Recent Software Engineer Interview Questions

Laura S. - "Clarifying questions: is this a brand new product, or are we improving an existing one? (i.e. are we going to have to migrate an existing codebase or are we starting from scratch?). are we resource-strapped (e.g. # engineers, time)? are there any specific priorities for the product, or should i leave it open-ended? Assume: brand new product, well-resourced, no specific priorities. It seems that there are two sides to this question: 1) technical evaluation of different languages, and 2)"See full answer

Ashley C. - "I follow a variation of the RICE framework when prioritizing how I ship product features. I start by looking at: Reach: Because the customer segmentation across our product portfolio is so similar, I tend to hold a lot of weight on product features that will maximize our customer reach with a minimal LOE. Impact: After establishing which customer segments will benefit from the product feature, I determine the urgency and estimated impact on each customer segment based on customer i"See full answer

Unicorn 2. - "I would like to ask a few clarifying questions Lyft for kids: Does this mean we want to design a ride sharing app for kids? (Assuming yes) Do we have any existing features catered to kids? (Assuming no) Lyft has a lot of features. I am going to assume basic table stake features which Lyft already has as: Ability to call for a ride Ride tracking Are there any goals that we would like to achieve with this feature? If we look at current market conditions, Lyft has biggest threat f"See full answer

Aditya S. - "I told a story about how our team was focussed on moving a key metric i.e. NPS and to do that we build 3 top requested user feature. Post release the detractors % didn't move even though the detractors request for features shipped went down. Then I connect with users and did some analysis post which we realised that we need to pivot our focus from shipping features to enabling complete workflows for our users i.e. shipping all those feature which are used together in a feature as then only users"See full answer

Soumya S. - "In 2019, I was given a very important problem to solve. In a team of 3 we had to build a mobility assist device. The customer segment we would go for was something we could decide. The project was very close to me as I had lost someone I loved because of cancer and I saw how reduced mobility was a huge pain point in not being able to do physical activities. My team could only think of elderly people as the main target market. As the Head of Product what I did was: 1) I helped them dive even d"See full answer

Aabid S. - "We had a huge launch on September 1st of this year where we completely redesigned our application from the grounds up and also migrated to a new platform (React.JS). This project took us 8 months and the launch was a huge deal for the team. Unfortunately the launch wasn't as smooth as we expected and despite doing multiple rounds of QA, some major issues cropped up in the core part of the app right after launch and our client was quite upset since it was disrupting their day-to-day workflow. "See full answer

Aabid S. - "I work at a startup that makes software for Law Enforcement and the FBI. Our product analyzes calls being made by prison inmates and "listens" for predictors of violence and criminal behavior. Our clients are some of the top state prisons in the country. Recently one of the largest states in the country decided to evaluate our product for their prison system. I demo'd the product to the officers and they seemed to like everything. During the presentation they asked us if the product was ADA com"See full answer

Bipin R. - "As you know, this is the most important question for any interview. Here is a structure I like to follow, Start with 'I'm currently a SDE/PM/TPM etc with XYZ company.... ' Mention how you got into PM/TPM/SDE field (explaining your journey) Mention 1 or 2 accomplishments Mention what you do outside work (blogging, volunteer etc) Share why are you looking for a new role Ask the interviewer if they have any questions or will like to dive deep into any of your experience"See full answer

Tara J. - "I would like to speak loud to narrow the scope of this question so I can be effective in identifying a solution to the problem on hand. Hope that is OK. You mentioned, “Re-design the airport experience”. Is there a goal for this re-design exercise? Some top goals that come to my mind are the following. Please guide me so I can set it and we can proceed from there. “Increase the number of passengers who travel to and from this airport” “Improve customer satisfaction” **“Get in"See full answer

Tim W. - "Clarify "What do you mean by favorite product? Are you thinking specifically hardware, software, or a feature within those, or something non-electronic? Dealer's Choice. "Are you asking why I love this product, or to explain why this product is a market leader independent of how i feel about it? Talk about why YOU love this product. Rephrase Question With all that in mind, i want to rephrase the question. "What is your favorite software product and what features in this product"See full answer