take code from a developer and safely deliver it into production?

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I have been set this interview for an upcoming interview

Question: How to design a delivery pipeline that will take code from a developer and safely deliver it into production?

Consider the following in your answer:
- Source Control Systems
- Levels of testing code (Unit Testing, security testing and integration testing)
- Artefact Repositories
- Virtual Machines
- Provisioning and Config as code
- Pre production testing
- Continuous delivery/deployment
- Mutable/Immutable infrastructure

If somebody could help me with this it would be great!

Posted 15-Mar-15 3:20am

Member 11526409

Updated 15-Mar-15 3:40am

v2

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phil.o 15-Mar-15 9:35am

Nice homework.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 15-Mar-15 10:45am

What's nice about it? Moron interviewers wish to invite a new employer and want to make sure this new person is moronic enough to work with them... :-)
—SA

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OriginalGriff · Answer 1 · 2015-03-15T03:44:00

Solution 1

We do not do your homework: it is set for a reason. It is there so that you think about what you have been told, and try to understand it. It is also there so that your tutor can identify areas where you are weak, and focus more attention on remedial action.

Try it yourself, you may find it is not as difficult as you think!

And interview questions are homework: if you can't do this, how are you going to do the job our knowledge might get you?

Posted 15-Mar-15 3:44am

OriginalGriff

Comments

Member 11526409 15-Mar-15 10:14am

I asked the question because it is something that I haven't come across in my studies. Having never worked in a professional environment and never experienced working on a project that uses continuous delivery or needs code deploying into a live environment my experience on this matter is obviously minimal. But you have the start and learn somewhere right? So to give myself the best chance of learning fast I asked the question on a forum which has a purpose of answering technical questions. So why not use "your" knowledge and help rather than forgetting that you to started somewhere.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 15-Mar-15 10:49am

Not exactly. You are not supposed to learn pseudo-science at any stage, which is not so easy, because there are too many people pushing pseudo-science on you. I guess, you should better find better position for yourself, where you are competent and can do the job. Your only valid question would be "sorry, I'm not competent enough". Only with such approach you can come to success. Note that the question itself is pretty bad. I would not accept any multiple-choice questions at all. If you was competent, the soft resolution would be just suggesting normal explanation of your understanding of the process.
—SA

Member 11526409 15-Mar-15 11:02am

Another helpful response. Brilliant !

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 15-Mar-15 11:19am

You just don't realize how helpful it might be for those who can read properly. Please read Solution 2, maybe it will be more clear. In this solution, I try to give some ideas on how this pipeline should really be devised.

If you want to be sarcastic, it's perfectly fine, only sarcasm looks good it it comes perfectly on time. No problem at all though. :-)

—SA

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 2 · 2015-03-15T05:16:00

Please see my comments to the question and Solution 1.

The valid answer for you would be: "sorry, I'm not competent enough".

In addition to the simple fact that being honest is the only choice for a decent person, this is also the best strategy. Do you want to waste time and hurt your reputation and doing the job you are not prepared for, very likely failing it, looking for another job?

I would not ever accept those multiple-choice questions. Such questions is a mere consequence of the idea that education should be cheap (for schools, not so sure about students); this approach already screwed up education and many countries and keeps screwing up even more. The softest resolution would be "what if I just explain my understanding of such organization?". The harder resolution would be to stand up say "thank you very much, I have to go; sorry, good bye". It also makes certain sense, if, for example, you have a bad feeling about the company.

The question is actually quite bad, as it could indicate improper pseudo-formalized careless approach. It's pretty likely it is practiced in the companies where "deployment managers" are ignorant about development, which usually goes nowhere. The healthy approach is holistic, where people devise the development and deployed pipeline in the architecture of the project itself. Projects should be designed with deployment part from the very beginning, starting from the inception phase (very first one). Also, developers are not honey bees to "take code" from then. They are the major players defining how deployment is mounted into the pipeline, as well as the whole pipeline. All the developers should participate, not only the seniors. And so on…

The question is some indication of wrong approach. One of the main challenge at the interviews is not answering questions, but trying to understand what those people really need, analyzing it on the fly, to be able to suggest you help right to the point and decide what to do next.

[EDIT]

Sorry that I only describe the situations which may come at job interviews, or foreseen during preparations for them, because your situation is not clear to me; I don't really understand how it could come from your study. So, please feel to pay attention for the parts which apply. I think I gave you the basic ideas. Your follow-up questions will be welcome.

Also, please understand that the whole experience of software development management and product management hardly can be passed in one or two Quick Answers. We can discuss only some particular aspects or very general ideas.

—SA