Dropbox is a service that hosts files and is frequently referred to as “cloud storage.” Although there are numerous rivals, such as Microsoft OneDrive, Box, Sync, and Google Drive, Dropbox is one of the oldest and most widely used cloud storage services available today. While Dropbox’s primary function is online storage for syncing files between your computer and the cloud, it also provides a wide range of other capabilities.
1. We Look To Recruit Very Ambitious Folks. What Do You Hope To Achieve In Your Career With Dropbox?
The fact that there are so many opportunities for professional advancement in your organization intrigues me the most. I would aim to advance in the web experience area by first becoming a team lead and eventually a division manager. I am aware this will need many years of commitment and effort.
2. What Distinguishes Horizontal Scaling From Vertical Scaling?
When adding new computers to a network, the processing and memory demand is divided among a distributed network of devices. This process is known as horizontal scaling.
Vertical scaling is the idea of enhancing the resource capacity of a single computer by adding more RAM, effective processors, etc.
3. What Exactly Do You Mean By “Load Balancing”? Why Does It Matter In Dropbox System Design?
The idea of efficiently spreading incoming traffic among a collection of diverse backend servers is known as load balancing. Server pools are groups of these servers. Today’s websites quickly and accurately respond to millions of customer requests while handling high traffic. Servers must be added to fulfill these requests. In this case, it is crucial to appropriately disperse request traffic among the servers to prevent excessive load on them.
4. What Do The Terms “Latency,” “Throughput,” And “Availability Of A System” Mean To You?
Performance is crucial when designing a system since it makes our services dependable and quick. The three main measures used to gauge performance are as follows:
- Latency is the amount of time, measured in milliseconds, required to send a single message.
- The throughput of a system is the volume of data successfully communicated through it in a predetermined period. Bits per second are used to measure it.
- A system’s availability defines how long it will be ready to react to queries. System Uptime / (System Uptime + Downtime) is the formula.
5. Define Sharding
The method of sharding involves dividing a sizable logical dataset into several databases. Since data will be stored on many computers, it also refers to horizontal data partitioning. A shared database can accommodate more queries than a single large system can. Take the following image as an example. Assume that the database contains around 1TB of data. Sharding is partitioning the massive 1TB of data into smaller 256GB portions, or “shards.”
6. What Distinguishes Sharding From Partitioning?
Database sharding enables the storage of a single dataset over several workstations by separating it among various databases. The system’s overall storage capacity may be increased by splitting larger datasets into smaller pieces and storing them across multiple data nodes. A sharded database may handle more queries than a single server by distributing the data among several computers. Sharding is scaling in which extra nodes are added to share the load. It is known as horizontal scaling” or “scale-out.“
Partitioning a database involves dividing stored database objects (such as tables, indexes, and views) into discrete groups. Large database objects are partitioned, enhancing controllability, performance, and availability. In some situations, partitioning might improve speed when accessing partitioned data. By acting as a leading column in indexes, partitioning can reduce index size and improve the chances of locating the most desirable indexes in memory. Scanning a region when a significant chunk of it is utilized in the resultset is significantly quicker than retrieving data dispersed throughout the whole table via the index.
7. How Are Your Error Handling Procedures Implemented?
There are two types of troublesome scenarios in which software could run into programming errors and issues. The first issue occurs when someone forgets to give a necessary parameter to a function. On the other hand, a programmer cannot control what happens if software requests the user to provide a name and receives back an empty string.
Programmer mistakes are solved by locating and repairing them, and errors are handled by having the code check for them and take the appropriate action to rectify them (for example, asking for the name again), or at the very least fail in a clear and well-defined manner.
8. What Is The Life Cycle Of Software Development?
The Software Development Life Cycle, often known as SDLC, is a method for creating software that is of the highest quality and least expensive in the shortest amount of time. The well-organized phases of the SDLC allow an organization swiftly develop high-quality software that is well-tested and prepared for usage in production. The waterfall model, spiral model, and agile model are common SDLC models.
9. How Do Scalability And Performance Relate To One Another?
If a performance improvement is proportionate to the resources added. Serving more work units is often what performance improvement in terms of scalability is. But as datasets expand, this may imply the capacity to handle bigger task units. If the program has a performance issue, then only one user will experience slowness in the system. However, if there is a scalability issue, the system may be quick for a single user but slow down when many users use the program.
10. What Do You Think About Declarative Versus Imperative Approaches, Such As Functional And Object-Oriented Programming?
We had a project where the browser client application needed to be updated. It took an object-oriented, imperative approach, and many of the custom controls derived a significant portion of their functionality from an expanding hierarchy of inheritance. This gave us the chance to adopt a more declarative strategy. Since we were no longer manually changing the UI in response to events after the conversion, we saw a significant decrease in state-related problems. Previously, the majority of user-reported bugs were of this nature.
However, there were a few crucial areas where we had to make changes. The caching methods we created to minimize excessive recalculation in more dynamic, performance-sensitive areas of the program were getting too complicated. By returning to an imperative method of updating the component, we streamlined this.
11. What Exactly Do You Understand By “Leader Election”?
In a distributed system where numerous servers contribute to the application’s availability, there may be instances where just one server must take the initiative to update third-party APIs since accessing the third-party APIs on various servers may result in issues. This is the primary server, and the selection procedure is known as the leader election. When the leader server fails, the servers in the distributed environment must recognize it and choose a new leader.
12. How Would You Create A Tiny URL System?
I worked in a public instant messaging service, tasked with designing a straightforward system where each message had a character restriction of only 140. Additionally, it demanded shorter URLs of around 30 characters. While typing hyperlinks in emails or on a smartphone, where there is an opportunity for error, this TinyURL technique is helpful. The hashtag table is exemplified by TinyURL. This data structure is a connection code that links keys and values. Utilizing this 16-bit hash table, enabled maximum usability and satisfactory system requirements.
13. So How Would A Search Engine Be Developed?
In my previous position, I developed a search engine that would support keyword searches. Building an indexer—a piece of software that crawls and outputs results in a data structure—was where I started. The crawler would collect or dump links from various web pages into sets. The indexer was then used as part of a reduction process isolating items. The number of links on each website was computed and evaluated for display. Instead of setting the crawl for H3s, I had it for H1 and H2. After that, I looked at outbound links to weed out spam. To ensure that the design was operating at its best capacity and relevance, I checked the serving outcomes.
14. When Should You Employ A Web Crawler And How Do You Create One?
Even though building a web crawler is hard, I was able to do it for a prior assignment. The crawler gathers information from industry, in this case, the fashion business. A URL dispatcher, which is a server tasked with dispersing seed URLs to several servers, was something I wanted to include. The crawl supervisor then used the intended communications queue to transmit the URL to the bots. The spider, which serves as the foundation for all crawlers, loaded the data into my file system after extracting it from the web page. The material was then cleaned up and reorganized using the extract, transform, and load (ETL) process before being stored in the database.
15. What Opinions Do You Have About Software Testing?
For us to produce high-quality products for our consumers, testing is essential. I won’t take the lead with them in a new endeavor. Tests, in my opinion, are a technique for securing developed functionality. As we gather user data and feedback, the original project concept frequently diverges significantly from the finished result. It is why I’ll start with straightforward manual testing. After the feature set has stabilized, I’ll start putting testing into practice. Unit tests that focus on important components of the application will make up the majority of my test suite.
16. What Strategies Do You Use To Complete Tasks On Time? Specify A Case In Point.
I try not to commit to deadlines I don’t think I can meet. However, occasionally unforeseen events occur so you must act quickly. For instance, at my previous employment, a co-worker’s project was left without a manager when he had to take some time off due to an emergency.
Then I was told by my boss to take over his project and finish what needed to be done. I found myself suddenly in charge of a new project, but I had no idea how to proceed because it had a one-week deadline. I started by asking for a decrease in my daily objectives, which was approved. In this manner, I could devote more time to the project and only a small portion of each day to my primary duties. It was simple after that once I had a routine and hours for each of my chores.
17. What Would You Do If An Important Duty At Work Was Miscommunicated? Specify A Case In Point.
I miscalculated the time it would take me to complete a presentation. My supervisor assigned me a deadline of about a week, which I thought was reasonable and wouldn’t cause any issues. We were confused about what he meant by the deadline, though. I mistakenly believed that this was the time when we would review the presentation, make any necessary edits, and then submit it. However, it appears we intended to have the presentation completely prepared by that time.
I had two days to submit a rough presentation, change it in light of my manager’s feedback, and then deliver the report. To ensure that the first draft was flawless, I scheduled a meeting with the manager for the following day and worked an additional 4 hours. The next day, we held the meeting and went over it to ensure it was flawless.
18. If You Disagreed With A Team Member. Which Approach Did You Take?
My team at XYZ company was in charge of a project with a tight deadline. I had a particular idea of how it ought to be done, and the group appeared to share it. One person, however, disagreed, and as a result, there was conflict. I needed to find a method to include this person if we were to finish the project on schedule. I had a one-on-one conversation with him over lunch and tried to grasp his viewpoint.
I was able to come up with a solution that we could present to the rest of the team. Although that was not precisely what he desired, he declared that he would be okay with it.
19. Please Give Me An Example Of A Goal You Have Attained And Explain How You Did It.
I set out for XYZ Company intending to become Employee of the Month. I truly wanted that parking spot and my photo on the wall, even though it was a motivational challenge and not everyone took it seriously. I went above the things I would have done to assist my co-workers, managers, and customers. Both the work and the co-workers were enjoyable. I was given the honor in the third month I worked there. It was nice to accomplish my objective, and thanks to my persistence and upbeat attitude, I moved into a managing role.
20. Describe A Time When You Worked In A Team.
I participated in an IT department research team during my final semester of college. The project’s director was a professor working on a book about algorithms. I recommended that before our weekly meeting with the professor, we meet alone to discuss our progress and offer support if needed. We had a distinct sector to concentrate on. The manner we collaborated was very appreciated by the professor, and it also sped up his research. Because of the work we assisted him with, he was able to begin working on his final copy months before the projected deadline.
21. Have You Dealt With Challenging Circumstances? How?
I learned that one of my employees at ABC Global had developed an addiction to the medications provided to her following surgery. She needed some assistance because it was hurting her performance. I had a private conversation with her and assisted her in setting up an insurance-approved weekend treatment program. Fortunately, she turned her life around, and approximately six months later she was promoted.
22. How Did You Find Out About This Job?
I’ve been a long-time follower of your work and found out about an opening on the project team from a friend, so I thought it would be an opportunity to apply.
23. Why Would You Like To Work For This Organization?
To support your expanded operations in the urban center, I saw on television that you were also recruiting for new posts. I read more about the new data center you’re constructing there, and this excites me because I know there will be opportunities to teach new co-workers as a result. I discovered that you are also growing in France via a Wall Street Journal report. I am happy to step up and assist with liaison whenever necessary because I am a native French speaker.
24. What Are Your Best Qualities?
I’d say that bringing order to chaotic situations and putting protocols in place to make everyone’s lives simpler are two of my best abilities. I developed new procedures for everything in my current position as an executive assistant to a CEO, including meeting scheduling, monthly all-hands agenda planning, and event appearance preparation. The organizational structures reduced stress and helped everyone in the company understand how things operated.
25. What Do You Believe To Be Your Areas Of Weakness?
It can be challenging for me to tell when co-workers are stressed out or unhappy with their responsibilities. We have weekly check-ins to ensure I’m not expecting too much or too little from my staff. I prefer to find out if they feel in control of their workload, how I can help them more effectively, what they’d like to add or drop, and whether they enjoy what they’re doing. These meetings create the basis for a positive and trusting relationship, even if the response is “all good.”
Conclusion
Thinking carefully about your objectives and qualifications in relation to the role and employer is the main component of interview preparation. You may do this by doing research on the business and thoroughly reading the job description to see why you would be a good match.
