Web engineering experience
What skill or knowledge have you acquired in the past year that has been
particularly helpful? What motivated you to learn it? What has the impact
been for you and your team?
Describe your experience of web programming - JavaScript, Typescript,
React, CSS and Python in particular.
Describe your experience building large systems with many services - web
front ends, REST APIs, data stores, event processing and other kinds of
integration between components. What are the key things to think about in
regard to architecture, maintainability, and reliability in these large systems?
Describe any experience you have with Flutter.
Software engineering experience
What kinds of software projects have you worked on before? Which operating
systems, development environments, languages, databases and
frameworks?
Outline your thoughts on open-source software development. Have you been
an open-source maintainer, can you describe the scope of your
contributions to those projects?
What software products have you yourself led which shipped many releases
to multiple customers? What was your role?
What is your most senior role in a software engineering organisation?
Describe your span of control and the diversity of products, functions and
teams you led.
Outline your views on the role of an engineering manager in shaping a high-
functioning team.
Outline your thoughts on performance in software engineering. How do you
ensure that your product is fast?
Outline your thoughts on quality in software development. What practices are
most effective in software teams to drive improvements in quality?
Education
We consider academic results in high school and university for all roles, regardless
of seniority. In every discipline, from engineering to marketing to operations and
sales, we intensely value colleagues who are able to puzzle through difficult
problems and find the optimal path forward.
How did you rank in your final year of high school in mathematics? Were you
a top student? On what basis would you say that?
How did you rank in your final year of high school, in your home language?
Were you a top student? On what basis would you say that?
Please state your high school graduation results or university entrance
results, and explain the grading system used. For example, in the US, you
might give your SAT or ACT scores. In Germany, you might give your
scores out of a grading system of 1-5, with 1 being the best.
Can you make a case that you are in the top 5% in your academic year, or top
1%, or even higher? If so please outline that case. Make reference where
possible to standardised testing results at regional or national level, or
university entrance results. Please explain any specific grading system
used.
What sort of high school student were you? Outside of class, what were your
interests and hobbies? What would your high school peers remember you
for?
Which university and degree did you choose? What other universities did you
consider, and why did you select that one?
Overall, what was your degree result and how did that reflect on your ability?
Please help us understand the grading system for your results.
During all of your education years, from high school to university, can you
describe any achievements that were truly exceptional?
What leadership roles did you take on during your education? Did you
conceive of, and drive to completion, any initiatives outside of your required
classwork?
Context
Outlineyour thoughts on the mission of Canonical. What is it about the
company's purpose and goals which is most appealing to you? What is risky
or unappealing? Are there any elements of the company goals that you are
unsure about?
Who are competitors to Canonical, and what does Canonical need to change
to be a more effective competitor?
What would you most want to change about Canonical?
What gets you most excited about this role?
