How to Ask Smart Questions in DevOps Interviews

Hello “👋”

Welcome to another week, another opportunity to become a great DevOps and Software Engineer

Today’s issue is brought to you by TheEngineeringLadder→ A great resource for devops and software engineers. We break down career-changing lessons in DevOps and Software Engineering to help you level up fast.

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A few months ago, one of my mentees messaged me after an interview:

It’s a common fear.
Many engineers think asking questions makes them look unprepared.
But the truth is — not asking questions makes you look uninterested.

The best engineers I’ve ever interviewed weren’t the ones who had perfect answers.
They were the ones who asked thoughtful questions that showed real understanding.

Why This Matters

When you ask smart questions, you show three things:
1️⃣ You care about how things work.
2️⃣ You think about the bigger picture.
3️⃣ You’re confident enough to dig deeper.

In DevOps and cloud roles, that mindset is gold.
It shows you’re not just a button pusher — you’re a problem solver.

What Not to Ask

Let’s start here.
❌ “What does your company do?” → (That’s a Google question.)
❌ “What’s the salary range?” → (Not in the first call.)
❌ “Do you use AWS or Azure?” → (Too surface-level.)

These don’t make you look curious.
They make you look unprepared.

What to Ask Instead

Here are a few examples that show technical curiosity and awareness:

💡 “How does your team currently handle deployments and rollback strategies?”
💡 “What are the biggest reliability challenges you’ve faced this year?”
💡 “How do you monitor and prioritize incidents when multiple systems fail?”
💡 “What tools or practices have made the biggest difference in your DevOps workflow?”

These kinds of questions spark real conversations — and that’s when interviewers start seeing you as one of them.

This Week’s Challenge

Before your next interview, write down 3 thoughtful questions you can ask about:
✅ The team’s process
✅ Their infrastructure challenges
✅ Their learning culture

Practice them out loud.
Confidence comes from clarity, not memoriza

Final Thoughts

Asking smart questions doesn’t make you look clueless — it makes you look like someone who’s ready to contribute.

In DevOps, curiosity isn’t optional.
It’s a signal of how deeply you think, how you learn, and how you solve problems.

So next time the interviewer says, “Do you have any questions?”
Don’t freeze.
That’s your chance to shine.
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