Engineering experience
- Describe your level of experience in Python, and how you have attained it.
- Describe your experience with SQL and relational data modeling, and summarize your learning with large-scale database backed applications.
- Describe a case where it was very difficult to test code you were writing, but you found a reliable way to do it.
- What kinds of software projects have you worked on before? Which operating systems, development environments, languages, databases?
- Would you describe yourself as a high quality coder? Why?
- Would you describe yourself as an architect of resilient software? If so, why, and in which sorts of applications?
- Outline your thoughts on open source software development. What is important to get right in open source projects? What open source projects have you worked on? Have you been an open source maintainer, on which projects, and what was your role?
- Describe your experience building large systems with many services – web front ends, REST APIs, data stores, event processing and other kinds of integration between components. What are the key things to think about in regard to architecture, maintainability, and reliability in these large systems?
- How comprehensive would you say your knowledge of a Linux distribution is, from the kernel up? How familiar are you with low-level system architecture, runtimes and Linux distro packaging? How have you gained this knowledge?
- Describe your experience with large-scale IT operations, SAAS, or other running services, in a devops or IS or system administration capacity
- Describe your experience with public cloud based operations – how well do you understand large-scale public cloud estate management and developer experience?
- Outline your thoughts on quality in software development. What practices are most effective to drive improvements in quality?
- Outline your thoughts on documentation in large software projects. What practices should teams follow? What are great examples of open source docs?
- Outline your thoughts on user experience, usability and design in software. How do you deliver outstanding user experience?
- Outline your thoughts on performance in software engineering. How do you ensure that your product is fast?
- Outline your thoughts on security in software engineering. How do you influence your colleagues to improve their security posture and awareness?
- Outline your thoughts on devops and devsecops. Which practices are effective, and which are overrated?
Education
- In high school, how did you rank competitively in maths and hard sciences? Which was your strongest?
- In high school, how did you rank competitively in languages and the arts? Which was your strongest?
- What sort of high school student were you? Outside of class, what were your interests and hobbies? What would your high school peers remember you for, if we asked them?
- Which university and degree did you choose? What others did you consider, and why did you select that one?
- At university, did you do particularly well at any area of your degree?
- Overall, what was your degree result and how did that reflect on your ability?
- In high school and university, what did you achieve that was exceptional?
- What leadership roles did you take on during your education?
Context
- Outline your thoughts on the mission of Canonical. What is it about the company’s purpose and goals which is most appealing to you? What do you see as risky or unappealing?
- Who are Canonical’s key competitors, and how should Canonical set about winning?
- Why do you most want to work for Canonical?
- What would you most want to change about Canonical?
- What gets you most excited about this role?
- How does your background and experience make you suitable for this role in the Store team?