¿Qué haces si tus habilidades de resolución de problemas se ponen a prueba en una entrevista de arquitectura de sistemas?

In a system architecture interview, you would typically apply problem-solving skills to design, analyze, and optimize complex systems. You might tackle scalability, performance, security, and other challenges. Key steps involve understanding requirements, proposing solutions, weighing trade-offs, and communicating effectively. Technical knowledge, critical thinking, creativity, and clear articulation are essential. Prepare by practicing system design questions, staying updated on relevant technologies, and honing your problem-solving abilities.

First, fully understand the problem by asking specific questions to clarify the system's scope, objectives, constraints, and assumptions. Inquire about the target users, expected data size, user traffic, performance requirements, and security criteria. Understand the interviewer's priorities and trade-offs, such as performance versus ease of use. Ask about the system's long-term vision to design scalable solutions. Determine available resources like budget and technology. Practice active listening, summarize responses, and demonstrate analytical thinking by structuring complex information.

'Understanding Requirements' is defining the problems to be solved. Story-style helps in identifying these problems. For instance, as an Architect, I need a way for stopping the processing at stage-1 if stage-n encounters a fatal error, so that data is not lost. After writing it, ponder if this requirement would differ for an end User: End Users would expect the system to guide them on 'how to recover from this situation', while an Architect can manage with a structured log file. In other words, who, needs what, why is a reasonable way of understanding the requirements.

After clarifying system requirements, list potential tools including programming languages, databases, and architectures. Evaluate each tool's pros and cons, considering performance, security, scalability, compatibility, and maintenance. Select tools meeting these criteria, like a relational database for data integrity or a microservices architecture for scalability. Justify choices by how they align with project objectives and constraints. Present choices clearly, using diagrams to illustrate integration into the system architecture, and be ready to defend these decisions and explain any trade-offs during the interview.

Identify key system components like servers, databases, and user interfaces. Trace interactions, showing data flow and module communication. Use standardized notations like UML (Unified Modeling Language) or BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) for clarity. Annotate the diagram with data flows, protocols, APIs, and design patterns, ensuring accuracy. Identify potential failure points, such as load management and data security. Present the diagram clearly, explaining each element so anyone can understand. Solicit feedback post-presentation, be open to suggestions, and ready to revise your design.

When you're in a system architecture interview, "Draw a high-level diagram" is like sketching a map to show the journey from where you are to where you want to be. It doesn't have to be a work of art, but it should clearly lay out the main components of your system and how they connect. This visual tool helps explain your thought process and the flow of information, making it easier for everyone to see how you plan to solve the problem. It's a great way to make complex ideas simple and shareable.

One aspect to consider is deployment problems. For example, how will we unambiguously identify the (new types of) hardware on which this App is installed. We may not solve the problem in the Interview but should be able to identify it and explain 'where' this problem will be solved in the proposed design.

System Design is solving a complex problem in a structured, intuitive way. For example, Eureka server is a microservices registry. New instances, on start, register to it. GWs discovers these new instances from this registry and start routing data to them, automatically. Such simplicity may seem dull to some Interviewers and be the key for others. Try to assess the Interviewer's style :)