Pegasystems Senior Systems Architect Interview

Interviewed Jan 2012 (took 3 days)

Beware the title and the overly general job posting description. This spot was for a Java Developer, not Systems Architect. There were two conversations. The initial screen was to verify my interest and a very high-level review of skills. The interviewer stressed that the position may require 100% travel and wanted me to be clear about that. Since I was, that was not an issue at this step. A second interview scheduled and held within 2-3 days. This was with a more senior HR person, who again verified I was willing to travel. Again, I said yes. She gave me an overview of the company and the training process. She then asked about my background and quickly drilled in on how much recent Java coding & development I have done. Nothing about systems design or tech lead work. Since the position title was for a "Sr. Systems Architect", I was surprised by that emphasis - I would have expected less coding more design. I asked about that and she said there was some design work, but yes, it was mostly coding. Although I have a Java developer's certification, I wanted a architect role, not a coder spot. We decided it was not something to pursue further.