33 Solutions Architect Interview Questions & Answers
Below is a list of our Solutions Architect interview questions. Click on any interview question to view our answer advice and answer examples. You may view 5 answer examples before our paywall loads. Afterwards, you'll be asked to upgrade to view the rest of our answers.
Behavioral
1. Give an example where you worked in collaboration with other departments on solution architecture to shape up a project? What went well? What went wrong?
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
This is an example of a behavioral question. Interviewers use behavioral questions to determine how you react to specific situations which are likely to occur in the workplace. These situations typically involve conflicts, challenges, issues around integrity, or other situations in which you have choices as to how you respond. By asking a behavioral question, the interviewer hopes to better understand how well you will fit into their corporate culture and respond to similar situations in their environment.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
How to Answer
You can structure your answer using the STAR format when responding to a behavioral question. You begin by describing the Situation, followed next by stating the Task(s) you needed to accomplish. You then move on to the Actions you took and finish your answer by discussing the Results you attained. In this particular question, the interviewer is expecting you to describe both the success you had as well as some challenges you encountered and how you overcame them.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"I was recently tasked with creating an internal system that would allow the organization's employees to make changes in their benefits program using an online application. The stakeholders for the project included the HR Department, Finance, and a representative from a Corporate Leadership team. I kicked off the project with a team meeting to discuss our objectives, project scope, resources, and timelines. Once we understood these elements, I gathered my engineering team and began working on the various architectures required for this system. Due to our experience, we were able to deliver the system's prototype well within the allocated timeline and budget. However, the representatives of the HR Department continued to add additional requirements to the system once they understood the application's capabilities. This scope creep meant that we were continually reengineering both the software and hardware elements of the solution. After several iterations, I was able to lock down the parameters for the project by appealing to the organization's Finance and Leadership teams. The system we created functioned as specified and delivered the results the stakeholders were anticipating."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Behavioral
2. Do you prefer to create programs aligned with interfaces or implementations, and why?
How to Answer
Creating programs aligned either with interfaces or implementations are two methodologies used when developing software. Knowing the differences between these, including their benefits and liabilities, is important. Being able to describe this to the interviewer will help you establish your qualifications for this role and separate you from the other candidates. Since this is a technical question, keep your answer brief and to the point.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Creating programs aligned with interfaces refers to the client code holding the interface object. Coding for the implementation requires that the class must have already been implemented. I prefer creating programs aligned with interfaces since these can control what operations are performed and allow them to be changed by the program at runtime. Programs aligned with interfaces are also easier to maintain."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Behavioral
3. What is your strategy for securing the IT assets and intellectual property of an organization?
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
During an interview for a solutions architect role, you will be asked many questions about how you go about securing the organization's IT infrastructure and the data the company uses to conduct its operations. IT security is a top concern among today's business organizations and is one of the reasons they seek to hire experience solutions architects. You should discuss different security measures you take and have several examples prepared of how you've done this in your previous positions. These will serve as proof that you're qualified for this role and encourage the employer to offer you the position.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"I take several different steps to secure an organization's IT assets and intellectual property. These include employing robust security measures such as VPNs, user authentication, educating the workforce about IT security, and other similar methodologies. I also ensure that all the company's data is replicated and backed up, enabling it to be restored if there's an outage, natural disaster, or other incidents that take the IT infrastructure offline."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Behavioral
4. How do you ensure that the software you develop will scale?
How to Answer
Organizations anticipate that they will continue to grow and expand over time. Therefore, the applications they use should be able to grow or scale as well. This makes the applications more effective and reduces the additional programming and development required to keep up with the organization's expansion. As a solutions architect, you should describe how you create programs that scale with the organization and anticipate future growth. You need to balance scalability with the number of resources the applications require when the organization is still small.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Whenever I create a new software application, I anticipate an organization's future growth and try to build in scalability features so that the application will grow as the company expands. One methodology for this is scaling up, which adds additional resources such as memory, storage, or CPU for the same number of users. The second methodology is scaling out, which is adding additional IT resources to accommodate more users. In either case, the application must be able to take advantage of the additional resources without having to be rewritten."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Communication
5. How would you describe Amazon Web Services (AWS) to someone outside of the IT organization?
How to Answer
As a solution architect, you are expected to collaborate with teams and individuals from across the organization. This requires you to have well-developed communication skills. One of the challenges is discussing technical topics with people who do not have a technical background. The best approach is to keep your language simple and easy to understand, avoiding acronyms and industry jargon non-IT professionals may not be familiar with. Throughout the interview, the interviewer will be evaluating your communication skills based on the answers you provide to their questions.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Amazon Web Services, also known as AWS, are similar to our in-house information technology organization in that it involves hardware, software, and network infrastructure. The difference is our company buys the infrastructure, applications, and communications as a service rather than providing it ourselves with in-house resources. AWS is responsible for maintaining the hardware, licensing the software, and ensuring that the network is up and running at all times. This not only reduces our IT costs, but it also allows us to increase or decrease our IT resources based on changing demands and requirements."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Communication
6. Please discuss some of the differences between asynchronous and parallel programming?
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
As a solutions architect, the interviewer will expect you to be knowledgeable about a wide range of topics related to information technology and how computing systems address business issues within an organization. While it is virtually impossible to be familiar with all the terminology, processes, and procedures used in an IT organization, you should be knowledgeable about the more common ones, especially those that the organization with whom you are interviewing may be using. You can identify these by researching the company. Sources for information include their website, the job description, and conversations with current and former IT staff members.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Asynchronous operations refer to processes which can proceed without input or response from other sources or processes. Programs that use parallel processes take advantage of separating tasks into individual processes that can be run simultaneously. If possible, processes which take a long time to complete should be run in an asynchronous mode to prevent them from tying up other resources. Processes which require multiple streams should be run in parallel to reduce the amount of time it takes to complete them."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Communication
7. Can you explain CAP Theorem?
How to Answer
CAP is an acronym that stands for consistency, availability, and partition tolerance. The CAP theorem states that a distributed computer system can at best optimize only two of these at the same time. Your answer should communicate this to the interviewer and then discuss the tradeoffs between the components of CAP. You may want to provide examples of how you have reduced one of these components to strengthen the other two in certain situations.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"The CAP theorem states that any distributed computer system can provide consistency, availability, and partition tolerance, but only two of these can be optimized at any given time. It requires tradeoffs between these three characteristics since they compete with each other. Consistency means that all the nodes on a network have equal access to all the information simultaneously. Availability addresses each node receiving responses to its requests with the same priority. Partition tolerance addresses system uptime and prevents lost transmissions. As an example, if you optimize availability and position tolerance, you sacrifice consistency. I strive to balance performance between these three characteristics based on the needs of the users and the operations they are performing."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Compatibility
8. What do you believe your role is concerning supporting the organization's functional analysts?
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
Solutions architects and functional analysts work side-by-side within any organization. The functional analyst's role is to look at the organization's processes, procedures, and guidelines to ensure they are effective in helping the company attain its business objectives. The solutions architect converts these business strategies into IT services the organization uses to conduct its business. These two teams must collaborate effectively to achieve this goal. The interviewer wants to ensure that not only are you aware of this, but you also have experience working with functional analysts.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"In each of my previous jobs, I've collaborated closely with the functional analyst team. I've learned quite a bit about what they do. I appreciate their ability to break down processes and procedures into discrete steps aligned with information technology services and systems. I've learned to engage with the functional analyst team early and often when new processes and procedures are introduced in the organization. I also take time to educate them about IT strategies so they can consider these when developing the new processes."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Compatibility
9. What is a lower latency interaction, and why is it desirable in an application?
How to Answer
Latency is the time it takes for a communication to occur within an IT Network. The higher the latency, the slower the applications of the more time the user spends waiting for responses to their queries or input. Therefore, low latency is always more desirable. Not only should you know this, but you should be able to provide the interviewer with examples of how you reduce latency between applications and across the network.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Reducing latency across the network is an issue I am constantly addressing. One of the ways I reduced latency is through the use of WebSockets. These establish connections across the network and reduce the number of round-trip packets required to establish a TCP connection. Other methodologies for reducing latency include segmenting the network, greeting groups which frequently communicate with each other, and using high-performance network hardware and applications."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Compatibility
10. Please explain domain-driven design.
How to Answer
There are many types of design methodologies used when developing software applications. While you may have ones that you prefer, you should be aware of all of them so you can discuss their merits, benefits, and the rationale for why you use the ones you employ. Knowing the types of design methodologies the organization uses will help you frame your answer as compatible with theirs or recommend alternatives to help them become more efficient and productive.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Domain-driven design is a software development methodology that focuses on aligning activities, events, tasks, and the data needed with the technology utilized within a specific domain or process. This is effective because it optimizes the application to address the needs of the process. The benefit of this is that it can use the resources and data already inherent in the process, and also makes it easier for the users who are familiar with the process to learn the specifics of the application."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Compatibility
11. What are the benefits of clustering?
How to Answer
Clustering involves connecting computer resources that perform similar functions and use similar data with each other. The key benefits of clustering include availability and performance. Interviewers will ask you about this technology to determine if you have used it before and know how to cluster IT resources. This also indicates that they employ clustering in their environment. When discussing the benefits of clustering, you may also want to bring up its vulnerabilities.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"I have used clustering quite a bit in my previous roles. I especially like this technology when I need to achieve high availability for the resources in a cluster. If one of the systems in a cluster were to fail, the other one would immediately take over, and the processes will continue without interruption. The key to making clustering effective is to ensure that the failover is seamless and that there is no single source of failure in all the systems. This may require locating clustered systems in different locations or providing independent or duplicate power and networking to the systems."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Creative Thinking
12. Can you describe a creative solution to a challenging problem you developed in your role as a solutions architect? (Begin Here)
How to Answer
Interviewers will ask you about solutions you have provided to challenging problems to understand your capabilities and determine if you are qualified to address some of the issues they are facing. When preparing for an interview, you should put together two to three stories of how you helped your previous employers address issues similar to the ones described in the job description for which you are interviewing. These stories will help you confirm your qualifications and describe your services to the prospective employer.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"In a recent role, our company was having difficulties communicating with its customers about service issues. I analyzed the situation and determined that most communications were via telephone, which resulted in missed calls, voice mails, and a general lack of connecting with the customer. I proposed a solution involving a chat application customers could use to raise issues with the service desk. We implemented this, and the response from the customers was positive. We took additional steps to develop a FAQ resource and allow customers to text their issues to a central service desk contact. Customer complaints were reduced by 40% due to the steps."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Creative Thinking
13. Please talk about a time when you analyzed a difficult problem and came up with an innovative solution.
How to Answer
Employers prefer people who are creative, innovative, and good problem solvers. Being able to describe when you created an innovative solution to solve a complex challenge will set you apart from other candidates and demonstrate your qualifications for this position. If possible, describe a situation that aligns with the organization's needs with whom you are interviewing. These requirements can be found in the job description or on the company's website.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"In one of my previous roles, I was faced with a situation in which database queries were not resulting in incorrect information being returned. This was frustrating for the users and required more time than necessary to obtain the information they were looking for. I analyzed the issue and discovered the database queries being used by the employees were vague and inaccurate. I met with each user group to discover the type of information they needed. I then created sets of standard queries they could use to obtain the information they were looking for. I also instructed them on how to modify the queries if they did not exactly meet their needs. This increased the accuracy of the queries and resulted in the users obtaining the exact information needed for their work."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Discovery
14. Do you subscribe to the theory of 'Fail Early and Fail Forward?'
How to Answer
Fail early and fail forward refers to the philosophy of taking risks in a process before they have greater impacts and learning quickly from your failures so they can be corrected and avoided in the future. Some organizations subscribe to this practice, especially entrepreneurial and innovative companies. More conservative companies avoid failure and take additional precautions when developing new processes, procedures, or applications. How you respond to this question will depend on the nature of the organization. Try to gauge the company's tolerance for risk and the consequences of failures before answering the interviewer's question.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"I have found the failing early and failing forward is a viable methodology when the organization needs to move quickly, and the consequences of failures are minimal. Employing this philosophy helps develop applications quicker, avoiding more serious consequences of failures later in the process. If done properly, it also enables solutions architects to learn from their mistakes and avoid repeating them. Naturally, I take into account the impact of failures and take precautions to avoid major mistakes which will require a great deal of time or resources to correct."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Education
15. How do you define high availability, and what are some steps you take to ensure this?
How to Answer
As the name implies, availability addresses the ability of a user or process to access a computing resource within the network. As you can infer, organizations prefer high availability since this enables their workforce to perform their duties at any time using IT resources. There are several steps you can take to ensure the increased availability of IT Resources. The interviewer is interested in learning about your knowledge of these and ensuring that you can use them within their organization.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"One of the key responsibilities in my role as a solutions architect is to ensure high availability of the IT resources within an organization. I need to do this while still maintaining a reasonable operating budget. Methodologies I employ include building redundancy into the network, designing in backups, using clustering, and utilizing cloud architectures to ensure that the IT resources are always available or can be quickly replaced if they fail."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Experience
16. What are some of the steps you recommend to protect an organization from a DOS attack?
How to Answer
One of the key responsibilities of a solution architect is to work with the IT organization to develop systems that protect the organization's proprietary information and other confidential resources. Interviewers will ask you about your ability to do this and may ask specific questions similar to this one about certain types of attacks they have already experienced. Suppose the interviewer asks multiple questions about a specific type of security threat. In that case, you can assume that it is challenging the organization, and you should focus your answers on how you've prevented or defeated these types of attacks in your previous roles.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Denial Of Service or DOS attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent across the Internet. Hackers are using these and ransomware to shut down an organization's operations or request payment to continue to function. I've dealt with many of these types of security threats in my previous roles and am confident I can help your organization prevent these. Methodologies I suggest include educating the workforce about secure passwords and avoiding nefarious websites, setting up VPNs, using robust user authentication, and encrypting data whenever possible. Taken together, these steps reduce the number of DOS and other security threats the organization encounters."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Experience
17. What are the advantages of using a NoSQL database instead of an RDBMS?
How to Answer
One of the technologies solutions architects deal with frequently is databases. Therefore, you should have a deep understanding of the different types of databases and compare and contrast them. Knowing which type of database to use for a specific situation will demonstrate your qualifications for this role. If possible, you should try to determine which type of database the organization is currently using to emphasize this when answering these types of questions.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"While both NoSQL databases and RDBMS systems have their merits, each is more suited for a specific situation. NoSQL databases perform better in less structured environments where the data is volatile and constantly changing. They also work well for applications where the database activity is very high and horizontal scalability is required. NoSQL databases are also effective when dealing with large amounts of data in the range of terabytes and petabytes. The final advantage of NoSQL databases is that it is easier for developers to work with."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Experience
18. Give an example of where you used an architecture framework. What characteristics were helpful, and what characteristics were not helpful?
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
Interviewers ask this question for several reasons. The first is to confirm your expertise and experience as a Solutions Architect. Being able to describe a specific architecture framework and its characteristics demonstrates that you have both skills and experience in this role. Another reason they will ask this question is to see whether the architecture you describe is similar to the one their organization has deployed. Organizations will frequently hire individuals who have experience aligned with their current operations to reduce the time it takes to onboard and integrate the individual into their workforce. Finally, interviewers often ask this question is to determine if you have the expertise to bring innovative and creative ideas to their organization to improve their operations or reduce their costs.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
How to Answer
It is always a good idea to take some time to research the organization before the interview. This will help you learn about their current operations to prepare answers to the interviewer's questions that demonstrate your skills, experience, and expertise as a Solutions Architect. The research will also help you align your answers to the organization's operations, demonstrating your ability to quickly integrate yourself into their solutions architecture team. Finally, your research may identify opportunities to improve their operations using the architecture frameworks you created in your previous positions.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Of the four common types of IT architecture frameworks, I usually implement the Zachman Framework. I prefer this because it uses taxonomy to organize various documents and materials into categories that are easy to manage when creating an IT architecture and creates structural connections across the enterprise. This framework uses six descriptive focal points and player perspectives. The foci are data, function, network, people, time, and motivation. The perspectives are planner, owner, designer, builder, subcontractor, and enterprise. Together, these create a structure that communicates how best a company can operate. Once I understand how the organization functions, I can architect an IT solution that helps the business achieve its objectives. While understanding how people do their jobs, the information they need, and how best to provide this is helpful, the time required and motivation behind the needs tend to be less important. Also, the builder and subcontractor perspectives are not as critical as those of the planner, owner, designer, and enterprise."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Experience
19. Describe how your training and experience have prepared you to succeed as a Solutions Architect.
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
Even though the interviewer has already read your resume, which describes your training and experience, they will ask this question to explore this topic in more detail. They want to learn more about the hard and soft skills you acquired during your training and work experience, which may not be detailed in your resume. Also, your response to this question will indicate to them which of these skills you feel are critical for this role. Finally, your description of the skills and experience will provide an example of your communication skills, which are important in this job.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
How to Answer
When responding to this question, do not list the specific classes you took, skills you acquired, or all the details of your experience. Instead, describe the key topics which are critical for this job and to the employer. You can provide a few details about each topic to illustrate your answer and your rationale for considering these to be important. The interviewer will likely ask you follow-up questions if they need more information or want to explore the specific skill, training, or experience in more detail.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"During my formal education and subsequent experience, I took classes and acquired skills in some key areas critical to a Solution Architect's job. These included assessing an organization's technology needs, defining the scope of a project, developing system requirements, and exploring an organization's existing system's architecture. I also learned how to assess a system's performance and value, implement a quality functional deployment methodology, define the required interfaces, and identify and evaluate the risks associated with the project. This provided me with the skills and knowledge required to gather specifications, assess systems, and oversee team projects related to helping the organization achieve its business objectives."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Leadership
20. Can you describe a key project you recently led as a solutions architect?
How to Answer
Organizations hire individuals for one of three reasons: to help them make money, save money, or save time. The fact that you're sitting at an interview in a case that you of demonstrating your ability to do one of these three things in your resume, LinkedIn profile, or from comments from your references. The interviewer will explore this in more detail during the interview by asking you about specific accomplishments and achievements from your previous positions. You should develop between three and five stories of how you've helped your previous employers make money, save money or save time. You can use the star framework when telling the stories. Start by stating the situation, then describe the task you needed to achieve, followed by your actions. Finish by talking about the results you achieved and how they contributed to the business's objectives.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"In my current job, I was assigned to lead a team to develop an online transaction processing application. This was to be used by the organization's clients to order spare parts. The customer service organization previously performed this activity. The objective was to free up customer service to address service and performance issues and enable the customers to order spare parts directly. We started by observing the current processes used by customer service. We then developed an application to replicate these and make it easy for the clients to identify the part they needed, specify the shipping methodology, and pay using their current financial instruments. Once the new system was implemented, customer service activities related to spare parts dropped by 90%, customer satisfaction increased by 30%, and revenues increased by 10% because customers were ordering spares to keep onsite at their facility."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
21. Are there any issues with employing sticky sessions in your systems architecture?
How to Answer
This is an example of a follow-up question. Interviewers will ask follow-up questions if they need more information about a topic or want to dig into it in more detail. You should anticipate follow-up questions any time you provide the interviewer with an answer. If they immediately ask a follow-up question, they indicate a strong interest in the topic, and you should spend more time discussing it. If the follow-up question is asked later in the interview, it is a way for them to correlate your answers to ensure you are consistent throughout the interview. Keeping your answers brief and to the point and not fabricating answers will help you to maintain consistency.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"There are some issues you may encounter when employing sticky sessions and connecting users with specific resources in the IT architecture. One issue is that the browser the user is using may not support cookies. This prevents the load balancer from identifying whether a specific request belongs to an existing session. Since most browsers employ cookies, this is rarely an issue unless the user disables them. Another issue with sticky sessions is if a particular resource or device fails, the user information may be lost, and the session will be terminated. This can be prevented by architecting systems for high availability."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
22. How are DRY and DIE principles used in software engineering?
How to Answer
By asking this question, the interviewer assumes that you know the acronyms DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) and DIE (Duplication is Evil) and how they are used in software engineering. If you know the acronyms, answer the question using them since the interviewer has indicated that they know what they mean. If you are not familiar with the acronyms, state this to the interviewer and ask them to clarify the question. You always why make sure that you are answering the question which the interviewer is asking.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Both of these acronyms address replication within a software application. DRY stands for Don't Repeat Yourself and DIE, which means Duplication is Evil, encourages programmers not to develop software that contains duplication or repetitive features within the application. This doesn't mean that developers can't repurpose code they've already written. Most contemporary programming languages have libraries of code created by developers that can be repurposed in other applications. The benefit of this is that it reduces development cycles, standardizes applications within a given operating system or platform, and provides developers with code which has or even verified and tested."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
23. Can you define the acronym SOLID and discuss its key principles?
How to Answer
For example: "SOLID is an acronym for the first five object-oriented design principles. These are:
S - Single responsibility. A class should have only one job.
O - Open-closed. Objects should be opened for extension but closed for modification.
L - Liskov substitution. Addresses solving objects for type S, where S is a subtype of T.
I - Interface segregation. Clients shouldn't be forced to implement an interface or depend on methods they do not directly use.
D - Dependency Inversion. States that a high-level module should depend on abstractions, not on a low-level module."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"SOLID is an acronym for the first five object-oriented design principles. These are:
S - Single responsibility. A class should have only one job.
O - Open-closed. Objects should be opened for extension but closed for modification.
L - Liskov substitution. Addresses solving objects for type S, where S is a subtype of T.
I - Interface segregation. Clients shouldn't be forced to implement an interface or depend on methods they do not directly use.
D - Dependency Inversion. States that a high-level module should depend on abstractions, not on a low-level module."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
24. What does system resiliency refer to, and how do you achieve this?
How to Answer
System resiliency is similar to high availability in that it relates to systems being available when needed. Solutions architects build resiliency into systems using several different methodologies. Interviewers will be very interested in your ability to do this since organizations lose money when their IT systems are down, and their employees can't do their jobs. It would be best to have a portfolio of solutions to design system resiliency and high availability.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"A system is considered resilient if it can continue to function even though other parts of the IT infrastructure have failed or are no longer available. This is especially important in mission-critical systems, which perform functions important to the operations of the organization. Some of the methodologies I use to ensure system resiliency include redundancy, backups, isolation, delegation, and containment. Reducing the impact of any system failure and preventing it from spreading to other systems is key to maintaining high availability and keeping the organization's business processes functioning."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
25. What does the acronym ACID stand for?
How to Answer
This should be easily identifiable as a technical question since it asks you to define an acronym. No interviewer expects you to be familiar with all the acronyms, terminology, processes, and procedures used in this profession, but you should know about the more common ones. To be prepared for these questions, you should review these items before the interview so that they are fresh in your mind. If you don't know the definition of an acronym, admit this to the interviewer, then discuss how you would locate the information.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"The acronym ACID stands for:
Atomicity: This rule for database modifications requires all or none of the items to be updated.
Consistency: Addresses the values for the data being consistent across the entire database.
Isolation: This is a database concept that separates operations and transactions from each other.
Durability: This concept is about the steps taken to ensure that no data is lost in the case of a system failure."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
26. Please discuss the concept of Elasticity as used in your role as a solutions architect and how it contrasts with scalability.
How to Answer
As with any profession, some of the terminology used may have special meanings. The interviewer asks you about a concept specific to your role as a solutions architect and asks you to contrast it with another concept. Reviewing the terminology, processes, and procedures used in this job before the interview will keep them fresh in your mind and allow you to easily respond to these types of questions. Knowing where to find the information is another way to respond to the question if you are unfamiliar with the topic.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"In the context of solutions architecture, elasticity refers to the throughput of a system scaling up or down automatically to meet changing demand. The system needs to be designed to be scalable to enable it to adapt to changes in resources at runtime. Elasticity expands on the concept of scalability by including the function of automated resource management."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
27. Can you describe some of the differences between concurrency and parallelism?
How to Answer
Sometimes the interviewer will ask you about two terms that seem to be similar but are slightly different. Only the most qualified solutions architects will be familiar with the nuances of these types of terms. An excellent way to answer a question like this is to first the terms' similarities and then contrast, demonstrating that you are aware of their differences.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Concurrency and parallelism both describe tasks running in the same time periods. The difference between these is the concurrency addresses two or more tasks running on overlapping time periods. In contrast, parallelism refers to tasks that are identical and are running at the same time. An example of these is that concurrency is two tasks running on a single core machine that overlap, with one starting first and the other ending last. Parallelism is two tasks running at the same time a multiple-core processor."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
28. What are monolithic, SOA and microservices architectures, and how do they differ from one another?
How to Answer
Solution architects develop many different types of It architectures. These are designed specifically for the types of operations an organization executes and the needs of its users. IT infrastructures can support different times of architectures and services, utilizing the resources within the infrastructure. The interviewer may be interested and your familiarity with these and whether you implemented them in your previous roles.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Each of these architectures refers to a structure used to deliver services to an organization's users. A monolithic architecture is a structure that aggregates all the resources needed by an application and packages them together. A service-oriented architecture or SOA is a collection of individual services which interact with each other. These interactions may take the form of simply exchanging data, or two of the services may coordinate to execute a task. Microservices architecture is an application which consists of many autonomous services coordinated to accomplish a specific task or operation."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
29. When would you use a NoSQL database, and when would using a relational database be better?
How to Answer
This question may seem similar to the one you were asked earlier in the interview. Interviewers will ask similar questions throughout the interview to explore a topic in more detail or calibrate your answers. This question helps them determine if you are fabricating some of the information you are providing and if you are being consistent throughout the interview. Keeping your answers brief and to the point and not making up answers if you don't understand the topic will ensure that you are consistent.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Relational databases such as Oracle are based on transaction-oriented data stores and are the most commonly used for most applications. They are flexible and applicable to many different situations. The issues with relational databases are their performance and ability to scale when dealing with large data sets. NoSQL databases are more applicable in situations requiring high availability, applications dealing with terabytes or petabytes of data, and where querying and inserting information to and from the database is required."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
30. What Do You Mean By "Session Affinity, and how does this relate to the concept of sticky session load balancing?
How to Answer
Session affinity, sticky sessions, and load balancing are interrelated and address how processes are run within an IT architecture. Knowing this and describing it to the interviewer will demonstrate your qualifications as a solutions architect. Since these terms and concepts are unique to the IT industry, try to keep your answer simple and easy to understand, avoiding the use of acronyms or industry jargon the interviewer may not be familiar with.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"When architecting an IT environment, it is critical to ensure that the resources are available when the users need them. This is accomplished by assigning specific processes to specific types of hardware. Session affinity, sticky sessions, and load balancing are techniques used to accomplish this. Both sticky sessions and session affinity refer to the same process being served by the same hardware resource. Load balancing involves keeping the user information and resources available to the designated machine or, in some cases, all the machines. Making user information available to all devices helps balance the load when the designated resource is already in use by another process. The goal of all of these is to ensure that each user can do their work when they need to and doesn't have to wait for another user or process to be completed."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
31. What are the differences between a binary and mutex semaphore?
How to Answer
Once again, you are being asked about two terms used within this profession. In this case, the interviewer wants you to compare and contrast these. This will confirm your knowledge of the topic and inform the interviewer whether you've used these items in your previous jobs. Since this is a technical question, you should keep your answer brief and to the point, using simple and easy-to-understand language. You should also be prepared for a follow-up question indicating that the interviewer has a specific interest in this topic.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Semaphores are used to either lock or release a resource used by the tasks or processes within a computer program. Mutex stands for mutual exclusion semaphore. This locks a resource so no other process or thread within the program can use it until the task releases it. An example of this may be a bank of memory or a piece of data. A binary semaphore is a signal task used to release a resource. This informs other tasks or processes that the resource is available. Binary semaphores do not restrict access to the resource."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
32. What is meant by the Single Responsibility Principle, and how do you use this in your work?
How to Answer
There are many principles used in application programming. The interviewer is asking you about one of these. You should be able to easily answer this question based on your education and experience. The key is to use non-technical, easy-to-understand language when describing a principle to the interviewer. You may not be familiar with the depth of their technical background or their ability to understand complex concepts. Communicating clearly and effectively helps you in the interview and demonstrates your ability to collaborate with individuals from across the organization regardless of their technical knowledge. Interviewers are always looking for this skill when interviewing solutions architects.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Single responsibility is the theory of a class or process doing one specific thing. This is also known as high cohesion. While each class or process within an application normally starts with a single responsibility or high cohesion, they evolve as programmers attempt to add responsibilities to the class. This sometimes gets out of control to the point where the class becomes ineffective and needs to be rewritten from scratch."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Technical
33. How is the term Deadlock used in your role as a solutions architect?
How to Answer
As with any profession, solution architects use terms, concepts, processes, and procedures specific to their daily activities. This is an example of a term having a meaning similar to one with a more general definition. Since this is a technical question, you should keep your answer brief and to the point and anticipate a follow-up question from the interviewer. You may also want to confirm that your answer aligns with the interviewer's understanding of the term.
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022
Answer Example
"Within the context of software applications, a deadlock occurs when two processes each have secured a resource needed by the other to complete an operation or task. Since each process needs the resource they already have, they are unwilling to relinquish their resource to the other process. This creates a deadlock in which neither process can proceed."
Written by William Swansen on April 1st, 2022