60 DevOps Interview Questions and Answers for 2026

DevOps engineers bridge software development and operations teams, requiring a unique blend of coding skills, infrastructure knowledge, automation expertise, and collaboration abilities. Hiring the right DevOps engineer means assessing technical proficiency across CI/CD pipelines, containerization, infrastructure as code, and cloud platforms alongside problem-solving and communication skills.

Effective DevOps interviews evaluate both what candidates know and how they think through real-world challenges. The questions in this guide cover foundational concepts, intermediate skills, advanced architecture decisions, and scenario-based problems that reveal whether candidates can deliver production-ready systems.

Whether you're building an ultimate interview process or preparing as a candidate, these 60 questions provide comprehensive coverage of modern DevOps practices.

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What Is DevOps?

DevOps is a methodology combining software development and IT operations to shorten the software development lifecycle while delivering features, fixes, and updates frequently and reliably. It emphasizes automation, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and infrastructure as code.

DevOps breaks down silos between development and operations teams, creating shared responsibility for software delivery. A DevOps engineer implements these practices through automation tools, monitoring systems, and deployment pipelines that streamline how organizations build and release software.

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Basic DevOps Interview Questions

1. What is DevOps and why is it important?

DevOps is a set of practices combining software engineering and IT operations to improve collaboration and automate the software delivery process. It matters because it increases deployment frequency, reduces failure rates, shortens lead time for changes, and decreases mean time to recovery (MTTR) after outages.

2. What is a DevOps Engineer?

A DevOps engineer works with development and operations teams to oversee code releases, implement automation, manage CI/CD pipelines, provision infrastructure, and ensure system reliability. They bridge the gap between writing code and running it in production.

3. What programming languages are important for DevOps?

Python is essential for automation and scripting. Bash/Shell handles Linux administration tasks. Go powers many cloud-native tools. Understanding YAML is critical for configuration files across most DevOps tools like Kubernetes and Ansible.

4. What is CI/CD?

Continuous integration means frequently merging code changes into a shared git repository with automated testing. Continuous delivery ensures code is always deployable, while continuous deployment automatically releases every change that passes tests to the production environment.

5. What is the difference between Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment?

Continuous delivery keeps code deployable with manual approval for production releases. Continuous deployment automatically deploys every passing change without human intervention. The choice depends on risk tolerance and regulatory requirements.

6. What is Infrastructure as Code (IaC)?

IaC manages and provisions IT infrastructure through machine-readable configuration files rather than manual processes. Tools like Terraform and AWS CloudFormation enable version control, consistency, and repeatability for infrastructure provisioning.

7. What is Configuration Management?

Configuration management maintains system consistency through automation. Tools like Ansible and Puppet ensure servers are configured correctly, reducing configuration drift and manual errors.

8. What is the difference between Horizontal and Vertical Scaling?

Vertical scaling adds resources (CPU, RAM) to existing machines. Horizontal scaling adds more nodes to distribute load. Horizontal scaling provides better high availability and is preferred for cloud-native applications.

9. What is Jenkins?

Jenkins is an open-source automation server for building CI/CD pipelines. It automates building, testing, and deploying applications through plugins and pipeline-as-code using Jenkinsfiles.

10. Explain branching strategies in Git.

Common branching strategies include GitFlow (feature, develop, release, hotfix branches), GitHub Flow (feature branches merged to main), and trunk-based development (short-lived branches). Strategy choice affects deployment frequency and team workflow.

11. What's the difference between Git Fetch and Git Pull?

Git fetch downloads changes from remote without merging. Git pull fetches and merges in one command. Fetch is safer for reviewing changes before integrating them into your feature branch.

12. What is a merge conflict?

A merge conflict occurs when Git cannot automatically merge changes because the same lines were modified differently. Resolving conflicts requires manual review to decide which changes to keep.

13. What is the DevOps lifecycle?

The DevOps lifecycle includes: Plan, Code, Build, Test, Release, Deploy, Operate, and Monitor. These phases form an iterative loop enabling continuous monitoring and improvement.

14. Name three important DevOps KPIs.

Key metrics include Deployment Frequency (how often you deploy), Lead Time for Changes (time from commit to production), MTTR (recovery time after outage), and Change Failure Rate. These DORA metrics measure DevOps performance.

15. What is the importance of continuous testing?

Continuous testing runs automated testing throughout the pipeline, catching bugs early when they're cheaper to fix. This shift left approach improves quality and reduces downtime from production failures.

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Intermediate DevOps Interview Questions

16. Explain Docker architecture.

Docker uses client-server architecture: the Docker daemon manages containers, the client sends commands, registries store images. Containerization packages applications with dependencies for consistent deployment across environments.

17. What is the difference between Docker images and containers?

Images are read-only templates containing application code and dependencies. Containers are runnable instances of images. You build images once and run multiple containers from them.

18. What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes is a container orchestration platform automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It handles load balancing, self-healing, and rolling updates across clusters of nodes.

19. What is a Kubernetes Pod?

A Pod is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes, containing one or more containers sharing storage and network resources. Pods are ephemeral and managed by higher-level controllers like Deployments.

20. How do you create a CI/CD pipeline in Jenkins?

Create a Jenkinsfile defining stages (build, test, deploy), configure source control triggers in GitHub, set up build agents, and define deployment targets. Pipeline-as-code enables version control for your build workflow.

21. What is Git Rebase?

Rebase moves commits to a new base, creating a linear history. Unlike merge, it rewrites commit history. Use rebase for cleaning up local commits; avoid rebasing shared branches.

22. What is Blue/Green Deployment?

Blue/green deployment runs two identical production environments. Traffic switches entirely from blue (current) to green (new version). This enables zero-downtime deployments and instant rollback by switching back.

23. What is Canary Deployment?

Canary deployment gradually rolls out changes to a small user subset before full release. This reduces risk by testing new features in production with limited blast radius.

24. What is Terraform?

Terraform is an IaC tool for provisioning infrastructure across multiple cloud providers. It uses declarative configuration, maintains state, and plans changes before applying them.

25. What's the difference between Terraform and Ansible?

Terraform focuses on infrastructure provisioning (creating servers, networks). Ansible handles configuration management (installing software, configuring services). They're complementary: Terraform provisions, Ansible configures.

26. What are the 7Cs of DevOps?

Continuous Development, Continuous Integration, Continuous Testing, Continuous Deployment, Continuous Delivery, Continuous Monitoring, and Continuous Feedback. These principles define the DevOps methodology.

27. Explain the Shift Left concept.

Shift left moves testing, security, and quality assurance earlier in the software development lifecycle. Finding bugs during development costs less than finding them in production.

28. What is GitOps?

GitOps uses Git as the single source of truth for declarative infrastructure and applications. Changes are made through pull requests, and automated systems sync the actual state with the desired state in the git repository.

29. What is the ELK Stack?

ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) provides centralized logging. Logstash collects logs, Elasticsearch indexes them, Kibana visualizes data. Essential monitoring tools for troubleshooting distributed systems.

30. What is Prometheus?

Prometheus is an open-source monitoring system collecting metrics from targets. Combined with Grafana for visualization, it provides observability into system performance and enables alerting.

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Advanced DevOps Interview Questions

31. How do you ensure security in CI/CD pipelines?

Implement secrets management (HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager), vulnerability scanning, SAST/DAST testing tools, container image scanning, signed commits, least privilege access, and audit logging throughout the pipeline.

32. Discuss monitoring and logging importance in DevOps.

Observability through metrics, logs, and traces enables continuous monitoring of system health. Proper monitoring reduces MTTR during outages and provides data for optimization decisions.

33. Explain immutable infrastructure.

Immutable infrastructure treats servers as disposable rather than updatable. Instead of patching, you deploy new instances from templates. This eliminates configuration drift and enables reliable rollback.

34. What is serverless computing's impact on DevOps?

Serverless (AWS Lambda, Azure Functions) shifts infrastructure management to cloud providers. DevOps practices adapt: different deployment models, cold start considerations, distributed troubleshooting, and cost optimization focus.

35. How do you optimize Docker containers?

Use multi-stage builds, minimal base images (Alpine), optimize layer caching, set resource limits, implement health checks, avoid running as root, and remove unnecessary dependencies to improve functionality and security.

36. How do you handle Kubernetes rollbacks?

Use kubectl rollout undo to revert to previous versions. Kubernetes maintains revision history for deployments. Configure appropriate rollback strategies and test rollback procedures regularly.

37. How do you optimize CI/CD pipelines for faster deployments?

Implement parallelization, aggressive caching, incremental builds, optimized automated testing (run fast tests first), artifact management, and pipeline-as-code. Monitor pipeline metrics to identify bottlenecks.

38. What are Sidecar Containers?

Sidecars are additional containers in a Kubernetes Pod extending functionality without modifying the main application. Common uses include logging agents, service mesh proxies, and monitoring collectors.

39. Compare monolithic and microservices architectures.

Monoliths are simpler to develop and deploy but harder to scale components independently. Microservices enable independent scaling and deployment but add complexity in networking, monitoring, and data consistency.

40. How do you implement disaster recovery?

Design multi-region deployments, automate backups, define RTO/RPO targets, implement automated failover, test recovery procedures regularly, and document runbooks for stakeholders.

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Scenario-Based DevOps Interview Questions

41. Your deployment pipeline takes 45 minutes. How would you optimize it?

Analyze each stage's duration, parallelize independent tasks, implement caching for dependencies and Docker layers, optimize test suites (parallel execution, remove redundant tests), use incremental builds, and consider breaking monolithic pipelines.

42. A production service experiences intermittent failures. Walk through your troubleshooting process.

Check monitoring dashboards and alerts, review recent deployments, analyze logs for error patterns, examine resource utilization (CPU, memory, network), check dependent services, isolate the problem systematically, and document findings.

43. How would you migrate from manual deployments to CI/CD?

Start with version control if missing, implement automated builds, add automated testing gradually, create staging environments, implement continuous delivery with manual approval, then progress to continuous deployment as confidence grows.

44. Design a CI/CD pipeline for multi-environment deployment.

Define environment progression (dev, staging, production), implement promotion gates between environments, manage environment-specific configuration through templates, ensure security scanning before production, and maintain environment parity.

45. A new feature deployment caused an outage. What's your response?

Immediately rollback to the last stable version, communicate with stakeholders, gather data (logs, metrics, error reports), conduct blameless post-mortem, identify root cause, implement preventive measures, and update deployment procedures.

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DevOps Tools Overview

46. What are essential DevOps tools categories?

Source control (Git, GitHub), CI/CD (Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), IaC (Terraform, Ansible, Puppet), monitoring (Prometheus, Grafana, Nagios), and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).

47. When would you choose Ansible over Puppet?

Ansible is agentless (uses SSH), easier to learn, and uses YAML. Puppet requires agents but handles complex configurations at scale. Choose Ansible for simpler setups and Puppet for large, complex Linux environments.

48. What is AWS in DevOps context?

Amazon Web Services provides cloud infrastructure for DevOps: EC2 for compute, S3 for storage, ECS/EKS for container orchestration, CodePipeline for CI/CD, CloudFormation for IaC, and CloudWatch for monitoring.

49. What is Agile's relationship to DevOps?

Agile focuses on iterative software development with short sprints. DevOps extends Agile principles to operations, enabling continuous deployment of features developed in Agile sprints. They complement each other.

50. What cloud-native tools should DevOps engineers know?

Kubernetes for container orchestration, Helm for package management, Istio for service mesh, ArgoCD for GitOps, Prometheus/Grafana for observability, and cloud provider-specific services for each major platform.

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Tips for Conducting DevOps Interviews

Balance Breadth and Depth

DevOps spans many domains. Assess broad knowledge while diving deep into areas critical for your organization's stack. A candidate strong in Kubernetes might need to learn Terraform, but understanding orchestration concepts transfers.

Include Hands-On Assessments

Technical interviews should include practical exercises: write a Dockerfile, debug a pipeline configuration, troubleshoot a scenario, or review infrastructure code. Watching candidates work reveals more than verbal answers.

For organizations hiring remote workers, hands-on assessments work well in distributed interview formats using screen sharing and collaborative tools.

Evaluate Problem-Solving Methodology

How candidates approach problems matters as much as knowing specific tools. Ask follow-up questions about methodology, alternative approaches, and trade-offs considered.

Assess Collaboration Skills

DevOps breaks silos between teams. Evaluate communication abilities, experience working across development and operations, and cultural alignment with DevOps principles of shared responsibility.

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Tips for Candidates

Build Hands-On Experience

Practice with real tools: set up CI/CD pipelines, deploy containers, provision infrastructure with code. Theory without hands-on practice is insufficient for DevOps roles.

Understand Core Concepts

Master fundamentals: Linux administration, networking, version control systems, and cloud computing basics. Tool-specific knowledge builds on these foundations.

Prepare Real Project Examples

Have detailed examples demonstrating DevOps practices implementation, problem-solving, and measurable improvements like reduced deployment frequency or improved MTTR.

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FAQs

What skills are most important for DevOps engineers?

Linux administration, Python/Bash scripting, CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitLab), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), IaC (Terraform, Ansible), cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), and monitoring tools.

Should I test specific tools or concepts?

Focus on concepts while using tools as examples. Understanding container orchestration principles transfers across Kubernetes, ECS, and other platforms. Strong candidates learn new tools quickly.

What distinguishes junior from senior DevOps questions?

Junior questions verify tool usage and basic concepts. Senior questions assess architecture decisions, trade-offs, strategic thinking, and experience handling complex production issues and outages.

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Great Interview Questions Find Great Engineers. 

Great Recruiting Finds Candidates Worth Interviewing.

These questions help you evaluate DevOps candidates effectively. But they only help when you have qualified candidates to interview in the first place.

If you're building a distributed engineering team with LATAM talent, Lupa helps you find experienced DevOps engineers, SREs, and platform engineers across Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Brazil.

What Lupa brings:

• Specialized sourcing for technical infrastructure roles
• Methodology-driven screening evaluating both technical skills and collaboration abilities
• Understanding of recruitment KPIs that matter for quality hiring
• Focus on candidates who demonstrate growth mindset in interviews

Great interview questions help you evaluate candidates. Great recruiting ensures you have candidates worth evaluating.

Book a discovery call to discuss your DevOps hiring goals.

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