How to Ace Your Kyndryl Interview: Common Questions and Winning Answers

Kyndryl, one of the world’s largest IT infrastructure service providers, was recently spun off from IBM. With operations in over 60 countries, Kyndryl manages mission-critical technology systems for thousands of enterprises.

Landing a role at Kyndryl requires nailing the interview process, which assesses both technical expertise and soft skills. In this guide, we will cover what to expect during Kyndryl interviews and provide sample responses to frequent questions asked. Read on to get fully prepared for your Kyndryl job interviews!

Overview of Kyndryl and Its Hiring Process

Headquartered in New York City, Kyndryl employs over 90,000 people worldwide. It provides managed infrastructure services including cloud, data management, security, networks and more

Kyndryl prides itself on forging true partnerships with clients to enable their digital transformation and evolve IT systems with changing needs. Its culture focuses on values like honesty, excellence and social responsibility.

Here’s an overview of Kyndryl’s typical hiring process:

• Initial Screening Call: 30-minute preliminary call with a recruiter to evaluate basic fit.

• Technical Interview: 1-2 rounds assessing hard skills like coding, infrastructure troubleshooting or analytics.

• Manager Interview: Focuses on leadership principles, teamwork and project management abilities.

• Cross-functional Interview: Panel interview with potential colleagues from diverse functions.

• For strategic roles, you might be given a business case study to look over and present.

• Offer: Kyndryl aims to provide offer decisions within 4 weeks from your final interview.

With diligent preparation, you can confidently tackle each interview stage and join Kyndryl’s mission-driven team.

Common Kyndryl Interview Questions and Answers

Let’s look at sample questions frequently asked during Kyndryl interviews and how to structure winning responses:

Technical Questions

Q1: How would you troubleshoot an issue where a client is unable to access an application server in their on-premise data center from the public internet?

This tests your infrastructure debugging skills and systematic problem-solving approach.

Sample Answer: I would first confirm that the application is up and running within the data center by trying to access it internally. If it is, the issue likely lies within the network architecture and firewall configurations. I would check that requisite ports like 80, 443, etc. are open on the public-facing firewall and that it is allowing traffic to the application server’s IP address. If firewall rules seem correct, I would check routing tables and traceroute client traffic to pinpoint any ACLs, NAT issues or dead routes blocking traffic. I’d also verify the server’s NIC configuration is correct for the data center subnet. If issues persist, packet captures could help analyze traffic flows in detail to isolate misconfigurations.

Q2: A client wants to migrate their monolithic on-premise application to microservices on the cloud. How would you approach this project?

This evaluates your understanding of cloud-native architectures and migration best practices.

Sample Answer: Migrating a legacy monolith to cloud-based microservices requires careful planning and execution. I would start by analyzing application dependencies, data schemas and interfaces to identify logical cut lines for carving out services. I’d provision necessary cloud resources and build a CI/CD pipeline early for agile development. The team would rewrite components as modular services with backwards compatibility layers to integrate with the monolith. For data, I’d assess if migration to cloud-native stores like DynamoDB makes sense or retaining legacy databases with replication is preferable. Instead of a big bang rearchitecture, I’d recommend an incremental strategy of replacing pieces of the monolith to reduce risk. Throughout the process, extensive testing and monitoring would ensure quality and stability.

Q3: How can you securely connect an on-premise mainframe application to cloud-based services?

This assesses your knowledge of secure hybrid connectivity approaches.

Sample Answer: To securely connect mainframe apps to the cloud, I would implement a site-to-site IPsec VPN with BGP routing between the mainframe data center and cloud VPC. This establishes private connectivity through an encrypted tunnel. For added security, I would enable VPC endpoint policies to limit mainframe access to only the required cloud resources. I would also explore using a direct connect circuit for better performance, availability and consistent bandwidth compared to VPNs. Mainframe credentials can be securely stored as secrets in services like AWS Secrets Manager and accessed via APIs. MFA should be enforced for all cloud access and key rotation policies set up. With the right secure networking architecture and identity controls, mainframes can safely interoperate with cloud environments.

Behavioral Questions

Q1: Tell me about a time you made a mistake at work. How did you handle it?

This reveals your humility, accountability and problems solving abilities.

Sample Answer: Early in my career as a junior sysadmin, I was tasked with performing some firewall upgrades. In my eagerness to finish quickly, I did not adequately test the new rule configurations before implementing them in production. This unintentionally blocked legitimate traffic and caused a service outage. I immediately informed my manager and worked with the networking team to roll back the faulty rules until we could determine the root cause. I documented details around what went wrong to prevent similar future issues. Although it was a painful mistake, it taught me the importance of careful testing, peer reviews and controlled rollouts. I now approach all deployments with more diligence to catch oversights preproduction.

Q2: Tell me about a time you successfully influenced a team member who wasn’t collaborating well.

This demonstrates leadership, communication and conflict resolution abilities.

Sample Answer: Early in a migration project, I noticed a talented developer on my team disengaging from collaboration and missing meetings. I approached them 1:1 to understand if they were facing any roadblocks. Through our discussion, I realized they felt overwhelmed by the scope. They also had expertise in an approach they felt could accelerate development. I encouraged them to share their ideas and emphasized how their skills would bring value to the team. Moving forward, I took care to assign them tasks matching their strengths and increased check-ins to assure they weren’t blocked. My proactive outreach helped re-engage them in the project and boosted team morale overall.

Q3: How do you stay updated on the latest technologies and IT industry trends?

This demonstrates passion for continuous learning critical in the tech industry.

Sample Answer: I dedicate time weekly to learning by reading relevant blogs, listening to podcasts, and building small side projects to experiment with new tools. I also subscribe to analyst reports covering enterprise infrastructure and cloud developments. Taking courses on platforms like Pluralsight to expand my skills is also crucial. Within work, I leverage vendor tech talks and cross-team knowledge sharing. Attending conferences allows me to network with peers tackling cutting edge use cases. I also firmly believe tech pros should give back through contributions to open source projects and community groups. Through these diverse learning channels, I ensure I stay continually updated with the latest advancements.

Using these examples, you can craft compelling responses to frequent Kyndryl interview questions. Remember to customize answers to reflect your unique experiences and skills. With thorough preparation, you will be well equipped to succeed in your Kyndryl interviews. Best of luck with your job application!