This two-week plan gives you a clear, day-by-day roadmap to get ready for a DevOps Engineer interview. It’s designed to help you cover all the important areas—from basic concepts like Linux, Networking, and Git, to hands-on practice, cloud system design, kubernetes and interview techniques.
Here’s what’s included:
- A detailed list of DevOps topics you should know
- Tips on how to plan and research companies
- Guidance for behavioral interview questions
- Resume preparation tips and useful tools
🎯 Goal: Understand the company's context, the specific role, and the likely interview focus areas.
🛠️ Activities:
- Research the company: Products, services, scale, business drivers, primary infrastructure (
AWS,Azure,GCP, On-prem?). - Deep-dive into the Job Description: Identify key responsibilities, required tools (
Terraform,Ansible,Jenkins,Docker,Kubernetes, etc.), and experience level. - Investigate their Tech Stack: Check tech blogs, conference talks (YouTube), open-source projects, and employee LinkedIn profiles.
- Identify Company Values / Engineering Principles.
- Consult Interview Resources:
Glassdoor,Blind,Reddit(r/devops),Levels.fyifor company-specific DevOps interview insights. Note down common question types (System Design, Coding, Troubleshooting, Behavioral). - Start Your Questions List: Begin compiling insightful questions to ask your interviewers.
✅ Output: A clear picture of the company/role context, a prioritized list of study topics/tools, understanding of the likely interview format, and initial questions for interviewers.
🎯 Goal: Solidify core Linux command-line skills and understanding of fundamental Operating System and Networking concepts.
🛠️ Activities:
- Linux Command Line Mastery:
- File/Directory Management:
find,locate. - Text Processing:
less,more,head,tail,grep,sed,awk. - Permissions:
chmod,chown,sudo; understand user/group/other permissions (symbolic & octal). - Process Management:
ps,top,htop,kill,nice,systemctl/service. - Archiving/Compression:
tar,gzip,gunzip. - Disk Usage:
df,du. - Basic Networking Tools:
ping,ip addr(orifconfig),netstat,ss,traceroute,dig,nslookup,curl,wget,lsof. - Process Management:
ps,top,htop,kill,nice,systemctl,service,uptime,dmesg | tail,vmstat 1,mpstat -P ALL 1,pidstat 1,iostat -xz 1,free -m,sar -n DEV 1,sar -n TCP,ETCP 1
- File/Directory Management:
- Operating System Concepts:
- Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS).
/procfilesystem- Kernel vs. Shell interaction.
- Kernel Space and User Space
- How Linux handles Interrupts
- I/O Redirection & Piping (
>,>>,|,2>). - Environment Variables (
export,.bashrc/.zshrc). - Processes vs. Threads.
- Virtual Memory concepts.
- Inodes and File Descriptors (including standard streams 0, 1, 2).
- Linux Boot Process (high-level: BIOS/UEFI -> Bootloader -> Kernel -> Init System).
- Init Systems (
systemdvsSysVinitconcepts). - Load Average
- Networking Fundamentals:
- OSI Model: Understand the 7 layers and the primary function of each (esp. Layers 1-4, 7).
- TCP/IP Model: Relationship to OSI; focus on key protocols at each layer.
- TCP vs. UDP: Key differences, use cases, 3-way handshake (TCP).
- IP Addressing: Basics of IPv4 addresses, subnet masks, private vs. public IPs, CIDR notation (briefly).
- DNS: Resolution process (recursive vs. iterative), common record types (
A,AAAA,CNAME,MX,TXT,NS). - HTTP/HTTPS: Request methods (
GET,POST, etc.), status codes (categories 2xx-5xx), basics of HTTPS/TLS handshake and certificates. - Common Ports (e.g., 22, 53, 80, 443).
- Concepts: Default Gateway, Routing basics.
✅ Output: Confidence using the Linux command line for common tasks; foundational understanding of OS structure, core networking principles, and the OSI model.
🎯 Goal: Understand core DevOps philosophies, the basics of their primary cloud environment, and master essential
Gitversion control concepts and workflows.
🛠️ Activities:
- Review DevOps Pillars: CI/CD principles, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) importance, Monitoring vs. Observability, Configuration Management goals, DevOps Culture (collaboration, feedback loops, automation).
- Study Cloud Fundamentals: (Focus on their primary provider:
AWS,Azure, orGCP): Core Compute, Storage, Networking (VPC/VNet, SG/NSG, LB), IAM, Managed Databases (basic concepts). - Version Control with
Git:- Core Concepts: Understand Repository, Working Directory, Staging Area (Index), Commit, Branch, Merge (including different strategies like fast-forward vs recursive), Remote (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket), HEAD, Tags.
- Essential Commands: Practice
git init,git clone,git status,git add,git commit -m,git log(and variations like--oneline,--graph),git diff,git branch,git checkout/git switch,git merge. - Working with Remotes: Practice
git remote add,git fetch,git pull(and--rebase),git push. - Branching Strategies: Understand the concepts behind Feature Branching, Gitflow (high-level), Trunk-Based Development (high-level). Why use branches?
- Collaboration: Basic understanding of how to handle Merge Conflicts.
- Ignoring Files: Understand and use
.gitignore.
✅ Output: Strong grasp of DevOps principles, foundational cloud knowledge, and confidence using
Gitfor version control tasks including branching, merging, and remote collaboration.
🎯 Goal: Develop practical scripting skills, leveraging Linux fundamentals and assuming code is managed in
Git, for automating common DevOps tasks.
🛠️ Activities:
- Select primary language:
Python(highly recommended) and/orBash(essential). - Review Language Basics: Data types, control flow (loops, conditionals), functions, error handling (
try-exceptin Python). - Practice Scripting Tasks (incorporating Linux commands):
- File I/O (reading configs, writing logs/reports).
- API Interaction (using
requestsin Python orcurl/jqin Bash). - Data Parsing (JSON using
jsonlib orjq, YAML usingPyYAML). - OS Interaction (running commands via
subprocessoros.system, managing processes, gathering system info). - Combining tools using pipes (
|) within scripts.
- Focus on: Readability, Error Handling, Modularity (functions), Idempotency where applicable. (Code should be versioned in
Git).
✅ Output: Ability to write simple-to-intermediate scripts for common automation needs; referenceable code snippets leveraging OS commands, managed with Git.
🎯 Goal: Understand IaC principles and gain hands-on experience with a primary tool (e.g.,
Terraform), managing code withGit.
🛠️ Activities:
- Explore IaC Concepts: Declarative approach, State Management, Idempotency, Modularity. (Code should be versioned in
Git). - Setup Chosen Tool: Install
Terraform(orCloudFormation/ARM/Pulumi). - Work Through Basics: Define simple cloud resources (VM, Storage Bucket, Security Group, basic network).
- Understand Core Workflow:
terraform init,terraform plan,terraform apply,terraform destroy,terraform fmt,terraform validate. - Learn about: Input Variables, Resource Outputs, Basic Dependencies, Data Sources.
✅ Output: Understanding of IaC core concepts and basic proficiency defining/managing simple infrastructure with your chosen tool, using Git for code management.
🎯 Goal: Explore more advanced IaC features, best practices, and structure, managed within
Git.
🛠️ Activities:
- Learn Modularity: Use
Terraform Modules(local and remote/registry) or (CloudFormation Nested Stacks) for reusable infrastructure components. (Modules versioned inGit). - Deep Dive into State: Remote State backends (e.g.,
S3,Azure Blob Storage), State Locking (critical for teams),terraform workspace. - Handle Sensitive Data: Integrate with secrets management tools (
Vault,AWS Secrets Manager,Azure Key Vault), avoid hardcoding secrets. Use sensitive variable flags. - Build More Complex Setups: E.g., Provision a web server cluster behind a load balancer with database connectivity.
- Explore IaC Best Practices: Linting (
tflint), static analysis (tfsec/checkov), directory structure patterns, version constraints.
✅ Output: Ability to structure IaC code effectively using modules, understand state management trade-offs, handle secrets securely, and apply best practices, all managed via Git.
🎯 Goal: Understand the role of configuration management and gain basic proficiency in one tool (e.g.,
Ansible), managing code withGit.
🛠️ Activities:
- Differentiate: IaC (Provisioning) vs. Configuration Management (Configuration & Maintenance). Understand when to use which. (Code/Playbooks versioned in
Git). - Understand Key Concepts: Idempotency, Push vs. Pull models, Agent vs. Agentless.
- Get Hands-on (
Ansiblerecommended for simplicity):- Write basic Playbooks. Use common modules (
apt/yum,copy,template,service,user,file). - Define Tasks ensuring idempotency.
- Understand Inventory (static and dynamic).
- Explore basic Roles structure for organization and reusability.
- Use Handlers and Variables.
- Look into
ansible-vaultfor encrypting sensitive data.
- Write basic Playbooks. Use common modules (
✅ Output: Understanding of configuration management principles like idempotency and the ability to automate basic server setup/configuration tasks idempotently, using Git for code management.
🎯 Goal: Master
Dockerfundamentals for building, shipping, and running applications consistently. (Dockerfiles managed inGit).
🛠️ Activities:
- Review Core Concepts: Images vs. Containers, Layered Filesystem, Namespaces & Cgroups (high-level), Benefits (Consistency, Isolation, Density).
- Practice
dockerCLI:build,run,ps,stop,rm,images,rmi,logs,exec,inspect,network,volume. - Write Effective
Dockerfiles: Understand instructions (FROM,RUN,COPY,ADD,WORKDIR,EXPOSE,USER,CMDvsENTRYPOINT), Multi-Stage Builds, minimizing layers, security best practices (non-root user). - Understand
DockerNetworking: Port mapping, bridge/host/overlay network drivers. - Learn
DockerVolumes & Bind Mounts: Managing persistent data. - Explore
docker-compose: Define and run multi-container applications locally for development environments. (docker-compose.ymlversioned inGit).
✅ Output: Solid understanding of
Docker, ability to write efficient and secureDockerfiles, manage container lifecycles/data/networking, and usedocker-compose.
🎯 Goal: Understand the need for orchestration and learn the fundamentals of a key platform (
Kuberneteshighly recommended). (YAML manifests managed inGit).
🛠️ Activities:
- Identify Problems Solved: Scaling, Self-Healing, Service Discovery, Load Balancing, Rolling Updates/Rollbacks, Resource Management.
- Learn
KubernetesBasics:- Core Objects:
Pod(and containers within),Service(types:ClusterIP,NodePort,LoadBalancer),Deployment(andReplicaSet),Namespace,ConfigMap,Secret. Understand their purpose and relationships. - Architecture Overview: Control Plane (
api-server,etcd,scheduler,controller-manager), Worker Nodes (kubelet,kube-proxy, Container Runtime). - Practice
kubectl:get,describe,apply -f,delete -f,logs,exec,port-forward,config,explain. Learn YAML manifest structure. - Deploy & Expose: Run a simple application using a
Deploymentand expose it via aService. Interact withPods.
- Core Objects:
- Compare (Optional): Briefly understand managed K8s (
EKS,AKS,GKE) and alternatives (ECS,Fargate,Nomad).
✅ Output: Conceptual grasp of container orchestration; hands-on familiarity with
Kubernetescore resources, architecture, and basickubectlusage, managing manifests with Git.
🎯 Goal: Design and understand continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment workflows and common tooling, triggered from
Gitrepositories.
🛠️ Activities:
- Detail CI/CD Stages: Source (
Gitcommit/merge trigger) -> Build -> Test (Unit, Integration, Static Analysis) -> Artifact Storage -> Deploy (Staging -> Prod) -> Verify/Monitor/Rollback. Understand the difference between CDelivery and CDeployment. - Explore Pipeline-as-Code: Syntax and structure for
Jenkinsfile(Declarative/Scripted),.gitlab-ci.yml,GitHub Actionsworkflows. (Pipeline definitions stored inGit). - Practice with One Tool: Define a simple pipeline (trigger, stages, steps, basic build/test execution). Integrate with source control (
Git). - Understand Artifact Management: Using registries like
Docker Hub,ECR,ACR,GCR,Nexus,Artifactory. Versioning strategies. - Study Deployment Strategies: Rolling Update, Blue/Green Deployment, Canary Release, A/B Testing (conceptual). Discuss pros, cons, implementation considerations, and rollback mechanisms.
✅ Output: Ability to design basic CI/CD pipelines triggered by Git events, understand pipeline-as-code syntax for a major tool, discuss various deployment strategies and trade-offs.
🎯 Goal: Understand how to monitor systems effectively using the pillars of observability (metrics, logs, traces) and the tools involved.
🛠️ Activities:
- Revisit Observability Pillars: Metrics (System vs App; USE/RED methods), Logging (Structured Logging best practices), Tracing (Distributed request tracing concepts). Understand why all three are important.
- Explore Common Tooling Categories:
- Metrics/Alerting: Time-series databases (
Prometheus,InfluxDB), Visualization (Grafana), Alerting (Alertmanager), Cloud Provider tools (CloudWatch,Azure Monitor). - Logging: Log shippers (
Fluentd,Logstash,Filebeat), Storage/Indexing (Elasticsearch/OpenSearch,Loki), Visualization (Kibana,Grafana). Cloud Provider tools (CloudWatch Logs,Azure Log Analytics). - Tracing: Standards (
OpenTelemetry), Tools (Jaeger,Zipkin, Cloud Provider tools).
- Metrics/Alerting: Time-series databases (
- Define Monitoring Strategy: Consider what key metrics/logs/traces to collect for different system types (web app, database, K8s cluster).
- Understand Basic Alerting: Principles of setting meaningful thresholds, reducing noise, routing notifications.
✅ Output: Solid understanding of observability concepts (the 'three pillars'), familiarity with the types of tools used in each category, and the ability to discuss basic monitoring strategies.
🎯 Goal: Integrate fundamental security (
DevSecOps) and explore more advanced networking and infrastructure concepts relevant in complex environments.
🛠️ Activities:
- Security (
DevSecOps) Integration:- Secrets Management: Tools (
Vault,AWS Secrets Manager,Azure Key Vault), secure injection patterns. - IAM Best Practices: Principle of Least Privilege review; Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in cloud and K8s.
- Vulnerability Scanning: Tools (
Trivy,Clair,Snyk,Dependabot, SAST/DAST concepts) and integration points (CI, registry). - Pipeline Security: Securing build environments, artifact signing/verification.
- Infrastructure Hardening basics (e.g., CIS benchmarks awareness).
- Secrets Management: Tools (
- Network Security Concepts:
- Firewalls: Stateful vs. Stateless concepts.
- Cloud Network Security: Security Groups (
AWS SG,Azure NSG) vs. Network ACLs (NACLs). WAF basics. - Secure Access Patterns: Bastion Hosts / Jump Boxes, VPNs, Zero Trust concepts (high-level).
- Advanced Networking & Infrastructure:
- Cloud Networking: VPC Peering / Transit Gateway / VNet Peering, PrivateLink / Private Endpoints, Direct Connect / ExpressRoute concepts.
- Load Balancing: Layer 4 (TCP/UDP) vs. Layer 7 (HTTP/S) load balancers, common algorithms (Round Robin, Least Connections, IP Hash), Health Checks.
- Content Delivery Networks (CDN): Basic concepts (caching, edge locations, invalidation).
- Kubernetes Networking: CNI plugin overview,
Ingresscontrollers (e.g., Nginx Ingress, Traefik), Network Policies for pod-to-pod traffic control. - Service Mesh Concepts (Optional, if relevant): e.g., Istio, Linkerd (mTLS, traffic management, observability).
✅ Output: Awareness of key security practices integrated into DevOps (
DevSecOps), foundational understanding of essential cloud/container networking, plus exposure to more advanced networking, security, and infrastructure topics.
🎯 Goal: Apply accumulated knowledge to design DevOps-related systems and practice common troubleshooting scenarios systematically.
🛠️ Activities:
- Tackle DevOps System Design Prompts:
- Focus on CI/CD pipeline design (consider security, testing, artifacts, multi-environment promotion).
- Architect highly available/scalable infrastructure on a specific cloud (consider load balancing, auto-scaling, databases, state, disaster recovery).
- Design monitoring/logging/alerting strategies for a given architecture (consider dashboards, alert fatigue).
- Consider deployment strategies (Blue/Green, Canary) implementation details and automation.
- Practice Diagramming: Use simple block diagrams to communicate architecture. Focus on explaining components, data flow, trade-offs, scalability, reliability, and cost considerations.
- Develop Systematic Troubleshooting Methodology:
- Practice applying approaches like USE/RED for identifying bottlenecks or the "Five Whys" for root cause analysis.
- Work through hypothetical failures in CI/CD, IaC, K8s, Linux services. Define steps: Observe symptoms -> Gather data (logs, metrics, traces) -> Formulate hypothesis -> Test hypothesis -> Implement fix/rollback -> Verify -> Document.
- Practice using debugging tools learned (
kubectl describe/logs, system logs (journalctl), monitoring dashboards, network diagnostic tools (tcpdumpbasics)).
✅ Output: Increased confidence tackling system design questions relevant to DevOps and articulating systematic troubleshooting approaches for various scenarios.
🎯 Goal: Polish behavioral answers, conduct final reviews, simulate interview pressure through mocks, and ensure logistical readiness.
🛠️ Activities:
- Behavioral Polish:
- Review Company Values/Principles (from Day 1).
- Refine STARR Stories (Situation, Task, Action, Result, Reflection). Ensure relevance to DevOps (collaboration, automation, problem-solving, incident response, learning, leadership). Practice telling them out loud smoothly.
- Practice Your Elevator Pitch (< 1 minute).
- Finalize Your Questions for interviewers - ensure they are thoughtful and specific to the role/team/company.
- Final Technical Review:
- Quickly review notes/mind maps from all previous days – focus on core concepts, commands, patterns, trade-offs.
- Explain key ideas out loud briefly (e.g., "Explain IaC state", "Explain K8s Service types", "Explain TCP 3-way handshake", "Explain Git branching").
- Mock Interviews (Crucial!):
- Arrange sessions covering the breadth of topics: Linux/Fundamentals, Git, Scripting, IaC, Containers/K8s, CI/CD, Monitoring, Networking/Security, System Design, Troubleshooting, Behavioral.
- Get constructive feedback and identify any last-minute areas needing quick reinforcement.
- Logistics Check: Confirm interview time (check timezone!), date, video links, interviewer names. Prepare your setup (quiet space, stable internet, water, charged devices).
- Relax & Rest: Avoid cramming. Trust your preparation. Get good sleep!
✅ Output: Polished behavioral responses, consolidated knowledge, experience under simulated pressure, logistical readiness, and a calm, prepared mindset.
Most companies use an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to scan resumes before a human sees them. If your resume doesn’t have the right keywords, it may never reach the recruiter.
How to make your resume ATS-friendly:
- Use simple formatting (no tables or columns).
- Save it as a .docx or PDF (unless the company asks for something else).
- Include keywords from the job description (e.g., Kubernetes, CI/CD, Terraform).
- Avoid fancy designs, logos, or images.
- Resumake – Free and simple resume builder.
- Standard Resume – Clean, professional templates that work well with ATS.
- Jobscan – Compare your resume with a job description. Shows how well your resume matches.
- Novoresume – ATS-friendly templates with tips.
- Zety – Easy tool with customization and guidance.
- Title: “DevOps Engineer” or the role you're applying for.
- Summary: 2–3 lines about your experience and skills.
- Skills: Mention key DevOps tools (Docker, Jenkins, AWS, Kubernetes, etc.).
- Projects: Briefly describe projects with outcomes.
- Certifications: Add your CKA, AWS, or other DevOps-related certs.
- Experience: Focus on what you built, automated, or improved.
- Links: Add GitHub, LinkedIn, or portfolio if available.
🎉 Good luck with your interview! You've got this! 🎉