65+ Software Engineer

Interview Questions
1. Why Did You Decide to Become a Software
Engineer?
This is an important question because their answer will help
you understand how passionate they are about their work and
how dedicated they will be to their job.

Their answer should indicate whether they have a keen

interest in engineering software.

2. What programming languages do you

prefer?
This gives the candidate a chance to talk about the
programming languages they have used and what they
appreciate or dislike about certain aspects of each one. Do
they like object-oriented languages, or maybe more
functional ones?

3. What’s important when checking a team

member’s code?
While this question does not have a right or wrong answer it
will give you insight into their thought processes on coding.
What are the really important things when writing code? Do
they focus on functionality or simplicity? Is security
something there concerned with?

4. What project management tools have you

used?
This will give you an idea of the project management tools
such as Jira, Asana, or others that they are comfortable using
as well as the type of work environment and they’re used to.

5. Talk about a project you completed

successfully
This gives the software engineer a chance to discuss a project
without getting too technical. It should give you an
understanding of how they worked with teams, time
management skills, interacted with managers, and what
contributions they made to the project.

6. What Are You Looking for in This Job?

This is also an important question, as you want to know why
they are looking for a new job and why they applied to your
particular company. Did they do research about your
company? Try to find out what they know about your
company’s mission, what your values are, and what your
company culture is like.

If they did not do research about your company and are

simply looking for a new job because they need the money,
they might not end up being a good fit for your team. You
want to make sure that their values align with your own and
that they will be dedicated to your mission.

You want to hire a software engineer who is passionate

about your values and goals and wants to help you reach
them.

7. Why Should We Hire You?

This is also an important question, as it will give the applicant
the opportunity to explain more about themselves, what their
skills are, what they bring to the table, and how they will help
your company reach its goals.

That last part is important, as it will give you an opportunity to

see whether teamwork is important to them or not.

You don’t want them to just go on about their education and

skills, but you also want them to show you how they can help
you and be an important asset to your team.

8. Talk about some mistakes you learned from

Every software engineer who is passionate about engineering
and has worked on personal and business projects will have
made some mistakes. Perhaps they worked on a project that
ended up failing. That is not a bad thing, however, as it allows
them to learn important lessons from those failures.

During the interview process, try to find out what mistakes

the software engineer made and what lessons they learned
from those mistakes.
This allows you to get an insight into their work ethic, their
willingness to admit mistakes and learn, and how they work
on improving their skills while working on projects.

9. How Did You Solve a Problem You Faced?

This question will allow the candidate to explain how they
approach problems and their methodology for solving them.
It will show whether they have the skills to hold up to pressure
and use their problem-solving skills to arrive at a solution.

This does not have to be a software engineering problem,

though it may be. It can also be a problem with teamwork. For
example, they can explain how they had a disagreement with
a colleague on how to properly approach a specific problem
and how they came to an agreement with that colleague.

This will show that they have the teamwork skills to work with
someone else, even when there is a conflict.

10. How Do You Come Up With Estimates?

Software engineers often come up with estimates that are
entirely off the mark. Although they may want to think that
they can deliver an end result within a specific time frame,
new issues and bugs often come up that causes them to be
late on their estimate.

Ask the candidate how they come up with estimates to find

out how accurate they are and whether they have realistic
expectations about what it will take to complete a project.

11. What Are You Working On right now?

Find out what the software engineer is working on at the
moment. Even if they are not currently working for a specific
company, a good software engineer who is passionate about
development will usually be working on a side project of their
own.

If they are indeed working on a private project, ask them why

they chose that project, what their goals are, what they enjoy
about that project, and what they are learning from the
process of working on that project.

12. How Do You Assure Software Quality?

When working on a project, it is important to conduct a
quality control process to ensure that the end results come
out great.

Ask the developer what their quality control process looks like
and whether they use any specific tools to test their results.

Any engineer can end up having bugs in the software they are
working on, but it is important that they have a process to test
for bugs and a method for fixing them.

13. Do You Enjoy Working With a Team or

Alone?
There is no right or wrong answer to this question, as it all
depends on what you are looking for in a software engineer.
You may want an engineer who will work hard and who can
be independent. On the flip side, you may want someone who
is a team player and is not stubborn about doing things their
way.
14. What Are Your Career Goals?
You may be looking for a developer who has higher
aspirations, or you may be looking for someone who prefers to
do what they are doing now and not have any sort of
management position.

15. When writing your own database server

what should you consider?
Most of the time software engineers use data stores especially
those working on backend applications. Do they understand
the underlying factors of the application? How would they
write an application like MongoDB or MySQL?

This type of open-ended question tests the bounds of a

software engineer interviewee’s knowledge and could lead to
a discussion of database principles such as file storage,
sharding, threading, query optimizers, the big four NoSQL
types, indexing, and others.

16. How do you keep your skills sharp and up

to date?
A software engineer needs to stay on top of changes that
occur in the industry and keep their skills fresh for new and
emerging technologies.

17. What Questions Do You Have for Us?

When interviewing a potential software engineer, it is
important not just to ask them questions but to allow them to
ask their own questions.

If an engineer doesn’t really care about your company and is

just interested in making money, they probably won’t have a
lot of questions.

In addition, a good software engineer who cares about their

work is in high demand, and cares about working with a great
team will probably have a few questions for you as well.

They might want to ask about the company culture, the

work-life balance, your company values, the goals you are
trying to reach, what you are looking for in a software
developer and more to figure out whether you would make a
good fit for them and how they will fit in with your overall
company goals.

10 general software engineer interview

questions

1. How would you outline what computer software is and describe it

to someone in non-technical words?
2. Which technical skills are required to program efficiently?
3. Which non-technical (soft) skills are required to program
efficiently?
4. Which programming language do you prefer when writing
programming algorithms?
 5. Can you name the essential stages of the software development
process?
6. What are the main categories with which you can classify
software?
7. What would be your definition of debugging in software
development?
8. How are computer programs and computer software different?
9. How would you define software re-engineering?

10. What are the essentials of reviewing code?

5 of the most important general software

engineer interview questions and their
answers

Here are five of the most critical general software engineer interview
questions taken from the above list and the answers you should be
looking for as a recruiter.

1. How would you outline what computer software is

and describe it to someone in non-technical words?

The best answers to this question will outline the main components of
computer software in general terms, including user guides and
documentation. They might provide a few examples of computer
software that many organizations use and then explain clearly the
specific computer software related to the job vacancy.

Software engineers should also be able to confidently discuss the

purpose of software — that it comprises many instructions that the
hardware follows and enable the computer to perform tasks.

2. Which technical skills are required to program

efficiently?

When answering this question, candidates should not only mention the
programming skills required for an engineering position and
knowledge of several frameworks, but they must also demonstrate that
they have knowledge related to the business and how this affects the
role of a software engineer.

They should therefore be able to explain that they have the technical
and business skills required. If they don’t have the right technical skills
for your organization (for instance, they don’t know how to use the main
programming languages used by your team), they must indicate their
willingness to learn.

3. Which non-technical (soft) skills are required to

program efficiently?

A range of non-technical skills are essential for efficient programming

and can make programming easier. Since working as part of a team is
essential — particularly for code reviewing and mentoring new
employees, candidates should mention their ability to collaborate,
communicate, use time management approaches, and consistently use
empathy when completing projects.

4. Which programming language do you prefer when

writing programming algorithms?

Software engineer candidates should have knowledge of the high-level

programming languages, including C skills or Pascal, since they will be
using them frequently. But, again, your candidates might not mention
the specific programming languages regularly used by your team. In
this case, they must explain how they would learn to adapt to them.

5. Can you name the essential stages of the software

development process?

This question is linked to the SDLC (or software development lifecycle),

which consists of seven stages. Candidates should recognize all stages,
as they’ll be working on projects that will go through each stage,
including planning and analysis of the requirements, design,
implementation, development, testing, code reviewing documentation,
and the maintenance period.

22 software engineer interview questions

related to technical definitions

1. Explain some of the SDLC models.

2. Can you explain what verification is in software development?
3. Can you explain what validation is in software development?
4. Define the elements you should consider in the System Model
Construction.
5. What are the main tools you use to monitor the software’s
requirements?
6. How are stubs different from mocks?
7. Which SDLC model would you say is superior to others?
8. How would you describe what software scope means?
9. How would you find out how big a software product is?
10. How would you define function points?
11. Can you describe what is meant by the decomposition estimation
technique?
12. Can you describe what is meant by the empirical estimation
technique?
13. Can you outline and briefly mention configuration management?
14. Which approaches do you use for configuration management?
15. Can you outline what is meant by functional requirements?
16. Can you outline what is meant by non-functional requirements?
17. Describe modularization.
18. How is Pseudo Code different from structured English?
19. Outline structured design and what it means.
20. Can you describe functional programming?
21. Define what CASE means.

22.Outline the key differences between threads and processes.

5 of the most vital software engineer interview
questions related to technical definitions and
their answers

This next list comprises the five vital technical software engineer
interview questions from the above list and explains what to look for in
the best responses.

1. Explain some of the SDLC models.

Knowledge of SDLC models is crucial in software development as they

influence how the job is carried out. Some of the key SDLC or software
development lifecycle models that your candidates must be familiar
with include the Agile model as well as the Waterfall method. Others
include Scrum, Kanban, Prototyping, and the Spiral model.

You should consider candidates who can outline some information on

these, but the most important thing is that they can adapt to the SDLC
model that your organization uses even if they haven’t used it in the
past.

2. Which SDLC model would you say is superior to

others?

Agile is being used more frequently as a software development lifecycle

model, but answers to this question might not necessarily stipulate that
one model is better than the others. SDLC models are typically chosen
to match the development project. Therefore, candidates should be
able to describe the advantages of each SDLC model when used for
particular projects.

3. Define what CASE means.

These four letters (CASE) refer to “computer-aided software

engineering.” This is typically a group of programs classed as
automated applications that engineers use to achieve goals efficiently
in the software development lifecycle.

The best answers to this question will outline a few advantages of these
tools, including the ability to keep the cost of the software development
process low and boost the quality and chances of accomplishing the
user's requirements.

4. How would you find out how big a software product

is?

There are a couple of approaches that software engineers can use to

determine the size of a product. One of these might involve counting
the code’s lines, while another might add up the function points.

Function points also help engineers to assess new development

projects or program enhancements.

5. Describe what modularization is.

This question will help you understand your candidates’ technical
knowledge, and the best answers will demonstrate whether they’re
knowledgeable of the various ways that modularization can increase
the code’s quality for every separate section.

Modularization refers to the action of breaking down code and,

therefore, a program’s functionality into distinct modules. These
modules enable engineers to easily add separate and smaller modules
while avoiding the negative and complex influence of the program’s
other functions and keeping development time low.

16 behavioral software engineer interview

questions

1. Have you ever made a mistake when programming?

2. Have you ever encountered a problem when programming?
3. Name a side project you’ve been passionate about.
4. What do you understand about “Agile” development? Why is it
crucial?
5. Have you ever had to explain software programming to
non-technical stakeholders? What was your approach?
6. Can you talk me through a time when you used a design pattern
in a project?
7. Can you talk about a time when team collaboration was required
to solve a challenging problem?
 8. Can you talk about a time when you didn’t see eye-to-eye with a
team member? How did you resolve the problem?
9. Describe the critical principles that you follow as a software
developer.
10. Have you ever had to adapt to a new situation as a software
engineer?
11. Can you talk about a time when you suggested and implemented
an approach to enhance a project?
12. Can you give some insight into your creativity with software
engineering and explain a situation in which you used a unique
solution for a complicated problem?
13. Can you describe a time when you were just on time for a
deadline but struggled to meet it? How would you carry out the
project differently now?
14. Has there been a circumstance in which you missed a deadline?
What strategy would you use to complete the task now?
15. Describe some methods you use to stay organized.

16. Can you talk about a time when you had to plan for a software
engineering project?

5 of the most vital behavioral software

engineer interview questions and their
answers
We’ve provided five critical behavioral software engineer interview
questions in this section with answers indicating your candidates'
proficiency.

1. Have you ever made a mistake when programming or

learning how to code?

Your candidates might select from a broad range of mistakes, including

writing messy code and ignoring code quality, forgetting or deciding
not to plan, or failing to practice. Whichever mistake they might have
made, look for answers that indicate that they could learn to avoid
these errors.

For instance, if your candidate wrote messy code as a beginner, which

steps did they take to tidy up their coding quality? Did they learn about
well-structured code, and how did they achieve this?

If they initially failed to plan before starting a project, did they actively
seek to understand why planning is critical? And how have their current
projects increased in quality thanks to the implementation of their new
planning approach?

2. Name some side projects you’ve been passionate

about

Since passionate software engineers should be interested in building

their coding, creative, and technical skills, candidates should be able to
mention a side project that they have worked on in the past or are
working on now.

Do some digging during the interview process to find out why your
candidates opted to pursue the projects they are working on and what
skills they have learned so far. It’s vital to ask follow-up questions about
such side projects as they’ll give you a better understanding of your
candidates’ strengths and passions.

3. Describe the critical principles that you follow as a

software developer.

This question is crucial because the answers you receive will inform you
how dedicated and passionate your candidates are. They may mention
that they avoid repetition in code and value the “don’t repeat yourself”
principle. They may mention that keeping things simple is vital or show
that they know the SOLID principle.

The principles they outline are important, but it’s also vital that your
candidates can explain how these principles help them write better
code.

4. Have you ever had to adapt to a new situation as a

software engineer?

Your candidates will need to adapt to new circumstances in your

organization, which is why this question is important. Perhaps they
outline a situation where they had to learn a new programming
language or framework. Perhaps they had to grow accustomed to a
new software development lifecycle model.

Candidates should easily demonstrate that they have the transferable

skills required and outline a circumstance where their efforts to adapt
helped them accomplish a goal or milestone.

5. Can you give some insight into your creativity with

software engineering and explain a situation in which
you used a unique solution to a complicated problem?

Sometimes creative solutions are required, which means your

candidates should be able to think creatively. Candidates who can
demonstrate critical thinking skills and creativity are worth following up
with.

For instance, they might mention that a project requires a feature flag
or a cloud license development project requires the team to
acknowledge the end user’s thoughts. If so, what was the outcome of
these creative solutions? Ask the right questions to determine the
benefits of your candidates’ creativity.

3 software engineer interview questions

related to time and project management

1. Can you outline some useful software metrics?

 2. Are you aware of any software engineering project management
tools?

3. Describe a time when you had to provide an estimate for a client.

3 answers to the critical software engineer

interview questions related to time and
project management

Below, we’ve outlined the things you should look out for in candidates’
answers to the critical software engineer time and project
management interview questions.

1. Can you outline some useful software metrics?

Since software metrics are critical for understanding the progress made
on a project, ask candidates this question to learn whether they are
aware of the most important ones. Proficient candidates might
mention the length metrics related to requirement, the number of lines
of code, or testing metrics related to the product.

2. Are you aware of any software engineering project

management tools?

A few software engineering project management tools your candidates

might mention include status reports, Gantt charts, and Kanban tools. If
they haven’t used the project management tools used in your
organization, ask them whether they can learn how to use them.
Explore this a little further by asking how they’d adapt to your tools.

3. Describe a time when you had to provide an estimate

for a client.

It’s not only clients who require estimates; stakeholders and

engineering managers will need an estimate to evaluate progress and
set the scope of work for certain milestones. Can your candidates
recognize the many factors that may affect the estimate, including bug
fixing and testing?

Since an accurate estimation is crucial, assess whether your candidates

have a realistic understanding of how long a particular project will take
by asking what steps they will take to arrive at a reasonable estimation.

Credit: Test Gorilla and Apollo Technical