storage engineer interview questions

Post a few interview questions you’ve heard, followed by your best responses.

What are some of the most important skills for a storage engineer to have? How would you go about troubleshooting a problem with a storage system? What is your experience with using warehouse management systems? Provide an example of a time when you had to help an organization reduce its storage costs.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS #2 EQUIPMENT #1 TANK #1

Important Skills that Matter…

We’ll get to the challenging storage interview questions shortly.

Additionally, we’ll go in-depth on three secret storage engineer skills as a bonus.

Here’s why you should stick around until the end…

Imagine that there is a ton of data behind every successful business.

And behind all of that data are enormous amounts of storage in numerous configurations and formats.

Pick any of the more recent success stories: Airbnb, Uber, SpaceX, and you’ll find there are petabytes of data constantly getting crunched by Big Data algorithms.

Tough Data Storage Interview Questions

Let me now share some incredibly useful storage engineer interview questions that hiring managers can use to screen candidates or candidates can use to practice for their upcoming storage job interviews.

  • As a SAN engineer, provide some examples of how you manage storage capacity?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-1.mp3
  • What are the key performance metrics you track that show how the storage is performing? Explain why?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-2.mp3
  • How would you troubleshoot reports from a DBA that storage is causing poor database performance? Step by step, what would you do?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-3.mp3
  • What would be the storage performance thresholds you would use for alerts? Explain why?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-4.mp3
  • Share an example with details of a time when you worked with a DBA to design a storage solution for a tier 1 application? Step by step what did you do?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-5.mp3
  • Share an example with details of a time when you worked with a virtualization team to design a solution for presenting storage to vSphere or another virtualization platform? Step by step what did you do?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-6.mp3
  • Describe a time when you had to solve a problematic storage problem caused by improperly configured SAN hardware or software?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-7.mp3
  • Describe a time when you had to recover from a major storage outage, and what did you do to resolve the issue?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-8.mp3
  • This is a 3 part question. How would you diagnose a storage problem where the storage keeps disconnecting – give an example for iSCSI, NFS, and Fiber Channel (FC) attached storage? Give as much detail as possible about what you would do for each scenario.https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-9.mp3
  • Out of all the storage solutions on the market which do you prefer to use and why?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-10.mp3
  • (Using a whiteboard to draw on) Describe how you would design a storage solution for big data, virtualisation, and file storage? High-level, step by step how would each be step up?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-11.mp3
  • There’s a lot of ways this can be done but how do you prefer to scale (grow) storage pools for databases, virtualization, and file shares? Explain why your way is better.https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-12.mp3
  • How would you handle working with another storage engineer who didn’t agree with you on storage-related work such as design, capacity planning, and monitoring?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-13.mp3
  • What are your thoughts about deduplication and thin-provisioning? Give examples of your thoughts.https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-14.mp3
  • Explain how/what you do to keep your storage skills sharp and up-to-date?https://www.vminstall.com/wp-content/uploads/storage-interview-question-15.mp3
  • I have years of relevant real-life experience working as and with storage engineers, and the SAN Engineer Interview questions listed above are drawn from those experiences.

    If that’s all you wanted to do, we appreciate your visit.

    Time to move on to the really good stuff…

    Let’s review three crucial abilities that successful businesses look for in storage engineers in this lesson.

    We’ll break down each job skill for you so you can comprehend it better.

    Now:

    First off, I want to commend all of the dedicated storage engineers in the world because they handle a lot of tasks every day that no one else can.

    The skill sets we’ll cover in this lesson are broken down as follows:

  • Designing, Building & Supporting Storage Solutions (Big and Small)
  • Data Storage Capacity Planning (Big and Small)
  • Monitoring Data Storage Systems (Big and Small)
  • Are you prepared to delve into SAN engineering life now?

    Let’s go…

    Interview Questions of Top Designations

    storage engineer interview questions

    storage engineer interview questions

    Designing, Building & Supporting Data Storage Solutions

    SAN Engineer jobWhether a business is operating on spinning disks, solid-state (SSD), or flash, someone has to design and build the storage infrastructure (and yes, let’s not forget storage provisioned in the cloud).

    Storage is a requirement for all servers, from the smallest virtual machine (VM) or Docker container hosting a small web application to the largest database.

    You can bet there will be painful issues with subpar performance, data loss, and frequent crashes if the hardware and software are not properly managed by someone with the necessary skills.

    Listen, I’ve worked in this field since 1996, and if you’re considering becoming a SAN engineer, now is the best time to act.

    because there is a pressing need for storage engineers with the necessary skills because Big Data is constantly expanding.

    Particularly now that more companies are utilizing deep learning frameworks like Tensor Tools and Keras to create A I. software.

    And this pressing need brings us to the lesson’s most important point.

    To hire the top SAN engineers, they will pay more!

    You see, a quality storage solution involves more than just replacing an outdated, overloaded, poorly designed, and misused storage system with the most recent storage technology. It also involves understanding the need and making the appropriate inquiries prior to speaking with any storage vendor.

    Hmm…

    If no one is aware of the challenges or storage issues that need to be resolved, why hold a meeting?

    And this is why many of the storage infrastructures I’ve seen over my 20+ years are just patched together storage solutions from multiple vendors – a bit of EMC, some NetApp, and now Pure because flash is the buzz that solves all the bad practices from the past.

    In addition, if your company uses VMware, don’t forget about VSAN because I bet someone on the shop floor is already constructing one, whether or not it has been approved.

    Impressive, right?

    I could be completely wrong, but these are the things I try to find when I interview storage engineers.

    A solid storage engineer has the ability to adapt to their environment using both their technical expertise and their mentality.

    However, because storage engineers, like network engineers, are religious, I’ve had trouble meeting these criteria.

    So unless the plan for your shop is to convert every gigabyte of storage to Pure, or every network switch to Cisco, then I avoid hiring brand zealots.

    Seriously:

    On VMinstall, I always give my readers honest feedback while encouraging them to keep an open mind and develop objectivity.

    I adore VMware products, but I also urge you to become familiar with XenServer, Docker, and OpenStack.

    Being objective and open-minded opens up more career opportunities and the possibility of participation in interesting or difficult projects that are only open to individuals with unconventional thinking styles.

    Nothing against Pure or Cisco, just making a point!

    The same could be said about EMC or HP.

    Yes, you read that right…

    Look:

    It’s not unusual to find a job listing for a storage engineer on Indeed with skill requirements for five to six storage brands. Click here to take a look for yourself.

    Therefore, having a diverse set of data storage skills is crucial for career success.

    However, you must also be able to think critically and constructively about the situation at hand because you may occasionally need to turn lemons into lemonade.

    Think about this example.

    What if you’re hired by a big brand, exciting right?

    However, you learn that they have a major storage disaster that has been going on for a few weeks on your first day there.

    Think I’m exaggerating? I’m not.

    Learn how to create, construct, and support storage solutions of all kinds and manufacturers.

    And unless you intend to become an SME for a brand, avoid getting too focused on one type of storage. Even then, however, an SME must be aware of both the positive and negative aspects of the competition.

    And trust me when I say that many of the most popular brands hide some truly incredible storage disasters.

    Asking the right questions is the key to creating a solid storage solution:

  • What will the application be used for?
  • How many users will the application host?
  • Who are the users of the application?
  • How fast will the data grow?
  • Is there any special requirement for PII data?
  • Are there any special security requirements?
  • What is the expected SLA of the application?
  • Is there a budget for storage?
  • You can “hopefully” avoid problems and rework by defining a scope up front.

    Warning:

    Before proceeding, voice your concerns if there are any warning signs or if the project’s requirements can’t be met by the current storage infrastructure.

    Avoid creating and designing data storage solutions that won’t last for a long time.

    Now let’s move on to the next topic…

    FAQ

    What are the 10 most common interview questions and answers engineering?

    20 frequently asked questions in engineering interviews Tell me about the most difficult engineering project you’ve worked on. Give an example of a technical report or presentation you had to write. Describe a situation in which you had to use logic to resolve an engineering issue. Describe a time you demonstrated leadership skills at work.

    What does a storage engineer do?

    Designing, implementing, and deploying shared system resources like networking and disks are the responsibility of a storage engineer. Additionally, storage engineers work on performance evaluation and troubleshooting, data backup procedures, and critical system data recovery plans.

    What are good questions to ask an engineer in an interview?

    Top 11 Engineering Interview Questions to Ask Candidates
    • What do you enjoy most about being an engineer?
    • What was your very first engineering design?
    • What is your favorite CAD design software and why?
    • Have you developed any new engineering skills recently?
    • What is the most important skill for an engineer?

    How do I prepare for an engineering interview?

    Interview Tips for Engineers
    1. BEFORE Your Interview:
    2. Know Your Skills and Accomplishments.
    3. Prepare Your References.
    4. Research Your Interviewer.
    5. Learn About Your Potential New Employer.
    6. Plan Key Talking Points.
    7. Plan Your Answers to Common Interview Questions.
    8. Practice Answering Questions Out Loud.

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