GitOps and Declarative Infrastructure Questions

Covers the principles and practical patterns for using Git as the single source of truth to manage declarative infrastructure and application configuration. Candidates should be able to explain the pull based reconciliation model, repository organization patterns, synchronization and rollout strategies, and how controllers such as Argo CD or Flux implement continuous reconciliation and deployment. Topics include repository structure choices, single repository versus multiple repository trade offs, environment promotion workflows, testing and validation of manifest changes, and operational concerns such as scaling reconciliation loops and handling manual approvals. Candidates should also discuss secrets handling patterns in Git based workflows, integration with external secrets stores, sealed secret or encryption strategies, and how to enforce policy as code and auditing with policy engines. Finally, include decision criteria for when to apply GitOps to infrastructure versus application delivery, common failure modes such as drift, and mitigation and observability strategies.