DevOps Resume 2021 and Interview Questions. Get ready!

“DevOps engineer” is a new role and most of the candidates do not quite grasp how to compose a resume and how to get ready for the interview. As such, we decided to point out some helpful tips on how to write a killing DevOps engineer resume and prepare for a successful interview.

The demand for DevOps engineers is growing so rapidly that it significantly exceeded the supply. A gigantic 65% of companies want DevOps specialists for their business, and they want them yesterday. What is the matter then? Businesses need DevOps specialists, so they concentrate on hiring. There is one difficulty though, “DevOps engineer” is a rather new role and most of the executives are unclear about how to model the hiring process, and candidates do not quite grasp how to compose a resume and how to get ready for the interview. As such, we decided to point out some helpful tips on how to write a killing DevOps engineer resume and prepare for a successful interview. 

DevOps job description and requirements

Just before you start writing the DevOps engineer resume it wouldn’t hurt if you learned carefully the DevOps job description to highlight skills, achievements, and certifications that correlate with the requirements. Additionally, a great idea would be to add a summary or a headline comment that announces your main goals as a candidate. But, first things first, let’s discuss what DevOps engineers do, and what are the DevOps engineers’ job requirements.

What does a DevOps engineer do?

• Project planning and management. In the majority of cases, DevOps engineers perform a leading role and plan the project from the code building to the software product support. Also, they manage the project from task assignment to performance reporting. 
• Working on IT infrastructure. As a rule, infrastructures are not perfect and there are always issues to improve. DevOps engineers detect those issues and work on the improvement, or they design a new infrastructure that will be able to get products to market much faster.
• Performance measuring. Everyday DevOps engineers test the systems and analyze how they work.
• Processes automation. DevOps engineers are the automation gurus. They find ways to effectively automate all the SDLC processes.
• Release cycles configuring and optimization. DevOps engineers’ task is to configure release pipelines, detect and get rid of the bottlenecks and optimize them as much as possible. 
• Performance tracking and reporting. DevOps engineers constantly track the product performance and report on results to the teams.
• Security provision. DevSecOps are the engineers that focus on the security of the software product delivery during all the SDLC phases. 

DevOps engineers job requirements

A high-qualified DevOps engineer should have:

• Education. Preferably, there should be a degree in computer science/programming or a related engineering field. 
• Training. Here we can distinguish three areas for the DevOps engineers to focus on: operating systems like Linux, Windows and iOS, programming and/or scripting at least in one of the languages (we recommend Python) and cloud technology. The most well-known cloud providers are Azure, Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services. 
• Certifications. Here we can name two most important certifications: Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) that indicates Linux advanced skills and Amazon Web Services (AWS) DevOps Engineer-Professional certification that highlights the knowledge of AWS operations and methodologies. 

Required DevOps Skills in 2021

• Awareness of DevOps methodology, practices, processes and tools.
• Linux expertise. Windows fans shouldn’t start arguing with us, we are not against Windows, but most of the IT organizations are fond of Linux, and it would not hurt if any engineer learned some key Linux commands because the majority of the DevOps operations are Linux based.  
• Knowledge of programming/scripting. A DevOps engineer might not be a coding master, but handling basic scripting languages such as Python, PHP, Java, Ruby, Go and others is very preferable. 
• Understanding of Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment pipelines configuration and implementation with the help of correspondent tools.
• Networking. Knowledge of how to configure, monitor and secure networks is crucial. 
• Infrastructure-as-a-code. IAC is a type of IT infrastructure that teams can automatically manage and maintain with the help of a code. With IAC, the difference in roles between a developer and a system administrator is not that noticeable. 
• Cloud expertise. We know we have already mentioned knowledge of clouds as basic DevOps standards is important, however, it wouldn’t hurt if we highlighted one more time that any DevOps specialist has to know how to work with at least one cloud provider: GCP, AWS or Azure. 
• Governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) capability. The privacy landscape is always evolving. The teams may not have to have skills for governance and compliance so much as a privacy-oriented development philosophies implementation.
• Security knowledge. Professional DevOps specialists should be able to apply security into the DevOps cycle from the very beginning.
• Soft (Social) skills. Without well-developed communication skills, proactivity, collaboration skills, emotional stability and customer-oriented attitude, an idea of a high-performing DevOps team will never work. 

5 A’s to become a DevOps engineer:

1. Acquire a degree. The first step is obtaining a degree in computer science, computer programming or other engineering areas. 
2. Acquire relevant experience. A senior-level role as a DevOps engineer requires a person to begin with entry-level roles to get the experience. 
3. Acquire certificates. It is a great idea to consider getting certifications that many employers generally seek. 
4. Assemble a resume. List your skills and jobs from most to least recent, and don’t forget to cover all the active certifications you possess.
5. Apply for openings. Before applying, write a cover letter that will demonstrate your capabilities for a DevOps role. If you work for a company that has DevOps positions, you may apply for a promotion.

How to write a DevOps resume

Creating a perfect DevOps resume is not that easy as it might seem at the first glance, but there is no need to worry because we will help build one and stand out from other candidates. 

DevOps resume structure:

• Header. The header is the right contact info presented in the right order. Start with your name, phone number and email address (it’s better to be clickable). Please, don’t start with the header “resume” –  it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? 
• Objective/Summary. A resume summary indicates your experience. Use it if you are experienced enough. A resume objective demonstrates your passion when you are not experienced enough. At the same time, do not even consider writing that you are not experienced enough as a DevOps specialist To apply for a DevOps engineer position you must have enough accomplishments as a programmer or IT operations specialist. As such, your objective should not begin with: “Junior DevOps engineer seeking a job….” but with “Skilled DevOps engineer with experience in configuring, coding and networking…”
• Experience. Here, as in any other resume, you should start with the most recent jobs. It would be great if you added the achievements especially if those helped boost a company’s growth, and you can give accurate numbers to prove it. One more time we repeat, there is no such a thing as “have no DevOps experience” write about your previous experience as a developer or system administrator. 
• Education/Certifications in such an order: 1) educational institution; 2) years; 3) degree; 4) accomplishments that fit the job requirements.
• Skills. Don’t just list them, prove them with accomplishments. To do that choose the most required and valuable skills for this position and point them out.
• Other. Don’t neglect the “other” section, which means that you have some interests beyond your job. However, the “interest” section should also correlate with job requirements. So, instead of writing that you love to spend time with your friends, give that you spend your free time volunteering as a DevOps specialist for hospitals and shelters. It should be true, of course. Moreover, it would be great if you mentioned the conferences you attended.
• Cover letter. To make it personal, start with HR’s name. Then write that you realize why this company opened this position and how you can help with your expertise and experience increase the company’s outcomes. 

DevOps interview questions

We decided to give some general and at the same time kind of tricky questions for you to be prepared as much as possible and, of course, we gave answers. Let’s avoid the most general questions of all general questions like “What is DevOps?” and save our time for more interesting, yet pretty common, questions.

Can you name the main differences between DevOps and Agile?

Can you name DevOps benefits?

Your previous experience can be helpful here, and you could tell how the DevOps methodology helped your former company. If it is the start of your career as a DevOps engineer, you can name these advantages:

• Continuous software delivery and rapid product delivery to the market;
• Fully automated SDLC;
• Faster resolution of problems;

• More steady working conditions;
• Higher software product quality – more satisfied customers.

Can you name cases where DevOps was successfully implemented?

Many industries are using DevOps in practice, and you can mention Etsy as an example. E-commerce handmade item marketplace Etsy often suffered from slow website updates that seriously affected sales. With the help of a new methodology, Etsy goes through full-site deployments twice a week, and they last only four hours. 

Can you name DevOps antipatterns at least three of them?

1. We need a separate DevOps team in one more silo to do the DevOps stuff. No, we don’t. The main idea of DevOps is to have all the teams together and DevOps engineers can be found inside the teams.
2. DevOps is a process. No, it’s not. DevOps is a culture, philosophy, methodology that is implemented to unite key software production teams. 
3. Agile and DevOps are the same. No, they aren’t. We have already discussed the difference.
4. DevOps KPIs cannot be defined, especially at the beginning of the transition. Yes, they can, and they should. Without setting up key DevOps KPIs at the start of the journey, we cannot track the success and identify failures.
5. We cannot do DevOps: people in our teams aren’t skilled enough or our problems are unique. Yes, you can. With the right attitude and upskilled program, every IT business can do DevOps. 

Can you name critical DevOps KPIs?

Three of the most common DevOps KPIs are:

• Interval to failure recovery;
• Deployment frequency;
• Percentage of failed deployments.

Of course, countless questions are covering DevOps-specific topics, such as: What command will you use to enter into a docker container? or What is Prometheus and how is it used with Grafana? Although it is clear we cannot discuss all of them here, we can consult you on any question or issue you might have.

Final thoughts 

Just about ten years ago nobody heard about the title “DevOps engineer.”  However, within the past few years, it has rapidly grown in popularity. This statement is proved by Upskilling 2020 DevOps Skills Report, according to which 51% of IT leaders claimed they had recently hired or planned to hire someone who successfully practiced DevOps methodology and was skilled enough to call himself a DevOps engineer. DevOps engineers are supposed to work with developing and IT operations teams, QA specialists and production teams to supervise the code delivery and release. DevOps engineers are supposed to have and utilize well-developed soft and hard skills to break the time-honored wall between software production teams and impeccably manage IT infrastructure. Moreover, DevOps engineers should be endowed with leadership and business skills to work with the teams. With this in mind, we can easily understand why DevOps engineer jobs are in-demand right now and why so generously remunerated. If you desire to become one, you have to accept the fact that your way to success will not be easy, just remember we are here to help you at any stage of your path.