Agent Ambo · Upskill
DevOps Engineer interview cheat sheet
The DevOps Engineer facts interviewers expect you to know cold. Ten minutes of revision the night before.
AmboQuick revision
- Image vs container
- An image is a template; a container is a running instance.
- kubectl describe / logs
- describe shows events; logs --previous shows the crashed container.
- CrashLoopBackOff
- Container keeps failing; check logs, probes, config and limits.
- OOMKilled
- Container exceeded its memory limit.
- Deployment vs StatefulSet
- Deployments for stateless apps; StatefulSets for stable identity and storage.
- Service types
- ClusterIP internal, NodePort on each node, LoadBalancer external.
- Blue-green vs canary
- Blue-green switches all traffic; canary shifts a small share first.
- terraform plan
- Shows changes before apply; state tracks real resources.
- chmod 755
- Owner read/write/execute; group and others read/execute.
- SLO vs SLA
- SLO is the internal target; SLA is the promise to customers.
Must-know topics
Rehearse these out loud
- A pod keeps restarting. How do you debug it?
- What is the difference between a Docker image and a container?
- How do you achieve zero-downtime deployments?
Revision is good. Practice is better.
- 1Ambo reads your resumeYour skills, projects, years and the role you want next.
- 2Then where you’re interviewingAnd how interviewers there question people like you.
- 3It maps every topic they could askMust-know first, your own projects included, built into short daily lessons.
- 4You practise, then get certifiedInterview Q&A after every lesson, then three proctored rounds ending in a voice interview with Ambo.
Questions, answered.
How should I use this DevOps Engineer cheat sheet?
Revise it the night before and the morning of your interview, then say each answer out loud. It covers Image vs container, kubectl describe / logs and CrashLoopBackOff and more.
Is a cheat sheet enough to clear the interview?
It helps you recall facts quickly, but interviewers test how you apply them and follow up on your answers. Practise answering, not just reading.
How is this different from a list of interview questions?
A list is the same for everyone. Ambo builds your course from your resume, your target role and where you're interviewing, then writes every lesson from the interviewer's point of view: what they'll ask, a strong answer, and the follow-up they'll use to test you.
What is the certification test?
Three camera-proctored rounds that unlock one after another: an objective round, a hands-on round (coding or practical tasks for your role) and a voice interview with Ambo, who asks live follow-ups on your answers. Pass all three within 14 days to become TickBig Certified for 12 months.
Revise it, then rehearse it.
Ambo interviews you on DevOps Engineer topics and follows up on what you say.