If you were given the task of having to both encrypt and compress data during transmission, which would you do first, and why?

How to Answer
1st Answer Example
2nd Answer Example

This is a typical situational and task-oriented interview question that asks you to explain how you perform a task, the step-by-step process you follow, and what your reasoning is behind the process that you followed. Please note that the interviewer will be observing how you respond to this question. They will be looking at whether or not you appear to be confident in your response, or get nervous and panic while answering this question. Always keep calm, and take a deep breath before answering each question. Even if you have to wait a few seconds to respond, that's fine. It also shows the interviewer that you think through the questions before answering.

In short, both data compression and data encryption are methods that transform data into a different format. When you're talking about the tasks, and what you do in the process, let the interviewer know that even though data compression and encryption are methods that transform data, it's the execution of the process and the minor details that are important and not overlooked.

"Yes, there is a process that I follow that ensures safe transmission of data. When I design a data compression scheme, there are some important factors such as the level of compression required, the amount of distortion introduced by the compression, and the computational hardware/appliance resources required to compress and decompress the data.
This is especially true in the case of video compression because when you decompress, you will need to ensure that you get a stream fast enough so the viewing isn't interrupted by spooling or other latency issues. People often think that by decompressing video data, it will stream faster, but one of the issues is it requires a large amount of storage space, which could be a problem for many companies."

"I've heard people say compress then encrypt. The problem here is that if you encrypt first, then you'll have nothing but random data to work with, which will destroy any potential benefit you will get from the compression process. With data encryption, I focus on developing encryption algorithms (ciphers) that are hard to break by an attacker due to the computational complexities, which makes it even more difficult to be broken. Since both the sender and receiver share a secret key, it needs to be protected so that data communication is kept private between those two parties."

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How to Answer: If you were given the task of having to both encrypt and compress data during transmission, which would you do first, and why?

Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Phreesia job interview.

2. If you were given the task of having to both encrypt and compress data during transmission, which would you do first, and why?

How to Answer

This is a typical situational and task-oriented interview question that asks you to explain how you perform a task, the step-by-step process you follow, and what your reasoning is behind the process that you followed. Please note that the interviewer will be observing how you respond to this question. They will be looking at whether or not you appear to be confident in your response, or get nervous and panic while answering this question. Always keep calm, and take a deep breath before answering each question. Even if you have to wait a few seconds to respond, that's fine. It also shows the interviewer that you think through the questions before answering.

In short, both data compression and data encryption are methods that transform data into a different format. When you're talking about the tasks, and what you do in the process, let the interviewer know that even though data compression and encryption are methods that transform data, it's the execution of the process and the minor details that are important and not overlooked.

Written by Tom Dushaj on December 6th, 2019

1st Answer Example

"Yes, there is a process that I follow that ensures safe transmission of data. When I design a data compression scheme, there are some important factors such as the level of compression required, the amount of distortion introduced by the compression, and the computational hardware/appliance resources required to compress and decompress the data.
This is especially true in the case of video compression because when you decompress, you will need to ensure that you get a stream fast enough so the viewing isn't interrupted by spooling or other latency issues. People often think that by decompressing video data, it will stream faster, but one of the issues is it requires a large amount of storage space, which could be a problem for many companies."

Written by Tom Dushaj on December 6th, 2019

2nd Answer Example

"I've heard people say compress then encrypt. The problem here is that if you encrypt first, then you'll have nothing but random data to work with, which will destroy any potential benefit you will get from the compression process. With data encryption, I focus on developing encryption algorithms (ciphers) that are hard to break by an attacker due to the computational complexities, which makes it even more difficult to be broken. Since both the sender and receiver share a secret key, it needs to be protected so that data communication is kept private between those two parties."

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