# Terraform Basics (DevOps) > Infrastructure as Code, providers, resources, variables, outputs, state management, troubleshooting drift - 22 interview questions - Mid-Level - [Interview Questions: DevOps](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions.md) ## 1. What is Infrastructure as Code (IaC)? **Answer** Infrastructure as Code is a practice of managing and provisioning computing infrastructure through machine-readable configuration files rather than manual processes. This approach enables versioning infrastructure, easily reproducing it, and applying the same software development practices such as code reviews and automated testing. Terraform is one of the most popular IaC tools because it is cloud-agnostic and uses a declarative language. ## 2. What is the role of a provider in Terraform? **Answer** A Terraform provider is a plugin that enables Terraform to interact with a cloud platform, SaaS service, or specific API. Each provider exposes resources and data sources specific to the target platform. For example, the AWS provider allows creating EC2 instances, S3 buckets, and other AWS services. Providers must be declared and initialized with terraform init before they can be used. ## 3. What is a resource in Terraform? **Answer** A Terraform resource represents an infrastructure component managed by Terraform, such as a virtual machine instance, a network, or a database. Resources are declared in configuration files with a type and a unique local name. Terraform uses these declarations to create, modify, or delete the actual infrastructure. Each resource has configuration arguments and exported attributes that can be used by other resources. ## 19 more questions available - What are input variables used for in Terraform? - What is the role of outputs in Terraform? Sign up for free: https://sharpskill.dev/en/login ## Other DevOps interview topics - [Version Control & Git](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/version-control-git.md): 20 questions, Junior - [Linux Fundamentals](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/linux-fundamentals.md): 22 questions, Junior - [Shell Scripting & Bash](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/shell-scripting-bash.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level - [Networking Basics](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/networking-basics.md): 22 questions, Junior - [Docker Fundamentals](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/docker-fundamentals.md): 24 questions, Junior - [CI/CD Fundamentals](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/ci-cd-fundamentals.md): 18 questions, Junior - [GitHub Actions](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/github-actions.md): 22 questions, Mid-Level - 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[Performance Optimization](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/performance-optimization.md): 22 questions, Senior - [Cloud Cost Optimization](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/infrastructure-cost.md): 20 questions, Senior - [SRE Principles](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/sre-principles.md): 24 questions, Senior - [Chaos Engineering](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/chaos-engineering.md): 20 questions, Senior - [Platform Engineering](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/devops/interview-questions/platform-engineering.md): 22 questions, Senior --- Source: SharpSkill (https://sharpskill.dev), tech interview preparation for your real stack. 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