What Aspect Of Our Company Product Or Team Interests You Most
Retention is a high priority for many employers. Replacing a team member can be quite expensive in cost terms of recruitment and training time. Asking questions to ensure your interests and motivations align with that of the company can reduce the risk of losing you as a team member. Though youre ideally excited by the mission of the company, it is not uncommon for companies to use niche technology specifically to attract higher-quality talent. To answer this question, incorporate details from your research that speak specifically to the companys values, past projects or a responsibility mentioned in the job description that aligns with your career motivations and progression.
Example:”I was watching an interview with your CEO about your product that aims to disrupt the lending industry. Streamlining arduous tasks like loan applications has huge potential. I think the growth in this sector over the last year is a big indication of things to come. Additionally, Im excited by the untapped potential of blockchain technology you have recently decided to incorporate. I see this as giving your company the competitive advantage in this space as the verifiable auditability will reduce compliance costs.”
How Interview Kickstart Can Help You Crack Coding Interviews
The coding interviews at top tech companies may appear to be nerve-wracking given that they usually have a success rate of less than 20%. This does not imply that you cannot crack it.
With the right resources and the assistance of experts at Interview Kickstart, you can ace coding interviews at FAANG and other big tech companies.
Here are some of the reasons why IKâs coding interview prep program has a success rate of more than 95%.
- Our courses are developed and delivered by tech leads and hiring managers at FAANG.
- They are constantly updated to accommodate the evolving changes of the tech interview scene.
- There are as many as 15 live mock sessions with actual hiring managers at FAANG who give you actionable feedback to improve your performance.
- Thereâs a 6-month extended support period after the completion of the comprehensive 2-month course.
- Intensive coaching to crack technical as well as behavioral interview rounds at FAANG
To know more about Interview Kickstartâs coding interview program, head to this post, where we explain everything you need to know about the course.
You can also register for our FREE webinar on how to nail your next tech interview, conducted by IKâs co-founder â learn about coding interviews at FAANG, how to prepare for them, and land your next dream job.
Always Say Thank You With A Sample Thank You Note
Heres a sample thank you note for you to customize and use, including an area for you to present questions showing your sincere interest in the position:
Good Day ,
Thank you for your time and consideration. It was a pleasure to meet you and learn more about , as well as your vacancy for a .
I had one matter slip my mind during our conversation. I would be grateful if you could tell me more about .
Thank you very much!
I look forward to hearing from you concerning our next steps forward. I hope you’re having a wonderful day.
Kind regards
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How Do You Determine A Projects Success
While releasing high-quality software is vital, software that doesnt address the needs of the user and the business produces little value. Employers want to know that you are thinking beyond the technical aspects and aim to solve real-world problems. This often comes down to identifying a metric to improve and creating a testable hypothesis of your expected project impact.
Example:”Before a project is even started, success metrics are laid out. I will identify the key performance indicator that we are hoping to impact and begin gathering information to formulate ideas. These ideas are stated as a falsifiable hypothesis. For example, We believe that reducing checkout steps will increase sales conversion. An increase of 2% will be considered a positive signal. This keeps the team focused on the impact of our projects on the businesss bottom line.”
Study Common Interview Concepts
A large percentage of interview questions feature data structures and algorithms. For better or worse, this is the truth. We gather question details from our candidates who interview at companies , and algorithm questions make up over 70% of the questions that are asked. You do not need to be an expert, but knowing the following list of algorithms and data structures will help at most companies.
- Hash tables
- Dynamic programming
- Big-O analysis
Depending on your background, this list may look trivial, or may look totally intimidating. Thatâs exactly the point. These are concepts that are far more common in interviews than they are in production web programming. If youâre self-taught or years out of school and these concepts are not familiar to you, you will do better in interviews if you study them. Even if you do know these things, refreshing your knowledge will help. A startlingly high percentage of interview questions reduce to breadth-first search or the use of a hash table to count uniques. You need to be able to write a BFS cold, and you need to understand how a hash table is implemented.
Studying algorithms and data structures helps not only because the material comes up in interviews, but also because the approach to problems taken in an algorithm course is the same approach that works best in interviews. Studying algorithms will get you in an interview mindset.
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Use A Dynamic Language But Mention C
I recommend that you use a dynamic language like Python, Ruby or JavaScript during interviews. Of course, you should use whatever language you know best. But we find that many people try interviewing in C , C++ or Java, under the impression these are the ârealâ programming languages. Several classic books on interviewing recommend that programmers choose Java or C++. At startups at least, weâve found that this is bad advice. Candidates do better when using dynamic languages. This is true, I think, because of dynamic languagesâ compact syntax, flexible typing, and list and hash literals. They are permissive languages. This can be a liability when writing complex systems , but itâs great when trying to cram binary search onto a whiteboard.
No matter what language you use, itâs helpful to mention work in other languages. An anti-pattern that companies screen against is people who only know one language. If you do only know one language, you have to rely on your strength in that language. But if youâve done work or side-projects in multiple languages, be sure to bring this up when talking to your interviewers. If you have worked in lower-level languages like C, C++, Go, or Rust, talking about this will particularly help.
Dont Put All Your Eggs In One Basket
You might feel certain that an offer is coming from Company A, and feel ready to discard your relationship with Company B. Not so fast! Until youve signed an offer with a company, keep your options open. You never know what might come up.
As an example, there are some companies who hire remotely but dont have the paperwork set up to legally hire someone in every U.S. state. A lapse in communication could result in this technicality being overlooked until HR attempts to process your hiring paperwork. Oops! They arent legally set up to have employees in your state, and they arent willing or able to do the legal legwork to set it up. Now what? Its back to the drawing board for you.
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What Are Your Preferred Programming Languages
In general, it’s good to make sure you’re familiar with some of the more popular languages, including:
- JavaScript and its popular frameworks like Node and React
If the company you’re applying to relies heavily on a specific programming language, you may be asked questions about its functionality and related concepts. Brush up on your knowledge of popular programming languages with the links below:
Take Mock Interviews Before The Final Day
And no, we are not talking about one mock interview. The purpose of the mock is to gauge your performance, get feedback, analyze the areas that need work, and measure the improvement. Therefore, you need to take as many mock interviewers as you can.
Ideally, this should be taken with technical professionals who have experience conducting coding interviews before. However, if thatâs not possible, you can take mocks with friends and peers, preferably from a software background, and seek their feedback on your performance.
Interview Kickstartâs interview prep course offers as many as 15 live mock interviews to our students with actual hiring managers at FAANG and other big techs. You can know more about this through this free webinar conducted by one of our founders.
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Operational And Situational Questions
- What would be your approach to a more junior developer on your team who kept questioning your decisions?
- How would you motivate disengaged employees?
- How would you deal with disagreements related to system requirements between senior managers?
- What advice would you give to a new team member? Whats the best way to onboard a new hire?
- How would you negotiate a bigger budget for your team?
- Do you prefer giving team-wide or individual feedback?
- How do you document your programming work?
Software Engineering Interview Questions
This first part covers basic interview questions and answers
1. What is Software Engineering?
Answer:Software Engineering is a process of developing a software product in a well-defined systematic approach. In other words, developing a software by using scientific principles, methods, and procedures.
2. What is the need to learn Software Engineering Concepts?
Answer:Imagine a person, who is good at building a wall may not be good at constructing a house. In a similar way, a person who can write programs does not have the knowledge to develop and implement the software in a well-defined systematic approach. Hence, there is a need for programmers to adhere to software engineering concepts such as requirements gathering, planning, development, testing, and documentation.
3. What is SDLC OR Software Development Life Cycle?
Answer:SDLC defines a set of guidelines to develop a software product. SDLC has different phases namely: Gathering Requirements, Analysis, Planning, Development, Testing, Implementation, Maintenance, and Documentation. The order of the phases mentioned in SDLC may vary depending upon the model chosen to implement.
Let us move to the next Interview Questions.
4. What are the different types of models available in SDLC?
Answer:Many models have been proposed, to carry out the software implementation efficiently. Some of them include the Waterfall Model, Agile Model, Spiral Model, Iterative Model, V-Model etc.
5. Explain the role of a Software Project Manager?
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What To Expect During Coding Interviews
When applying to a FAANG company, you should know that the companyâs acceptance rate can be as low as 0.2% . Therefore, you need to be aware of the challenges that lie ahead of you and prepare yourself accordingly.
The qualities that any recruiter looks for in a great software engineer are:
- How efficiently can you solve the problems?
- How optimal is your solution to problems?
- How many attempts did it take you to come up with the solution?
- Your contribution to open source projects and experience in competitions
- Can you write a clean code?
- How good are your communication skills?
- How passionate are you about coding?
The answers to these questions determine if youâd be an ideal fit for the organization. All of these factors should be included in your FAANG interview prep strategy.
What Should You Write Down
First of all, you must have a list of questions youve prepared before going to a job interview. Based on the answers youve received, think about the following:
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Start By Researching The Company
This is an extremely important step in the interview prep process and is often not taken seriously. While applying for big companies such as , , and Apple, candidates often think that they do not need to do research because they are already familiar with the product.
That is not true. You need to walk into your interviews with knowledge about the companys mission, values, and goals. You can do this by going to the companys website and reading the About Us section.
Researching the culture of a company is also crucial. You should talk about the culture and values of an organization during your interview so that recruiters see you as an ideal fit. For example, if you are interviewing at Facebook, start with their company page to learn more about their mission and history. Next, take a look at the page to understand the companys culture and values, read testimonials from employees, and more. Finally, you can look at the companys Diversity page to learn about their commitment to diversity in the workplace.
You should also spend some time researching the companys products and areas of work of the company you are interviewing with so that you know what to expect if you are selected.
If this seems to be too time-consuming, we have created 200+ interviewing insider company guides that you can use to learn about the mission, values, hiring processes, interview questions, demographics, and more of top tech companies around the world.
Senior Softwaredeveloper Vs Junior Developer
There are several factors that set juniors and seniors apart. Most senior developers have a much wider range of extensive duties in addition to the normal work of software development. In particular, they are likely to be responsible for leading a team of developers, or for managing a number of teams of developers.
At one end of the leading/managing spectrum, the form of leadership may be more in the style of a Scrum Master. At the other end of the spectrum, the senior developer might be working on organizational issues or perhaps focusing on activities related to keeping the business profitable.
Source: Unsplash
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Technical Questions To Ask A Senior Developer
You will need to ask your developer team for advice when it comes to asking a more technical question during an interview. Here are some Senior developer interview question examples:
- Are you still writing code? Do you love it?
- What are the pros and cons of cloud systems?
- For a fintech application, what security concerns would you have? And how would you address them?
- What technologies, programming languages, and frameworks would you use if you had to develop a project from scratch in only one month?
- You have just been put in charge of a legacy code project which is difficult to maintain what would you plan to improve in order to make the project easier to maintain in the long-term?
Remember to also tailor interview questions to suit the specific technologies of your company. So for instance, ask a senior Java developer a specifically tailored Java interview question. Likewise, ask Android developers about the technologies they would use to create a new Android app. If your company uses a specific programming language, it is good to know that your senior programmer candidate is experienced in that area.
Dos For A Software Engineer Job Interview
First, lets talk about interview Dos. Based on my experience, here is my list of the top seven things you should absolutely Do!
Research the company and people you are interviewing with. Spend some time looking at the company website, the interviewers background information , and see if they have written any articles/blog posts. Make sure you know what the company does as well as the interviewer .
Prepare key questions you would like to ask. Your questions should be specific to the company and interviewer. Typical questions here are: What type of work do you do? How are the teams made up ? What technologies do they use? How is the work-life balance? What are the company’s core values and are they real? What are the companys goals?
Show up 15 minutes early! Dont be late if you get there more than 15 minutes early, wait in your car, or in the nearest cafe. If you are going to be late, let them know .
Dress to impress. Even if the company is casual, you should dress nicely. You don’t need to overdress based on the company’s dress code , but you should present your best!
Smile. Smile, smile, and smile some more!
Listen carefully. Repeat the question back if you are not sure. I cant tell you how often we have eliminated a candidate from consideration because they just refuse to listen during the interview. Answer the questions simply and dont go on and on unless prompted. How well you listen in the interview is a good indicator of how well you will listen in the job!
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Onsite Interview And Whiteboard Challenge
Now weve arrived at the most intimidating part of the entire tech interview process. At tiny startups, onsite technical interviews might be a lot less formal than at bigger companies. Heck, there may not even be a whiteboard to do a coding exercise on! Still, whatever the company size, it never hurts to do coding interview preparation so youre ready for any situation that may arise.
What to do during the onsite technical interview + whiteboard challenge
1. Ask clarifying questions before you even start writing code.
I appreciate it when someone takes the time to evaluate the question he faces in the interview, says Refael . It shows me that this person is calculated and rather than just writing code, he sees the whole picture.
Ask questions around assumptions of the question, and try to reason about the question from a bottom-up perspective, adds Chris.
2. Talk through your code to give the interviewer a window into your thoughts.
What happens in a technical interview is as much about the journey as the destination. Its designed to test a candidates communication and problem-solving skills, says Refael. More important than the solution is how they work at getting the solution. Can they articulate their thoughts while writing out the code on the whiteboard? Are they putting together a clear response to the question?
3. Speak clearly and precisely.
A few of Chriss specific tips to help your interview skills:
How to stand out in the whiteboard interview
