Interview › Resume & Behavioral
How would you spend your first 30, 60, and 90 days in this role?
Resume & Behavioral · Advanced level
Answer
In the first 30 days I would learn the systems, people, on-call model, recent incidents, current reliability risks, and how success is measured. By 60 days I would own a practical reliability improvement such as alert cleanup, runbook improvement, deployment safety, or SLO dashboarding for a key service. By 90 days I would present a prioritized reliability roadmap based on data: incidents, SLOs, toil, platform gaps, and team pain points. I would build credibility by contributing hands-on from the beginning.
Technical explanation
A strong 30/60/90 plan balances learning with early visible value.
Do not promise major redesign before understanding the environment.
Senior candidates should mention relationships, operational context, quick wins, and roadmap.
Hands-on example
1. 30 days: meet owners, shadow on-call, read recent PIRs, map critical services, review dashboards/runbooks.
2. 60 days: deliver one quick win with measurable impact, such as reducing noisy pages or improving rollback docs.
3. 90 days: propose a roadmap with top risks, effort, impact, owners, metrics, and sequencing.
4. Throughout: review PRs, contribute code/IaC/automation, and mentor where useful.
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