Software Engineer 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.

418,965 software engineer interview questions shared by candidates

Write a function in Java that will take a sorted array of ints, possibly with duplicates, and compact the array removing all the duplicate numbers. That is, if the contains the numbers - 1, 3, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, then when the function returns, the contents should be - 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10. Be sure your answer is as efficient as possible. Describe the efficiency of your algorithm using big O notation.
avatar

Software Engineer Intern

Interviewed at Motorola Mobility

4.2
Mar 19, 2009

Write a function in Java that will take a sorted array of ints, possibly with duplicates, and compact the array removing all the duplicate numbers. That is, if the contains the numbers - 1, 3, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, then when the function returns, the contents should be - 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10. Be sure your answer is as efficient as possible. Describe the efficiency of your algorithm using big O notation.

Except experience related questions I was asked coding question and I was supposed to write the solution to the problem in any programming language in a simple web-based code editor. The question was: given and array of positive integers and another integer find whether there is a consecutive range in the array, so that the sum of integers in the range is equal to the given number. They put an emphasis on delivering working, efficient solution. In my opinion this kind of interview requires a thorough preparation.
avatar

Senior Software Engineer

Interviewed at Meta

3.5
Sep 9, 2015

Except experience related questions I was asked coding question and I was supposed to write the solution to the problem in any programming language in a simple web-based code editor. The question was: given and array of positive integers and another integer find whether there is a consecutive range in the array, so that the sum of integers in the range is equal to the given number. They put an emphasis on delivering working, efficient solution. In my opinion this kind of interview requires a thorough preparation.

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