devops-interview-handbook

DevOps Interview Handbook

A comprehensive, open-source handbook for DevOps and Cloud Engineering interviews. Covers AWS, Terraform, Kubernetes, CI/CD, networking, Linux, and security with categorized Q&A, hands-on scenarios, architecture exercises, and study roadmaps.

📚 Table of Contents

Overview
Quick Navigation
How to Use This Handbook
Content Structure
Difficulty Levels
Contributing
Resources

Overview

This handbook is designed to help you prepare for DevOps, SRE, and Cloud Engineering interviews at all levels. Whether you’re a junior engineer looking to break into the field or a senior engineer preparing for leadership roles, you’ll find relevant content here.

What’s Inside

📝 Categorized Q&A: 100+ interview questions across 7 core domains
🔧 Hands-on Scenarios: Real-world troubleshooting exercises with solutions
🏗️ Architecture Exercises: Design problems with reference solutions
🗺️ Study Roadmaps: 30/60/90-day preparation plans
✅ Checklists: Level-specific preparation checklists

Questions by Topic

AWS Questions - EC2, S3, VPC, IAM, Lambda, and more
Terraform Questions - Infrastructure as Code, state management, modules
Kubernetes Questions - Pods, Services, Deployments, troubleshooting
CI/CD Questions - Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, pipelines
Networking Questions - TCP/IP, DNS, load balancing, CDN
Linux Questions - System administration, shell scripting, performance
Security Questions - Security best practices, compliance, encryption

Hands-on Scenarios

Architecture Exercises

Study Guides

How to Use This Handbook

For Interview Preparation

Assess Your Level: Review the checklists to identify your current level
Study by Topic: Go through questions relevant to the role you’re applying for
Practice Scenarios: Work through hands-on scenarios to build troubleshooting skills
Design Exercises: Practice architecture design problems (draw diagrams!)
Review Roadmap: Follow the study roadmap for structured preparation

For Interviewers

Use questions as a starting point for technical discussions
Adapt scenarios to your team’s tech stack
Reference architecture exercises for system design rounds

Study Strategy

30 Days: Focus on fundamentals, one topic per week
60 Days: Deep dive into your weak areas, practice scenarios
90 Days: Full coverage, mock interviews, architecture practice

Content Structure

Questions Format

Each question includes:

Question: Clear, interview-style question
Difficulty: Junior / Mid / Senior level indicator
Answer: Detailed explanation with context
Follow-ups: Related questions to explore deeper
Real-world Context: When you might encounter this

Scenarios Format

Each scenario includes:

Problem Statement: What’s broken?
Environment: Context and setup
Symptoms: What you observe
Step-by-step Resolution: How to debug and fix
Root Cause: Why it happened
Prevention: How to avoid it

Architecture Exercises Format

Each exercise includes:

Requirements: Functional and non-functional
Constraints: Budget, timeline, compliance
Reference Architecture: Text-based diagram
Component Breakdown: Each component explained
Discussion Points: Trade-offs and alternatives

Difficulty Levels

Junior: Entry-level positions, 0-2 years experience
Mid: Mid-level positions, 2-5 years experience
Senior: Senior/lead positions, 5+ years experience

Questions may span multiple levels - use your judgment!

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here’s how you can help:

Add Questions: Submit new questions with detailed answers
Improve Answers: Enhance existing answers with more detail or examples
Add Scenarios: Share real-world troubleshooting scenarios
Update Resources: Add new learning resources or certifications
Fix Errors: Correct typos, update outdated information

How to Contribute

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-content)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing content')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-content)
Open a Pull Request

Please ensure:

Questions have clear, detailed answers
Code examples are tested and formatted
Follow the existing file structure
Update the README if adding new sections

Resources

Study Roadmap - Structured learning path
Curated Resources - Books, courses, certifications
Checklists - Level-specific preparation checklists

If this handbook helped you land your dream job, please ⭐ star this repository and share it with others!

Good luck with your interviews! 🚀

Remember: The goal isn’t to memorize answers, but to understand concepts deeply and communicate them clearly.

Support

If you find this useful, consider buying me a coffee!

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