I'm preparing to interview candidates who have around 3-4 years of experience in tech. I want to know what kinds of questions I should be asking to really understand their skills. Should I focus on specific tools that we use, like IAM policies, S3 resource policies, or the basics of Ansible and Terraform, such as commands and underlying logic? Also, what should I inquire about regarding Kubernetes? How can I effectively gauge someone's abilities to decide if they should move to the next round? One challenge I'm facing is when a candidate lists technologies on their resume that I'm completely unfamiliar with. How can I assess their technical skills in those cases?
4 Answers
I have 4 years of experience too—1 at a startup and 3 with tech support at AWS Redshift. It involves managing tons of machines. When interviewing, maybe ask what kind of projects they were involved in or what they were running on those machines to get a better idea of their hands-on experience.
Start off by assessing their Linux skills. Ask about different types of errors they might have encountered, like connection timeouts or refused connections, and get them to explain when those issues happen. If they don't have any Linux experience, that would be a dealbreaker for me. It's a fundamental skill in many roles!
Just keep in mind that a few years in tech doesn't always mean they have significant DevOps experience. I recommend asking questions about Linux, networking, and even how DNS works. Test their troubleshooting abilities for connection issues in AWS, like between two accounts using a VPC endpoint. You could also explore their familiarity with Git, branching strategies, and how they contribute to team projects. You want to see if they have the basics covered to catch up with your team.
It might help to share the qualifications section of your job post to get more targeted advice. Make sure your questions align with what's in the job requirements. One time, I had someone ask me DBA-related questions for a Linux System Administrator position, and it felt off. Stick to what's actually required for the role!
What kind of setups or projects were you handling on those machines?