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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.

419,836 software engineer interview questions shared by candidates

Given a list of words, make a function to setup multiple list inputs and streamline this process. In a separate function, given a user entered word, check the stored lists for this word. If there are any periods "." in the user given word, it acts as a universal character. (ex, b.t = bat, but, bot, ect).
avatar

Software Engineer(Internship)

Interviewed at Meta

3.4★
Feb 19, 2018

Given a list of words, make a function to setup multiple list inputs and streamline this process. In a separate function, given a user entered word, check the stored lists for this word. If there are any periods "." in the user given word, it acts as a universal character. (ex, b.t = bat, but, bot, ect).

Question: Consolidate time for each function. /* Function stage(start/ends) time(start/end) main start 0 <----------- main running foo start 3 foo end 7 <----------- main running zoo start 10 zoo end 13 <-------------- main running moo start 15 foo start 17 foo end 18 <---------------- moo running moo end 20 < --------------main running main end 22 Consolidate time for each function. */
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Meta

3.4★
Jan 14, 2019

Question: Consolidate time for each function. /* Function stage(start/ends) time(start/end) main start 0 <----------- main running foo start 3 foo end 7 <----------- main running zoo start 10 zoo end 13 <-------------- main running moo start 15 foo start 17 foo end 18 <---------------- moo running moo end 20 < --------------main running main end 22 Consolidate time for each function. */

NOTE: Apparently this question is banned but my interviewed went through about 3 questions that I had already seen so I just asked him to give me a question that was really hard and he didn't think I could solve within the interview time. Given a matrix with elements representing the heights of hills, find the longest ski path (numbers strictly descending) in the matrix. The hard part was that you were allowed to start and end anywhere.
avatar

Software Engineer New Grad

Interviewed at Meta

3.4★
Mar 16, 2019

NOTE: Apparently this question is banned but my interviewed went through about 3 questions that I had already seen so I just asked him to give me a question that was really hard and he didn't think I could solve within the interview time. Given a matrix with elements representing the heights of hills, find the longest ski path (numbers strictly descending) in the matrix. The hard part was that you were allowed to start and end anywhere.

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