tools.
• Monitoring and testing strategies and tools.

How You Could Answer

“Scalability and performance are two crucial aspects in DevOps. One way I ensure scalability is by leveraging cloud computing services such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure. These services offer a flexible infrastructure that allows you to easily scale up or down, depending on the application or service demands.

Another way I would achieve scalability is to use containerization tools such as Docker. Containerization offers an easy way to deploy and scale applications across multiple services.

Monitoring and testing are essential to DevOps performance. I rely on continuous testing during the development process to identify any bottlenecks and performance issues early on. Once an application is deployed, I use monitoring tools such as New Relic and AppDynamics to track performance and identify any issues that arise.”

Question #6: Describe DevOps Key Performance Indicators.

DevOps uses key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress toward software development goals and create accountability among team members. When you answer DevOps interview questions about KPIs, include the following details in your answer:

• A description of DevOps KPIs.
• A list of KPIs that DevOps uses.
• The purpose of each DevOps KPI.

How You Could Answer

“Key performance indicators (or KPIs) are metrics that help teams measure and track the success of a project. In DevOps, we use KPIs to monitor processes and identify whether improvements are needed. Here are the KPIs DevOps uses:

• Deployment frequency measures how often code is released into production.
• Change failure rate tracks how frequently code changes result in failed deployments.
• Mean time to resolution measures the time it takes to resolve issues that arise during deployments.
• Lead time measures the time it takes to implement changes throughout the software development lifecycle. This metric is typically tracked from the idea initiation all the way through the deployment and production stages.
• Change volume measures the frequency and scope of modifications made to applications or software programs.
• Defect escape rate assesses how effective quality assurance is and identifies whether improvements in testing, communication, and collaboration are needed.
• Customer satisfaction measures how well the DevOps process meets the needs of end-users and stakeholders.”

Azure DevOps Interview Questions and Answers

These three example Azure DevOps interview questions ask about the purpose of Azure DevOps, the difference between a build pipeline and a release pipeline, and how to use Git.

Question #7: What Is Azure DevOps Used For?

Microsoft Azure is a cloud-based service that provides tools to manage the DevOps lifecycle. When you describe the connection between Azure and DevOps:

• Explain why DevOps teams use Azure.
• Briefly describe what Azure DevOps is.
• Include the key features and benefits of Azure DevOps.

How You Could Answer

“DevOps teams use Azure DevOps to streamline software development. It’s a cloud-based service that facilitates collaboration and communication between cross-functional teams involved in a software development project. This allows DevOps teams to manage the entire software development lifecycle faster and more efficiently.

One of the key features of Azure DevOps is the ability to track and manage work items—such as bugs, user stories, and tasks—in a single place. It also offers a continuous integration and continuous delivery pipeline that helps automate the process of building, testing, and deploying code changes.”

Question #8: What Is the Difference Between a Build Pipeline and a Release Pipeline in Azure DevOps?

Build pipelines and release pipelines help Azure DevOps teams build, test, and deliver high-quality software. Here’s how to answer DevOps interview questions about how to use build and release pipelines:

• Provide an overview of a build pipeline and a release pipeline.
• Describe what a build pipeline and a release pipeline do in Azure DevOps.

How You Could Answer

“In Azure, a build pipeline and release pipeline serve two different purposes. A build pipeline is responsible for building source code and creating an artifact that can be deployed to a target environment. The build pipeline is the backbone of continuous integration and ensures that code changes are compiled and tested in a timely manner. It’s also responsible for checking the code into source control, compiling the code, running unit tests, and packaging the code as an artifact.

The release pipeline is responsible for deploying the code that was built by the build pipeline to a target environment. It uses continuous integration, continuous development, automated testing, and software release to ship committed code into production. In the release pipeline, each successful event triggers the next event with the goal of successfully deploying software.”

Question #9: What Is Git and How Is It Related to Azure DevOps?

Git is an essential Azure DevOps tool used for source code management. When hiring managers ask DevOps interview questions about Git, they may expect to hear the following in your answer:

• A brief explanation of Git.
• Why Git is used in Azure DevOps.
• The benefits of using Git in Azure DevOps.

How You Could Answer

“Git is a version control system in Azure DevOps that allows developers to manage code changes in a collaborative environment. It’s designed to help teams work on the same codebase and track changes to code. It also provides a centralized repository for code. This allows DevOps teams to work more efficiently, reduce development time, and improve code quality.”

AWS DevOps Interview Questions and Answers

The last three examples will cover AWS DevOps interview question about the role AWS plays in DevOps, how to set up a continuous integration and continuous delivery pipeline, and implementing infrastructure as code.

Question #10: What Role Does AWS Play in DevOps?

AWS provides the infrastructure and tools needed to efficiently build, test, and deploy software in DevOps. When you answer DevOps interview questions about AWS, include these details:

• Explain what AWS is and why it’s used in DevOps.
• Describe its services and benefits.

How You Could Answer

“Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud computing platform offered by Amazon. It provides a variety of services to enable communication in a DevOps team and automate software delivery.

AWS offers a scalable infrastructure, which means that DevOps teams can ramp up resources quickly when they need them and scale down just as quickly when they don’t. This is particularly useful for new projects.

AWS also has CodePipeline, which is a continuous delivery service that automates deployments and provides visibility into and control over every step of the software delivery process. AWS also has security features that secure infrastructures, including identity and access management, network security, and data protection.”

Question #11: What Steps Would You Take to Set Up a Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery Pipeline in AWS DevOps?

When you work with AWS DevOps, you might be responsible for establishing a continuous integration and continuous development pipeline to improve the speed, quality, and consistency of software development. Demonstrate your knowledge of continuous integration and continuous development pipelines by including these details in your answer:

• The benefits of setting up a continuous integration and continuous development pipeline in AWS DevOps.
• A list of steps you follow.

How You Could Answer

“Setting up continuous integration and continuous delivery in AWS DevOps allows for faster application delivery, reduced errors, better collaboration, scalability, and automation. These are the steps I follow:

1. Create a Jenkins instance. Jenkins is an open-source automation server that supports continuous integration and continuous delivery. I host Jenkins through an AWS EC2 instance.
2. Install Jenkins on the EC2 instance and configure it to create a free-style project.
3. Enter the source code management details (such as the repository URL) and configure the build environment.
4. Integrate Jenkins with AWS CodeCommit, so it can access the source code and trigger builds when code changes are committed.
5. Configure AWS CodePipeline to deploy the application code to AWS Elastic Beanstalk or EC2 instances.
6. Automate testing by using AWS Device Farm or Jenkins to notify me of any failures.
7. Use AWS CloudFormation for infrastructure as code, allowing me to set up and configure AWS resources for an application in a repeatable and predictable way.
8. Monitor and analyze performance using AWS CloudWatch.”

Question #12: How Would You Implement Infrastructure as Code in AWS DevOps?

Infrastructure as code (IaC) is the process of managing IT infrastructures through code rather than manual configuration. In AWS DevOps, it provides code consistency, scalability, agility, and automation. When employers ask DevOps interview questions about IaC:

• Briefly describe why you would implement IaC in AWS DevOps.
• Provide a list of steps you would follow to implement IaC.

How You Could Answer

“Implementing infrastructure as code in AWS DevOps is scalable, repeatable, and reliable. It allows DevOps teams to manage and monitor infrastructures effectively and efficiently. To accomplish implement infrastructure as code in AWS DevOps, I would:

1. Choose the tools I’ll work with such as AWS CloudFormation, Elastic Beanstalk, or Ansible.
2. Write declarative code to define the infrastructure and describe the required resources, configuration, and deployment.
3. Store the infrastructure code in a version control system such as Git to track changes and roll them back if necessary.
4. Create reusable code blocks with templates and modules that can be included in multiple infrastructure definitions.
5. Use a continuous integration and continuous delivery pipeline to build, test, and deploy the infrastructure code.
6. Use CloudWatch to monitor the infrastructure and gain insights into resource utilization, application logs, and metrics.”

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