Essential Work Sample Exercises for Hiring Top AWS Solution Architects

AWS Solution Architects are the cornerstone of successful cloud implementations, serving as the bridge between business objectives and technical solutions. Their expertise directly impacts an organization's ability to leverage cloud technology effectively, making the hiring process for this role particularly critical. A poor hiring decision can lead to inefficient architectures, security vulnerabilities, and significant financial waste.

Traditional interviews often fail to reveal a candidate's true capabilities in designing and implementing AWS solutions. While certifications and technical questions provide some insight, they don't demonstrate how candidates apply their knowledge to real-world challenges. This is where carefully designed work samples become invaluable.

Work samples for AWS Solution Architects should evaluate not only technical proficiency but also problem-solving abilities, communication skills, and business acumen. By observing candidates tackle realistic scenarios, hiring managers can gain deeper insights into how they approach complex problems, balance competing priorities, and articulate technical concepts to diverse stakeholders.

The following work samples are designed to comprehensively assess AWS Solution Architect candidates across multiple dimensions. Each exercise simulates real-world challenges they would face in the role, providing a window into their thought processes, technical expertise, and soft skills. By incorporating these exercises into your hiring process, you'll be better equipped to identify candidates who can truly drive your cloud initiatives forward.

Activity #1: Cloud Architecture Design Challenge

This exercise evaluates a candidate's ability to design scalable, secure, and cost-effective AWS architectures—a fundamental skill for any AWS Solution Architect. By presenting a realistic business scenario, you'll gain insight into how candidates approach architecture design, their knowledge of AWS services, and their ability to balance technical requirements with business constraints.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a detailed business scenario document describing a fictional company that needs to migrate a specific application to AWS. Include information about the application's current architecture, traffic patterns, security requirements, compliance needs, and budget constraints.
• Provide a template for the architecture diagram and a list of questions the candidate should address in their solution.
• Allow candidates 2-3 days to prepare their solution before the interview.
• During the interview, allocate 30 minutes for the candidate to present their solution and 15 minutes for questions.
• Prepare specific technical questions to probe the candidate's understanding of their proposed architecture.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided business scenario and requirements document.
• Design an AWS architecture that addresses the company's needs, considering scalability, security, reliability, performance, and cost-efficiency.
• Create an architecture diagram using a tool of your choice (e.g., draw.io, Lucidcharts).
• Prepare a brief written explanation of your design decisions, including service selections and configurations.
• Be prepared to present your solution in 20-30 minutes, explaining your design choices and how they address the business requirements.
• Be ready to discuss alternative approaches and potential trade-offs.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the presentation, provide specific feedback on one aspect the candidate handled well (e.g., security considerations, cost optimization).
• Offer one area for improvement (e.g., "I noticed you selected RDS Multi-AZ for this workload. Could you reconsider this choice given the stated budget constraints?").
• Give the candidate 5-10 minutes to revise their approach based on the feedback, observing how they incorporate new information and adapt their solution.

Activity #2: Client Migration Strategy Role Play

This role play assesses the candidate's ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and develop migration strategies—key responsibilities for AWS Solution Architects who often serve as technical advisors to clients and internal teams.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a detailed profile of a fictional client (e.g., a mid-sized financial services company) looking to migrate their on-premises infrastructure to AWS.
• Prepare a document outlining the client's current infrastructure, business goals, concerns about cloud migration, and any compliance requirements.
• Assign an interviewer to play the role of a non-technical executive (e.g., CFO or COO) who is skeptical about cloud migration.
• Provide the candidate with the client profile and scenario 24 hours before the interview.
• Allocate 30 minutes for the role play exercise.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the client profile and prepare a migration strategy that addresses their specific needs and concerns.
• During the role play, explain your recommended migration approach to the "client executive" in non-technical terms.
• Be prepared to address questions and objections regarding security, cost, business continuity, and ROI.
• Outline a phased migration approach with clear milestones and success metrics.
• Demonstrate how your strategy aligns with the client's business objectives.
• Be ready to adjust your approach based on feedback during the conversation.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the role play, provide feedback on one aspect the candidate communicated effectively (e.g., explaining complex concepts in accessible language).
• Offer one area for improvement (e.g., "You could have addressed the security concerns more directly by explaining AWS's shared responsibility model").
• Ask the candidate to revise their explanation of a specific part of the migration strategy based on the feedback, observing how they incorporate the guidance to improve their communication.

Activity #3: Cost Optimization Workshop

This exercise evaluates a candidate's ability to optimize AWS infrastructures for cost-efficiency while maintaining performance and reliability—a critical skill as organizations seek to maximize their cloud investment.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a detailed AWS architecture diagram and associated monthly billing report for a fictional application.
• Intentionally include several cost inefficiencies in the architecture (e.g., oversized instances, underutilized reserved instances, unnecessary data transfer costs).
• Create a document outlining the application's performance requirements and usage patterns.
• Provide these materials to the candidate 24 hours before the interview.
• Allocate 45 minutes for the exercise: 30 minutes for the candidate to present their findings and recommendations, and 15 minutes for questions.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided AWS architecture and billing information.
• Identify areas of cost inefficiency and develop recommendations for optimization.
• Prepare a prioritized list of recommendations, including:
• Estimated cost savings for each recommendation
• Implementation complexity
• Potential impact on performance, reliability, or security
• Create a brief implementation plan for your top three recommendations.
• Be prepared to discuss the trade-offs involved in your recommendations and how you would measure their effectiveness.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the presentation, provide feedback on one aspect the candidate handled well (e.g., thorough analysis of reserved instance usage).
• Offer one area for improvement (e.g., "You focused primarily on compute costs but didn't address potential savings in data transfer or storage").
• Ask the candidate to revise their approach to address the feedback, giving them 5-10 minutes to develop additional recommendations for the overlooked area.

Activity #4: Incident Response and Troubleshooting Scenario

This scenario tests a candidate's problem-solving abilities, technical knowledge, and decision-making under pressure—essential qualities for AWS Solution Architects who must ensure the reliability and performance of cloud solutions.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a detailed scenario describing a production incident in an AWS environment (e.g., a web application experiencing intermittent outages, performance degradation, or security breach).
• Prepare supporting materials such as CloudWatch logs, metrics graphs, and architecture diagrams.
• Develop a list of questions to probe the candidate's troubleshooting approach and technical knowledge.
• This should be conducted as a live exercise during the interview, with no advance preparation for the candidate.
• Allocate 45 minutes for this exercise.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the incident scenario and supporting materials provided during the interview.
• Walk through your troubleshooting approach, explaining your thought process and the steps you would take to:
• Identify the root cause of the issue
• Implement immediate mitigations
• Develop a long-term solution
• Explain how you would communicate with stakeholders during the incident.
• Discuss how you would prevent similar issues in the future.
• Be prepared to answer technical questions about AWS services and best practices relevant to the scenario.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the candidate presents their approach, provide feedback on one aspect they handled well (e.g., systematic troubleshooting methodology).
• Offer one area for improvement (e.g., "You might have overlooked the potential impact of recent infrastructure changes").
• Ask the candidate to revise their troubleshooting approach based on this new information, observing how they incorporate it into their analysis and solution.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should we allocate for these work sample exercises?

Each exercise requires different time commitments. The Architecture Design Challenge and Cost Optimization Workshop require 24-72 hours of preparation time for candidates, plus 45 minutes during the interview. The Client Migration Strategy Role Play needs 24 hours of preparation and 30 minutes for execution. The Incident Response scenario requires no preparation but needs 45 minutes during the interview. Plan your interview process accordingly, and consider spreading these exercises across multiple interview rounds.

Should we use all four exercises for every candidate?

Not necessarily. Select the exercises most relevant to your specific needs. For a client-facing role, prioritize the Client Migration Strategy Role Play. For a role focused on optimization, use the Cost Optimization Workshop. For a more technical position, the Architecture Design Challenge and Incident Response scenario may be more appropriate. Using 2-3 exercises typically provides sufficient insight while respecting candidates' time.

How should we evaluate candidates' performance on these exercises?

Create a structured scorecard for each exercise, aligned with the key competencies from your job description. Rate candidates on technical accuracy, problem-solving approach, communication clarity, business acumen, and adaptability to feedback. Have multiple interviewers evaluate the same exercise to reduce bias. Compare candidates against your established criteria rather than directly against each other.

What if a candidate doesn't have experience with a specific AWS service mentioned in the exercise?

Focus on evaluating their problem-solving approach and architectural thinking rather than specific service knowledge. A strong candidate might propose alternative services or solutions based on principles they understand. Their ability to reason through problems and learn quickly is often more valuable than encyclopedic knowledge of every AWS service.

How can we make these exercises inclusive for candidates with different backgrounds?

Ensure scenarios don't require industry-specific knowledge unless truly necessary for the role. Provide clear instructions and adequate preparation time. Consider offering accommodations for candidates who request them. Focus evaluation on problem-solving and technical skills rather than presentation style or cultural fit, which can introduce bias.

Can we reuse these exercises for multiple candidates?

Yes, but be aware that details may circulate among candidates, especially in competitive markets. Consider having several versions of each exercise that you can rotate, or customize scenarios for your company's specific needs to make them less generic.

The hiring process for AWS Solution Architects should be as thoughtful and well-architected as the cloud solutions they'll design. By incorporating these practical work samples, you'll gain deeper insights into candidates' capabilities and make more informed hiring decisions.

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