14 AWS-related Interview Questions and Answers

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is gaining traction as one of the first complete cloud-based computing platforms on the market today. As it becomes more popular, the need for AWS Developers will also increase.  

If you’re in the running for one of these positions, you can expect to be asked several AWS-focused questions during your interview. Practicing ahead of time with some common questions can help boost your confidence so you can put your best foot forward.  

You can also set up a mock interview to help you practice. Rehearsing with other people can help you identify any areas you might need to work on before your interview. (You can also do your mock interview on Zoom if you’ll be interviewing virtually.) If you’d rather practice on your own, you can use Zoom to record yourself and then play the recording back to see how you did. 

To help you start preparing, here are 15 AWS-related interview questions, plus tips on how to answer them.

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1. Why should an organization migrate to the AWS Cloud? 

The time and effort it takes to migrate to the cloud can be significant, but hosting an application in the AWS cloud can help the whole workforce become more productive. Before migrating, the organization needs to assess the security of their current data storage solution and whether virtualizing information is the best solution to meet its specific needs. For most organizations, moving data to a secure cloud computing platform reduces expenses and keeps data secure from cyber attacks. 

2. What are the key components of AWS? 

Some of the critical components that make up AWS include: 

• Route53: a DNS and networking service. 
• Simple Email Service (SES): a hosted email service 

• Identity and Access Management (IAM): security management 
• Simple Storage Service (S3): storage management 
• Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): computing resources 
• Elastic Block Store (EBS): persistent storage 
• CloudWatch: security and monitoring 

3. What’s an AMI, and what does it do? 

An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is a template that consists of the information needed to launch an instance, which includes an application server, applications, and the operating system used. With this information, a copy of the AMI is created within the cloud’s virtual server. 

4. Which AWS services are available in any region? 

Amazon launches different AWS services to each region separately. There are some features that users in certain regions cannot access, but the services available regardless of region include Identity and Access Management (IAM), Route 53, Web Application Firewall, and CloudFront. 

Note: Amazon may release new services to all regions at any time, so be sure to check for any updates to the list before your interview. 

5. What are the search features in the Amazon cloud called? 

Amazon CloudSearch provides cloud-based search features. Several types of searches are offered, including Boolean-based searches, pre-fix, and full-text searches. Amazon CloudSearch also includes autocompleting for searches to help the user quickly find the information they need. 

6. What is Snowball, and how does it work? 

AWS Snowball allows for easy movement of data to the edge of the computing cloud and beyond. Snowball transfers large volumes of data to the cloud at once, minimizing networking expenses and the time and effort needed to transfer data packets. 

Using Snowball, a terabyte of data can move to the cloud in as little as a week. This makes it ideal for organizations with a high volume of data to move, such as healthcare providers and medical insurers. 

7. What load balancers exist in AWS? 

AWS has three built-in load balancers — classic, network, and application. 

• Classic works on applications built on the Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) network. 
• The network load balancer offers a static IP and powers extreme performance. 
• Application is used to balance newly designed applications through flexible management. 

8. What services does Amazon CloudWatch monitor? 

CloudWatch allows you to monitor key data points from the performance stack, including logs, metrics, application performance, and events. These points are displayed on an easy-to-read dashboard to make it easy to detect issues with website performance. 

9. What’s AWS Lambda, and what does it do? 

AWS Lambda allows code to run without the need to provision or manage the server. Lambda not only runs code for applications or back-end services, but it also manages computing resources like the operating system and servers. 

10. What options exist for virtualization in the AWS cloud? 

AWS users have three options for virtualization through the platform: 

11. How can you use AWS to prevent DDoS attacks? 

AWS includes multiple built-in tools to prevent DDoS attacks, including: 

• Shield 
• Cloudfront 
• Route 53 

12. What are the advantages of auto-scaling? 

Auto-scaling helps allocate resources properly by automatically provisioning and launching new instances as needed without any human intervention. This typically leads to a reduction in expenses for the business. 

13. What are users, user groups, and roles in AWS? 

Users refer to the root user and IAM user accounts that govern who can access which information, with the root user having the most authority. User groups refer to several IAM users that are given specific permissions. This is great for organizations with large personnel. 

Roles are given specific permissions as well, but they aren’t tied to a person. A user can switch to a role for access rights to a service if needed. 

14. How many buckets can each AWS account accommodate? 

Amazon S3 stores data in buckets, and each account in AWS can create 100 buckets before reaching its default limit. 

Get more interview prep 

These questions give you a great starting point as you prepare for your AWS-related job interview. But if you’re looking for more ways to prep, check out our complete guide to acing the technical interview, tips for answering behavioral interview questions, and our advice for the whiteboard interview. We also have a guide for interviewing on Zoom if you’re doing a virtual interview. 

For more, check out our Career Center, which features more resources for your interview, along with resume, cover letter, networking, and portfolio advice. 

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