You can build and debug software in Rust, Go, C, C++, or a similar language. Rust is preferred for runtime work. You understand the memory, concurrency, data structures, and operating-system behavior your project depends on.
Kubernetes experience is especially relevant to control-plane work: controllers, operators, reconciliation, scheduling, networking, and resource lifecycles. For runtime work, relevant projects include a storage engine, networking tool, virtual machine, compiler, or operating-system component. Depth in either area is welcome.
Coursework, research, employment, open source, and independent projects all count. Explain what you personally implemented and learned. Experience at a big tech company or on another large, fast-moving codebase is a plus, not a requirement.
You understand when to use unit, integration, end-to-end, and property-based tests, and what each can and cannot establish. You choose efficient ways to verify a change, test invariants and failure cases, and make failures reproducible. Experience with formal verification or model checking is a plus.
When stuck, you narrow the problem, read source or documentation, and run an informative experiment. You ask for help with evidence, act on feedback, and finish the work.
You can use AI tools. You must understand, test, and correct the code you submit.