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.

419,183 software engineer interview questions shared by candidates

Question1 /** * Given a nested list of integers, returns the sum of all integers in the list weighted by their depth * For example, given the list {{1,1},2,{1,1}} the function should return 10 (four 1's at depth 2, one 2 at depth 1) * Given the list {1,{4,{6}}} the function should return 27 (one 1 at depth 1, one 4 at depth 2, and one 6 at depth 3)
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Software Engineer - New College Grad

Interviewed at LinkedIn

3.8
Apr 5, 2014

Question1 /** * Given a nested list of integers, returns the sum of all integers in the list weighted by their depth * For example, given the list {{1,1},2,{1,1}} the function should return 10 (four 1's at depth 2, one 2 at depth 1) * Given the list {1,{4,{6}}} the function should return 27 (one 1 at depth 1, one 4 at depth 2, and one 6 at depth 3)

Design an alert system. You have 500,000 hotels you represent, and about 250,000 are visited each day. You want to track hotel page visits such that, if more than 10 visitors per a) 5 minutes, b) 1 hour, and c) 24 hours occur, then a (different for each time period) "alert" appears when someone visits one of those "hot" hotel pages. Don't worry about the UI part, just design the underlying alert system. Then optimize your solution for space.
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Senior Software Engineer

Interviewed at Tripadvisor

3.5
Apr 6, 2012

Design an alert system. You have 500,000 hotels you represent, and about 250,000 are visited each day. You want to track hotel page visits such that, if more than 10 visitors per a) 5 minutes, b) 1 hour, and c) 24 hours occur, then a (different for each time period) "alert" appears when someone visits one of those "hot" hotel pages. Don't worry about the UI part, just design the underlying alert system. Then optimize your solution for space.

Given an input stream of an indeterminate length, how do you return a random member of that stream (with equal probability for each), given that you're not allowed to store more than a constant number of inputs, and you can only go through the inputs once.
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Software Engineer

Interviewed at Tripadvisor

3.5
Feb 25, 2015

Given an input stream of an indeterminate length, how do you return a random member of that stream (with equal probability for each), given that you're not allowed to store more than a constant number of inputs, and you can only go through the inputs once.

1.How much testers working? If you tell 4 testers , he will ask why 4 too many.. If you tell two why only two he will ask? 2.Why your company dont have agile? 3.If you tell that you have stand up meeting in non agile, he will ask, in agile only stand up meeting happen, he will reply.. The thing is stand up meeting is normal in all company, it is not a goverment policy that Agile process only has stand up meeting.. 4. What is your project dead line? 5.Do you have any fight with your team lead? So you planned to quit?
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Software Test Engineer

Interviewed at Innoppl

3.9
Feb 23, 2018

1.How much testers working? If you tell 4 testers , he will ask why 4 too many.. If you tell two why only two he will ask? 2.Why your company dont have agile? 3.If you tell that you have stand up meeting in non agile, he will ask, in agile only stand up meeting happen, he will reply.. The thing is stand up meeting is normal in all company, it is not a goverment policy that Agile process only has stand up meeting.. 4. What is your project dead line? 5.Do you have any fight with your team lead? So you planned to quit?

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