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Solution Architect Interview Questions

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Whether you are preparing to interview a candidate or applying for a job, review our list of top Solution Architect interview questions and answers.

  1. Name one highly innovative solution you have developed in your career as a Solution Architect. See answer
  2. How do you think injection attacks occur, and how can you work with colleagues to deter an injection attack? See answer
  3. Tell us how you can make improvements to existing software. See answer
  4. What does architectural risk mean and how can you mitigate it? See answer
  5. What is AWS and how is it applicable to your work as a solutions architect? 
  6. What is Amazon EC2? 
  7. How do you diagnose performance problems? 
  8. What are the methods you would use to address scalability? 
  9. How do you handle fault tolerance? 
  10. Tell us three essential tools that you use in your work as a Solution Architect.
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Indeed’s Employer Resource Library helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.

Read our editorial guidelines

10 Solution Architect Interview Questions and Answers

Name one highly innovative solution you have developed in your career as a Solution Architect.

Most interviewers ask this question to learn more about the interviewee's experience and whether their technical expertise can be beneficial to a company. You may also want to assess their creativity and innovative potential. When answering this question, the candidate should:

  • Talk about an innovative idea or programme they proposed
  • Explain the complex parts to minimise confusion
  • Show that they can present an idea in simple terms

Example:

"I recently worked at a copy company whose services included presenting credit cards on their website for customers to pick from. The website lacked the functionality for customers to go back to an image they had already viewed. I proposed that a “like“ button be added so customers could favourite the credit cards they had an interest in and come back to them later on. This solution led to the company experiencing a surge of additional customers."

What is AWS and how is it applicable to your work as a Solution Architect? 

Most interviewers ask this technical question to verify whether the interviewees are familiar with cloud platform technology, which is the primary working environment for numerous Solution Architects. They may not need to work with AWS, but understanding what it is and its purpose is an added advantage during the interview. To answer this question, the candidate should:

  • Show that they've done ample research on the subject
  • Giving a thorough description of AWS
  • Explain its necessity

Example:

"AWS stands for Amazon Web Services and is a development platform where Solution Architects develop and run applications. As a PaaS, it has a code library and compute engine to support applications that enable the resources that power businesses."

How do you think injection attacks occur, and how can you work with colleagues to deter an injection attack?

You can ask this question to see if they know how to communicate well with colleagues, as injection attacks require finding the weakest links in an organisation and luring them into download malware. While answering the question, the candidate must:

  • Offer a practical solution
  • Justify their solution since there are many strategies that are effective
  • Show that they can effectively manage an emergency

Example:

"I have experience in building web application firewalls and avoiding using dynamic SQL to prevent injection attacks. I will also monitor SQL statements continually for web application connections. In addition, I may also need to inform fellow employees about the dangers of unsafe browsing and ways to prevent injection attacks."

What is Amazon EC2? 

This is a technical question that most interviewers ask to assess whether candidates have the appropriate field knowledge. You may also seek to establish whether the candidate understands how to use the right tools that can make their work more efficient. When answering this question, the candidate should:

  • Explain what the programme is and what it does
  • Talk about their experience using it
  • Use this opportunity to show their experience with several tools

Example:

"EC2 stands for Elastic Compute Cloud, which offers scalable computing capacity. It offers virtual computing environments, known as “instances”, and lower the need to invest in hardware. I use it because it enhances faster development and distribution of applications while scaling to accommodate traffic changes."

How do you diagnose performance problems? 

Most interviewers ask this operational question to test the candidate's experience on the job. Interviewees should be familiar with a wide variety of latencies and disk, network and memory bottlenecks. In their answer, look for how they:

  • Show their know-how to diagnose performance problems
  • State the methods they would use for the diagnoses
  • Match their responses with skills that they've listed on their CV

Example:

"In case of a performance problem, there are several methods I would use to make a diagnosis. This includes determining the current state of affairs, analysing objectives to assess if they can be achieved, creating a plan to achieve them, figuring out a practical solution and assessing a project's economic analysis."

What are the methods you would use to address scalability? 

It's common for Solutions Architects to face an increasing amount of work. Most interviewers will ask this question to see whether candidates are adequately prepared to handle increased work. In their responses, the candidates should:

  • Offer practical solutions for addressing scalability
  • Remain brief and precise
  • Describe situations when they managed additional work and beat deadlines

Example:

"I would handle scalability by devoting some of my time to developing powerful codes. Such codes will be in line with standardised and acceptable design formulas. They also lead to the proper design of system architecture, which ensures that codes are used correctly on hardware. Such measures ensure that IT solutions can accommodate growth without any scaling issues."

How do you handle fault tolerance? 

When one or more components of a system fail but it continues to operate, it is due to fault tolerance. You can ask this question to assess the candidate's ability to diagnose a system before it breaks down. When answering this question, the candidates should:

  • Offer practical solutions for controlling fault tolerance
  • Provide a step-by-step process that they use to diagnose a system
  • Show how they diagnose a system and lessons learnt in the past

Example:

"Faults result in undesirable reactions that can even cause a plant closure. My biggest priorities during fault tolerance are minimising safety hazard risks and increasing system availability. After that, I conduct fault diagnosis and assessment to identify the fault and calculate practical remedial actions."

Tell us three essential tools that you use in your work as a Solutions Architect.

Most interviewers ask this question to gauge a candidate's knowledge and experience of using a wide variety of tools to ensure success in their work. There are numerous tools that accomplish different tasks that they may need to be familiar with. As they answer this question, look for how they:

  • State the tools they are most experienced with
  • Explain the functions of the tools they name
  • Explain the importance of using tools in their work

Example:

"I use Veracode to analyse source codes, Nagios to monitor systems, networks and infrastructure for problems and Travis to build and test my software projects."

Tell us how you can make improvements to existing software.

Most interviewers want to assess whether candidates can offer solutions when they work for a company with old or poor software. They might also need to make software improvements from time to time to keep the system at optimal functionality. When answering this question, the candidate must:

  • State the practical improvements they can institute as a Solution Architect
  • Keep their answer brief and precise
  • Offer a practical solution that can work in your company

Example:

"Upgrading is a highly effective means of improving an existing system. It might be essential from time to time as technology keeps changing and newer software versions are released onto the market. However, I can also update either the software or hardware components of a system to make improvements."

What does architectural risk mean and how can you mitigate it?

Architectural risk is a major factor that affects new projects. Most interviewers ask this question to find out whether they understand it well and hence can mitigate it effectively. When answering, the candidate must:

  • Describe clearly what architectural risk is
  • Explain how they can prevent it
  • Show that they have experience considering architectural risk

Example:

"Architectural risk refers to the possibility of an architectural design failing to meet the project conditions. It can include capacity limitations, flaws and inefficiencies rejected by sponsors and substandard quality designs. I can mitigate architectural risk by ensuring accepted and standard design procedures and practices in developing software. I will also ensure that I correctly capture client requirements."

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