Engineer Interviews

Engineer Interview Questions

Engineers are responsible for designing and building products. In an interview context, expect to be quizzed on your technical skills, and also evaluated for your ability to work as a part of a team to get things built. The specific questions you are asked will depend on what type of engineering position you are looking for such as a specific engineering discipline like software engineer, electrical engineer, or mechanical engineer.

Top Engineer Interview Questions & How to Answer

Question 1

Question #1: What is the most challenging engineering project you've dealt with, and how did you ensure it was successful?

How to answer
How to answer: This question requires you to give a specific example. Ideally, you're able to choose a project that mirrors the type of work you'd do in the role you're interviewing for. Even if it's not your most challenging project, make sure you describe your obstacle(s) and the successful outcome clearly and enthusiastically.
Question 2

Question #2: In your current role, what steps do you take to avoid making mistakes?

How to answer
How to answer: Whether you have a formal process or not, list any specific measures you employ (i.e., digital tools, consulting with colleagues, etc.). Make sure your answer demonstrates a commitment to quality control, efficiency, and safety.
Question 3

Question #3: Describe a time you dealt with a difficult client or stakeholder.

How to answer
How to answer: This one also requires a specific example that demonstrates patience and good judgment. An employer is looking for evidence that you're able to confidently and calmly stand by your decisions. Share an example with a positive outcome.

843,163 engineer interview questions shared by candidates

Given a database, where we know some portion of data (e.g. say 20%) is accessed more than the other portion of the database by the client. We have a frontend that client requests data from. Design a data structure that will increase the efficiency of access of objects. And we know that we can only hold on to n elements in memory.
avatar

Software Development Engineer

Interviewed at Microsoft

4
Aug 2, 2014

Given a database, where we know some portion of data (e.g. say 20%) is accessed more than the other portion of the database by the client. We have a frontend that client requests data from. Design a data structure that will increase the efficiency of access of objects. And we know that we can only hold on to n elements in memory.

Given an array of unique non-negative integers, {A1,…,An}, and a positive integer, X, write a function that finds all pairs of numbers in the array that sum to X”. You are given an integer array nums sorted in ascending order (with distinct values), and an integer target. Suppose that nums is rotated at some pivot unknown to you beforehand (i.e., [0,1,2,4,5,6,7] might become [4,5,6,7,0,1,2]).” Take a singly-linked list, and reorder in such a way that the first element points to the last element, second element points to second-to-last element, and so on.
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Expedia Group

3.7
Feb 1, 2021

Given an array of unique non-negative integers, {A1,…,An}, and a positive integer, X, write a function that finds all pairs of numbers in the array that sum to X”. You are given an integer array nums sorted in ascending order (with distinct values), and an integer target. Suppose that nums is rotated at some pivot unknown to you beforehand (i.e., [0,1,2,4,5,6,7] might become [4,5,6,7,0,1,2]).” Take a singly-linked list, and reorder in such a way that the first element points to the last element, second element points to second-to-last element, and so on.

Connect Four is a game where two players take turns dropping their color discs into a vertically suspended grid. The game ends when a player adds a disc to the playing grid that connects four discs of their color. The connected discs can be in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line. Write a function to be called after every turn that returns true if the game is over (and false otherwise).
avatar

Software Development Engineer Intern

Interviewed at Microsoft

4
Mar 19, 2009

Connect Four is a game where two players take turns dropping their color discs into a vertically suspended grid. The game ends when a player adds a disc to the playing grid that connects four discs of their color. The connected discs can be in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line. Write a function to be called after every turn that returns true if the game is over (and false otherwise).

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