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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.

418,846 software engineer interview questions shared by candidates

Given two (dictionary) words as Strings, determine if they are isomorphic. Two words are called isomorphic if the letters in one word can be remapped to get the second word. Remapping a letter means replacing all occurrences of it with another letter while the ordering of the letters remains unchanged. No two letters may map to the same letter, but a letter may map to itself. Example: Given "foo", "app"; returns true we can map 'f' -> 'a' and 'o' -> 'p' Given "bar", "foo"; returns false we can't map both 'a' and 'r' to 'o' Given "turtle", "tletur"; returns true we can map 't' -> 't', 'u' -> 'l', 'r' -> 'e', 'l' -> 'u', 'e' -'r' Given "ab", "ca"; returns true we can map 'a' -> 'c', 'b'
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at LinkedIn

3.8★
Sep 8, 2014

Given two (dictionary) words as Strings, determine if they are isomorphic. Two words are called isomorphic if the letters in one word can be remapped to get the second word. Remapping a letter means replacing all occurrences of it with another letter while the ordering of the letters remains unchanged. No two letters may map to the same letter, but a letter may map to itself. Example: Given "foo", "app"; returns true we can map 'f' -> 'a' and 'o' -> 'p' Given "bar", "foo"; returns false we can't map both 'a' and 'r' to 'o' Given "turtle", "tletur"; returns true we can map 't' -> 't', 'u' -> 'l', 'r' -> 'e', 'l' -> 'u', 'e' -'r' Given "ab", "ca"; returns true we can map 'a' -> 'c', 'b'

* Describe the design of a most-recently-used list, such as the "Recent Files" menu in Microsoft Word. It has two public methods, getlist() and access(str), which retrieve the list and mark an item as accessed, respectively. The list has a maximum number of items it can hold, say 5, and it should not have duplicates. Describe the data structure used and the running time of both public methods.
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Google

4.4★
Nov 7, 2009

* Describe the design of a most-recently-used list, such as the "Recent Files" menu in Microsoft Word. It has two public methods, getlist() and access(str), which retrieve the list and mark an item as accessed, respectively. The list has a maximum number of items it can hold, say 5, and it should not have duplicates. Describe the data structure used and the running time of both public methods.

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