Top Azure DevOps Interview Questions to Practice

Azure DevOps interview questions require an in-depth knowledge of various DevOps tools and their features. With the exponential rise in popularity of Azure DevOps, tech companies are constantly looking for candidates skilled in the most recent DevOps approaches. The Azure DevOps interview questions cover continuous monitoring, version control systems, and continuous testing, among others.

Azure DevOps began in 2005 and is now a brand for Microsoft products that offer version control, reporting, requirements management, automated builds, testing, and release management. The following Azure DevOps interview questions will help you ace technical interviews at large tech firms and land your dream job.

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Read on for some crucial Azure DevOps interview questions asked at FAANG+ companies. These interview questions will save your time as you won't have to hunt for questions elsewhere.

Here's what we'll cover:

• Basic Azure DevOps Interview Questions
• Azure DevOps Interview Questions on Version Control System
• Azure DevOps Interview Questions for Experienced Developers
• Sample Azure DevOps Interview Questions for Practice
• FAQs on Azure DevOps Interview Questions

Basic Azure DevOps Interview Questions

The basic Azure DevOps interview questions include fundamental DevOps concepts such as benefits and tools in a tech interview. These standard Azure DevOps interview questions are meant to test your understanding of DevOps.

Q1. What is DevOps? What is the need for Azure DevOps?

DevOps stands for Development and Operations Collaboration. It collaborates 3Ps - Process, People, and Product (working Product). DevOps enables continuous integration continuous delivery of value to users and accelerates the delivery of applications and software services. 

So, Azure DevOps provides developer services by allowing team members to collaborate on code development, build, and deploy applications with ease.

Q2. Mention the benefits of DevOps in an organization.

This Azure DevOps interview question might sound simple but remember that every interview question has an objective. FAANG and tier-1 tech companies look for a professional answer to these common Azure DevOps interview questions.

The key benefits of DevOps in an organization are:

• Customer satisfaction
• Increased IT efficiency with fewer failures
• Collaborative development 
• Assist in faster code deployment through CI-CD
• Speedy operational support
• Transparency between the team

Q3. What are DevOps tools? 

DevOps tools comprise the entire software development lifecycle. Azure DevOps interview questions cover DevOps tools that include: 

• Git: Version control system tool
• Ansible, Puppet, Chef: Configuration management and deployment tools
• Jenkins: Continuous integration tool
• Nagios: Continuous monitoring tool
• Docker: Containerization tool
• Selenium: Continuous Testing tool

Q4. Explain the different phases of the DevOps lifecycle.

Azure DevOps interview questions cover every phase of the DevOps lifecycle separately or in a single question. The different phases in the DevOps methodology are:

• Plan – The team discusses all the project requirements, like time for each stage, cost, and more. 
• Code – The software engineers write the small codes, known as units, according to the client's requirements. 
• Build – Involves the building of the units. 
• Test – The team tests if there are any mistakes. If yes, it is returned for a rebuild.
• Integrate – Involves the integration of all the units of the codes. 
• Deploy – codeDevOpsNow is deployed on the client's environment.
• Operate – Operations are performed on the code.
• Monitor – This is the last phase wherein applications are monitored in the client's environment.

Q5. What are the main differences between DevOps & Agile?

Azure DevOps Interview Questions on Version Control System

Here are some Azure DevOps interview questions on version control systems such as centralized and distributed VCS, Git, and others that you can master to excel in any technical interview.

Q1. What is Version Control?

This Azure DevOps interview question requires you to define version control and its primary uses. Version control is a system that records changes to a file/set of files over time so that specific versions can be recalled later. It comprises a central shared repository where team members can change a file/ set of files. The main uses of VCS are:

• Return files to an earlier state
• Return the entire project to a previous state
• Easily compare various changes over time
• Check modification history

Q2. What is Git?

Git is a Distributed VCS. It allows the user team members to track changes to a file or a set of files and revert to any previous stage. Its distributed architecture has multiple advantages over other VCS such as SVN. Git does not rely on a central server to store all the versions of project files. Instead, every software developer creates clones of a copy of a repository with the local repository. In case of a server outage, easy recovery is possible from one of the teammate's local Git repositories.

Q3. What is the difference between a centralized and distributed version control system?

VCS and their types form a vital part of Azure DevOps interview questions. The three main types are local, centralized, and distributed version control systems.

Azure DevOps Interview Questions for Experienced Developers

Here are some important Azure DevOps interview questions and answers for experienced developers, including continuous testing, monitoring, integration, configuration management, and more.

Q1. What are DevOps Solution Architectures? 

DevOps architecture enables simultaneous teamwork and cyclically provides a tracked feedback loop along the way. DevOps architecture is one of the most popular Azure DevOps interview questions. Various tools and technologies can be used with Azure to design solution architectures for the below DevOps situations:

• Using Kubernetes on Azure Kubernetes Service for Container 
• CI/CD for Azure Web Apps
• DevTest Image Factory
• CI/CD for Containers
• Using Azure Web Apps and Jenkins for Java CI/CD

Q2. How does AWS help DevOps?

In FAANG+ interviews, AWS is an important part of Azure DevOps interview questions. Amazon Web Services is a popular cloud provider that assists DevOps with the following benefits:

• It allows scaling as several machines can be set up on AWS using unlimited storage and computation power.
• AWS offers ready-to-use flexible resources, which will enable the automation of a myriad of tasks. 
• AWS is safe to implement. Its Identity and Access Management (IAM) security options enable secure application deployments and build.

Q3. What is continuous testing in DevOps? 

This Azure DevOps interview question aims at identifying your practical knowledge of Azure platforms. Continuous testing in DevOps is the automated testing of applications and processes at every development lifecycle stage. The main objective of continuous testing is to analyze the quality of the software as part of an ongoing delivery process.

Q4. What is Infrastructure Configuration?

IC is managing and provisioning infrastructure through code. High tech companies require a faster deployment and infrastructure configuration in this competitive landscape. Treating infrastructure like software and managing the processes such as version control, deployment, continuous integration, and automated testing makes infrastructure changes rapid and reliable.

Q5. Name the most popular tools for Infrastructure Configuration.

Some popular tools for infrastructure configuration are:

• Chef: Written in Ruby with Domain-Specific Language with prototype programming.
• Puppet: Written in Ruby that supports DSL. 
• Ansible: Written in Python and supported with YAML scripts.

Q6. What are Azure Pipelines?

Often Azure DevOps Pipeline interview questions form an integral part of the tech interviews. Azure pipeline is a cloud service that automatically develops and tests code projects. It is available on the Azure cloud. It works well with several project types and programming languages. This cloud service helps enhance the availability of code projects to other users.

Q7. What are the reasons for using CI-CD and Azure pipelines? 

This is one of the most crucial Azure DevOps interview questions. The primary reasons for using CI/CD and Azure pipelines are:

• They are platform-independent as well as language-independent.
• Enable working with any open-source projects
• Ensure quality and reliable code
• Building on Windows, Linux, Mac machines
• Facilitates simultaneous deployment to various types of a target

Q8. What do containers mean? 

A container provides a way to package software code, configurations, dependencies, and packages into a single unit or object. Azure DevOps has the following container support:

• Asp.Net with containers
• Docker
• Azure Kubernetes services
• Azure Service Fabric application with docker support

Q9. What is Continuous Integration? Name some useful plugins in Jenkins.

Continuous integration is a DevOps software development practice. The software developers regularly merge their code changes into a central repository, following which automated tests are run. Popular continuous integration tools include Jenkins, TeamCity, Bamboo, and GitLab CI. Features of each are often asked in Azure DevOps interview questions. 

Some useful plugins in Jenkins are:

• HTML publisher
• JoinAmazon EC2
• Maven 2 project
• Job Generator Plugin
• Green Ball

Q10. How are Azure DevOps Services different from Azure DevOps Server?

This Azure DevOps interview question tries to test your knowledge of cloud computing. Azure DevOps Services is a form of Microsoft's cloud service that enables organizations to make their processes highly secure, reliable, and, most importantly, scalable. On the contrary, Azure DevOps Server is an on-premises Microsoft service that chooses the SQL Server database.

Q11. What are Azure Test Plans?

Azure test plans refer to a browser-based test management solution for exploratory, planned manual along with user acceptance testing. They provide a browser extension for exploratory testing, which helps gather feedback from stakeholders.

Q12. What can you do to enhance the code standard if there are numerous unused variables and empty catch blocks? 

To enhance the code standard, selecting "Run PMD" in a Maven build task does the trick. PMD is a source code analyzer. It identifies common programming errors such as unnecessary object creation, empty code blocks, and unused variables.

This completes the list of most important Azure DevOps interview questions. Learn tips to get hired at FAANG companies for better interview prep.

Sample Azure DevOps Interview Questions for Practice

Here are some sample Azure DevOps interview questions. Practice the Azure DevOps interview questions and answers, and contact our expert instructors in case of any assistance.

1. What are Azure Boards? Mention benefits of Azure boards?
2. Elaborate on some important features of Memcached.
3. Explain the difference between git pull and git fetch?
4. Explain how we can create a backup and copy files in Jenkins?
5. What is the Blue/Green Deployment Pattern?
6. Which testing tool are you comfortable with and why?
7. What is the difference between Assert and Verify commands in Selenium?
8. How does a Cookbook differ from a Recipe in Chef?
9. How do you see a list of all of the ansible variables?
10. Explain Pair Programming in DevOps.
11. Mention the hat are the necessary components for integrating Azure DevOps and Bitbucket?
12. What is continuous monitoring? How does Nagios aid in distributed monitoring? 

The above Azure DevOps interview questions and answers will help you ace your Azure DevOps tech interview prep. You can also practice some coding interview problems here.

FAQs on Azure DevOps Interview Questions

Q1. What are the topics asked in Azure DevOps interview questions? 

The Azure DevOps interview questions include different technologies such as AWS, cloud, security, automation, and behavioral aspects. For Azure DevOps interview questions, you must learn CI/CD tools, benefits, and phases. Knowledge of AWS also helps in Azure DevOps interviews.

Q2. What tools should you practice for Azure DevOps interview questions? 

Docker, Terraform, and Kubernetes are essential tools to study for Azure DevOps interview questions. You should also be familiar with at least one CI/CD tool, such as Jenkins.

Q3. How should you prepare for Azure DevOps interview questions? 

A detailed study of the most anticipated Azure DevOps interview questions is a prerequisite for DevOps tech interview prep. Keep practicing and cover most of the topics related to DevOps. Also, refer to some mock interviews to learn how to answer the questions confidently.

Q4. Do Azure DevOps interview questions include coding?

As a software engineer, you should be familiar with Java, JavaScript, Python, PHP, and others for Azure DevOps interview questions. The interviewer can ask you to code and share the screen in a virtual interview.

Q5. What skills are required for the Azure DevOps position?

In Azure DevOps, skills such as designing a DevOps strategy, implementing the DevOps development process, continuous integration, continuous delivery, dependency management, and application infrastructure are necessary.

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