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Interview Question - CI Vs CD Vs CD

Published over 1 year ago • 1 min read

Hello Reader,

One of the very common interview questions is, "What does CICD stand for in DevOps?". Sounds pretty simple, right? But I can't tell you how many people have gotten this wrong when I ask this question in interviews. So, let's understand this once and for all, using the below diagram:

Make sure to memorize the phases (Author, Source, Build, Test, Deploy, Monitor) and what they are (e.g., the Author phase is where developers write code, in the Source phase code is checked-in, etc.). These phases and their details are other popular DevOps interview questions. Okay now, back to the original question—what is CICD?

  • CI stands for Continuous Integration which includes phases Author, Source, and Build.
  • CD can have two meanings: Continuous Delivery OR Continuous Deployment. Both include phases from Author to Deploy. This next part is important, so read on.
  • In Continuous Delivery, there is a manual approval step before the artifacts are deployed, whereas in Continuous Deployment there is no manual approval - once the automated tests pass, the artifacts are deployed automatically.
  • Continuous Deployment is the Nirvana of DevOps; however, it's quite fine if in production, for critical projects, you use Continuous Delivery.

Next time you get asked this question, knock it out of the park!!

Keep learning and keep rocking 🚀🙌,

Cloud With Raj

Fast Track To Cloud

Rajdeep Saha

Free Cloud Interview Guide to crush your next interview. Plus, real-world answers for cloud interviews, and system design from a top Solutions Architect at AWS.

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