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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.

419,369 software engineer interview questions shared by candidates

I received two questions. The first was print out all possible strings that a phone number can produce. For instance: 2 -> A,B,C and 3 -> D,E,F. So if the input is 23, then the output should be "AD, AE, AF, BD, etc.." The second question was if you had multiple points (x,y), find the n closest points to the origin (0,0).
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Meta

3.5★
Jan 16, 2015

I received two questions. The first was print out all possible strings that a phone number can produce. For instance: 2 -> A,B,C and 3 -> D,E,F. So if the input is 23, then the output should be "AD, AE, AF, BD, etc.." The second question was if you had multiple points (x,y), find the n closest points to the origin (0,0).

Given a string of digits, where every digit represents a letter (1->a, 2->b, 26->z). Find the number of words that we can generate from that string. For example: 123 -> abc, lc, aw. The answer: 3 456 -> def. The answer: 1
avatar

Software Engineer Intern

Interviewed at Meta

3.5★
Mar 11, 2015

Given a string of digits, where every digit represents a letter (1->a, 2->b, 26->z). Find the number of words that we can generate from that string. For example: 123 -> abc, lc, aw. The answer: 3 456 -> def. The answer: 1

The first question is two find the largest and second largest value at each level of a binary tree. You don't need to return all values, just print out instead. the second question is to return a value in an array with the probability proportional to the weight of the value within the array. For example, in an array [4,5,6], return 4 with probability 4/15, 5 with 5/15 and 6 with 6/15. You are given a function that returns a random real number between 0 and 1
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Meta

3.5★
Nov 7, 2016

The first question is two find the largest and second largest value at each level of a binary tree. You don't need to return all values, just print out instead. the second question is to return a value in an array with the probability proportional to the weight of the value within the array. For example, in an array [4,5,6], return 4 with probability 4/15, 5 with 5/15 and 6 with 6/15. You are given a function that returns a random real number between 0 and 1

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