Skip to contentSkip to footer

Software Engineer Interviews

Salaries
Interviews

Software Engineer Interview Questions

Software engineers write programs to design and develop computer software. Interviews are highly technical, so come ready to work through coding problems and math brainteasers. The specific questions you are asked will depend on what type of programming position you are looking for. Try researching a specific software discipline such as web development, application development, or system development.

Top Software Engineer Interview Questions & How to Answer

Question 1

Question #1: How would you describe your programming task process?

How to answer
How to answer: When answering a question about your process or life cycle for software development and engineering, it's helpful to consider every step, beginning with obtaining the requirements for the end product. Include as much detail as possible to help the interviewer learn more about any work you've done as a software engineer and how you handle a task to show your ability to tackle a project from start to finish.
Question 2

Question #2: Which programming languages do you know and prefer?

How to answer
How to answer: An interviewer will want to know what programming languages you're familiar with, as well as which languages you prefer. This question doesn't necessarily have a right or wrong answer, but it does provide insights into your capabilities and coding expertise. If the job listing for which you are interviewing includes specific language knowledge preferences, make sure to include them when outlining the software languages you know.
Question 3

Question 3: What is an example of a successful project that you completed?

How to answer
How to answer: When describing your success with a past project, it's helpful to identify aspects of the project that went well and detail the different task list elements. You can describe the team with whom you worked on the project, how you managed your time, and how you specifically contributed to the project.

419,481 software engineer interview questions shared by candidates

In a 2D vector, all vectors were of size two. Eg: {{1,3},{2,3},{1,4}}. The vectors represent the entry and exit time of a pedestrian crossing a road. Pedestrian 1 entered at time 1 and exited at time 3 and so on.. Find the interval during which maximum number of pedestrians were crossing the road.
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Uber

3.7★
Jun 28, 2019

In a 2D vector, all vectors were of size two. Eg: {{1,3},{2,3},{1,4}}. The vectors represent the entry and exit time of a pedestrian crossing a road. Pedestrian 1 entered at time 1 and exited at time 3 and so on.. Find the interval during which maximum number of pedestrians were crossing the road.

1. How to encrypt a set of string e.g. WAAAYYFFFFFAIIIRR to W1A3Y2F4A1I3R2 etc... And how to decrypt it back to original string (2 separate functions) 2. How to design a system so that user can check in their location thru their phone, and how to scale it when the app gets popular and millions of users are using it. How would you expand the application features when popularity grows. 3. How to design a database of Warehouse, Suppliers and Customers and they ask you to write various SQL queries to pull products sold, how many customers bought more than 30 products etc 4. A coding problem to simulate the coin game and gambler's fallacy (if they are 4 Heads in a row, gambler would bet on Tail, and vice versa).
avatar

Senior Software Engineer

Interviewed at Wayfair

3.1★
May 23, 2019

1. How to encrypt a set of string e.g. WAAAYYFFFFFAIIIRR to W1A3Y2F4A1I3R2 etc... And how to decrypt it back to original string (2 separate functions) 2. How to design a system so that user can check in their location thru their phone, and how to scale it when the app gets popular and millions of users are using it. How would you expand the application features when popularity grows. 3. How to design a database of Warehouse, Suppliers and Customers and they ask you to write various SQL queries to pull products sold, how many customers bought more than 30 products etc 4. A coding problem to simulate the coin game and gambler's fallacy (if they are 4 Heads in a row, gambler would bet on Tail, and vice versa).

I interviewed with more than 5 people including CTO. I only receive one technical question that could have demonstrate any technical skill. The question was extremely easy and the interviewer did not even ask for the optimal solution (the interviewer actually did not want me to explain the optimal solution). The question was "You have an array of numbers. Return the number of couple that have 23 as their sum."
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Clari

3.4★
Dec 27, 2013

I interviewed with more than 5 people including CTO. I only receive one technical question that could have demonstrate any technical skill. The question was extremely easy and the interviewer did not even ask for the optimal solution (the interviewer actually did not want me to explain the optimal solution). The question was "You have an array of numbers. Return the number of couple that have 23 as their sum."

The question gave me as input an array a that had a permutations of the first n natural numbers and a number k. You have a series of plants, at the beginning all the plants are not in bloom. At the ith iteration the plant at the location of the array that had the value i was going to bloom. If a plant bloomed it stayed bloomed forever. We define a group as the number of adjacent bloomed plants. Find the last iteration that had a group of size k. E.g. Given a = [ 1 3 2 4] plants: 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 (1 group of size 1) 1 0 1 0 (2 groups of size 1) 1 1 1 0 (1 group of size 3) 1 1 1 1 (1 group of size 4)
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Google

4.4★
Apr 16, 2018

The question gave me as input an array a that had a permutations of the first n natural numbers and a number k. You have a series of plants, at the beginning all the plants are not in bloom. At the ith iteration the plant at the location of the array that had the value i was going to bloom. If a plant bloomed it stayed bloomed forever. We define a group as the number of adjacent bloomed plants. Find the last iteration that had a group of size k. E.g. Given a = [ 1 3 2 4] plants: 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 (1 group of size 1) 1 0 1 0 (2 groups of size 1) 1 1 1 0 (1 group of size 3) 1 1 1 1 (1 group of size 4)

Viewing 1641 - 1650 interview questions

Glassdoor has 419,481 interview questions and reports from Software engineer interviews. Prepare for your interview. Get hired. Love your job.