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Compare RDBMS vs NoSQL and containers

ParadromicsSoftware Engineer · Technical Screen
MediumSoftware EngineerTechnical ScreenSoftware Engineering Fundamentals

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Evaluates mastery of data storage and scaling trade-offs (RDBMS vs NoSQL), virtualization and containerization concepts (VMs, Docker), orchestration features (Kubernetes), and language-level performance optimization (Python vs C++).

Answer the following engineering fundamentals questions:

  1. Compare RDBMS and NoSQL databases: key trade-offs (schema, transactions/ACID, consistency, scaling, query flexibility), and when you would choose each.

  2. Explain virtualization vs containerization: how VMs differ from containers, and what problems Docker solves.

  3. What is Kubernetes used for if you already have Docker? Explain what Kubernetes adds (scheduling, service discovery, autoscaling, rollout/rollback, self-healing).

  4. Why is Python often slower than C++ for CPU-bound work? List practical ways to speed up Python code and when each approach is appropriate.