Workforce Visas - Technical Interview

Welcome to the Workforce Visas technical interview! This is a comprehensive assessment designed to evaluate your technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and system design thinking.

Interview Overview

This interview consists of two parts and we are paying for two hours of your time to complete both components:

1. System Design Challenge
2. Coding Challenge

Part 1: System Design Challenge - details in the system-design.md

Overview

You'll be working on an open-ended system design problem where you need to sketch a complete, end-to-end solution that turns incoming user data (structured fields and uploaded files) into a generated PDF that blends that data with AI-generated prose.

What You'll Do

• Design a complete system architecture
• Consider AI integration and retrieval strategies
• Plan PDF generation approaches
• Think about scaling, security, and compliance
• Document your design decisions and trade-offs

Deliverable

• A single Markdown document in the /system-design folder
• Optional diagrams or code snippets
• Focus on depth over length

Part 2: Coding Challenge - "From Form to PDF" - details in the coding-challenge.md

Overview

You'll build a tiny Next.js feature that takes user-submitted data + an uploaded file and turns it into a single PDF.

User Flow

1. Entry point – User visits /apply
2. Form – They fill out basic personal details and specify their current job description
3. Upload – They attach one supporting document (PDF file type)
4. Submit – After form submission:
   • Persist everything in the repo (FS, JSON - your choice)
   • Generate a PDF containing:
     • User's personal details (nicely formatted header)
     • Job description paragraph
     • Content from the uploaded file (or a note that it's stored)
   • Return a download link or modal for the PDF

Technical Requirements

• Database: SQLite with Prisma (self-contained, no hosted DB needed)
• File Storage: Local file system (./uploads folder)
• PDF Generation: Your choice of library (pdf-lib, @react-pdf/renderer, etc.)
• Styling: Minimal UI - focus on backend logic and code

Deliverables

1. Running code committed to your repo
2. /coding-challenge folder with:
   • Data model explanation (ER diagram, schema file, or bullet list)
   • Request flow documentation

What We're Looking For

Area	What to Demonstrate
Data Modeling	Clear representation of how data model relate
Code Structure	Separation of concerns, clear naming, testability
PDF Generation	Smart library choice and working implementation
System Design	Thoughtful architecture decisions and trade-off analysis
Edge Cases	Basic validation, error handling, graceful failure handling
Documentation	Clear README and design documentation

Ground Rules

• File Storage: Use local file system (./uploads folder)
• Styling: Keep UI minimal - focus on backend logic
• Libraries: Use any publicly available npm packages
• Secrets: Don't commit API keys - add needed env var constants to .env.example

Submission Process

1. Fork this repo to your GitHub account
2. Complete both parts of the interview
3. Open a Pull Request to this repo's main branch
4. In the PR description, include your name and any additional context

Getting Started

1. Read through both challenge documents thoroughly
2. Set up your development environment
3. Start with whichever part feels most comfortable to you
4. Document your decisions and reasoning as you go

Good luck! We're excited to see your approach and solutions.