How have you utilized your technical skills in a past role to solve an unexpected problem?

This question is looking to assess your problem-solving ability utilizing the technical skills you posses. It specifically targets a past event where there was an unexpected problem, and you came up with a successful solution leveraging your technical abilities. It's essential in your response to:

• Identify the unexpected problem.
• Explain the application of your technical skill.
• Illustrate the outcome or result.

Your story should follow a Situation-Task-Action-Result (STAR) format to ensure coherence and concise delivery.

In my previous role as a Network Engineer in XYZ company, we were hit with an unexpected system outage that affected our entire business operations. Given the urgent nature of this problem, I immediately initiated a detailed technical analysis to identify the issue. After a thorough review, I found that our central server was hit with a cyber attack. Leveraging my knowledge in network security, I was able to apply patches, improve firewall configurations, and clean up the affected system. The action I took resulted in restoring our systems in less than half the expected time and also enhanced our safety mechanisms. This incident was a testament to my technical abilities and problem-solving skills.

As a software developer for Company ABC, our team was assigned to develop a mobile app. However, during the development stage, we encountered unexpected performance issues which could affect the launch date. Due to my proficiency in programming and debugging, I stepped up to analyze the built code. I discovered unnecessary redundancies and a lack of proper data structure usage which were causing the issue. I decided to refactor the code and optimize data structure usage which resulted in significantly improved performance. Moreover, we managed to launch the app right on schedule, maintaining my team's reliability.