DevOps Interview DropExpert TierScenario+100 XP on read
Deployment says SUCCESS but production is running an older commit. You have 10 minutes. What do you check?
Core Summary
Ask the running process what it actually is, then walk backwards through the chain until the SHA stops matching. A green pipeline only proves each step exited zero, not that anything actually changed in production, and "unchanged" is a success message that means nothing happened at all.
Hints
Hint 1: Start at the end of the chain, not the beginning
Hint 2: Pods' imageID is truth; the deployment spec is intent
Hint 3: 'Success' often means 'no change was needed'
Reported in interviews at Amazon, Google, Datadog