Hey everyone! I'm gearing up for a technical interview next week for a CDN sysadmin role. I've previously worked as a Linux web host technician, but I haven't been in that space for about two years. The tech stack they'll be using includes Ansible, Grafana, Nginx, Varnish, and Docker. My experience with Nginx, Grafana, and Docker is pretty limited. I want to make the most of the four days I have to prepare and show that I'm eager to learn. Any crash course recommendations or other tips for prep would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
2 Answers
If they're aware of your limited experience, don't stress too much about it. Focus on understanding the general concepts of caching and how it works. Dive into system performance aspects critical to CDNs, like load averages and disk I/O. Also, brush up on everything related to HTTP, especially SSL, different HTTP versions, and proxying. Having even a basic knowledge of these topics can give you an edge during the interview. Remember to prioritize understanding over memorization—this approach works best in interviews!
Trying to cram years of experience into just four days is a tall order! Just a heads-up, if you're not familiar with Varnish, you might run into some challenges, especially if they expect you to troubleshoot specific instances. My advice would be to focus on hands-on tutorials and labs. It’s one of the best ways to pick up these technologies quickly. Don't just go for Docker Desktop; instead, install Docker Engine directly. It’s better for understanding how Docker operates in an enterprise context. Look up how to write Ansible playbooks to manage containers effectively and practice a bunch of Docker commands. Also, make sure to spend some time learning about Nginx since it can be quite versatile and complex. Good luck!
I appreciate your insights! I'll definitely look into doing practical tutorials. Thanks for the tip about Docker Engine!
Thanks for the great advice! I’ll make sure to go over those concepts.