Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
About IBM 
3.
About the Role
4.
Skills Required
4.1.
Technical Skills
4.2.
Non-technical Skills
5.
Eligibility Criteria
6.
Test Pattern
7.
Responsibilities
8.
Salary and Perks
8.1.
Perks
9.
Career Map
10.
Preparation strategy
10.1.
Resources for Interview
10.2.
Resources for DSA, Coding & Web
11.
Interview Experience at IBM
12.
Frequently Asked Questions
12.1.
Describe the role of a Site Reliability Engineer.
12.2.
Is Site Reliability Engineer at IBM a demanding field?
12.3.
Which is superior, DevOps or Site Reliability Engineer at IBM?
12.4.
Is being a Site Reliability Engineer at IBM equal to being a cloud engineer?
12.5.
Why is Site Reliability Engineering well paid?
13.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024

Site Reliability Engineer at IBM

Career growth poll
Do you think IIT Guwahati certified course can help you in your career?

Introduction

Are you eager to continue and advance your career as Site Reliability Engineer at IBM? But you need to figure out where to start and how to prepare. Don’t worry, Ninja! We have answers to all your questions.

Site Reliability Engineer at IBM

This article will discuss the complete preparation guide for becoming a site reliability engineer at IBM, which includes the eligibility criteria, exam syllabus, preparation strategy, the procedure to apply, and the resources needed for this company.

Let us first discuss a little bit about the company. Are you ready? Let’s go!

About IBM 

IBM is an abbreviation for International Business Machines Corporation, a global technology company based in Armonk, New York, with operations in over 171 nations. The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), formed in 1911 in Endicott, New York, by trust merchant Charles Ranlett Flint, underwent a name change in 1924.

IBM creates and sells computer hardware, middleware, and software and offers to host and consult services in fields including mainframe computing and nanotechnology. For 29 years, it has held the record for the most yearly U.S. patents produced by a company.

About the Role

Do you know who are site reliability engineers and what they do? No? It's okay! Let's learn all about site reliability engineers.

A site reliability engineer who knows IT operations and works in a large-scale IT sector is called a site reliability engineer.

For more than half of their working hours, site reliability engineers perform manual IT operations and system administration tasks, such as analyzing logs, performance tuning, applying patches, testing production environments, and responding to incidents. The other half of their time is spent writing code that automates those tasks.

At a higher level, the SRE team assists the development team in accelerating the release of new software or features into production. One needs to ensure an agreed-upon acceptable level of IT operations performance and error risk consistent with the company's service level agreements (SLAs) with its clients.

Now you know who are site reliability engineers and what they do. Now, look at the skills you need to become a site reliability engineer. 

Skills Required

This section will discuss hard/technical and soft/non-technical skills that a site reliability engineer should have.

skills

Technical Skills

  • Operating systems
  • CI/CD
  • Distributed computing
  • Linux Skills
  • Cloud-Native applications 
  • Microservices
  • Deep understanding of databases 
  • Monitoring tools 
  • Version control tools
  • Strong background in troubleshooting
  • Systems thinking
  • DevOps pipeline
  • Build to manage / application observability
  • Cloud architecture principles [VPC, Kubernetes/OpenShift, Istio, Akamai]
  • Software engineering principles
  • System administration principles and networking skills
  • Development skills in one or more cloud programming/scripting languages (including unit, integration, and performance testing, ideally in Golang, Python, Nodejs, and Bash experience)
  • Infrastructure as code (TerraformAnsibleGit)
  • Implementing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using software like Terraform, Chef, Puppet, or Ansible
  • Server virtualization technology in VMware and cloud infrastructure

Non-technical Skills

  • Communication
  • Project Management
  • Analytical ability
  • Problem-solving
  • Leadership
  • Adaptability
  • Decision making

 

Now let’s see what eligibility criteria is followed for site reliability engineer at IBM.

Eligibility Criteria

The term "eligibility criteria" refers to qualities that each participant must possess. Following is the eligibility criteria for site reliability engineer at IBM. 

  • BS in computer science (or a closely related field) or comparable work experience
  • Minimum of 5 years experience in virtualization and automation in the same role.
  • Need 5+ years of combined experience in engineering, development, production, or operations.
  • 2-3 years experience with clouds [IaaS and PaaS for private or public clouds] 
  • Experience in production in native Kubernetes or comparable enterprise container technologies of at least one year.

Test Pattern

Every organization has a process for hiring new employees, depending on the qualifications needed for the position. With the help of these rounds, applicants will be chosen based on their aptitudes, experience, and other relevant qualities. Let’s now look at the test pattern of IBM.

Questions asked

66 questions

Questions needed to pass

43 questions

Time

90 minutes

The Nine sections of the site reliability engineer at IBM exam are:-

Section Number Of Questions
Applying Site Reliability Engineering Principles 9 Questions
Operations 8 Questions
Monitoring and Incident Detection 8 Questions
Incident Management 7 Questions
Security and Compliance 6 Questions
Troubleshooting  9 Questions
​​Availability, Reliability, and Resiliency  9 Questions
Deployment Automation 5 Questions
​​Problem Management  5 Questions

Responsibilities

Until now, we got to learn about the IBM company, the site reliability engineer and the skills they need to have, and the test pattern of IBM. Now we will discuss the responsibilities of a site reliability engineer.

  • Knowledge of creating and maintaining large-scale manufacturing systems.
     
  • Determine the most critical areas for change on your own, then collaborate with the rest of the team to implement your suggestions.
     
  • Strong troubleshooting ability.
     
  • Expertise in integrating different software systems.
     
  • Problem-solving abilities.
     
  • Need to design, manage, upkeep, and assist with various virtualization programs [RedHat OpenShift Virtualization and VMware].
     
  • Use any of the following to build infrastructure: Argo, OpenShift, Terraform, Ansible, IPI, UPI, and ZTP Zero Contact Provisioning.
     
  • Run your business with agility and stringent change management.
     
  • Maintain the environment following the standards of Policy Compliance Management.
     
  • Perform hypervisor/operating system-based problem-solving, from performance to configuration.
  • Utilizing platform-specific technologies to back up and secure virtual environments.
     
  • Run regular system checks, examine and react to events reflected in different management tools, and handle server patches.
     
  • To guarantee system health, conduct system audit reviews and perform maintenance tasks as necessary.
  • For all applications, do troubleshooting and problem-solving.
     
  • Support, implement, and maintain newly introduced applications.
     
  • At the weekly team meetings, provide an update on difficulties and challenges.
     
  • Keep track of software updates.
     
  • Record the steps you took to solve the issue.
     
  • Ensure that standards and best practices are applied to software systems and followed.
     
  • On a rotational basis, provide on-call assistance and implementation after hours.
     
  • Regarding the environment related to virtualization, think and behave like a site reliability engineer (SRE)

Salary and Perks

This section will tell you about the salary and perks you will get as a site reliability engineer at IBM.

Average Annual Salary

₹ 17,64,787 Lakhs per year

Monthly Salary 

 ₹ 1,19,029 - ₹ 1,22,365/month

 **The salary mentioned above is subject to change.

Perks

perks

🏡 Working from home

🕰️No clocking in or out

⏳No time constraints

🤧Unrestricted sick days

✈️Traveling costs

🤩Insurance bonus for new employees

🚗Free cab for women 

⛓️Retirement Security

💶Income protection

Career Map

A suitable alternative for people with a few years of systems administration or software development expertise is a site reliability engineer job, which is often a mid-level position. An undergraduate degree in computer science or a similar discipline is typically required by employers. Experience with other operating and programming languages (GolangPython, and Nodejs) and further certifications are also advantages.

Entry-level employment on a team of site reliability engineers is a wonderful method to develop your skills if you're just starting out. The ability to expand your career into more senior roles frequently comes with experience and technical understanding.

Some senior IBM site reliability engineer roles are senior site reliability engineer and principal site reliability engineer.

Preparation strategy

Preparation plays an essential role in getting a job. This section will guide you to prepare for Site Reliability Engineer at IBM with a curated list of courses and test series to follow.

Resources for Interview

Resources for DSA, Coding & Web

 

You can check the following link for more information.

Interview Experience at IBM

To read about the interview experience at IBM apart from site reliability engineer at IBM, refer to the following link:

IBM Interview Experiences

After reading this blog, we hope you know all about the site reliability engineer at IBM. 

All the best, Ninja!

Frequently Asked Questions

Describe the role of a Site Reliability Engineer.

The software engineering methodology for IT operations is called site reliability engineering (SRE). To manage systems, address issues, and automate operational duties, SRE teams employ software as a tool.

Is Site Reliability Engineer at IBM a demanding field?

Your daily task is to seek out issues and resolve them. The task can be tedious, demanding, and complex, but on the plus side, it gives you a chance to influence both the organization's future and the quality of the client experience.

Which is superior, DevOps or Site Reliability Engineer at IBM?

DevOps is the practice of producing and deploying code while developing a product or application in an agile manner. Site reliability engineering is more thorough since the team, when developing the system, considers the "end-users" perspective.

Is being a Site Reliability Engineer at IBM equal to being a cloud engineer?

Site reliability engineers don't concentrate on the cloud. It is a multipurpose position to manage dependability in any context.

Why is Site Reliability Engineering well paid?

Site reliability engineers are in great demand because they can reduce the gap between development and operations in a DevOps business by eliminating bottlenecks, guaranteeing software stability, and addressing challenging challenges.

Conclusion

This blog went into great detail about site reliability engineer at IBM, including the qualifications and skills needed to join, the exam format, and the best way to prepare.

To know more about IBM Jobs, the way to get into IBM, or different profiles, you can check out these articles:


Please refer to our guided paths on Coding Ninjas Studio to learn more about DSA, Competitive Programming, JavaScript, System Design, etc. And also, enroll in our courses and refer to the mock test and problems available. Have a look at the interview experiences and interview bundle for placement preparations.

Keep learning, and Keep Growing!

Happy Learning, Ninja!
 

Live masterclass