What Are Your Most Used Design Patterns And In What Contexts Do You Use Them
Similar to the previous question, this probes your knowledge of more abstract, theoretical concepts. Very few people are familiar with all of the formalized software design patterns. In fact, many well-established engineers have a hard time even naming more than a few. After reviewing the topic, you may realize that you leverage many of these patterns daily, even if you aren’t aware of the formal name. Reviewing these concepts helps provide a common shorthand, streamlining complex discussions.
Example:”For gaming projects, my level state and player character are generally implemented as singletons. For enemy creation, Ill use a factory that will produce differing enemies based on some inputs. Additionally, the bullets being fired by the character will be implemented in an object pool to avoid performance hits from excessive instantiation and garbage collection. If the game is more complex, I may switch to a compositional model such as Entity-Component-System. The system functions would then leverage dependency injection to better separate concerns and increase testability of the game logic.”
Questions About Your Previous Job Or Projects
Another set of questions after general questions would be about your previous job experiences. Again, the questions are asked based on the information you have given in the resume.
When asked experience-related questions, try giving a quick overview of your experience in a cheery tone. The question will be related to any project you have worked on.
- Tell me about a time when you showed your leadership abilities.
- What are the two most remarkable achievements you did in your previous role?
- What about your previous job, what did you like least and most?
- Do you have any team-leading experience?
- What do your colleagues think of you?
- How have you improved your skillset or gained experience in your last position?
- Can you tell me about a moment when you had to make a difficult decision and what happened as a result?
- Could you tell us about your most recent project?
- What was your most successful project?
- Describe your previous work experience in this field.
What Tools Do You Use To Keep Track Of Project Requirements
Hiring managers ask this to determine how you stay organized at work and how strong your time management skills are. When you answer, tell them the specific software or tools you use to stay on top of your projects.
Example:”I typically use an online spreadsheet to track not only project requirements but also their deadlines. This lets me view the requirements no matter my location and in an organized format. It also lets me share the document with other members of my team so everyone understands the project’s requirements and deadlines.”
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Technical Software Engineering Interview Questions
Q1. Describe the process you have for a programming task, from requirements to delivery.
The software development process or life cycle is a structure applied to the development of a software product. There are several models for such processes , each describing approaches to a variety of tasks or activities that take place during the process.
Q2. What programming languages do you use? Which three do you prefer or are most familiar with?
Repairing A Broken System For Hiring Developers
With a growing digital and global marketplace, the quantity of potential software engineers has explodedbut alas, how do you find the good ones? Tech hiring teams are discovering that their old programming interview processes are irrevocably broken theyre no longer generating the kinds of software engineers they truly need. The truth is many tech professionals dont know how to interview software developers.
With most software engineering interviews, the primary goal is to set up a realistic scenario that challenges the individuals skills. Identifying their weak points provides everyone with the opportunity to improve. This calls for a detailed analysis of the mistakes that can occur during the software engineering interview.
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What Do You Think Are The Biggest Challenges Facing The Software Engineering Team
Asking about challenges facing the software engineering team and the company as a whole can give you insight into the well-being of the company, and it can also show the interviewer that you care about the company and want to contribute to overcoming challenges and solving problems.
This question can give you an idea of what specific issues you would work on if you chose to accept the position. You can also ask about how the challenges are already being addressed to help you understand what the company’s general attitude is toward experiencing challenges.
What Is A Typical Day Like
I work on the mobile development team, which is a sub-team of our software development team . In the morning we have a standup thats where we talk about our plans for the day and what we worked on the previous day. Its a good chance to get an idea of what everyone is working on.
Then Ill usually have about 2 hours of coding alone before our tea break at 11am. Between 11am and 1pm we have our sprint planning meetings. In the evening Ill usually have a couple of more hours to code, interspersed with brief meetings with our product and design team to plan upcoming projects.
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Verbal Communication Skill Tips For Interview
Conversation is something that is often overlooked, leading to an informal approach that spoils impressions, drastically lowering your chances of getting hired. Follow these verbal communication skill tips to make sure your interview goes smoothly at all times:
Common Software Engineer Interview Questions
When preparing for a software engineering interview, it can be helpful to review sample answers to some of the most frequently asked questions, such as:
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What programming languages are you familiar with?
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Describe the last project you worked on including, any obstacles and your contributions to its success.
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What are your thoughts on declarative vs. imperative paradigms such as functional and object-oriented programming?
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What are your most used design patterns and in what contexts do you use them?
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What is Agile software development and what are your thoughts on it?
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What are your thoughts on software testing?
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Describe a difficult bug you were tasked with fixing in a large application. How did you debug the issue?
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How do you explain technical challenges to stakeholders who do not have technical knowledge or backgrounds?
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What aspect of our company, product or team interests you most?
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How do you determine a projects success?
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What Are Your Thoughts On Software Testing
Testing is an extremely important component of the software development life cycle because it ensures the quality of the software before it is deployed to users. Approaches to testing range from manually testing the application to writing test suites for individual code modules, or unit testing. Within these approaches, there are many schools of thought. For example, unit tests may be written in a strict test-driven process where failing tests are written before any business logic, aiming for 100% of the code to be exercised. There are other approaches that enumerate particularly complex or sensitive code and write a test for those as opposed to every line.
In fact, the point is even debated amongst the writers of The Manifesto for Agile Software Development, which arguably popularized testing as a standard part of the software development process. In the 2015 talk, Agile is Dead, co-author Pragmatic Dave Thomas stated, I mostly dont test. This is in sharp contrast with other co-authors such as Martin Fowler and Kent Beck who largely advocate for a test-driven approach.
You should have informed opinions on why you favor one approach over another. It will demonstrate that you are aware of the range of methodologies and have made a choice based on sound reasoning. Similar to speaking about Agile software development, negative statements should be avoided in general.
How Can You Prepare For Online Coding / Machine Coding Round
Online Coding:
Many companies want to check your coding skills before they take your candidature ahead. Basically they want to know whether you can code for a given problem or not. In this round you’ll be given a timed test on online platforms like HackerRank where you’re expected to write code for a given number of questions. More details on how to prepare for this round are discussed in the .
Machine Coding:
Nowadays machine coding round is gaining popularity in which companies want to see your coding skills for a real world application. In this round you’ll be given a set of requirements & you’re expected to design & write the code within 1.5 – 2 hours.
You don’t need to use any database to store & retrieve the data. Just storing in memory is sufficient for this round.
The main factors your code is evaluated on are:
- working solution
- Code Modularity
- Concurrency Handling etc
A working solution is very important in this round. Even if your code is well structured and following all the OOP & SOLID principles you will most probably get rejected if you don’t have a working solution. So focus on completing the requirements first. But also keep in mind about all the other factors.
The best way to approach this round is to spend 5-10 minutes to think about the entities, classes, inheritance, compositions that might be needed. Also spend some time on how you would structure your code.
- parking lot
- database management system
- cab booking system etc
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Have You Ever Had A Conflict With A Colleague
This is a common question during interviews for software engineers because it provides the interviewer with information on how you manage conflict. Software engineers typically work in a team setting and will need to work well with colleagues to collaborate on projects. Interviewers ask this question to find out how well you work in a team and how you adapt to new environments.
Example:”I have. In most situations, I prefer to manage the conflict between myself and the other individual. I will always be respectful toward a colleague I’m having difficulty with, and I generally discuss the situation with them privately, so we can come up with a solution.”
What Is A Technical Interview
Unlike other types of interviews, tech interviews involve challenges and assignments. Theyre more like an exam than a typical question-and-answer interview.
Like the phrase Show, dont tell, you have to prove that you have the skills required to do the job, rather than just tell the interviewer that you have them.
Contrary to popular belief, the purpose of the technical interview is not to trick you with riddles, brain teasers, or impossible questions. Instead, its to see how you tackle real-world problemslike the ones you might be facing once you have the job!
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How To Interview Software Developers: Valuable Tactics
Giving any companys programming interview experience an overhaul is a matter of careful analysis and intelligent determination. The hiring managers job is to objectively choose the best candidate for the software engineering position. This sounds simple but requires them to be knowledgeable and perceptive. They should choose from a wide pool, and utilize the expertise of other programmers within the company.
Have you experienced great or horrible software engineering interviews? Here are tips on how to conduct an interview that gets you the insights you need to make sound hiring decisions. Happy hiring!
What Are Your Thoughts On Declarative Vs Imperative Paradigms Such As Functional And Object
Programming paradigm is a broad categorization for languages as either declarative or imperative. However, it is useful to consider these general programming styles rather than concrete language directives. While certain approaches may be cumbersome in some, there are many that are not as rigid. Languages such as JavaScript and Java allow either approach to be taken, even if they lend themselves toward one approach over another.
With questions like this, employers want to gauge your familiarity with more abstract concepts in software engineering. There are many approaches for writing high-quality, maintainable software. Intelligently implementing a programming paradigm requires knowing at least some of the benefits and trade-offs of each.
As with any subjective question, there can be strong opinions on the topic. While answers should be stated confidently and with supporting experiences, it is very easy to slip into speaking negatively about your less-favored approach. The interviewer could have the opposite opinion, creating avoidable tension. Focusing on objective obstacles you face with the approach will avoid the situation and potentially open a friendly dialogue on the pros and cons of each.
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Example : Senior Software Engineer
I’ve worked in software engineering for my entire 15-year career, and my commitment to critical thinking and attention to detail have gotten me to where I am today: a senior software engineer for First Technology. I have a passion for processes, and I’m an experienced team leader who typically manages 10 developers at any given time.
Prior to my senior role, I worked as a software engineer for First Technology and a programmer for Mobile First. Because I’ve already held all the other positions in this field, I have keen insight into what it takes to run a successful project. My career goal is to move into management as a CTO, and I know this role would help me hone my leadership skills.
What Are The Growth Opportunities Like In This Position
If you want to advance at a company or improve your software engineering skills, asking about opportunities for growth is a great way to gauge whether you can practice new skills in the position and move up to higher levels of the company. Asking this question can also show the interviewer that you are interested in working for the company long term, which can show your commitment to the job.
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What Is The Difference Between Black Box And White Box Testing
Your interviewer may ask you a variety of technical definition questions that test your knowledge of specific software engineering concepts. When responding to technical questions like this one, define the basic terms and review the primary considerations you’re expected to know. You can also add details explaining how to use those terms in software engineering.
Example:”White box and black box testing both validate a program’s inputs and outputs. The difference between them is that white box testing also validates a program’s implementation, whereas black box testing does not.”
Stages For Interviewing Developers
After identifying an applicant that strikes your interest, the real work starts. The developer position is a highly desirable position for job seekers within and outside of the industry.
As a result, one of the most vital lessons in learning how to interview developers is finding the right candidate in a slurry of tech talent and boastful resumes.
In short, hiring software developers wont be a breeze. And the only way to get through it is to put all job candidates through a long, enduring, but necessary process.
Here are the stages of that process:
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How Would You Explain Apis To Non
Being able to communicate well is one of the most important skills a candidate can have. A question like this will give you an idea of how the candidate handles the most difficult or complex conversations.
A candidate might answer like this:
An API may be used for a web-based system, software library, computer hardware, and an operating or database system. It is a set of rules and specifications that software programs can follow in order to communicate. Simply put, it works as an interface between different programs and facilitates their interaction.
While this answer is accurate enough, it may come across as just more tech-speak to a non-tech-savvy audience. A better answer would be:
API is a very generic termit can be used in all sorts of programming contexts: websites, mobile apps, desktop software, and even operating systems . Its a specification for how a piece of software can be used by other pieces of software.
This is a little better: Theres less of an academic tone, and some precision was traded for slightly more relatable terms like web site over web-based system and desktop software over software library. However, it still gets too technical in that it has to have an aside to define OSes, which the audience may not be familiar with.
Compare that with:
Here, the answer gets across three key aspects of the topic:
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