Please walk me through the process you use to decide between two technologies when both will get the job done.
The purpose behind this question is twofold. The first is to demonstrate your communication skills and your ability and persuade an audience into agreeing with your decision or recommendation. The second is to understand whether you would be a good culture fit within the organization and your approach to collaborating with the rest of the team. The interviewer may ask this question in a different format using a specific scenario, such as choosing between hosting an application in-house or with a web service provider such as AWS.
"When asked to choose between two equally effective technologies, I use several criteria to select the one most appropriate for the situation. I consider each technology's effectiveness, cost, ease of implementation, and impact on the organization. I also consider the team's experience with these technologies and the risk associated with each one. Once I've decided on the technology, I put together a presentation for the team and other stakeholders which outlines my rationale and provides a summary of each of these criteria, and invite their feedback and input before making the final decision."
When an interviewer asks you to walk them through a process you use, you should first pause and organize your thoughts before responding. Break down each part of the process into a simple, easy-to-understand step and present these in the order you use them. Don't provide too many details. The interviewer will ask you a follow-up question if they need more information.
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
There are several criteria that I evaluate before I choose a technology: the functionality, the community support, the planned software support lifecycle, the cost and how beneficial it is as well as how easy it is to implement. New technology may boast a lot of features, but if our applications will not utilize those features, the cost may not be justified. New technology may also not gain enough community support and the lifecycle of the technology would be short and the company would have to replace it in the near future anyway. New technology also may offer a considerable number of features, but if it is a very involved process to implement, it may outweigh the benefits by adding an unnecessary amount of hours to get the tech up and running.
Amanda's Feedback
You've listed applicable key elements (functionality, community support, software lifecycle, cost, benefits, and implementation needs) you consider when deciding if an alternative technology is worth using. If you have had to make a choice between two alternative technologies recently, briefly explain your options, why you chose a particular technology, and how it worked out for the best. This shows the potential employer that you have the decision-making skills needed to make wise choices that support business needs.
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