Final Interview Play
A DevOps Quest

Final Interview

One interview week in a pixel-art valley. Twelve experts, 173 real DevOps interview questions, and a rubber duck you explain every answer to, out loud.

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Trailer

Friday, 10:00. Panel of three.

The story

You have one week.

It's Monday morning in Localhost, and your laptop pings with a calendar invite: an on-site interview at Watermelon & Co., Friday at 10:00, Prodtown HQ, panel of three.

Old Sal, a retired sysadmin who runs the corner shop, hands you a rubber duck and one piece of advice: explain everything to it, out loud. Then you cross YAML Valley, from the forked paths of Commitwood to the clouds of Cumulus Heights, to track down twelve DevOps experts. Each one stops you with a real interview question.

Solve gate puzzles, fight incident monsters like Merge Conflict and CrashLoop in the tall grass, and help an old butler named Jenks restart a forgotten pipeline. When all twelve are done, the doors of HQ open and the panel is waiting: a cloud architect, a DevOps lead and the CTO. By Monday morning you'll have their verdict: an offer, or "not yet" and another week to try again.

How to play

Pick it. Then say it.

Every expert question is played twice: once to choose how you'd open, once to prove you can carry on.

Walk the valley

Eleven areas, gate puzzles, and twelve experts who spot you from across the path.

Pick your opener

An expert asks a real interview question with four short answers. Choose the one you'd open with. Your first pick is the one that counts.

Tell the duck

The Rubber Duck round: explain the full answer out loud before the clock runs out, then read the example answer and rate yourself.

Face the panel

All twelve done? HQ opens. Three interviewers, one question each in three parts, and their verdict by email on Monday.

Who's asking

Twelve experts. Twelve topics.

From Git in the woods to observability under the stars. Each expert asks one to three questions per run, drawn from their topic.

  • ArchieRuntime Architecture
  • BranGit
  • WendyDocker and Containers
  • AdaCI/CD
  • JonAWS
  • NatNetworking & Security
  • IraInfrastructure as Code
  • HelmaKubernetes
  • ReynaGitOps
  • SigridLogging & Monitoring
  • Doc TailTroubleshooting
  • RaeGeneral DevOps Practices

And in the tall grass, 31 incident monsters, each with quick questions of its own.

Puzzles

Not every door opens with an answer.

The valley is wired like a system. Gates hold until you route the steam. A whale won't carry your crate until its Dockerfile is in order, and an old butler needs his pipeline back.

The final interview

Bring a marker.

Each interviewer asks one question in three parts: first a theory question, then you fill in the blanks on their board, then you draw on an empty board.

Vera

Cloud Architect

An AWS whiteboard: carry services into a two-zone VPC and wire them up.

Mika

DevOps Lead

A CI/CD pipeline: place the stages, side by side where they can run in parallel.

Sunny

CTO

A packet trace: set the network ACLs and security groups, then watch test traffic walk through hop by hop.

FAQ

Questions, before the questions

Is it free?

Yes. No account, no ads, nothing to buy. It runs in your browser.

What does it cover?

173 real DevOps interview questions in 12 categories: Runtime Architecture, Git, Docker and Containers, CI/CD, AWS, Networking & Security, Infrastructure as Code, Kubernetes, GitOps, Logging & Monitoring, Troubleshooting, and General DevOps Practices. A run asks 25 of them, plus one for each incident you meet in the grass; play again for different ones.

How does scoring work?

Every expert pick and every incident counts toward your readiness, but the panel counts most: the week gets you ready, Friday decides the offer. Your duck self-ratings never count. They go into your notebook, so you can see which topics to practice.

Where is my progress saved?

In this browser only. There is no account and no server: the game keeps your progress in your browser's storage. Clearing this site's data wipes it, and a different browser or computer starts fresh.

Does it work on phones or tablets?

No. The game needs a keyboard: arrow keys or WASD to walk, Enter to talk, number keys to pick. It has no touch controls, so play it on a desktop or laptop. This page and the trailer work anywhere.

How long is a run?

Longer than one sitting for most people: twelve experts, the puzzles between them, and the panel. It saves after every step, so you can stop anywhere and continue later.