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January 12, 2024 · 4 min read

AWS architect interview questions

AWS architects and developers are in high demand. 

Unfortunately, with so many companies trying to build the best AWS infrastructure, hiring great devs is difficult. What’s more, making the wrong hire could cost your company thousands of dollars.

So if you want to hire the best AWS architects and developers, you must craft a compelling job description. Then, you need to test the skills and knowledge of the developers who apply to see whether they can meet your demands.

Interviews can help you learn more about each candidate’s coding background and test these skills. You’ll get to know your AWS developers thoroughly, and you can dig into their applications.

But what questions should you ask?

Aside from the standard questions like “What have you accomplished?” and “What are your strengths?”, you’ll want to assess your candidate’s knowledge of AWS. 

And in this blog, you’ll find example AWS architect interview questions to help you do this.

AWS architect interview questions

Q1: What are the key advantages of the AWS architecture?

Answer:

Here’s a list of the key advantages of AWS architecture:

  • The architecture’s scalability means it’s possible to render services for small-scale and large-scale businesses.
  • Greater compatibility and speed means it can offer quick solutions.
  • AWS is relatively easy to use, even for beginners. Developers can create and use websites or apps on AWS.
  • You’re not tied into a contract or bond when paying for AWS.
  • AWS offers service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It will also keep services in tact by shifting to a new server should servers fail. This ability to redeploy services means AWS is very reliable.
  • The storage capacity offered by AWS is unlimited. Users are not asked to pay extra for additional storage.
  • Storage, data backup, and data restoration are provided by AWS. 
  • Clients are given access to their information once they register on the AWS cloud service platform, no matter where in the world they are.

Q2: What is the availability zone and region in AWS?

Answer:

A region represents a geographic area in AWS; availability zones are available data centers within each AWS region. 

The code for the availability zone is its region code, followed by a letter identifier. A good example is us-east-1a.

Q3: Why is VPC needed?

Answer:

A VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) creates a virtual network in the AWS cloud. It provides complete control over a virtual networking environment, including resource placement, connectivity, and security.

Q4: What is auto-scaling?

Answer:

Auto-scaling monitors your apps and automatically adjusts capacity to maintain a steady, predictable performance at the lowest possible cost. 

It makes scaling simple with recommendations that allow you to optimize performance or cost or balance between them.

Q5: What’s the difference between Amazon S3 and EC2?

Answer:

The main difference between Amazon S3 and EC2 is that S3 stores large amounts of data while EC2 runs the servers in the cloud.

Q6: Explain how elasticity differs from scalability

Answer:

Elasticity lets you meet dynamic changes, while scalability provides a static increase in the workload. 

The primary purpose of elasticity is to match the resources allocated with the amount needed at any given time. 

Scalability handles an application’s changing needs within the infrastructure boundary via statically adding or removing resources to meet the application’s demands if needed.

Q7: What are some best practices to improve AWS security?

Answer:

AWS security best practices are as follows:

  • Use accurate account information
  • Use MFA (multi-factor authentication)
  • Validate IAM roles
  • Rotate your keys
  • Limit security groups

Q8: How can you speed up data transfer in Amazon Snowball?

Answer:

There are several ways to speed up data transfer in Amazon Snowball, including:

  • Using the latest Mac or Linux Snowball client
  • Batching small files together
  • Performing multiple copy operations at one time
  • Copying from multiple workstations
  • Transferring directories but not files
  • Not performing other operations on files during transfer
  • Reducing local network use
  • Eliminating unnecessary hops

Q9: How do you upload a file larger than 100 MB in Amazon S3?

Answer:

There are two main ways to upload a file larger than 100 MB in Amazon S3: use the AWS Command Line Interface or use the AWS SDK.

Meet available, vetted talent today!

So these AWS architect interview questions should help you hire an AWS developer or two for your company.

But would you like help with this hiring process?

Whether you’re looking for temporary help or your next full-time developer, let Gun.io help you find the right person for the job. We’ve helped hundreds of companies – from Fortune 500s to start ups – hire world-class talent.
Contact us today!

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