Table of Contents

• [toc headings="h2,h3" title="Table of Contents"] DevSecOps is short for development, security, and operations, and once you realize that you can get a pretty good sense of what these professionals do. DevSecOps engineers create and implement security systems, processes, and infrastructure for an organization, often in collaboration with program developers and a broader security team. Like most roles in cybersecurity, DevSecOps professionals are needed by companies in a range of industries, and this makes it a role in high demand. That demand is increasing, too, with the sector expected to grow at a rate of 32.2% by 2028. Of course, that growth doesn't mean getting a DevSecOps job is automatic. Companies want to hire engineers with experience using security tools and software, knowledge of security testing and best practices, and the right soft skills and work style to be a fit for their culture and teams. Thoroughly preparing for your DevSecOps interview can help you land your ideal role in this industry.

• Common DevSecOps interview questions

• While every company will have their own hiring process and list of questions for candidates, there are some questions that are commonly asked across organizations. DevSecOps interviews tend to focus primarily on technical concepts and skills like process automation, common security vulnerabilities and issues, and deployment of security products. You may also be asked questions to test workplace skills like communication, teamwork, and management or leadership ability. Here are some of the most common questions and what interviewers are looking for in an ideal answer.

• Describe your DevOps experience and the role security has played in it.

• Interviewers ask this type of broad question in order to get a broad overview of the candidate's knowledge of DevOps and gauge their understanding of security's role in it. The best answer demonstrates your involvement in meeting security goals at different stages of the pipeline. Good details to focus on are code design and source code analysis, vulnerability testing, or your experience scanning for intrusions in a production environment.

• What is the difference between DevSecOps and DevOps?

• This is another question that gauges an IT professional's understanding of the role and industry. Your answer should focus on the practical side of the question and which methodologies and tools are utilized in each. DevOps practices include CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and microservices. DevSecOps utilizes these concepts, but also adds vulnerability testing, threat modeling, incident management, and other key information security concepts.

• What processes did you implement, improve, or automate as part of a CI/CD cycle in previous roles?

• If you're applying for your first DevSecOps job, you can draw on project or course work you did in school and your understanding of best practices and smart security principles. For those with past experience, you should focus on ways you streamlined redundant processes or employed automation to redirect team members' critical skills into a more strategic area. The best answer demonstrates your understanding of how DevSecOps supports businesses' digital transformation efforts.

• What is continuous delivery, why is it important, and how does it differ from DevOps?

• Continuous delivery aims to automate the software delivery process. This is just one part of DevSecOps, a broader concept that covers all aspects of software development and deployments. The best answer to this interview question demonstrates your understanding of this difference, as well as the ways continuous delivery reduces time to market for features, development costs, and deployment risks.

• What are the main challenges in deploying code and building IT infrastructure while scaling either area?

• Employers want to hire candidates who understand the main problems they'll face in the role and are able to find a solution for them. As infrastructure grows and changes and code is deployed more often, maintaining its quality and resiliency becomes more challenging. Your answer should demonstrate that you understand this, and present policies that can help you meet these challenges if you're applying for a senior role.

• What security tools have you used?

• Most of the time, interviewers aren't looking for experience with a specific tool or software program. However, they do want IT professionals who have experience using SCA tools (software composition analysis) and popular DevOps tools like Ansible, Chef, Puppet, Docker, GitHub, Kubernetes, or Selenium. You should also emphasize your familiarity with tools used to identify security flaws and vulnerabilities, perform network monitoring and intrusion detection, manage change, and conduct application security testing.

• How do you measure the success of a DevSecOps strategy?

• There are multiple ways to measure the effectiveness of security practices. The best answer will show your ability to identify the main goal of the project and choose the right metrics to assess success in that area. Compliance, cost, and agility are most common objectives, so you should be prepared to discuss metrics for determining effectiveness in those areas.

• What are the steps to effective implementation of new DevSecOps initiatives?

• There are several stages at the start of the DevSecOps project development process. The best answer to this interview demonstrates expertise in topics like project implementation roadmap, gap analysis, maturity model methodologies, and current architecture assessment. It's also smart to briefly outline how the size of the operations team and availability of resources impacts a project roadmap and how you plan for an effective rollout.

• What are the most serious security issues you have encountered, and how did you address them?

• When answering this question, your main focus should be on your response, not the issue. The interviewer wants examples of how you've used your security expertise in a real-world context to perform bug fixes or respond to attacks or data breaches. Describe the steps you took to discover and assess the issue, the resolution, and what you learned from that process. For first-time job seekers, you can discuss the most significant security issues you expect to encounter in the role based on your research of the company.

• What's the best way to improve DevOps performance in a system that uses a mix of new and legacy technologies and applications?

• This is a common situation faced by DevSecOps engineers today. Your answer should explain how you'll assess the security architecture currently in place using a methodology like value stream analysis. The best answers focus on strategy rather than specific tools or technologies, and demonstrate how you'll assess the current applications and technology based on the business' speed, agility, and continuity needs.

• How do you evaluate new processes and tools?

• The DevSecOps landscape is constantly evolving. A DevSecOps engineer needs to have a plan for how they'll assess new technologies as they become available and decide which are worth the cost and effort of adoption. Your answer should show you understand the importance of staying current with industry trends and developments. Explain both how you assess new services, tools, and processes and how you'll advocate for them to drive adoption. You should also show that you're mindful of the costs and challenges of transitioning to a new tool.

• Questions candidates should ask during DevSecOps interviews

• A job interview is a two-way street. Along with showing your strengths as a candidate, you want to assess the employer and make sure it's a place you want to work. There are a number of things you can learn asking the right questions that are difficult to research on your own. Here are some great questions to ask at the end of an interview:

  • Why is this position available? If it's a new role, can you explain when and why it was created?
  • What is the typical career path for this role within your company? Are there advancement opportunities? When was the last time someone from this role was promoted?
  • What compensation and benefits package do you plan to offer for this position?
  • What is the training process for this role?
  • What is the most challenging aspect of this position?
  • How many people are on the DevOps team?
  • Who does this role report to? How does management provide feedback to reports, and with what frequency?
  • What systems or app do you use for workflow management? For communication?
  • Can you explain your expectations for this role? What does success look like on a day-to-day basis?
  • How does this company promote a healthy work-life balance for its employees?
  Of course, you don't need to ask all of these questions at every interview, but you should ask at least two or three. Not asking any questions can make it seem like you're not really interested in the role. On the other side, the interviewer may not have time to answer more than a handful. Ask the ones that are most pressing first, just in case you only have time for a couple.

• How to prepare for a DevSecOps interview

• Even if you're completely confident in your skills and knowledge, job interviews can be stressful and intimidating. It's not something you do often, for one thing, and the fact is, a lot of people feel uncomfortable selling themselves to interviewers. Of course, before you can ace a job interview, you need to land that opportunity. The first step to prepare for this process is to perfect your resume. Every word included on your resume should demonstrate your value as an employee and relate directly to the role you're applying for. Customizing your resume to the specific responsibilities and qualifications of the role can help it stand out over other applications. Once your application is accepted and you're through to the interview stage, you want to make sure you understand what you're getting into. Most people do some basic research on a company before they even apply, but even so you'll want to build on that before your interview day. Explore the company's website and social media, read employee reviews of the company on sites like Glassdoor, and search for news articles or company profiles available online or in industry publications. Not only will this give you valuable information for the interview, but it can also help you confirm that this is a company you want to work for. If you find out the business is facing legal or financial troubles, for example, or that they have a lot of disgruntled former employees, that's something you'll at least want to ask more about before signing any offers. Finally, you'll feel more comfortable in the interview if you have some recent experience to draw from. Mock interviews are a great way to get this. You can ask your friends and family to serve as the interviewer and help you practice, or use online platforms like Pramp or Interview Buddy to practice interviewing with experts.

• 5 tips to ace a DevSecOps interview

• Along with preparing your answers to common questions and researching the company, there are other steps you can take in the day before and day of the interview to give you the best chance of making an exceptional first impression. Here are a few tips to help ensure that your interview goes smoothly.

• 1. Confirm the interview time and plan to arrive early.

• Ideally, you should try to get the date and time of your interview in writing when it's scheduled to avoid any confusion or errors. If you don't have this, reach out to the company the day before to verify the time and location of your interview. On the interview day, plan to show up 15-30 minutes early. This leaves you a buffer so you won't be late if you get lost or run into traffic. If you don't end up needing this extra time for travel, you can use it to get in some last minute practice, or chat with the receptionist to get some more insights about what it's like working for the company.

• 2. Make sure you look like a professional.

• Even if the workplace is casual and doesn't have a dress code, you don't want to show up for your job interview in jeans and a t-shirt. A well-fitting three-piece suit is good default interview attire, but at the very least you should wear slacks, a collared shirt, and dress shoes (no sneakers or sandals).

• 3. Show up well-rested, fed, and hydrated.

• Anxiety can make it difficult for some people to get a full night's sleep or eat a healthy breakfast before their interview. The thing is, if you're tired or otherwise low on energy, you won't be at your best. Go to bed early the night before just in case you have some trouble falling asleep. If you're too nervous to eat a full meal the day of, bring a non-messy snack like a granola bar or piece of fruit to give your brain a bit of fuel. It's also smart to bring a bottle of water to stay hydrated before and during the interview.

• 4. Turn off or silence your phone before you go into the interview.

• Incoming calls and notifications can be a distraction, even if your phone is on vibrate. You don't want to be thinking about anything except answering the questions thoroughly, and ensuring your phone is silent will help you maintain that focus.

• 5. Be polite and friendly with everyone you meet.

• The receptionist isn't a part of the interview team, but they will be your new coworker if you're hired, and you don't want to start that relationship by being rude. Hiring managers will also often ask other staff for their opinion of you as part of their decision making process, knowing that people are often on their best behavior in an interview. A mean or disrespectful employee can cause serious issues in a company, and you don't want people to have those concerns because you snapped at the receptionist on your way in.

• Perfecting your interview approach

• Just like any other skill, the more practice you have at interviewing, the better you'll be at it. If you don't get the first job you interview for, don't beat yourself up or let it destroy your confidence. It's not uncommon to interview for a few positions before you land one. Think critically about what went well and where you can improve, then use that experience to get better results from your next one. With a bit of practice and persistence, you'll land the right role to reach your career goals.