Overview — Proforma Infrastructure Engineer Interview

The interview, at a glance

• Role: Infrastructure Engineer — primary technical owner of the container networking stack
• Company: Proforma — $650M print/promo/packaging distributor, Tampa (Davis Islands)
• Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2026 — 1 hour, single interviewer (hiring manager)
• Comp: $100k–$120k
• Team context: two-person team today — one person owns the work. They are hiring to remove a single point of failure. Every answer you give should quietly show you can BE the redundancy.
• Their stack: hybrid Windows/Linux + OpenShift, MetalLB, OVN-Kubernetes, BGP, micro-segmentation, RHEL, Windows Server + AD, on-prem.

The one sentence that wins the interview

> "You're hiring someone to own the container networking stack — BGP, MetalLB, OVN-K — plus the Windows-to-OpenShift migration. That's my current job: I run BGP on the F5s and the OpenShift edge, I run OpenShift for Java microservices, and I've moved Linux workloads between platforms for years. I can walk you through each layer."

The job posting itself conflates "OpenShift Virtualization (OVN-Kubernetes)". Splitting those two cleanly — OpenShift Virtualization = KubeVirt (running VMs), OVN-Kubernetes = the CNI (cluster networking) — is an instant credibility win. Say it once, early.

Your narrative spine

One story told four ways, so you never contradict yourself:

1. Topology — Internet → core switches (BGP lives here) → F5 BIG-IP pair (VIPs) → OpenShift cluster (masters + workers) → OpenShift Virtualization (migrated Windows VMs). Four boxes. Draw it on the Whiteboard page.
2. BGP — F5s peer eBGP into the core and advertise the VIP subnets, only from the active unit. Same reachability problem MetalLB solves at the cluster edge: speakers announce /32s, fabric ECMPs to the workers.
3. OpenShift — masters, workers, OVN-K overlay, microservices, namespaces, RBAC, NetworkPolicies.
4. Migration — Windows VMs leaving VMware enter the cluster via OpenShift Virtualization; VMware knowledge (V2V, VxRail, PowerFlex) is your credibility for the migration project.

Study sequence — follow this order

Total first pass: ~5 hours. You have today (Sunday) and Monday evening. Do one full pass, then re-drill BGP + OpenShift + Whiteboard Tuesday night.

The 2-day plan

Today / tomorrow (content):

1. BGP page (02) — read it twice. This is where the interview is won or lost.
2. OpenShift page (03) — twice. You must speak OVN-K and MetalLB fluently.
3. Company page (01) + Q&A bank (07) — your stories and the "why us" angle.
4. Whiteboard page (09) — draw it from memory until it takes 2 minutes.

Tuesday night (drill):

1. Mock script (08) — answer every question OUT LOUD, one at a time. Not in your head.
2. The whiteboard, five times. Narrate each box out loud.

Wednesday morning (light):

1. Skim L4 vs L7 (05) + Hardening (06) — refresh, don't cram.
2. Re-read the one sentence above and your four stories.

Ground-truth at work — 10 minutes, before Wednesday (non-negotiable):

The difference between "probably a mix" and a real answer is the specifics. While you still have Penske access:

F5:      tmsh list net routing bgp
         imish -e 'show ip bgp summary'
OpenShift: oc get ipaddresspool,bgppeer,bgpadv -A
         oc -n metallb-system get pods

Capture: your real ASN, neighbor IPs, VIP subnets, worker count, OCP version. Write them onto your whiteboard diagram. Those specifics are what separate you from the next candidate.

Traps to avoid

1. Don't contradict yourself. Every answer must fit the four-box narrative. If a detail doesn't fit, leave it out.
2. Don't fake depth. If he goes past your depth, say "I haven't run that in production, here's how I'd approach it" — that answer is respected; invented specifics are not.
3. NinjaOne (their RMM). You've used CrowdStrike for 1,000+ endpoints and managed patching with Ansible. The honest mapping: "I haven't run NinjaOne, but it's the same problem space as what I've done — deployment, patching, monitoring. I'd be up to speed in a week." Do NOT claim hands-on NinjaOne.
4. MetalLB question. They will ask about it (it's in the posting). Your line: "Same pattern, different edge — MetalLB speakers on the workers announce /32s into the fabric." One sentence, then keep moving.
5. No invented features or claims — on the site, in the interview, anywhere. Placeholder specifics (ASN, VIP ranges) stay blank until you ground-truth them.

Day-of checklist

• 10 min before: paper + pen next to you (whiteboard fallback), water, this site open.
• First 2 min: the one sentence, delivered calmly.
• Interruptions: he will interrupt. That's engagement. Answer in one sentence, return to your thread.
• End: three questions for him (see Q&A Bank — pick your three and memorize them).
• After: note every question he asked that surprised you. They'll matter if there's a round two.