CV & Interview Prep
Cloud Support & DevOps Engineer
CV rules and technical interview questions for junior Cloud Support and DevOps roles. Covers Linux CLI, AWS core services, Docker containerization, Terraform IaC, GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines, and cloud incident troubleshooting.
United States
$70,000 – $105,000/year
United Kingdom
£35,000 – £58,000/year
Canada
CA$65,000 – CA$95,000/year
Australia
A$78,000 – A$115,000/year
South Africa
R250,000 – R480,000/year
Broad annual benchmarks. Actual pay varies by city, company size, industry, remote status, and experience.
Want the full study plan?
The How to Become a Cloud Support & DevOps Engineer roadmap covers every skill you need to build before the interview.
Key Skills Employers Test
- Linux System Administration & Bash Scripting
- Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3, IAM, VPC)
- Docker & Docker Compose Containerization
- Terraform Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- GitHub Actions CI/CD & Cloud Monitoring
How to Write Your CV
Must Include
- +AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) or AWS Skill Builder Cloud Essentials badges
- +Linux CLI administration (Bash scripting, SSH, systemctl, netstat)
- +Amazon Web Services: EC2, S3, IAM, CloudFront, VPC subnets, Application Load Balancers
- +Containerization: Docker, Docker Compose, Amazon ECR
- +Automation: Terraform Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines
Avoid
- xListing "AWS" as a skill without specifying the specific services managed
- xFailing to link to a public GitHub repository containing Terraform or Docker scripts
- xClaiming Kubernetes expertise without mastering Docker containerization fundamentals
Link to automated GitHub repository scripts
Cloud and DevOps managers care about automation. Including a GitHub repository link with Terraform scripts that deploy an AWS web server automatically sets you apart from 90% of applicants.
Emphasize Linux CLI speed
Highlight your comfort operating in headless Linux server environments. Mention Bash scripting for log parsing and automated cron jobs.
Ready to put these tips into your CV?
Use our free CV builder to apply every tip above - choose from 3 professional templates and download as PDF in minutes.
Common Interview Questions
What is the difference between an AWS Security Group and a Network ACL (NACL)?
Why they ask this
Evaluates AWS VPC networking and security architecture fundamentals.
Sample Answer
A Security Group operates at the instance level (EC2), is stateful (inbound allowed traffic automatically permits return outbound traffic), and only supports ALLOW rules. A Network ACL (NACL) operates at the subnet level, is stateless (outbound return rules must be explicitly defined), and supports both ALLOW and DENY rules.
Red flag answer
Confusing stateful Security Groups with stateless subnets.
Explain the difference between Docker images and Docker containers.
Why they ask this
Tests basic containerization knowledge essential for modern DevOps pipelines.
Sample Answer
A Docker image is a read-only, static blueprint template containing application code, dependencies, and environment configurations. A Docker container is a runnable, isolated instance of a Docker image executing as a process in memory.
Walk me through how you would troubleshoot a web application returning a 502 Bad Gateway error on AWS.
Why they ask this
Tests practical cloud infrastructure troubleshooting and incident response.
Sample Answer
First, I check Application Load Balancer target group health checks to verify if EC2 instances are marked Healthy. If unhealthy, I SSH into the EC2 instance, inspect the Linux process status (`systemctl status webapp`), and review Nginx/application error logs (`tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log`). If the backend process crashed, I inspect memory usage and restart the service.
Accelerate Your Career
Join over 10,000+ learners. Get early access to new courses, exclusive career guides, and platform updates delivered straight to your inbox.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe anytime.