Notes
Senior technical judgment and a mock interview
1 min read
Choose a decision with competing goals
Prepare a project discussion involving at least two plausible approaches. Examples include building versus adopting a component, reducing scope to meet a deadline, or choosing between a simple design and one that accommodates expected growth. Explain who benefited, who paid the operational cost, and which assumptions might change.
Decision worksheet
| Question | Notes to prepare |
|---|---|
| What mattered? | User outcome, correctness, delivery time, cost, reliability |
| What was uncertain? | Unknown workload, incomplete requirements, missing measurements |
| What were the alternatives? | At least two credible options and the existing baseline |
| Why this choice? | Evidence that connects the choice to the constraints |
| How was risk limited? | Small experiment, reversible rollout, ownership, stop condition |
| What happened? | Observed result, unresolved limits, and a later adjustment |
A 30-minute rehearsal
Spend five minutes describing the project and your responsibility. Use ten minutes for the decision, including one alternative you rejected. Allow ten minutes for challenge questions and five for reflection. A partner should change one constraint halfway through, such as doubling demand or removing a dependency. Respond by revisiting your assumptions instead of defending the original design at any cost.
Challenge questions
- What did you deliberately choose not to build?
- How did you make another engineer more effective?
- Which part of the work required influence outside your team?
- What evidence would invalidate your architecture?
- How would a smaller team approach the same problem?
Review rubric
Score each dimension from zero to two: problem clarity, personal contribution, tradeoff reasoning, collaboration, and outcome evidence. Zero means missing, one means asserted, and two means explained with a concrete example. Record one improvement after each rehearsal, then repeat with a different story rather than memorizing a polished monologue. Ask the interviewer questions that reveal decision ownership, operational expectations, and how success will be assessed in the role.
Source
Atlassian's official engineering guide provides role-specific interview preparation and emphasizes reasoning about engineering constraints. The schedule and rubric here are original practice aids and should be adjusted to the actual invitation.