If you’ve ever browsed tech job boards, you’ve probably seen titles like DevOps Engineer, Platform Engineer, and Site Reliability Engineer (SRE).
They sound similar, right?
But here’s the catch -
While these roles all aim to make software delivery smoother and systems more reliable.
They’re not interchangeable.
Let’s break down what each role actually does, what tools they use, and what hiring managers care about in interviews.
1. The DevOps Engineer - The Automation Expert
What They Do:
- Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines (the automated highways that move code from your laptop to production).
- Write scripts to spin up servers, deploy apps, or manage cloud resources (think Terraform or AWS CloudFormation).
- Work closely with developers to fix deployment bottlenecks.
Day-to-Day Tools:
- CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, or GitHub Actions.
- Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
- Scripting languages like Python or Bash.
Interview Prep Tips:
- Expect questions like, “How would you troubleshoot a failed deployment?” or “Design a CI/CD pipeline for a new app.”
- Brush up on cloud networking basics and cost-saving strategies.
2. The SRE (Site Reliability Engineer) - The Reliability Guard
What They Do:
- Define and track system reliability goals (like uptime targets).
- Jump into action during outages—diagnose issues, lead fixes, and write postmortems to prevent repeats.
- Build dashboards to monitor system health (using tools like Grafana or Datadog).
Day-to-Day Tools:
- Incident management tools (PagerDuty, Opsgenie).
- Observability stacks (Prometheus, ELK).
- Automation scripts to reduce repetitive tasks.
Interview Prep Tips:
- Practice scenarios like, “How would you ensure a system stays up during a traffic spike?”
- Be ready to walk through how you’d handle a major outage.
3. The Platform Engineer - The Developer’s Wingman
What They Do:
- Build internal tools so developers can deploy apps faster (like self-service portals or Kubernetes platforms).
- Manage complex infrastructure (multi-cloud setups, Kubernetes clusters).
- Optimize systems for scalability and ease of use.
Day-to-Day Tools:
- Kubernetes, Docker, and service meshes (Istio, Linkerd).
- Tools like Crossplane or Backstage for platform building.
- Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Pulumi).
Interview Prep Tips:
- Prepare for questions like, “How would you design a platform to speed up developer workflows?”
- Dive deep into Kubernetes architecture and scaling strategies.
- Pro tips, check the below links..
Key Differences in One Sentence
- DevOps Engineers automate the path from code to production.
- SREs keep systems running smoothly and fix them when they break.
- Platform Engineers build the tools and systems developers rely on daily.
What to Expect in Interviews
- For DevOps: You’ll talk pipelines, cloud costs, and scripting.
- For SRE: You’ll discuss uptime, outages, and monitoring.
- For Platform Engineering: You’ll design internal tools and explain Kubernetes quirks.
Which Role Should You Choose?
- Like coding and teamwork? DevOps might be your fit.
- Love solving puzzles and firefighting? Try SRE.
- Enjoy building systems others use? Platform Engineering could be your lane.
Still unsure? Ask yourself - Do I want to automate workflows, protect uptime, or build the tools behind the tools? Let’s discuss in the comments.
7,000+ DevOps Interview Questions: Master Cloud, Kubernetes, and CI/CD
Prepare for your dream DevOps role with this question bank! Whether you're just starting out or are an experienced professional, this guide offers over 7,000 expert-curated questions covering: Cloud Platforms: AWS, Azure, and GCP Kubernetes & Docker: From basics to advanced orchestration CI/CD Pipelines: Questions on Jenkins, GitLab, and Azure DevOps Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Terraform, Ansible, and more Monitoring & Logging: Prometheus, Grafana, and real-world scenarios This book doesn’t waste time on unnecessary theory. Instead, it focuses on real-world interview questions to help you prepare smarter and faster.What You’ll Get:✔ Over 7,000 focused questions to prepare for DevOps roles✔ Topics ranging from Linux commands to advanced CI/CD setups✔ Real-world examples and hands-on scenarios for better learning✔ Immediate access to a digital downloadWho Is This For? Job Seekers: Preparing for DevOps, cloud, or Kubernetes interviews Students: Learning Cloud, CI/CD, and automation Professionals: Upgrading skills or preparing for certifications Why Choose This Book?✔ Comprehensive coverage of DevOps essentials✔ Simple, clear, and easy to follow✔ Designed to save you time and focus on what mattersYour next job or promotion starts with the right preparation. Let this guide take you there!Table of Contents1. Introduction to DevOps 172. Interview Question Related to Networking in DevOps 19Beginner Level Networking Questions 20Intermediate Level Networking Questions 24Advanced Level Networking Questions 28Advanced Pro-Level Networking Questions 32Pro-Level Advanced Networking Questions 383. Interview Question Related to Operating System: Linux command 46Beginner Level Linux Command Questions: 46Intermediate Level Linux Command Questions: 51Advanced Level Linux Command Questions: 55Pro-Level Advanced Linux Command Questions: 594. Interview Question Related to Version Control: Git 64Beginner Level Git Questions: 64Intermediate Level Git Questions: 69Advanced Level Git Questions: 775. Interview Question Related to Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Terraform 87Beginner Level Terraform Questions: 87Intermediate Level Terraform Questions: 92Advanced Level Terraform Questions: 1016. Interview Question Related to Containerization with Docker 110Beginner Level Docker Questions: 111Intermediate Level Docker Questions: 115Advanced Level Docker Questions: 1237. Interview Question Related to Continuous Integration (CI) 134Beginner Level CI Questions: 134Intermediate Level CI Questions : 138Advanced Level CI Questions: 1478. Interview Question Related to Continuous Delivery and Deployment (CD) 161Beginner Level CD Questions: 161Intermediate Level CD Questions: 165Advanced Level CD Questions: 1789. Interview Question Related to Kubernetes & Orchestration 195Beginner Level Kubernetes and Orchestration Questions: 195Intermediate Level Kubernetes and Orchestration Questions: 200Advanced Level Kubernetes and Orchestration Questions: 209Advanced-Level Kubernetes and Orchestration Questions: 21610. Interview Question Related to Monitoring and Logging in DevOps Prometheus, Grafana & More 225Beginner Level Monitoring and Logging Questions: 225Intermediate Level Monitoring and Logging Questions: 229Advanced Level Monitoring and Logging Questions: 23311. Interview Question Related to Soft Skills for DevOps Engineers 249Soft skills for DevOps Engineers: 24912. Interview Question Related to Real Interview Questions and Scenarios 279Set 1: General Scenarios 279Set 2: Technical Scenarios 283Set 3: Problem-Solving Scenarios 286Set 4: Communication Scenarios 289Set 5: Leadership Scenarios 292Set 6: Real Interview Questions and Scenarios 294Set 7: Real Interview Questions and Scenarios: 298Set 8: Real Interview Questions and Scenarios: 301Set 9: Real Interview Questions and Scenarios 304Set 10: Real Interview Questions and Scenarios 306Set 12: Real Interview Questions and Scenarios 312Set 14: Real Interview Questions and Scenarios 318Set 16: Real Interview Questions and Scenarios 326Set 17: Real Interview Questions and Scenarios 330Set 18: Real Interview Questions and Scenarios 33513. A Cloud-Specific DevOps Questions: AWS 340AWS General Concepts Questions: 340Compute Services Questions: 341Storage Services Questions: 342Networking Questions: 343Databases Questions: 344Security Questions: 345DevOps Questions: 346Networking Questions: 347Data Management Questions: 348Monitoring and Logging Questions: 349DevOps and CI/CD Questions: 350Security and Compliance Questions: 351Cloud Migration and Management Questions: 352Advanced Topics Questions: 353Practical Scenarios Questions: 354Additional Cloud-Specific DevOps Questions: 355Networking and Security Questions: 356Data Management and Analytics 357Monitoring and Logging Questions: 357DevOps and CI/CD Questions: 358Security and Compliance Questions: 358Cloud Migration and Management Questions: 359Advanced Topics 360Practical Scenarios: 360Additional Topics 361Further Scenarios 362Advanced Questions 362Final Set of Questions 363Wrap-Up Questions: 363Final 50 Questions: 36413.B Cloud-Specific DevOps Questions: AZURE 366Basic Azure Concepts: 367Azure Compute Services: 367Azure Storage Questions: 368Azure Networking 369Azure Security Questions: 369Azure Databases Questions: 370Azure DevOps Questions: 370Azure Monitoring and Management Questions: 371Advanced Azure Topics: 372Deployment and Scaling: 372Networking and Connectivity Questions: 373Storage and Databases 373Security and Compliance questions: 374Advanced Topics: 375Monitoring and Troubleshooting: 375DevOps and Automation: 376Networking and Connectivity 376Security and Compliance 377Storage and Databases 378Advanced Topics 378Azure Compute: 379Azure Storage: 379Azure Networking: 380Azure Security and Compliance: 381Azure DevOps 381Azure Monitoring and Management: 382Advanced Azure Topics: 383Deployment and Scaling: 383Networking and Connectivity: 384Security and Compliance: 384Storage and Databases: 385Advanced Topics: 386Deployment and Scaling: 386Networking and Connectivity: 387Security and Compliance: 387Storage and Databases: 388Advanced Topics: 389Deployment and Scaling: 389Networking and Connectivity: 390Security and Compliance: 391Storage and Databases: 392Advanced Topics: 392Deployment and Scaling: 393Networking and Connectivity: 394Security and Compliance: 394Storage and Databases: 395Advanced Topics: 395Deployment and Scaling: 396Networking and Connectivity: 397Security and Compliance: 39713.C Cloud-Specific DevOps Questions: GCP 399Beginner Level GCP Questions: 399Intermediate Level GCP Questions: 400Advanced Level GCP Questions: 402Networking and Security in GCP: 404Compute Services in GCP: 406Storage and Databases in GCP: 407Advanced GCP Storage and Database Questions: 408CI/CD and DevOps in GCP: 409Advanced CI/CD and DevOps Questions: 410Cloud Networking in GCP: 411Storage and Databases in GCP : 413Advanced Storage and Database Questions in GCP: 414GCP Security and Compliance: 415Advanced Security and Compliance in GCP: 416Data Analytics and AI in GCP: 416Advanced Data Analytics and AI in GCP: 417DevOps and Automation in GCP: 418Advanced DevOps and Automation in GCP: 419Monitoring and Logging in GCP: 421Advanced Monitoring and Logging in GCP: 422Disaster Recovery in GCP: 423Advanced Disaster Recovery in GCP: 424Google Cloud Networking : 425Advanced Networking in GCP: 426AI and Machine Learning in GCP: 427Advanced AI and Machine Learning in GCP: 428GCP Automation: 429Advanced Automation in GCP: 430GCP Security and Compliance : 431Storage and Backup in GCP: 433Advanced Storage and Backup in GCP: 434Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE): 435Advanced GKE Topics: 436GCP Infrastructure Optimization: 437Advanced Infrastructure Optimization: 43714. Interview Question Related to DevSecOps Interview Questions 438Beginner Level DevSecOps Questions: 439Intermediate Level DevSecOps Questions: 440Security Policy Enforcement in DevSecOps: 455Automation and Compliance in DevSecOps: 456DevSecOps for Data Security: 45715. Interview Question Related to Mock Interviews and Practice Tips 459General DevOps Engineer Questions: 459Application Performance and Load Handling: 461Monitoring, Logging, and Alerting: 462Advanced Kubernetes and Helm: 507DevOps and SRE: 508Troubleshooting and Debugging: 508Cloud Security and DevOps: 50916. Conclusion 510
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Master SRE & Cloud Systems: 5000 Curated Questions for Interviews & Real-World Scenarios
SRE Question Bank: 5000 Curated Questions to Master Site Reliability Engineering, Cloud Systems & Advanced ArchitectureStruggling with SRE interview questions or real-world system design challenges?67% of engineers fail technical interviews due to gaps in incident management, scalability, and cloud-native design.This 850-page eBook (curated from Google, Reddit, Stack Overflow, and top tech communities) gives you 5,000 battle-tested questions and solutions to master SRE fundamentals, cloud platforms, and advanced systems design.What’s Inside? (From Junior to Staff-Level Expertise)1. Foundational to Expert Scenarios SRE Core Principles: SLA vs. SLO vs. SLI, error budgets, and toil reduction (with real incident post-mortems). Monitoring & Observability: Master Prometheus, Grafana, and OpenTelemetry for complex distributed systems. Incident Response Playbooks: Debug outages, lead blameless post-mortems, and automate on-call workflows. Multi-Cloud & Hybrid Systems: Design for AWS/GCP/Azure, serverless architectures, and Kubernetes resilience. Advanced Architecture: Chaos engineering, CAP theorem trade-offs, and zero-downtime migrations. 2. Interview-Crushing Prep FAANG-Level Questions: “How would you reduce AWS costs without sacrificing reliability?” (with sample answers). 300+ Diagrams & Tables: Visualize circuit breakers, sharding strategies, and consensus algorithms. Mock SRE Interviews: Scripts for 20 common scenarios (e.g., “Design a globally distributed cache”). 3. Real-World SRE Skills Automate incident triage with AIOps tools. Optimize MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) using PagerDuty and Jira integrations. Implement SLO-driven development with Backstage and GitOps. Why Engineers Buy This GuideSecured a Lead SRE Role at a Fortune 500 CompanyThe incident management section helped me design a disaster recovery plan that impressed the hiring manager. – Priya M., Ex-Microsoft EngineerSave 200+ Hours of ResearchSkip fragmented blogs and docs. Get 5,000 answers with explanations, ranked by difficulty (Beginner to Expert).2024-Updated ContentCovers AIOps, GitOps, Web3 reliability, and FinOps (missing in 92% of SRE courses).Who Needs This? Aspiring SREs: Crack interviews at Google, Amazon, or startups. Cloud Engineers: Transition into SRE roles with proven system design skills. Tech Leads: Build fault-tolerant systems that handle 10M+ users. Limited-Time Offer: Get 3 Bonuses ($297 Value FREE) “90-Day SRE Study Plan” (PDF) Lifetime Updates (includes new cloud services and frameworks). Exclusive Slack Community: Network with senior SREs and hiring managers. Today: 249 (Save 80% – Price increases after 1,000 downloads)Don’t Lose Another OpportunityYour Next Interviewer Asks:“How would you design a system to handle 100K requests/sec with 99.99% uptime?”Without This Guide:Stumble through half-remembered concepts, miss key trade-offs.With This Guide:“I’d use auto-scaling groups, multi-region replication, and circuit breakers. Here’s a capacity planning spreadsheet…” → Job Offer.
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480+ Common OpenShift Interview Questions & Answers.
The Ultimate Guide to Kubernetes, DevOps, CI/CD, and Cloud-Native OperationsStruggling to Prepare for Cloud-Native or DevOps Interviews?Break into the competitive world of cloud technologies with 480+ Interview Questions & Answers, meticulously crafted by Dipu Singh (Tech Lead & Industry Expert). This eBook is designed to help you master OpenShift, Kubernetes, DevOps, and CI/CD concepts while delivering precise, interview-ready answers that hiring managers look for.What’s Inside the eBook? 480+ Real-World Questions covering: OpenShift Fundamentals: Pods, Routes, Projects, ImageStreams, Security. Kubernetes Deep Dives: Orchestration, Networking, Scaling, Deployments. DevOps & CI/CD Pipelines: Jenkins, GitOps, Automation, Best Practices. Cloud-Native Operations: Monitoring, Security Policies, Troubleshooting. Simple, Jargon-Free Explanations: Understand complex topics through relatable analogies. Interview-Tested Answers: Save time with polished responses that highlight your expertise. 2025-Ready Content: Updated to reflect the latest industry trends and tools. Why This eBook is a Must-Have: Save Hours of Research: No more piecing together answers from scattered blogs or outdated guides. Everything is organized in one place. Boost Interview Confidence: Prepare for 95% of technical and scenario-based questions asked in DevOps and cloud-native roles. Learn from Real-World Examples: Relate Kubernetes pods to "lunchboxes" or OpenShift Routes to "storefront doors" for better retention. Written by an Industry Expert: Authored by a seasoned professional with hands-on experience in cloud technologies. Free Lifetime Updates: Stay ahead with future-proof knowledge as the industry evolves. Who Should Buy This? Developers transitioning to DevOps, SRE, or cloud roles. Engineers preparing for Red Hat OpenShift or Kubernetes certifications. Job Seekers targeting roles at top tech companies like AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure. Students building practical cloud-native skills for internships or entry-level positions. What Readers Are Saying:“This guide helped me crack three DevOps interviews in two weeks. The real-world examples made complex topics stick!” – Rahul, Cloud Engineer“Finally, a resource that explains OpenShift without putting me to sleep. Worth every penny!” – Priya, DevOps InternPricing & Guarantee: Limited-Time Price: $7.99 (Free lifetime updates included). Instant Download: Access the eBook in PDF formats immediately after purchase. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee: Not satisfied? Get a full refund, no questions asked. Take the Next Step in Your Career:Click Here to Get Your Copy NowWhy Trust This Guide? No Fluff or Fillers: Every question and answer is designed to address real interview scenarios. SEO-Optimized Keywords: OpenShift interview questions, Kubernetes certification guide, DevOps Q&A, Cloud-Native handbook, CI/CD interview prep. Professional & Human-Centric: Written in plain language, free of robotic jargon, to ensure clarity and engagement. Note: This eBook is independently created and not affiliated with Red Hat, Kubernetes, or other mentioned platforms.Secure Your Copy Today Sample OpenShift Interview Questions & Answers:
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This is an amazing piece of content @thecloudarchitect
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