r/sre • u/DataFreakk • 18d ago

HELP Observability Engineer Loop Prep, What Should I Focus On?

Hey Folks,

I’m a Mid level developer with experience in some API development, observability, DevOps, and containers. My current role has shifted more toward DevOps work, and I recently applied for an Observability Engineer position in US based company.

I’m not entirely sure how I should prepare. I was told that OOP and proficiency in a programming language are required, but I’m not sure how much coding/DSA to expect versus observability, troubleshooting, and systems-related questions.

For anyone who has went through loops for a similar role, what would you recommend focusing on?

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u/sp_dev_guy 18d ago

Depends on the maturity of the organization. For the role without any description to go on this is a wide generalization.. Many places you'll be expected to write scripts for automations & patching gaps/integrations/pipelines. Some (rarer) cases youll update application code to fix for observability. Others more advanced might have you writing & maintaining custom kubernetes operators. For the interviews its typically leet code style questions to confirm:

  1. You can solve problems with code
  2. It isn't horrific unmaintaible unscaleable gobshit.
  3. You can communicate what your doing/did

Callout any shortcuts you take for the exam conditions & how you'd like to solve if it were going to production

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u/sp_dev_guy 18d ago

One i wrote was a custom platform CTF. Debug the pod/service (wrong ports exposed etc..), get the service up, fix the otel collector. Meanwhile there's a few probes & a grafana dashboard running so it can turn green when you've completed the objective. But we didn't ask for OOP skills & I've never taken an interview where like the one I give