There’s been a steady flow of “Wanted: DevOps Developers” job postings floating on job sites for the past few months. There are over 300 listings per day show up with a mention of DevOps. The trend is definitely towards hiring people for jobs that require DevOps skills or titles.
DevOps is booming in the enterprise, which has ripple effects on recruiting and hiring. Filling these positions is hard, and hiring those with relevant skills is harder. Employers are commonly on the hunt for skilled talent than ever before.
Growth of DevOps
DevOps is one of the hottest skills to be attained in 2016.
In just 2 years, listings for DevOps jobs on Indeed.com increased 75 percent. On LinkedIn, mentions of DevOps as a skill increased by 50 percent. As it is evident in the Indeed.com graph below, DevOps jobs began skyrocketing around the middle of 2015 and shot through the roof in 2016.
Source – Indeed.com
Given the speed of adoption of DevOps and market demand for DevOps skills are growing, expect these numbers to keep climbing. So the question arises how to evaluate and interview skilled DevOps developers? How to go beyond the candidates’ resumes and screen them for the DevOps skill sets. Let’s see how?
To ensure you hire a competent DevOps developer, We have created a list of practical, performance-based DevOps interview questions.
DevOps Interview Questions
Below is a list of DevOps interview questions. You can ask more complex questions to know the candidate’s in-depth knowledge. Remember it’s not always about the correct answer the candidate gives, but the thought process and problem-solving skills he applies.
1. Explain your understanding and expertise on both the software development side and the technical operations side of an organisation you’ve worked for in the past.
2. Explain what would you check If a Linux-build-server suddenly starts getting slow.
3. How would you make software deployable?
4. How have you used SSH?
5. What are the important aspects of a system of continuous integration and deployment?
6. Describe Puppet master agent architecture. How have you implemented it in your project?
7. What testing is necessary to ensure that a new service is ready for production?
8. How DNS works? Explain what happens in all layers of OSI when URL is entered in the browser? How a system forks a child?
9. Tell us about the CI tools that you are familiar with.
10. What DevOp tools have you worked with?
11. What different types of testing need to be carried out on a software system, and what tools would you use to achieve this testing?
12. How much have you interacted with cloud-based software development?
13. Discuss your experience building bridges between IT Ops, QA, and development.
14. Are you familiar with just Linux or have you worked with Windows environments as well?
15. Did you get a chance to work on Amazon tools?
16. What are some DevOps projects you've worked on in the past 'using systems automation and configuration?
17. What was your greatest achievement on a recent project?
18. What problems did you face and how did you solve them?
19. What’s your career objective in your role as a DevOps engineer?
20. Explain the achievements and technology establishments achieved by you in your previous organization.
Along with these look whether the candidate stays up to date with the latest developments? Ask him the question related to trending technologies and updations.
Also, try giving a task or project to the candidate with a real issue that you had encountered previously on your software architecture problems.
Get familiar with DevOps Developer Skills
This is a list of common skills hiring managers might be looking for in a DevOps developer. The skills may differ according to your project and the organisational role. these are the basic skills required for a DevOps developer.
The most common skills required for a DevOps developer:
- Proficiency in Windows and Linux systems administration
- Programming Languages: Python, Ruby, Shell Scripting, C, C++ and Java
- Script development
- Chef, Puppet or other Automation Tool Experience
- Understanding of structured programming and object-oriented design
- Experience in creating and consuming RESTful APIs
Also, make sure your DevOps developer is an outstanding problem solver with good communication skills who is capable of taking your applications to the next level.
Weed out irrelevant candidates
Being a hiring manager or recruiter, you have to go through endless amounts of resumes in order to find someone who fits the job description posted. You can easily filter out the candidates based on actual performance with pre-hire DevOps screening tests designed by Interview Mocha.
iMocha has created DevOps online test that will give a fair shot of all candidates’ skills and applied knowledge. You can screen and hire Devops developers that fit the job, and your company. With DevOps Salesforce test, you can easily evaluate candidate’s knowledge with well-balanced theory and applications based questions. Spend your time interviewing only the cream of the crop and cut off irrelevant candidates with online DevOps test.
Congratulations, by using a DevOps online test, you have already saved a huge amount of time you would have normally spent with irrelevant candidates. Now comes the face to face Interview. This is the most critical step in making your hiring decisions, so plan the interview carefully.
Your Questions!
Got any other good interview questions to add or any other skills you think we missed out? Share with us in the comments below.
If have got some question or suggestions for us please let us know in the comments below or shoot us a mail at support@interviewmocha.com.
Happy Interviewing!