Can you describe a situation where you applied your problem-solving skills to overcome a complex technical challenge?

This question is requiring you to provide an instance where you applied your problem-solving skills to tackle a complex technical problem. The interviewer wants to see how you handle challenging situations and understand your decision-making process. It also tests your expertise in your field. When answering the question, remember to:

• Describe the specific situation or challenge.
• Explain the actions you took to confront the issue.
• Discuss the results of your actions.
• Mention what you learned from the situation.

In my previous role as a software developer at XYZ company, we were tasked with developing a feature for our app that required integration with multiple third-party APIs. However, there were significant compatibility issues that caused several unexpected crashes.

To solve this, I studied each API's documentation extensively to understand their behavior fully. By doing so, I discovered that some of the APIs were not setup to handle the enormous amount of requests our app was generating.

I then designed a request queuing system that regulated the requests sent to these APIs. In particular, I did so by using fallbacks and prioritizing essential requests. Once this system was implemented, we did not experience a single crash related to these APIs.

From this situation, I learned that planning and understanding all aspects of a task and outwardly-related factors are integral to successful project completion.

When I worked as a network engineer at ABC company, we were faced with chronic network downtime issues that significantly impaired our operations. I was tasked to diagnose and fix this issue, which turned out to be a complex task due to the numerous devices in our network.

Firstly, I reviewed the network design and implemented network monitoring tools to track the traffic and performance of each device. By doing so, I identified that the bottleneck was caused by regular large data transfers from one of our backup servers.

To resolve this, I designed and executed a complete network restructuring plan. This plan involved configuring the load balancing to redirect traffic during peak hours, and implementing stricter network policies to limit unnecessary data transfers.

The result was a 75% decrease in network downtime, leading to significantly improved company productivity. This experience has taught me to approach similar challenges in a systematic, analytical manner to get to the root of the problem.