Preparing for an interview at Metrostar requires a balanced approach. You must demonstrate both deep technical execution and the consultative mindset required to thrive in a client-facing federal contracting environment.

Role-Related Knowledge – You must show a strong grasp of modern software engineering principles, specifically cloud-native development and secure coding practices. Be ready to discuss your primary language stack (e.g., JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Java, or Go) and how you apply it to build resilient systems.

Cloud & Infrastructure Familiarity – A significant portion of Metrostar's portfolio is built on cloud infrastructure. You should be prepared to discuss your hands-on experience with cloud providers, particularly AWS, and how you leverage managed services to build scalable, secure architectures.

Consultative & Advisory Skills – Interviewers look for engineers who can act as trusted advisors. You need to demonstrate that you can proactively pitch ideas, translate ambiguous client needs into concrete technical roadmaps, and comfortably defend your architectural decisions to both internal teams and client stakeholders.

Culture & Mission Alignment – Working in federal contracting means your work has real-world, public-sector impact. Show alignment with Metrostar's collaborative culture, your commitment to continuous learning, and your enthusiasm for solving complex problems that serve the public interest.

The interview process at Metrostar is designed to evaluate both your technical execution and your communication style quickly. Candidates typically experience a streamlined, multi-stage process that focuses heavily on practical experience, cloud concepts, and team fit.

The journey begins with a quick phone screen with an internal recruiter, focusing on your background, career goals, salary expectations, and potential clearance eligibility. Following this, you will progress to a technical screening. This stage may consist of a technical phone interview or a practical panel discussion covering full-stack concepts, cloud-native architecture, and system design. For senior roles, expect a deep dive into AWS infrastructure, DevSecOps pipelines, and security compliance.

The final stage typically involves a panel interview with project managers, technical directors, and senior leadership. During this stage, the conversation shifts toward your problem-solving methodology, your experience navigating client-facing dynamics, and your alignment with the team's operational goals. While the process is designed to move quickly, candidates should be prepared for varying feedback timelines depending on specific contract awards and client requirements.

The timeline above outlines the typical progression from your initial application to the final hiring decision. Use this visual guide to pace your preparation, ensuring you allocate sufficient time to practice technical system design concepts before your technical screen and behavioral stories before your final panel.

To secure an offer at Metrostar, you must demonstrate mastery across several key technical and professional domains. The evaluation focuses on how effectively you can apply modern engineering practices to secure public sector environments.

AWS & Cloud Engineering

Cloud migrations and cloud-native development represent a core offering of Metrostar's business. You will be evaluated on your ability to design, deploy, and manage secure cloud infrastructures.

Be ready to go over:

• Core AWS Services – Deep knowledge of EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, VPC, IAM, and ECS/EKS.
• Cloud Security – Implementing IAM policies, security groups, encryption at rest and in transit, and multi-account structures.
• Serverless Architectures – Designing event-driven applications using Lambda, API Gateway, and SQS/SNS.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Multi-region disaster recovery, hybrid cloud networking, and AWS Organizations service control policies (SCPs).

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How would you design a highly available, fault-tolerant architecture on AWS for a legacy application migrating to the cloud?"
• "Explain how you would configure a secure VPC with private and public subnets to host a database and web server."

Full-Stack Development & Architecture

Whether you specialize in front-end, back-end, or full-stack engineering, Metrostar values developers who understand how different layers of an application interact.

Be ready to go over:

• API Design – Building scalable, secure, and self-documenting RESTful or GraphQL APIs.
• State Management & Modern Frameworks – Building responsive interfaces using React, Angular, or Vue.
• Database Modeling – Designing schemas for relational (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and non-relational (MongoDB, DynamoDB) databases.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Micro-frontends, web sockets for real-time data streaming, and Section 508 accessibility compliance.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How do you handle authentication and authorization securely across a distributed microservices application?"
• "Walk me through your strategy for optimizing front-end performance and reducing initial page load times."

DevSecOps & CI/CD

Security is not an afterthought in government contracting; it is integrated into every step of the development lifecycle.

Be ready to go over:

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) – Writing clean, modular Terraform or CloudFormation scripts.
• Automation Pipelines – Building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines using GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, or Jenkins.
• Containerization – Building, securing, and orchestrating Docker containers.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Implementing automated compliance checks (OpenSCAP) and secret management integrations (HashiCorp Vault).

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How do you automate the deployment of a containerized microservice into an AWS ECS cluster?"
• "Describe how you would implement automated security scanning within a GitLab CI pipeline."