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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.

419,174 software engineer interview questions shared by candidates

Although I have all the questions from all the interview stages documented in a word file, I am not sure if I am allowed to reveal them here. But to give you a hint, I will paste only a few questions here: Interview 1: how does traceroute work? difference between big endian and little endian (with example)? BSD vs GPL vs LGPL vs FSF vs GNU? 255 & 42 = ? solve in 15 sec 11 << 2 = ? solve in 15 sec what is TTL in a packet? give examples of functional programming languages what other language runs on JVM? Interview 2: write code for fibonacci series. later, improve it. On-site Interview: (can't disclose)
avatar

Mobile Software Engineer

Interviewed at Spotify

4★
May 26, 2013

Although I have all the questions from all the interview stages documented in a word file, I am not sure if I am allowed to reveal them here. But to give you a hint, I will paste only a few questions here: Interview 1: how does traceroute work? difference between big endian and little endian (with example)? BSD vs GPL vs LGPL vs FSF vs GNU? 255 & 42 = ? solve in 15 sec 11 << 2 = ? solve in 15 sec what is TTL in a packet? give examples of functional programming languages what other language runs on JVM? Interview 2: write code for fibonacci series. later, improve it. On-site Interview: (can't disclose)

One bridge, 4 people. A, B, C, D. A takes 2 mins to cross the bridge, B 4 mins, C 8 mins, D 16mins. It is dark and 1 torch. So, 2 people need to cross the bridge at the same time, so that one person can bring back the torch for the next group to cross the bridge. The 2 pepole group walks at the pace of the slower walker. How to cross the bridge in the fasted way?
avatar

Senior Software Engineer

Interviewed at Roblox

3.8★
Aug 20, 2011

One bridge, 4 people. A, B, C, D. A takes 2 mins to cross the bridge, B 4 mins, C 8 mins, D 16mins. It is dark and 1 torch. So, 2 people need to cross the bridge at the same time, so that one person can bring back the torch for the next group to cross the bridge. The 2 pepole group walks at the pace of the slower walker. How to cross the bridge in the fasted way?

# a list of strings. Each string is a management / report relationship. # # EXAMPLE INPUT: # # [ # 'B,E,F', # 'A,B,C,D', # 'D,G,I', # 'G,H' # ] So, write some code (pseudo or language of your choice, including SQL) for the following: A is the manager of B, C, D. B is the manager of E and F, and so forth. # EXAMPLE OUTPUT: # # A # ....B # ........E # ........F # ....C # ....D # ........G # ............H # ........I
avatar

Senior Software Engineer

Interviewed at Reddit

3.9★
May 22, 2019

# a list of strings. Each string is a management / report relationship. # # EXAMPLE INPUT: # # [ # 'B,E,F', # 'A,B,C,D', # 'D,G,I', # 'G,H' # ] So, write some code (pseudo or language of your choice, including SQL) for the following: A is the manager of B, C, D. B is the manager of E and F, and so forth. # EXAMPLE OUTPUT: # # A # ....B # ........E # ........F # ....C # ....D # ........G # ............H # ........I

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