Most SRE interviews test areas:
. Coding (%): Python, Go, or Bash. Automation scripts, log parsing, API interactions. Less algorithmic than SWE.
. System Design (%): Design monitoring systems, deployment pipelines, scalable infrastructure. Focus on reliability.
. Linux/Systems (%): Process management, memory, filesystems, networking. Deep understanding expected.
. Troubleshooting (%): Live debugging scenarios. "The site is down" exercises. Methodical approach.
. Behavioral (%): Incident stories, on-call experience, collaboration. Questions about reliability vs velocity tradeoffs.