Platform Engineer Interview Questions
What aspect of our company, product or team interests you most?
Retention is a high priority for many employers. Replacing a team member can be quite expensive in cost terms of recruitment and training time. Asking questions to ensure your interests and motivations align with that of the company can reduce the risk of losing you as a team member. Though you’re ideally excited by the mission of the company, it is not uncommon for companies to use niche technology specifically to attract higher-quality talent. To answer this question, incorporate details from your research that speak specifically to the company’s values, past projects or a responsibility mentioned in the job description that aligns with your career motivations and progression.
Example: “I was watching an interview with your CEO about your product that aims to disrupt the lending industry. Streamlining arduous tasks like loan applications has huge potential. I think the growth in this sector over the last year is a big indication of things to come. Additionally, I’m excited by the untapped potential of blockchain technology you have recently decided to incorporate. I see this as giving your company the competitive advantage in this space as the verifiable auditability will reduce compliance costs.”
Software engineer interview questions about experience and background
In addition to the general questions, a hiring manager could ask, you will likely also need to answer questions about your background and experience in the software engineering industry. These questions will allow you to elaborate more on the skills you have gained through your education and work experience.
What is “Agile” software development and what are your thoughts on it?
Process is an extremely important component of software development. “Agile” is currently one of the most popular software development processes adopted in the industry. The core concepts were introduced in 2001 when “The Manifesto for Agile Software Development” was published. Since its inception, growing numbers of companies have adopted the methodologies in some form. However, there are a wide range of opinions and interpretations on the subject. Some invest the time to train for Agile certification while others use the principles as guidelines rather than hard rules, interpreting “Agile” as an adjective rather than a noun. And there are yet others who wholly disagree with the philosophy.
No matter your opinion, wide industry adoption means you will likely work within the framework at some point in your career. You should be capable of articulating the details of the process. Try using concrete examples from your experience. In your answer, address areas of the process such as:
Example: “Agile software development is a process that focuses on incremental delivery by the team as a whole. The project is broken up into small chunks that are able to be completed within a given timeframe called ‘sprints.’ In my previous role, we were quite successful in adopting the process. We used two-week sprints and kept high contact with many face-to-face discussions to review questions and concerns as they arose.
In addition, we had daily standup meetings to keep everyone synced on team progress. The only adjustment to the process I would have made was in regard to our standup meetings. The name ‘standup’ refers to literal standing meetings to encourage focus and brevity. However, our meetings tended to transition over into standard status meetings for our team lead rather than remaining a time for our team to sync. Other than this, the process really did facilitate delivering higher quality software on a more predictable timetable.”
Example: “In my last role as a platform engineer, I was responsible for designing and deploying cloud-based solutions that allowed users to access data from anywhere. This included creating an infrastructure that could scale up or down depending on the needs of the business. I also had to ensure that all security measures were in place so that only authorized personnel could access the information.”
Example: “I’ve worked with containerization for several years now, so I’m very familiar with its benefits. Containerization is a great way to separate applications from each other while still allowing them to communicate. This helps me avoid issues that arise when multiple applications are running on the same server. It also makes it easier to scale up or down depending on demand.
Example: “In my last role as a platform engineer, I was tasked with designing a new system that would allow our company’s website to handle more traffic. After conducting research on the best practices for scaling systems, I designed a scalable infrastructure that could support the company’s needs as it grew. However, after implementing the design, I discovered that the system wasn’t efficient enough to meet the demands of the business. So, I worked with my team to redesign the system using more efficient technology.”
This question is a great way to assess your problem-solving skills and ability to work independently. It also shows the interviewer that you have experience working with other engineers, which can be important in this role. Your answer should include steps for finding and fixing bugs as well as how you communicate with others about it.
As a platform engineer, you wear many hats. You might work on developing a company’s public cloud platform, creating and managing APIs, or developing software that automates system administration tasks. Whatever your role, you need to be able to answer platform engineer interview questions that assess your skills, experience, and knowledge.
DevOps engineer interview questions to ask
Everything in DevOps starts with security. DevOps automation helps bring software to market quicker than ever before, but it can also introduce crippling vulnerabilities just as fast. With the average cost of a data breach projected to hit $150 million this year, companies can ill afford to let security to take a backseat during their automation efforts.
DevOps engineers must lead the charge in securing applications. They don’t have to be network security experts, but they do have to operate from a mindset where security is the priority. This means incorporating tools into CI/CD pipelines and helping the team focus on securing their applications from outside threats.
[ How does continuous improvement help? Read also: How to set up a CI/CD pipeline. ]
# Kubernetes pairing task
Who?
1 x platform engineer and 1 backend engineer. 1 Hour.
What?
This is a Kubernetes based pairing exercise for assessing Platform Engineer candidates.
The objective of this exercise is to assess a set of specific qualities in the candidate:
Overview
The general outline is:
scenario.scenario presents exactly one defect, and never more.scenario, and articulate why the fix works.FAQ
What are the questions asked in engineer interview?
What are the 10 most common interview questions and answers engineering?
- What do you enjoy most about being an engineer?
- What was your very first engineering design?
- What is your favorite CAD design software and why?
- Have you developed any new engineering skills recently?
- What is the most important skill for an engineer?
Does a platform engineer code?
Tell me about the most challenging engineering project you’ve worked on. Describe a written technical report or presentation you had to complete. Explain a time you had to use logic to solve an engineering problem. Describe a time you demonstrated leadership skills at work.
