Infrastructure as Code Tool Proficiency (Terraform/CloudFormation/Ansible) Questions
Deep proficiency in at least one IaC tool. For Terraform: understand resources, data sources, variables, outputs, local values, modules, state management, state locking, backend configuration (S3, Terraform Cloud), and best practices (remote state, sensitive variables, module organization). For CloudFormation: understand templates (YAML/JSON), stacks, parameters, conditions, mappings, resources, outputs, and intrinsic functions. For Ansible: understand playbooks, roles, inventory, variables, handlers, and idempotency. Write reusable, maintainable code: modules for Terraform, roles for Ansible. Understand code organization, naming conventions, and team collaboration practices.
EasyBehavioral
0 practiced
Tell me about a time when you contributed to a shared Infrastructure-as-Code module or Ansible role. Describe the situation, your specific actions on ownership and documentation, how you handled code reviews, and how you onboarded new contributors to the module.
HardTechnical
0 practiced
Design a secure cross-account access model that allows CI/CD runners in a central AWS account to run Terraform to manage resources in multiple target accounts. Cover IAM roles, assume-role patterns, STS usage, remote backend placement per account, credential scoping, and auditability.
EasyTechnical
0 practiced
Write an Ansible playbook (YAML) that installs and starts nginx on Ubuntu hosts. Ensure idempotency, use a handler to restart the service only when configuration changes, and include an example task that deploys an nginx config template with variables.
HardTechnical
0 practiced
Explain how to implement policy-as-code for IaC at scale (choices include OPA, Sentinel, or CI gates). Describe enforcement points (pre-commit, PR checks, pipeline, pre-apply), example policies (no public S3, tagging required, allowed instance types), and how to handle emergency exceptions.
EasyTechnical
0 practiced
Explain Terraform state: what it contains, why remote state/backends (e.g., S3 + DynamoDB) are used in teams, and what role state locking plays. Also describe what could go wrong if state is stored locally and shared via git.
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