Tech-interview-checklist

Overview

This interview preparation checklist is from my personal learning notes, for cybersecurity-focused technical roles including security engineers, analysts, SOC professionals, architects, technical account managers, consultants, managers, and customer-facing security roles.

Can be used as a structured readiness pass before interviews so you can verify company research, technical depth, security judgment, architecture skill, and customer-facing communication.

Part 1. Pre-interview research

Company research

Business understanding

• What does the company do?
• Revenue model
• Main products/services
• Target customers
• Key competitors
• Recent acquisitions
• Recent cybersecurity incidents
• Recent news (last 6 months)
• Annual report review (if public company)

Technology understanding

• Cloud provider(s) used
• Security stack
• Major products
• Architecture overview
• DevOps practices
• Compliance requirements

Security understanding

• Industry-specific threats
• Regulatory requirements
• Security challenges
• Known attack surfaces
• Customer trust requirements

Part 2. Resume preparation

For each bullet on your resume, be ready to explain the work clearly and precisely.

• Explain project overview
• Explain architecture
• Explain your contribution
• Explain challenges faced
• Explain solution implemented
• Explain outcome
• Explain lessons learned

STAR method preparation

For every major project prepare:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Result

Part 3. Cybersecurity fundamentals

Security foundations

CIA triad

• Confidentiality
• Integrity
• Availability

Security principles

• Least Privilege
• Zero Trust
• Defense in Depth
• Separation of Duties
• Need to Know
• Risk-Based Security

Authentication and authorization

• SSO
• MFA
• OAuth
• SAML
• OpenID Connect
• RBAC
• ABAC
• PAM

Part 4. Network security

Networking fundamentals

OSI model

Be able to explain:

• Layer 1
• Layer 2
• Layer 3
• Layer 4
• Layer 5
• Layer 6
• Layer 7

Core protocols

• TCP
• UDP
• HTTP
• HTTPS
• DNS
• DHCP
• SMTP
• SNMP
• SSH
• FTP/SFTP

Security controls

• Firewalls
• NGFW
• IDS
• IPS
• WAF
• NAC
• VPN
• SD-WAN
• Micro-segmentation

Part 5. Threat landscape

Attack techniques

Common attacks

• Phishing
• Spear Phishing
• Business Email Compromise
• Malware
• Ransomware
• DDoS
• SQL Injection
• XSS
• CSRF
• Credential Stuffing
• Supply Chain Attacks

Advanced threats

• APTs
• Insider Threats
• Nation-State Threats
• Zero-Day Attacks

Part 6. Cloud security

Major cloud platforms

AWS

• IAM
• VPC
• Security Groups
• KMS
• CloudTrail
• GuardDuty

Azure

• Azure AD
• Defender
• Sentinel
• Key Vault

GCP

• IAM
• VPC
• Cloud Logging
• Security Command Center

Cloud security concepts

• Shared Responsibility Model
• Cloud Misconfigurations
• Identity Security
• CSPM
• CWPP
• CIEM

Part 7. Security operations

SOC knowledge

Incident response lifecycle

• Preparation
• Detection
• Analysis
• Containment
• Eradication
• Recovery
• Lessons Learned

Threat hunting

• IOC-based hunting
• Behavioral hunting
• Hypothesis-driven hunting

SIEM

• Log collection
• Correlation rules
• Alert tuning
• Dashboard creation
• Investigation workflows

Part 8. Security frameworks

Know the purpose, structure, and use cases of:

• NIST CSF
• ISO
• CIS
• MITRE ATT&CK
• SOC 2
• PCI DSS
• HIPAA

Part 9. Cybersecurity design questions

Prepare to answer:

Architecture

• Design secure enterprise network
• Design SOC architecture
• Design zero trust architecture
• Design cloud security architecture
• Design IAM architecture
• Design remote access architecture

Scenario questions

• CEO laptop compromised
• Ransomware outbreak
• Data exfiltration detected
• Cloud account compromise
• Insider threat detected
• Third-party vendor breach

Part 10. TAM / consulting / customer-facing roles

Especially relevant for your TAM background.

Customer management

• Executive communication
• Stakeholder management
• Escalation handling
• Conflict resolution
• Expectation management
• Risk communication

Technical advisory

• Security strategy discussions
• Security maturity assessments
• Roadmap planning
• Gap analysis
• Adoption planning

Business acumen

• ROI discussions
• Risk vs Cost tradeoffs
• Security investment justification
• Board-level communication

Part 11. AI and modern security

These topics are increasingly common in interviews.

AI security

• LLM security risks
• Prompt injection
• Data leakage
• Model poisoning
• Agentic AI risks
• AI governance

Modern security topics

• SASE
• SSE
• XDR
• CNAPP
• DSPM
• Security Automation
• SOAR

Part 12. Mock technical questions

Prepare answers for:

• Tell me about yourself
• Walk me through your architecture
• Biggest security incident handled
• Most difficult customer
• Security failure and lesson learned
• Security design challenge
• How would you secure a cloud environment?
• Explain Zero Trust
• Explain ransomware response
• Explain MFA bypass techniques
• Explain MITRE ATT&CK usage

Highest-ROI areas

1. Executive communication and storytelling.
2. Security architecture design questions.
3. Customer escalation and stakeholder management examples.
4. Cloud and AI security concepts.
5. Leadership and people-management STAR stories.
6. Business impact, risk, and ROI discussions rather than purely technical depth.

Tech interview checklist score

Use this score to see how much of your technical interview prep is already covered.