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Questions to practise
Tell me about a system you ran in production.
She wants to see real experience with live systems, not only knowledge of tools.
Say what the system did and who used it. Give one or two numbers, like users, clusters or traffic. Then use 'I' for your own tasks. Add if you were on call. Keep it to three or four sentences.
How did you monitor that system, and how did you decide what to alert on?
Good monitoring finds problems early. She wants to know how you watch a system and avoid too many alerts.
Say what you watched, like errors, response time or disk space. Explain one alert you added and why it mattered. You can say: 'We only alerted on problems that users would notice.'
How did you make changes or deployments safely?
Many problems start with a change. She wants to see how you lower the risk.
Describe your real steps. Maybe you tested first, released to a small group, or had a rollback plan. Give one short example of a change that went well, or one that you rolled back.
Did you manage infrastructure as code? Tell me about it.
She wants to know how you build and change infrastructure in a repeatable way.
Say what you defined in code, like servers, networks or permissions. Explain your part: writing, reviewing or fixing it. Say one benefit, for example fewer manual mistakes. If you used it a little, say so honestly.
Tell me about your worst outage. What broke, and what did you do first?
Outages happen. She wants to see your first actions under pressure and how you set priorities.
Use three steps: what broke, what you did first, and what changed after. For example: 'The database disk filled up. I added space. Then we set up an alert.' Keep the story short.
Tell me about a cost or security choice you made.
Cloud work has trade-offs. She wants to hear how you think and decide.
Say the two options, what you chose, and why. For example: 'We chose a smaller instance type for the test servers. It cut cost, and the risk was low.' Give one clear reason.
Why did you choose that over the other option?
She checks if your choice had a clear reason, not just habit or a tool you like.
Talk about risk, cost or speed. You can say: 'We chose the cheaper option because the risk was low.' If you would choose differently now, say so honestly.
Tell me about a mistake you made while running a system.
Honest engineers are easier to trust. She wants to see how you own a mistake.
Choose a real but small mistake. Say what happened, how you fixed it, and what you do differently now. Keep it simple. Do not blame other people.
How do you work with other engineers when there is a problem?
This is her teamwork question. She wants to know how you share work and communicate.
Give one example. Say how you shared updates, asked for help, or split tasks. During an incident, send short, clear messages. Afterwards, join the review and listen to others.
Tell me about a time you disagreed with a teammate about a technical choice.
She wants to see how you handle different opinions and still reach a decision together.
Explain both ideas fairly. Say how you talked about it, perhaps with data or a small test. Say what you decided together. Show respect for the other person.
Let me think of a good example.
Clara
AI coach
Leo
AI coach
Lines to try
Let me think of a good example.
My part was to watch the alerts and fix the problem.
The system served about … users a day.
The first thing I did was …
After that, we added an alert so it would not happen again.
We chose the cheaper option because the risk was low.
Common questions
Is there a coding test in this interview?
No. In this interview, Dana does not give a coding test. She asks you to talk about systems you ran and choices you made. Prepare clear spoken examples, not code.
What if my outage story was my fault?
That is okay. Many good stories start with a mistake. Be honest about what happened. Focus on what you did to fix it and what changed after. Owning a mistake calmly can show maturity.
Should I list all the tools I know?
Not as a list. Mention tools only inside a real example. If you only list tools, the interviewer may ask, 'What did you do yourself?' Talk about your actions, the size of the system and your reasons.