How to prepare for your Software Engineering interview
So you’ve landed an interview for your dream job. Hurrah!
You know you’re a good fit for them. You’ve been coding since you were a teenager and you love your job. You’ve had a conversation with some of the Seniors and think you’d fit in well. How can you get all this across at interview?
First off, find out what sort of interview it’s going to be. Will it be competency based, followed by a programming exercise? Will it just be an informal conversation, going over key projects you’ve worked on?
Interviews vary from company to company, but regardless if it’s structured or not, the following will help you figure out your answers before the questions are even asked.
“What’s the most technically demanding project you have worked on?”
This gives you a chance to flex your technical muscles so don’t hold back. Be sure to brush up on the part you played on the project. Avoid saying ‘we’ and say more of ‘I’. A lot of people talk through what the team delivered instead of delving in to what they did as an individual, so make sure you’re clear on the part you played in the SDLC.
“What’s your most significant career achievement to date?”
Your greatest achievement speaks volumes about where your priorities lie. Is your greatest achievement helping a junior developer become who they are today, or is it implementing a new strategy that has improved the capability of the dev team? Tailor the story to your audience, too. Be sure to explain why you see it as your most significant achievement, and how that experience will benefit your new employer.
“What sort of people do you work with best?”
A vague question that can be answered with an evidence-based answer to highlight your soft skills. Instead of answering ‘smart’ or ‘friendly’ people, give an example of when you’ve worked well with a broad range of technical and non-technical stakeholders. It will show that you’re flexible and a good communicator, a skill set that’s increasingly important for top tier software engineers.
“What situation have you been in that’s made you uncomfortable but you’ve pushed on regardless?”
Whilst everyone wants to work somewhere they’re comfortable, there are going to be times when you’ll be out of your comfort zone. How people respond to pressure is a good indicator of their resilience, so make sure you think of a time when you’ve had to struggle through to deliver something. A lot of people at interview focus on the positive highlights of their career, when in reality, how you respond to high stress situations is far more likely to define your career trajectory.
“Give me an example of a time when you’ve taken responsibility for your own personal and professional development”
Never, ever, in a million years, answer this with ‘when I applied for this job’ because they’ve heard it before! Instead, think about if you’ve attended meetups, if you’ve contributed to open source projects or if you’ve completed any online courses to upskill yourself. All will show that you’re passionate about your trade and looking to grow outside of your day job.
“How could you improve the SDLC in your current team?
This is an innocent question on the surface but is loaded with plenty of pitfalls. Avoid being negative about your current employer, regardless if you hate your current boss or not. Instead, pinpoint where the weaknesses are in your team’s process or tools and the reasons why they haven’t been rectified. Are you working with legacy technologies? Are devs tied up maintaining a monolith? Is your team lacking certain skill sets but have been unable to put time aside to learn them? The fact you recognise these issues, and the reasons why they haven’t been addressed, are a good indicator of your technical and commercial awareness.
“Why do you want to work here?”
This is a great opportunity to show that you’ve done your homework. You’re not just looking for a job, you’re looking for a job with them. Highlight work that their devs are hosting on Github, or if you’ve seen a talk or blog from the team online, or if you’ve been following one of their products or services for a while now. Show the interviewer that you’re invested in them and you will automatically put yourself ahead of the competition. If you’re working with a recruiter, make sure they fill you in on everything they know about the client, but be sure to do your own research too.
Most importantly though, be yourself! Try to relax, and don’t worry, most hiring managers just want to get a good feel for what you’re like to work with. They want to know what you’re like as a developer, colleague and person, so don’t be afraid to open up to them.
If you do your prep, you’ll be in a much better position going in to your interview.
Luke is a Brighton-based tech recruiter. He helps organise and run meetups including MEGABITES, Brighton Kotlin and PHP Sussex. Looking for some advice? Contact him at Luke.Thompson@hays.com.
