-
[5/2025] Kong has made changes to its open-source offering, specifically with the release of Kong Gateway version 3.10. While not completely removing the open-source version. See code and docs here.
For a Kubernetes interview, the most important things to consider are a blend of core concepts, practical skills, and the ability to apply knowledge to real-world scenarios.
-
Pods:
Understand that a Pod is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes, often containing one or more containers sharing storage and network resources. -
Deployments:
Know how Deployments manage the lifecycle of Pods, enable rolling updates, rollbacks, and ensure the desired number of replicas are running. -
Services:
Be familiar with how Services expose Pods to the network and provide stable endpoints, including types like ClusterIP, NodePort, and LoadBalancer. -
Kubernetes Architecture:
Be able to explain the master-worker node architecture, including the roles of the API server, etcd, controller manager, scheduler, kubelet, and kube-proxy.
-
Networking:
Understand Pod-to-Pod communication, Services, Ingress controllers, and Network Policies for controlling traffic flow. -
Storage:
Know about Persistent Volumes (PVs), Persistent Volume Claims (PVCs), and StatefulSets for stateful applications. -
Security:
Be able to discuss Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), secrets management, and network policies. -
Resource Management:
Know how to set resource requests and limits, use namespaces, and manage quotas. -
Service Mesh:
Have a basic understanding of service mesh concepts (e.g., Istio, Linkerd) for advanced interviews.
-
Debugging:
Be ready to walk through how you would troubleshoot common issues, such as slow applications, pod scheduling failures, CrashLoopBackOff errors, DNS issues, and networking problems. -
kubectl Usage:
Know essential kubectl commands for inspecting resources, logs, and cluster state. -
Scenario-Based Problem Solving:
Practice explaining how you would solve practical problems, such as scaling issues, application failures, or cluster upgrades.
-
Real-Life Examples:
Whenever possible, support your answers with examples from your own experience, such as how you optimized deployments, secured clusters, or handled outages. -
Automation and CI/CD:
Be prepared to discuss how you integrate Kubernetes with CI/CD pipelines and automate deployments.
-
ConfigMaps and Secrets:
Managing configuration and sensitive data. -
DaemonSets and Jobs:
Running background tasks or ensuring pods run on every node. -
Monitoring and Observability:
Using tools like Prometheus, Grafana, or ELK stack for monitoring and logging.
Focusing on these areas—and being able to clearly explain both concepts and practical solutions—will help you stand out in a Kubernetes interview.