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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.

418,645 software engineer interview questions shared by candidates

Suppose that you earn 100% annual interest (APY) on $1 initial deposit. How long before you'll be as rich as Bill Gates ($63 billion)? Given a number, e.g., 314159, as an array [3,1,4,1,5,9], increment it: change it to [3,1,4,1,6,0].
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Google

4.4★
Feb 12, 2013

Suppose that you earn 100% annual interest (APY) on $1 initial deposit. How long before you'll be as rich as Bill Gates ($63 billion)? Given a number, e.g., 314159, as an array [3,1,4,1,5,9], increment it: change it to [3,1,4,1,6,0].

you have a sequence where each number is a multiple of 2 or 5 (so: 2^i * 5^j). he gave the beginning of the sequence as 1,2,3,4,5,8,10,16... and asked me to find an algorithm to calculate the next number in the sequence.
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Google

4.4★
Mar 10, 2010

you have a sequence where each number is a multiple of 2 or 5 (so: 2^i * 5^j). he gave the beginning of the sequence as 1,2,3,4,5,8,10,16... and asked me to find an algorithm to calculate the next number in the sequence.

1. Phone interview - Sort the characters in string by frequency and then by their alphabetical order. Example - bbaaccc -> cccaabb 2. The question that screwed me - given array is [0,1,1,0,1,1,1] ; output should be [0,1,1,0,1,2,3] ie., for every non-zero element in array, find its distance to the nearest zero in O(n) time. i would definitely encourage the candidates who read this post to share their solution for this question. 3. In order traversal of Binary search tree related (the solution is to start from right sub tree).
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Bloomberg

4★
Dec 29, 2016

1. Phone interview - Sort the characters in string by frequency and then by their alphabetical order. Example - bbaaccc -> cccaabb 2. The question that screwed me - given array is [0,1,1,0,1,1,1] ; output should be [0,1,1,0,1,2,3] ie., for every non-zero element in array, find its distance to the nearest zero in O(n) time. i would definitely encourage the candidates who read this post to share their solution for this question. 3. In order traversal of Binary search tree related (the solution is to start from right sub tree).

If your are given an Integer Singly linked list. Print it backwards. Constraints: 1. Do not manipulate the list. (example: do not make it a doubly linked list, do not add or delete elements, do not change any memory location of any element) 2. O(n) < time < O(n^2) 3. O(1) < space < O(n)
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Meta

3.6★
Jan 11, 2017

If your are given an Integer Singly linked list. Print it backwards. Constraints: 1. Do not manipulate the list. (example: do not make it a doubly linked list, do not add or delete elements, do not change any memory location of any element) 2. O(n) < time < O(n^2) 3. O(1) < space < O(n)

Given a set of numbers -50 to 50, find all pairs that add up to a certain sum that is passed in. What's the O notation for what you just wrote? Can you make it faster? Can you find an O(n) solution? Implement the O(n) solution
avatar

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET)

Interviewed at Microsoft

4★
Mar 17, 2011

Given a set of numbers -50 to 50, find all pairs that add up to a certain sum that is passed in. What's the O notation for what you just wrote? Can you make it faster? Can you find an O(n) solution? Implement the O(n) solution

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