The IBM DevOps Interview Guide
IBM's strategy is entirely focused on the "Hybrid Cloud" (managing infrastructure that lives both on-premise and in public clouds). Because IBM owns Red Hat, expertise in enterprise-grade Linux and OpenShift is a massive advantage.
The Interview Stages
IBM looks for deep system-level understanding. They want engineers who know what happens under the hood of a container, not just how to run a Docker command.
Round 1: Linux Admin & Scripting
- Focus: You must be a strong SysAdmin.
- Question: "Explain the boot process of a Linux machine from BIOS to the user prompt."
- Scripting: "Write a Bash or Python script to parse a 5GB Nginx log file and find the top 10 IP addresses making 404 requests."
Round 2: Containers & Red Hat OpenShift
If you know Kubernetes, you are good. If you know OpenShift, you are golden.
- Kubernetes: "What is the difference between a Deployment and a StatefulSet? When would you use a DaemonSet?"
- OpenShift (Bonus): "How does OpenShift’s Route differ from a standard Kubernetes Ingress?"
Round 3: Configuration Management (Ansible)
Because IBM deals with massive on-premise legacy servers, Ansible is critical.
- Question: "Write a basic Ansible playbook to install Apache, start the service, and ensure it runs on boot across 50 Ubuntu servers."
- Discuss Ansible Roles, inventory files, and handling variables.
Round 4: Managerial Fit & Architecture
- Scenario: "A critical production database is experiencing high latency, causing the web application to time out. How do you troubleshoot this?"
- The Approach: Do not jump straight to "restart the server." Discuss checking monitoring dashboards (Prometheus), analyzing CPU/Memory I/O, checking slow query logs, and scaling up read-replicas if necessary.
Final Advice: Familiarize yourself with the concept of Hybrid Cloud. Be prepared to discuss how you would securely connect an on-premise database to a web application running in a public cloud via a VPN or Direct Connect.
