Interview
Questions

Tell me about an architectural decision you strongly disagreed with. How did you handle it and what was the outcome?

Describe a time you had to convince your team to adopt a new technology or architectural pattern. What was your approach?

Tell me about a time you inherited a poorly designed system. How did you approach understanding and improving it?

Describe a situation where you had to balance paying down technical debt versus shipping new features. How did you make the decision?

Tell me about a time you had to simplify an overly complex system. What was your approach and what resistance did you face?

Describe a time when your initial technical approach turned out to be wrong. How did you recognize it and course-correct?

Tell me about designing a system with significant constraints—time, resources, or legacy dependencies. How did you navigate the tradeoffs?

How do you handle architectural disagreements with senior colleagues or leadership? Give a specific example.

Tell me about a system you designed that had to scale significantly. What did you anticipate correctly and what surprised you?

Describe a time you had to make a build versus buy decision for a critical system component. What factors did you consider?

Tell me about a time you had to communicate technical tradeoffs to non-technical stakeholders. How did you frame the decision?

Describe a situation where you had to deprecate or sunset a system. How did you manage the migration and stakeholder concerns?

Tell me about a significant production incident you were involved in. What was your role and what architectural changes resulted from it?

How do you approach documenting architectural decisions? Tell me about a time your documentation significantly helped the team.