Cloud Architecture Trade-Offs and Design Thinking Questions

Reason about architectural trade offs and design choices for cloud native systems. Candidates should articulate frameworks for comparing managed services with self hosted solutions, weigh consistency versus availability requirements, evaluate cost versus performance trade offs, select appropriate region and replication strategies, and consider operational complexity and failure modes. Interviewers expect clear articulation of constraints, metrics used to make decisions, estimation of costs and latencies, and demonstration of iterative design thinking that balances product needs, delivery speed, and long term maintenance.