What’s The Biggest Challenge You’ve Faced In Past Training Programs
Employers often like asking you about previous challenges to see how you have overcome them. They usually want to evaluate your problem-solving skills and your ability to stay positive in the face of an obstacle. Use the STAR method to prepare an answer about a challenging situation you’ve experienced, your responsibility in it, your action to overcome it and the positive result of your action.
Example:”In my last role as a learning and development manager, there was an employee who struggled with using technology. Since it was my responsibility to ensure all trainees felt supported and valued in the training process, I made sure to give customized guidance to this employee. I was able to instruct the employee on a simple way to access training materials online and received a positive review from them at the end of the session.”
Software Engineering Manager Interview Questions On Distributed Systems Design
Systems design is a crucial component of software engineering interviews. As a matter of fact, design rounds are more important and carry higher weightage than coding rounds at software engineering manager interviews.
In this section, weâll look at some sample software engineering manager interview questions in systems design. Before that, here is the list of topics that you ought to prepare for your interview:
- Systems design case studies
Below are some sample engineering manager interview questions on distributed systems design:
Do you know the best way to answer system design interview questions like âDesign Twitter or Instagramâ? to find out.
Fundamentals Of An Em Interview
Engineering Managers in most tech companies are expected to play this intersectional role between People, Tech, and Product/Business. They are entrepreneurs for their own little startups and are held accountable for its success. The real question every company wants to answer is Can this person drive sustainable, long-term success for this area of the business? So they model the interview process to capture signals that can give them reasonable confidence about the candidates ability to drive that sustainable, long-term success. Obviously, it is impossible to categorically determine that, so companies resort to reasonable proxies. The proxies that Ive seen end up falling into these categories:
- Technical Domain Experience
Lets look at each of these in detail and see how they manifest in various interview formats across different companies:
Recommended Reading: How Does A Virtual Interview Work
Managerial Round Interview Questions
The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed’s data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.
Managerial round interview questions can cover a diverse range of discussion topics. If you are preparing for this type of interview, it may help to consider what questions hiring managers may ask. You can use example questions to help you prepare for different topics interviewers may discuss during your interview. In this article, we share eight managerial round interview questions with sample answers and provide an overview of additional example questions your hiring manager might ask to help you prepare.
Related:Different Types of Interviews and How To Prepare for Them
What Happens If You Can’t Solve All The Problems In A Software Engineer Interview
Although it’s important to have the skills to solve coding problems during a software engineer interview, interviewers also want to see your critical thinking skills, ability to work within time limits and your readiness to ask for help. Even if you can’t solve all the problems in your interview, you can prove to potential employers that you have teamwork and communication skills that can benefit their company. To prepare for this situation, remember to ask questions if you get stuck during a problem and try to remain calm as you search for solutions.
Recommended Reading: How To Do A Great Phone Interview
Question: How Do You Simplify Bigger Projects For Your Team To Make Them More Manageable
Answer:When breaking down a larger project to make it more manageable for my team, I make sure that I, personally, have a clear understanding first. Once I understand the expected outcome, I look at the resources and software development tools well need. If everythings within budget, I then deconstruct the larger tasks into smaller tasks that I assign to the right team members. I usually determine this based on availability and level of experience.
I check in with all my team members weekly during our one-on-one meetings, where they have time to share updates, potential problems, or any general questions. Plus, I like to break the project into phases and meet regularly with the team to move each phase forward.
I Like What Im Hearing But Weve Got A Ton Of Great Candidates Why Should We Hire You
An easy question to answer well with one caveat dont slam your fellow interviewees. On the one hand, you have an opportunity to really stand out from the pack. Alternatively, You shouldnt assume the skills of other applicants. Focus on your own strengths, and if the interviewer hasnt given you an opportunity to mention that one slam dunk quality about yourself, now would be the time.
Is there a wrong way to answer this question? Consider the responses below:
- I really need a job right now
- I need the money
- Your office is really close to my house
- Ive always been interested in what you guys do
Notice any commonality here? All of these answers demonstrate a benefit to you. While every employer assumes that these sorts of things play in on some level, these are not the reasons they are going to hire you.
In summation, clearly illustrate what in specific has made you a good employee, and how you envision yourself contributing to and benefiting the company.
Also Check: How To Stay Calm During An Interview
Describe The Software Development Process:
The software development process is like a life cycle of particular software. If the developer can answer and describe the process accurately, that means he be well acquainted with the cycle. The process is composed of the following activities: Requirement analysis > Specification > Software architecture > Implementation > Testing > Documentation > Training and support > Maintenance.
Should I Cram The Day Before
As the days go by, you are feeling more confident. You are tired from preparation, but excited to show this company what you are made of. It’s finally the day before the interview what is the best use of your time?
It might be tempting for candidates to cram as many Leetcode problems or whiteboard questions as possible the day before. But I believe the best thing you can do for your mind is to rest.
Celebrate your achievement, getting interviews is not an easy task. Be nice to yourself. Relax and spend the day doing any activity that brings you joy and relaxes you.
This might sound counterintuitive, but I think it is the best thing for you to do. You will need your brain to work well at your interview. Therefore, giving it rest the day before is exactly what it needs.
Don’t Miss: How To Study Algorithms For Interviews
What Was A Difficult Decision You Had To Make In Your Past Role
Managers in any industry must sometimes make difficult decisions, and the interviewer will likely want to know how you approach the decision-making process. Demonstrate your ability to evaluate information, form conclusions and make choices.
Example:”In my last role, I had to make the choice of whether to keep a gifted engineer on my team or to let them go. They continuously demonstrated negativity on the team, even though their work was exceptional. Ultimately, I kept them on the team by compromising with them to work independently most of the time. This was a difficult, but necessary decision as this particular team member continued to produce amazing outcomes for the company.”
Do You Have Any Questions
This one you can almost be assured will be asked, and you better have some ready.
By asking questions you demonstrate initiative, and show that you care enough about the job to have done some research. Ask questions that focus on areas where you can be an asset. Beyond this, other questions may be more direct including productivity, expectations, training, and other logistics. All this being said, try and limit the questions to no more than three or four.
Lastly youll want to ask about the next step in the process and when to expect to hear about the position.
Top job interview materials:
You May Like: How To Improve Interview Skills
Know The Star Format For Answering Them
The STAR format helps you to organize your answers to behavioral questions. This is most applicable to questions that require you to recount past experiences or behavior. Situation: Share details about the situation that gave rise to the task Task: Explain what you needed to achieve or the problems you had to solve, focusing on the scope, severity or specific benchmarks or outcomes you had to hit Action: Explain what you did to meet your objectives, describing options you had and how you made decisions Results: Describe the outcome of your actions and what you learnt
Read more: The STAR format for answering behavioral questions
What Are Your Long
Hiring managers often ask employees for their long-term career aspirations and goals. They might also ask where you see yourself in five years. These questions assess if your long-term career aspirations align with the company’s projected growth or if you are only pursuing the organisation as a way to advance to other opportunities. Use your answer to confirm that you intend to work with the company for a long period.
Example:I have significant experience with software development, but I would now like to take on managerial responsibilities. I want to become a leader with several teams working on different projects simultaneously. Considering the number of projects your organisation runs, I believe I can work towards that aspiration.”
Related:
Read Also: What Questions Do They Ask In Citizenship Interview
Tell Me About A Time When You Failed Or Made A Mistake
Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are looking for engineering managers who take risks and are constantly learning. So interviewers will want to know about the risks youve taken in the past, and the lessons youve learned from when they didnt work out.
Here is an example answer to get you started. Again, this is a shorter version of a complete example answer that weve used to illustrate a behavioral answer framework, which you can find out more about here.
In my last position, my team was working with a lead PM to build out a key feature of a new product that was about to be launched. I told the PM that my team would be finished a week ahead of schedule, as we had beat every deadline leading up to that moment. She rearranged the launch date of the product accordingly.
However, I soon realized that my team would not be finished testing the feature by the new deadline that I had imposed. I had allowed myself to get swept up in our previous progress without considering the intricacies of the last tests and details that would be necessary to finalize it.
As it was my mistake to move up the deadline, I took full responsibility for the mistake. I reported the issue to the lead PM and took it upon myself to speed up the process, so that the updated launch date could be met. I worked overtime every night for two weeks, alongside a few members of my team who elected to help.
Pick A Programming Language
With your resume done, the next step of your software engineering interview journey is a simple one and won’t take long – decide on a programming language. Unless you’re interviewing for a specialist position like mobile or front end where there are domain-specific languages, you should be free to use any language you want for the algorithmic coding interviews.
Most of the time, you’d already have one in mind – pick the one you use the most and you’re the most comfortable with. The most common programming languages used for coding interviews are Python, Java, C++, and JavaScript. I wouldn’t recommend learning an entirely new language just for coding interviews as it takes a while to become proficient enough in a language to wield it comfortably in an interview setting, which is already stressful enough on its own. My personal programming language of choice is Python because of how terse it is and the functions/data structures the standard library provides.
Read more on programming languages for coding interviews: Picking a programming language
Read Also: Software Development Engineer Amazon Interview
What Are Your Strengths
While this question is an invitation to do some chest pounding, remember to illustrate strengths that will benefit the employer and arerelative to the position. For example:
- being a problem solver
- the ability to perform under pressure
- a positive attitude
Are typically all solid strengths, but again, consider the position. For example, mentioning you are an excellent team player in a job where you largely work alone suddenly becomes irrelevant to the employer and demonstrates a genuine lack of self awareness.
Beyond this, present your strengths with confidence this is not the time to be modest.
Give An Example Of A Situation Where You Anticipated Potential Challenges And Developed Preventive Solutions
This question can show the interviewer how you apply your problem-solving and critical thinking skills to overcome challenges and achieve success. Use an example from a past experience that highlights your strategies, how you solved the problem and what the outcome was.
Example: “At the start of my most recent development project, I found potential compatibility issues between the company’s OS and the application I was working on. Before I started initiating project tasks, though, I was able to identify ways to bypass the incompatibility features between the OS and the application.”
Don’t Miss: How To Answer A Phone Interview Call
Preparing For The Interview:
Software developing jobs mostly come under the technical sector, so the interviewer would surely get down with the technical questions to assess their knowledge on the job role they are applying.
But for hiring the right candidates, you not only have to assess their subjective knowledge but also have to ask questions to analyze their personality and ethics they carry.
Here are few interview tips for software developer hiring
Now before the interview, the employer/interviewer should very well get prepared with all the requirements needed and the important questions that they need to ask the candidates. This helps to hire the best candidate in the organization.
Every company works on different projects, so the requirements and needs would differ accordingly. The same thing applies when asking questions in an interview. But before that, here are few general tips interviewers need to follow during the interview.
- Know the project requirements
- Prepare your questions in advance
What Makes You A Good Fit For This Organization
Employers may ask this question to gauge your qualifications for the role and your interest in their organization. It’s important that you show your interviewer your enthusiasm about the particular role you applied to, as opposed to any other job. Conduct thorough research of the company beforehand, and consider explaining what you like about the company’s mission, values or vision of the future. It’s also a good idea to emphasize how your credentials match the job description and how your skills could benefit the organization.
Example:”I am very inspired by your organization’s mission to foster positivity in the workplace. Because of my experience researching best learning practices, I’ve realized that supportive work atmospheres can actually enable team members to be productive and creative. My skills in encouraging collaboration through positive feedback, rewards and team-building activities make me an excellent fit for this organization.”
Also Check: How To Interview With Google
What Projects Are You Working On Personally
There might be some projects on which the developer is personally working on from home. If he is a passionate software developer then he would definitely strive hard to make a project successful. Therefore, you should learn about his ongoing projects which he is personally or professionally working on.
What Is The On
The final stage of the interview process is usually referred to as the on-site. This is often the most in-depth and the most important to perform well at.
One of the main questions the company would like to have a good answer for is, how does this person work? The answer to this question is usually echoed through multiple levels as well, personal, technical, and professional.
Companies seek this answer by giving the candidate various exercises, technical and interpersonal, to gauge your skills and how well you will fit in at their company.
Depending on the company this interview can include various elements, but a few that are most common are:
- Pair programming
- Whiteboarding
Don’t Miss: How Should I Prepare For Google Interview
