Prep Flashcards
(218 cards)
1
Q
When a project is stalled by ambiguity, what is your first step?
A
Proactively identify the correct stakeholders and take ownership to unblock the situation.
2
Q
What is a key action you can take to resolve ambiguity with stakeholders?
A
Facilitate a meeting with a very clear agenda, objective, and desired outcome.
3
Q
When resolving ambiguity, what’s a strategic move beyond just solving the problem?
A
Use the opportunity to build long-term relationships with stakeholders you haven’t worked with before.
4
Q
When trying to influence another team, what is the wrong approach?
A
Telling them they are wrong or that their architecture has defects. This creates resistance.
5
Q
When trying to influence another team, what is the right approach?
A
Use empathy and strategic questions to guide them to discover the problems themselves.
6
Q
What’s a powerful thing to do, that shows an empathetic approach to influencing others?
A
‘First, I played the role of learning from them.’ This builds trust and lowers defenses.
7
Q
What is the true goal when influencing other teams?
A
To achieve genuine buy-in and shared ownership, not just forced compliance.
8
Q
What’s your first move when you realize a project is at risk of missing a deadline?
A
Detect the issue early and communicate proactively. Never hide bad news.
9
Q
What’s the most effective way to communicate a project delay to stakeholders?
A
Don’t just present a problem. Present a solution with clear, quantified options and trade-offs.
10
Q
What is the outcome of presenting solutions with trade-offs, instead of just problems?
A
It makes the stakeholder a partner in the solution and builds immense trust.
11
Q
What is the golden rule when an interviewer asks you about a time you made a mistake?
A
OWN IT. Use the words ‘my mistake’ or ‘I made an error.’ Never blame others or external factors.
12
Q
What kind of mistake is best to use as an example in an interview?
A
A mistake of unforeseen complexity (e.g., a hidden dependency), not a mistake of carelessness or lack of skill.
13
Q
After a technical mistake occurs, what are the three essential response steps?
A
- Immediate Fix (restore service). 2. Transparent Communication (take accountability). 3. Blameless Post-mortem (find the root cause).
14
Q
When telling a story about a mistake, what is the most crucial part of the outcome?
A
Describing the permanent PROCESS improvement you implemented to ensure that class of error can never happen again.
15
Q
What is the core philosophy that should guide a Tech Lead’s actions?
A
To be a ‘Force Multiplier.’ Your primary goal is to maximize the entire team’s productivity.
16
Q
As a Tech Lead, what is your absolute #1 priority on a typical day?
A
Unblocking a team member. Your 30 minutes of help is worth more than 3 hours of your own coding.
17
Q
What type of hands-on technical work provides the most value from a Tech Lead?
A
High-leverage tasks: Prototypes, core infrastructure/scaffolding, and critical code reviews.
18
Q
How can you demonstrate you understand the balance between leadership and coding?
A
Give an example where you consciously chose to pause your own task to help a junior engineer, because it was a better outcome for the team.
19
Q
Q1-Card 1: What is the primary goal of mentoring?
A
Not just to get the task done, but to make the junior engineer confident and self-sufficient in the long run.
20
Q
Q1-Card 2: What is a good 3-step process to describe?
A
- Assign a well-defined ‘starter’ task. 2. Provide support via pairing and asking guiding questions. 3. Perform a constructive code review focused on learning.
21
Q
Q1-Card 3: What’s a key action to emphasize?
A
Asking questions to guide them to the answer, rather than just giving them the solution directly.
22
Q
Q1-Card 4: What does a successful mentoring outcome look like?
A
The engineer not only finished their task but also applied the same concepts independently to a new problem later.
23
Q
Q2-Card 1: What is the main goal of onboarding?
A
To make the new member feel welcome, connected, and able to make their first meaningful contribution quickly.
24
Q
Q2-Card 2: What should be prepared before their first day?
A
Have their accounts, hardware, and access ready. Prepare a small, well-documented starter project for them.
25
Q2-Card 3: What is a key action for their first week?
Assign them an 'onboarding buddy' on the team and schedule 1-on-1s with you and other key team members.
26
Q2-Card 4: What is a good goal for their first sprint?
To successfully merge their first small piece of code or documentation to production.
27
Q3-Card 1: What is the foundation of a great team culture?
Psychological safety, where team members feel safe to ask questions, make mistakes, and challenge ideas respectfully.
28
Q3-Card 2: As a lead, how do you model this behaviour?
By admitting your own mistakes, listening actively to all viewpoints, and never blaming individuals for failures.
29
Q3-Card 3: What is a practical process that helps culture?
Running regular, blameless post-mortems for failures and constructive retrospectives for sprints.
30
Q3-Card 4: How do you handle disagreements to support the culture?
By framing them as 'team vs. problem,' not 'person vs. person,' and using structured decision-making.
31
Q4-Card 1: What is the first step in a disagreement with a senior?
Listen carefully to understand their perspective fully. Seek to understand their goals and constraints.
32
Q4-Card 2: How should you present your counter-argument?
With data, not just opinion. Prepare a concise document (e.g., pros/cons, cost analysis, PoC results).
33
Q4-Card 3: What principle should you ultimately follow?
The 'disagree and commit' principle. It's okay to debate, but once a final decision is made, you must fully support it.
34
Q4-Card 4: What is the wrong way to handle this?
Arguing in a public forum, being purely emotional, or going around them to undermine their decision.
35
Q5-Card 1: What is your primary role in this conversation?
To clearly and calmly explain the long-term consequences of the decision. You are the advocate for the system's health.
36
Q5-Card 2: What is an ineffective approach?
Simply saying 'no' or 'that's bad practice.' You must explain the 'why'.
37
Q5-Card 3: What is a constructive approach?
Quantify the debt. For example: 'This shortcut will save us 2 days now, but will cost us 3 weeks of refactoring work next quarter.'
38
Q5-Card 4: What solution can you propose?
Propose a compromise: 'Let's do the simpler version now, but we must agree to schedule the refactoring ticket in the very next sprint.'
39
Q6-Card 1: What is the key to alignment?
Ensuring the team understands the 'why' behind their work, not just the 'what'.
40
Q6-Card 2: What is a practical way to do this?
In planning meetings, start by explaining the business goal or the customer problem that a feature is trying to solve.
41
Q6-Card 3: How do you handle a team member questioning a priority?
Treat it as a positive sign of engagement. Explain the business context that makes the task a priority.
42
Q6-Card 4: How do you reinforce this alignment?
Celebrate successes not just in terms of 'features shipped,' but in terms of 'customer impact' or 'business metrics moved'.
43
Q7-Card 1: What is the primary purpose of a code review?
To improve the quality of the code and to share knowledge across the team. It is a mentoring tool.
44
Q7-Card 2: What should your feedback focus on?
The 'what' and 'why,' not the 'who.' Comment on the code, not the author. Keep it objective and constructive.
45
Q7-Card 3: How do you handle a stylistic preference vs. a real bug?
Distinguish clearly between them. Prefix comments with 'Nit:' (for nitpick) for minor style suggestions, and focus debate on functional issues.
46
Q7-Card 4: As a lead, what is your special responsibility in code reviews?
To check for architectural consistency, security implications, and to ensure junior engineers get timely and helpful feedback.
47
Q8-Card 1: What is the first step?
Acknowledge that both options are valid and that the team is smart for identifying two good paths.
48
Q8-Card 2: What tool can you use to guide the decision?
A Weighted Decision Matrix. This moves the discussion from opinion to objective, prioritized criteria.
49
Q8-Card 3: How do you build consensus during this process?
Have the entire team collaboratively define and weight the criteria before scoring the options.
50
Q8-Card 4: What do you do after the decision is made?
Ensure everyone agrees to 'disagree and commit,' and document the decision and its reasoning in an Architecture Decision Record (ADR).
51
Q9-Card 1: What is your core philosophy on technical debt?
That it's a tool, not inherently evil. Some debt is strategic, but it must be managed intentionally, like a financial loan.
52
Q9-Card 2: How do you make technical debt visible?
By creating tickets for known debt and putting them in the backlog. If it's not visible, it can't be prioritized.
53
Q9-Card 3: What is a practical way to manage paying it down?
Advocate for allocating a percentage of every sprint (e.g., 15-20%) to working on technical debt and small refactors.
54
Q9-Card 4: How do you justify this work to a product manager?
By explaining the cost of *not* fixing it: 'This slows down new feature development' or 'This creates a risk of production outages.'
55
Q10-Card 1: What is a sustainable approach to learning?
A mix of curated content and hands-on practice. You can't learn everything, so be selective.
56
Q10-Card 2: What are some practical sources you can mention?
Following key cloud provider blogs (e.g., Azure Blog), reputable tech newsletters, and attending webinars or local meetups.
57
Q10-Card 3: How do you translate learning into team value?
By running small Proofs-of-Concept (PoCs) for promising new services and sharing the findings with the team.
58
Q10-Card 4: What is a good way to foster team learning?
Organize regular 'brown bag' or 'lunch and learn' sessions where team members can present new technologies to each other.
59
Q11-Card 1: What is the #1 rule for giving difficult feedback?
Make it private, timely, and specific. Never give critical feedback in a public forum.
60
Q11-Card 2: How should you frame the feedback?
Use the 'Situation-Behavior-Impact' model. 'In yesterday's meeting (S), when you interrupted the client (B), it undermined their confidence in our plan (I).'
61
Q11-Card 3: What is the goal of the conversation?
To be supportive and focus on a solution for the future, not to punish past behavior. Ask 'How can we work on this together?'
62
Q11-Card 4: How do you follow up?
Acknowledge any improvement you see later. This reinforces the positive change.
63
Q12-Card 1: What is the very first step?
Seek to understand the 'why' in a private 1-on-1. Are they struggling with a technical skill, a personal issue, or unclear expectations?
64
Q12-Card 2: If it's a performance issue, what is the next step?
Provide clear, specific, and written feedback on what expectations are not being met and what success looks like.
65
Q12-Card 3: What is your role as their lead?
To create a performance improvement plan with them, offer support, and provide regular, frequent check-ins.
66
Q12-Card 4: What must you do throughout this process?
Document everything. Keep your own manager informed of the situation and the steps you are taking.
67
Q13-Card 1: What is the interviewer looking for here?
A 'team player' attitude and a willingness to be proactive and take ownership to ensure the project succeeds.
68
Q13-Card 2: How should you frame the story?
Show that you saw a gap that was putting the team at risk, and you voluntarily stepped in to fill it.
69
Q13-Card 3: What is a key detail to include?
Explain how you managed this extra work without letting your core responsibilities suffer.
70
Q13-Card 4: What was the outcome?
The project was successful because of your flexibility, and perhaps you learned a valuable new skill.
71
Q14-Card 1: What is the foundation of building trust?
Trust is earned through consistency, transparency, and competence.
72
Q14-Card 2: What is a key action for the first few weeks?
Listen more than you talk. Schedule 1-on-1s to understand each person's goals, skills, and frustrations.
73
Q14-Card 3: How do you demonstrate competence?
By helping to solve a difficult problem, removing a blocker for the team, or making a well-reasoned technical decision.
74
Q14-Card 4: How do you demonstrate transparency?
By admitting when you don't know something or when you make a mistake. This makes you more relatable and trustworthy.
75
Q15-Card 1: What is your core philosophy on estimation?
That estimates are a statement of probability, not a blood oath. They are best done by the people who will actually do the work.
76
Q15-Card 2: What is a common technique you can mention?
Using story points and collaborative planning poker with the team to reach a consensus estimate.
77
Q15-Card 3: How do you account for uncertainty?
By breaking large, unknown tasks into smaller pieces and doing a 'spike' or PoC to investigate the unknown before estimating.
78
Q15-Card 4: How do you communicate estimates to stakeholders?
As a range (e.g., 'we expect this to take 5-8 sprints') and by being clear about the assumptions your estimate is based on.
79
Q16-Card 1: What's the first step with a difficult stakeholder?
Seek to understand their motivations and pressures. Empathize with their position first.
80
Q16-Card 2: How should you manage communication with them?
Be proactive, frequent, and factual. Often, difficult behavior comes from a lack of visibility or a fear of failure.
81
Q16-Card 3: What is a good strategy in meetings?
Find common ground. Reiterate shared goals. 'We both want this project to succeed, so let's figure out how we can solve this.'
82
Q16-Card 4: If conflict persists, what should you do?
Don't let it fester. Escalate calmly to your manager, presenting the situation with facts and the steps you've already taken.
83
Q17-Card 1: What is the definition of servant leadership?
It's a leadership philosophy where the leader's primary goal is to serve the team, rather than command it. The focus is on growth and well-being.
84
Q17-Card 2: How does a servant leader view their role?
My main job is to provide the team with what they need to succeed and to remove any impediments in their way.
85
Q17-Card 3: What's a practical example of servant leadership?
Prioritizing unblocking a junior developer over making progress on your own individual task.
86
Q17-Card 4: How does this contrast with other leadership styles?
It contrasts with a 'command and control' style. Instead of 'do this,' the question is 'what do you need from me to be successful?'
87
Q18-Card 1: What is the key to simplifying complexity?
Using analogies and metaphors that relate the technical concept to something the audience already understands.
88
Q18-Card 2: What should you focus on in your explanation?
The 'so what' or the business benefit, not the intricate technical details. Focus on the outcome, not the implementation.
89
Q18-Card 3: What should you avoid?
Using jargon, acronyms, and technical buzzwords. If you must use one, explain it immediately in simple terms.
90
Q18-Card 4: How can you check for understanding?
By pausing and asking questions like, 'Does that make sense?' or 'To put it another way...'
91
Q19-Card 1: What is the core principle for building quality in?
Quality and security are the whole team's responsibility, not something checked only at the end by a separate QA or SecOps team.
92
Q19-Card 2: What is this concept often called?
'Shifting Left.' We build quality and security into the earliest stages of the development lifecycle.
93
Q19-Card 3: What are some practical ways to do this?
Automated security scans in the CI/CD pipeline (e.g., SonarQube, Twistlock), a robust code review process, and defining quality standards (e.g., test coverage).
94
Q19-Card 4: As a lead, what is your role in this?
To be the champion for these standards, ensure they are followed, and block work that does not meet the quality bar.
95
Q20-Card 1: What makes a good story for this question?
Choose a process that was repetitive, time-consuming, and error-prone for the team.
96
Q20-Card 2: What should the 'Action' part of your story focus on?
The specific tools you used (e.g., a PowerShell/Bash script, a Jenkins job, a GitHub Action) to automate the task.
97
Q20-Card 3: What is the most important part of the 'Result'?
Quantify the improvement. 'It saved the team 4 hours of manual work every week' or 'It reduced our deployment errors by 90%.'
98
Q20-Card 4: What does this skill show the interviewer?
That you have a mindset of continuous improvement and are always looking for ways to make your team more efficient.
99
Q21-Card 1: What does a good answer to this show?
Self-awareness and that you have mature, healthy coping mechanisms. It shows you are resilient.
100
Q21-Card 2: What is the first part of a good answer?
Acknowledge that pressure is normal in tech, but focus on how you stay organized and methodical.
101
Q21-Card 3: What are some concrete techniques to mention?
Breaking down large, stressful problems into smaller, manageable tasks. Prioritizing ruthlessly. Communicating status clearly to stakeholders.
102
Q21-Card 4: What about personal well-being?
Mentioning a healthy outlet outside of work (e.g., exercise, a hobby) shows that you know how to disconnect and avoid burnout.
103
Q22-Card 1: What should you reference in your answer?
Specific details from the job description. This shows you've done your research and are genuinely interested.
104
Q22-Card 2: How can you connect your skills to the role?
Mention how your experience in areas like 'Azure, IaC, and mentoring' are a direct match for their requirements.
105
Q22-Card 3: What should you show enthusiasm for?
The opportunity to have an impact, to build a new team, and to work in their specific domain (e.g., health services).
106
Q22-Card 4: What is a weak answer?
A generic answer like 'I'm looking for the next step in my career' or 'I want more money.' Make it about *this* company and *this* role.
107
Q23-Card 1: What is the goal when answering this?
Choose a real, but manageable, weakness and show that you are actively working to improve it.
108
Q23-Card 2: What is a good type of weakness to choose?
Something that can also be a strength in some contexts. E.g., 'I can be too hands-on and sometimes need to be better at delegating.'
109
Q23-Card 3: What is the most important part of the answer?
The specific steps you are taking to improve. E.g., 'To work on this, I now consciously identify one task each sprint to delegate to a junior engineer.'
110
Q23-Card 4: What are weak answers to avoid?
A fake weakness ('I'm too much of a perfectionist') or a critical flaw ('I'm not good at meeting deadlines').
111
Q24-Card 1: What is the interviewer trying to understand?
Your career ambitions and whether they align with the opportunities available at their company. They want to see if you're likely to stay.
112
Q24-Card 2: How can you frame your ambition?
Show a desire for growth in depth and impact, not just a series of title changes.
113
Q24-Card 3: What is a good, safe answer?
'I hope to have become a subject matter expert in the technologies we're using and to have successfully mentored several other engineers. I'm excited about growing as a leader, whether that's as a senior tech lead or moving into management.'
114
Q24-Card 4: How can you tie it back to this role?
'This role seems like the perfect next step to help me achieve those goals because of its focus on both deep technical skills and team leadership.'
115
Q25-Card 1: What is the #1 rule when answering this?
Never speak negatively about your current or past employers, managers, or colleagues.
116
Q25-Card 2: How should you frame your reason for leaving?
Focus on the 'pull' of the new opportunity, not the 'push' of your old job.
117
Q25-Card 3: What is a good way to phrase it?
'I've learned a great deal in my current role, but I'm looking for a new challenge where I can take on more leadership responsibility and work more deeply with technologies like Azure and IaC, which this role offers.'
118
Q25-Card 4: What does this approach show?
It shows you are positive, professional, and making a deliberate career move for growth, not just running away from a bad situation.
119
Q26-Card 1: What does this question test?
Your learning agility, proactivity, and ability to become productive in an unfamiliar area.
120
Q26-Card 2: How should you structure the story?
Use the STAR method. The 'Situation' is the project requiring the new tech. The 'Task' is to become proficient quickly.
121
Q26-Card 3: What should the 'Action' part include?
A mix of theoretical learning (reading docs, watching tutorials) and hands-on practice (building a small PoC or a 'hello world' app).
122
Q26-Card 4: What does a good 'Result' look like?
You not only learned the technology but successfully applied it to solve the business problem and perhaps even shared your learnings with the team.
123
Q27-Card 1: What kind of environment fosters innovation?
One that provides psychological safety, where people are not afraid to propose a 'crazy' idea or to fail.
124
Q27-Card 2: What is a practical way to generate ideas?
Carve out specific time for it. For example, holding regular 'hack days,' brainstorming sessions, or tech debt discussions.
125
Q27-Card 3: How do you handle a new idea from a team member?
Give it serious consideration. Ask clarifying questions. If it's promising, empower them to build a small Proof-of-Concept.
126
Q27-Card 4: As a lead, how do you model innovative thinking?
By staying curious yourself, sharing interesting articles or tech, and being willing to experiment.
127
Q28-Card 1: What is the goal of this question?
To see if your preferences align with the company's culture. You should have researched their culture beforehand.
128
Q28-Card 2: What are some good keywords to use?
'Collaborative,' 'supportive,' 'high-trust,' 'focused on learning and growth,' and 'where the best idea wins, regardless of who it comes from.'
129
Q28-Card 3: How can you tailor it to the role?
'My ideal environment is one where I, as a Tech Lead, am empowered to mentor my team and make technical decisions that align with our product goals.'
130
Q28-Card 4: What should you avoid describing?
An environment that sounds like you want to be left alone or one that sounds chaotic and unstructured (unless that's their known culture).
131
Q29-Card 1: How should you structure your answer?
Name 3-4 key qualities and briefly explain why each is important.
132
Q29-Card 2: What is a good first quality to mention?
Technical Competence. 'A lead must have the respect of the team and be able to guide technical decisions effectively.'
133
Q29-Card 3: What is a crucial second quality?
Communication & Empathy. 'A lead has to translate business needs to technical tasks and mentor people. This requires strong communication skills.'
134
Q29-Card 4: What is a vital third quality?
Ownership & Accountability. 'The lead is ultimately accountable for the team's technical output and must take ownership of both successes and failures.'
135
Q30-Card 1: What is the first step when faced with conflicting priorities?
To seek clarity from leadership or the product owner. The goal is to understand the true business impact of each task.
136
Q30-Card 2: What framework can you use?
Mention a simple prioritization method like the Eisenhower Matrix (Urgent/Important) or asking 'what is the cost of delay for each of these items?'
137
Q30-Card 3: What is your role as the Tech Lead?
To provide technical input into the prioritization process. For example: 'Task A is quicker, but Task B will unblock three other teams.'
138
Q30-Card 4: After a decision is made, what is key?
To communicate the new priorities clearly to the team so everyone understands what they should be working on and why.
139
Q31-Card 1: What is your first response?
Acknowledge their request and show empathy, but don't immediately say yes. Your first commitment is to your team's sprint goal.
140
Q31-Card 2: Who should you involve?
Your Product Owner or Manager. It is their job to manage cross-team priorities and protect the sprint.
141
Q31-Card 3: How can you be helpful without derailing the sprint?
Offer alternatives. 'We can't do that this week, but we can either add it to our backlog for next sprint, or I can spend 30 minutes showing your team how to solve it.'
142
Q31-Card 4: What does this approach show?
That you are a good partner to other teams, but you also respect your own team's commitments and agile processes.
143
Q32-Card 1: What is a good, balanced philosophy on documentation?
'Documentation should be useful, maintainable, and written for a clear audience. We should have just enough, but not so much that it's always out of date.'
144
Q32-Card 2: What are some examples of high-value documentation?
Architectural Decision Records (ADRs), README files with setup instructions, and clear API documentation for consumers.
145
Q32-Card 3: What is an example of low-value documentation?
Adding comments to every line of code that just explain what the code is doing. Good code should be self-documenting.
146
Q32-Card 4: How do you encourage your team to document things?
By making it part of the 'Definition of Done' for a task and by leading by example by writing good documentation yourself.
147
Q33-Card 1: What does this question test?
Your judgment, risk assessment, and ability to act in realistic, imperfect conditions.
148
Q33-Card 2: What is the first step in your story?
Clearly state what information was missing and why you couldn't get it (e.g., time pressure, technical limitation).
149
Q33-Card 3: How do you show you made a responsible decision?
Explain how you identified the potential risks and chose the option that was the most reversible or had the least severe worst-case scenario.
150
Q33-Card 4: What was the outcome?
Describe the outcome of your decision and what you did to monitor the situation and adapt once you had more information.
151
Q34-Card 1: What is the key to effective delegation?
Matching the right task to the right person. Consider both their current skills and their growth opportunities.
152
Q34-Card 2: What must you provide when delegating?
Clear context (the 'why'), a well-defined scope, and a clear definition of what 'done' looks like. Don't just throw work over the wall.
153
Q34-Card 3: What is your role after delegating?
To be available for support and to check in, but not to micromanage. Trust your team member to own the task.
154
Q34-Card 4: Why is delegation important for a lead?
It's essential for scaling the team's output and for growing the skills of your team members.
155
Q35-Card 1: What is your attitude towards ambiguity?
View it as a normal part of the process, and see your role as being the one to drive it towards clarity.
156
Q35-Card 2: What is your first action?
Ask clarifying questions. Work with the Product Owner to create concrete examples or acceptance criteria.
157
Q35-Card 3: What if the ambiguity is technical?
Propose building a small, time-boxed Proof-of-Concept (PoC) or 'spike' to explore the unknown and get the data needed to make a decision.
158
Q35-Card 4: What is the goal?
To break down a large, ambiguous problem into a series of smaller, well-understood questions that can be answered systematically.
159
Q36-Card 1: What is the business purpose of CI/CD?
'To deliver value to customers more quickly, safely, and reliably by automating the build, test, and deployment process.'
160
Q36-Card 2: What are the key stages in a pipeline you can mention?
Commit -> Build -> Automated Tests (Unit, Integration) -> Security Scans -> Deploy to Staging -> Deploy to Production.
161
Q36-Card 3: What tools can you mention from the job description?
Mention your hands-on experience with tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, SonarQube, etc.
162
Q36-Card 4: What does good CI/CD enable?
A fast feedback loop for developers, higher quality code, and the ability for the team to deploy with confidence at any time.
163
Q37-Card 1: Where do you start when designing a new system?
With the requirements. First, understand the 'what' and the 'why'—the problem we are trying to solve for the user.
164
Q37-Card 2: What is a good next step?
Whiteboarding. Draw high-level diagrams of the components and their interactions. Consider different options.
165
Q37-Card 3: Who do you involve in the design process?
The whole team. Good ideas can come from anywhere. I facilitate the discussion, but I want the team to have ownership of the design.
166
Q37-Card 4: What do you produce at the end?
A simple design document or ADR that outlines the chosen approach, the alternatives considered, and the reasoning behind the decision.
167
Q38-Card 1: What is the simple definition?
That the system is resilient to failures and can continue to operate even if one or more of its components fail.
168
Q38-Card 2: What is a key architectural principle for HA?
Avoiding single points of failure. This means having redundancy for every critical component.
169
Q38-Card 3: What are some practical Azure examples?
Deploying applications across multiple Availability Zones, using load balancers to distribute traffic, and using geo-redundant storage (GRS).
170
Q38-Card 4: How is HA measured?
In terms of 'nines' of uptime. For example, 'five nines' (99.999%) availability means less than 6 minutes of downtime per year.
171
Q39-Card 1: What is your first priority during a production incident?
To restore service as quickly as possible. This often means rolling back the last change or failing over to a backup system.
172
Q39-Card 2: What is your role as the lead during the incident?
To coordinate the response. Establish a 'war room' (virtual or physical), delegate tasks, and manage communication to stakeholders.
173
Q39-Card 3: What happens immediately after the incident is resolved?
A blameless post-mortem. The goal is to understand the root cause of the failure and identify preventative actions.
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Q39-Card 4: What is the key outcome of a well-handled incident?
A more resilient system and a clear set of action items to ensure the same failure cannot happen again.
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Q40-Card 1: What is the core concept to convey?
'Instead of manually clicking buttons in a web console to set up our servers, we write the setup down in a code file.'
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Q40-Card 2: What is the primary benefit to highlight?
Consistency and Repeatability. 'This file acts as a single source of truth, so we can build our entire environment perfectly every single time, with no human error.'
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Q40-Card 3: What is a powerful analogy to use?
'It's like having a blueprint for our house. We can use the same blueprint to build an identical house anywhere, or to see exactly what has been changed.'
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Q40-Card 4: What are the business outcomes?
It makes us faster, reduces risk, and makes disaster recovery much easier.
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Q41-Card 1: What is the core philosophy here?
That quality and speed are not enemies; in the long run, high quality *enables* high speed. Poor quality creates rework and outages that slow you down.
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Q41-Card 2: What is non-negotiable?
Certain quality gates are never skipped, such as code reviews and automated security scans. The cost of failure is too high.
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Q41-Card 3: Where can you be flexible?
On the scope of the feature. We can deliver a smaller, simpler version of a feature that is still high-quality, and iterate on it later.
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Q41-Card 4: How do you frame this trade-off?
It's not about 'fast vs. good,' it's about 'what is the simplest, high-quality thing we can build now to get feedback?'
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Q42-Card 1: What qualities are important in healthcare tech?
A strong sense of responsibility, attention to detail, and an understanding of the importance of security and data privacy (like GDPR, HIPAA).
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Q42-Card 2: How can you show your alignment?
'I understand that we are not just building software; we are building systems that can impact people's health and well-being. This requires a higher level of care.'
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Q42-Card 3: What technical aspect is critical?
A deep focus on security. 'I know that protecting patient data is paramount, so I always design with a security-first mindset.'
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Q42-Card 4: What about the mission?
Express enthusiasm for the company's mission to 'modernize the health care system.' Show that you are motivated by more than just the technology.
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Q43-Card 1: What kind of story works best?
One where you were proactive and took on a responsibility that wasn't officially yours to prevent a problem or help the team succeed.
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Q43-Card 2: How do you start the story?
'The project was at risk of failing because of [a specific gap]. Although it wasn't my assigned task, I knew I could help...'
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Q43-Card 3: What does this show the interviewer?
Ownership, initiative, and a strong sense of teamwork. It shows you care about the outcome.
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Q43-Card 4: What should the result be?
That your extra effort directly contributed to the project's success or prevented a significant failure.
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Q44-Card 1: What should you first acknowledge?
That context switching is a reality of a lead role and that you have strategies to manage it effectively.
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Q44-Card 2: What is a strategy for deep work?
Time blocking. 'I block out specific 'focus time' in my calendar for complex technical work and try to protect that time from meetings.'
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Q44-Card 3: What is a strategy for interruptions?
'I encourage asynchronous communication (like Slack or comments on tickets) for non-urgent issues, so I can address them in batches instead of constant interruptions.'
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Q44-Card 4: What does having these strategies show?
That you are intentional about managing your time and energy, allowing you to be both responsive to the team and productive on your own tasks.
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Q45-Card 1: What is a good way to frame your answer?
Pick two or three key strengths that your manager would highlight and provide a brief example for each.
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Q45-Card 2: What are some strong qualities to mention?
'I think they would say I am reliable and take ownership of my work. For example, [mention a time you saw a project through to completion].'
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Q43-Card 3: What is another good quality?
'They would also likely say that I am a supportive team member who is always willing to help others. For instance, [mention a time you mentored someone].'
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Q44-Card 4: What does this question really test?
Your self-awareness and your ability to see yourself from an outside perspective.
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Q46-Card 1: What is the most important part of an effective meeting?
Preparation. A meeting should always have a clear purpose, a specific agenda, and a list of required attendees.
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Q46-Card 2: What is your role as the meeting facilitator?
To keep the discussion on track, ensure all voices are heard, and drive towards a decision or clear action items.
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Q46-Card 3: What should happen at the end of every meeting?
A summary of key decisions and a clear list of action items with assigned owners and due dates.
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Q46-Card 4: What is a sign of an ineffective meeting?
When people leave not knowing why they were there or what they are supposed to do next.
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Q47-Card 1: What is the key to persuasion?
Understanding the other person's perspective and appealing to your shared goals or their interests.
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Q47-Card 2: What should you lead with?
Data and logic, not just emotion or opinion. Build a rational case for your position.
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Q47-Card 3: What if logic isn't enough?
Use storytelling and analogies to make your point more compelling and relatable.
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Q47-Card 4: How is persuasion different from manipulation?
Persuasion is about creating a genuine win-win and being transparent. Manipulation is about getting your way at someone else's expense.
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Q48-Card 1: Why is recognition important?
It boosts morale, reinforces positive behaviours, and makes team members feel valued.
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Q48-Card 2: What are different ways to give recognition?
It can be public or private. Public praise in a team meeting or a Slack channel is great for celebrating a win. Private, specific feedback in a 1-on-1 can be very meaningful.
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Q48-Card 3: What makes recognition effective?
It should be timely and specific. 'Great job on that refactor, Sarah. The way you simplified the logic made the code much easier to read' is better than 'Good work this week.'
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Q48-Card 4: What is your role as the lead?
To create a culture of recognition where team members also feel comfortable praising each other's work.
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Q49-Card 1: What is the first step in risk management?
To identify potential risks as early as possible. This can be done in a team brainstorming session.
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Q49-Card 2: Once risks are identified, what's next?
Assess each risk based on its likelihood and its potential impact. This helps you prioritize which ones to focus on.
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Q49-Card 3: What are the different strategies for dealing with a risk?
You can Mitigate it (reduce its likelihood/impact), Accept it (if it's low), Transfer it (e.g., insurance), or Avoid it (change the plan).
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Q49-Card 4: How do you track risks?
By keeping a simple risk register that is visible to the team and stakeholders, and reviewing it regularly.
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Q50-Card 1: What is the only wrong answer to this question?
'No, I don't have any questions.'
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Q50-Card 2: What does asking good questions show?
That you are genuinely interested, you've done your research, and you are evaluating them as much as they are evaluating you.
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Q50-Card 3: What is a good question to ask about the team or role?
'What would success look like for the person in this role in the first 6 months?' or 'What is the biggest challenge the team is currently facing?'
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Q50-Card 4: What is a good question to ask about the culture?
'How does the team handle disagreements?' or 'What are the biggest opportunities for learning and growth in this role?'
