Walk Through the Architecture of the Project You Work on Now
Company: Salesforce
Role: Software Engineer
Category: System Design
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Onsite
After a design exercise, the interviewer switches from a hypothetical system to a real one: walk them through the architecture of the project you are working on now. Cover what the system is for, its main components and how requests and data flow between them, the important technology choices and why they were made, how it behaves under load and failure, and which parts you personally own.
The request may come with little time left in the round, so be ready with both a short version and a deeper one.
```hint Lead with the purpose
Open with the job the system does and who depends on it before naming any component, then follow one important request all the way through it.
```
### Constraints and Clarifications
- Describe a real system you work on, but keep confidential details out: no customer names, internal code names or exact business figures. Rounded or relative numbers are fine.
- The interviewer will probe your choices, so be ready to explain why each major component exists and what you would change.
### Clarifying Questions
- How much time do we have for this, and should I go broad or pick one area to go deep on?
- Should I describe the whole system or concentrate on the part I own?
- May I sketch a diagram while I talk?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A one-sentence purpose and the users or systems that depend on it
- A clear component map and at least one end-to-end request or data path
- Reasons for the key technology choices, with the alternatives that were considered
- Scale, failure handling and observability, with rough numbers
- A clear statement of personal ownership and an honest view of current weaknesses
### Follow-up Questions
- What is the biggest bottleneck or risk in this architecture today, and what would you do about it?
- Which design decision would you reverse if you could, and why was it made at the time?
- How is a change to this system tested and deployed?
- If the system had to handle ten times its current load, what would break first?
Overview: A design-round prompt asking you to walk through the architecture of the project you currently work on: its purpose, components, request and data flows, technology choices, scale and failure handling, and your own part in it. It assesses clarity, ownership and depth under probing.
Read the full Salesforce Software Engineer interview experience this question came from