Questions to Ask in Every Software Engineering Interview

The wrong Software Engineer hire may cost your business much more than the initial recruitment expenses. It also means time and money misspent on onboarding and training, lost productivity, a hit to team morale and increased turnover. This combination of negative outcomes places you right back at square one; riding that recruitment train all over again.

There are a number of ways to avoid this outcome when recruiting for tech jobs. A crucial one is to carefully select the interview questions and prioritise what’s most important. This gives you the best chance of success in finding the right fit for your open role.

To assist you on this front, we’ve put together a list of their top technical, behavioural and soft skills interview questions, along with the rationale behind each one.

Technical Questions

If you’re interviewing Engineers, technical questions are necessary during the interview process. Here is an example selection of technical questions that you can ask:

• Tell me about your experience with [insert programming language]
• Tell me about your experience with [insert software development methodology]

Your open role may require candidates to have experience with a particular programming language and/or development methodology. The first two questions get right to the core of their experience level and whether it’s a match for your requirements.

• What programming languages and technologies are you familiar with?

The third question is a little more open-ended, allowing the candidate to share their knowledge of (and passion for) languages or methodologies you may not necessarily need in the role right now, but could benefit from in the future. It can also demonstrate their drive to stay abreast of industry trends, and perhaps even their learning style preferences.

Behavioural Questions

These examples centre around how Software Engineers would manage challenges in the workplace.

• Think back to a time when you disagreed with a client or a stakeholder about the best way to proceed with your project. How did you resolve this?
• Share an experience with a difficult client or colleague. What did you do? In hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently?

Working in a tight-knit team means conflicts are an inevitable part of a Software Engineer’s world. From a pull request review to a disagreement about which tech stack is best, you’re looking for a developer that can handle such situations in a calm and diplomatic fashion, whilst also employing their logic and analytical prowess to achieve a solution. You should get a good idea of the candidate’s conflict resolution style, as well as their capacity for self-reflection.

• Tell me about the most challenging piece of code you’ve written. Why was it so challenging and what’s the most important thing you learned?

Can you think of a software engineering concept that could be improved? If so, how?

Challenges are common in software engineering, so a great applicant should have no trouble picking from a plethora of examples. What they select is just as telling as what they learned as it will reveal what they view as ‘challenging’. In describing what they learned, you should get a clearer picture of their problem-solving abilities and capacity for self-reflection.

Soft Skills

Soft skills are just as important as the technical skills you need your Software Engineers to have, so framing some interview questions around these will help you to gauge the type of personality you could be bringing onto your team. Example questions include:

• Explain the concept of [insert technique] to my 5-year-old.

Most IT projects have a variety of stakeholders and not all possess a technical background. There is a real skill in being able to distil a complicated concept into something that’s easy to grasp. By asking this question, you’ll quickly find out how the candidate fares in this area.

• Imagine your ideal product team. What traits would they have?

This is a terrific way to find out if the candidate will fit into your current team and company culture. There are many possible answers to this question, from strong technical skills to open communication, to the ability to prioritise. The key is whether the answers given align well with your team needs.

On this note, it’s a wise move to avoid automatically discounting a candidate who raises a trait you don’t believe will meld well. Take some time to reflect on their answer as you might discover it’s something your team might benefit from.

Compiling Your Software Engineer Interview Question List

That covers some of our best Software Engineer interview questions. While it’s a broad selection, there are likely others that may suit your individual business circumstances better, and help you source that ideal candidate.

To help you collate your unique mix of interview questions for Software Engineer jobs, consider connecting with one of our software engineering recruitment specialists. In our 30+ years in recruitment, we’ve done our fair share of candidate interviews! We understand what questions will glean the right answers for our clients and help them fill their roles faster with minimal stress.

Please get in touch if you’d like some extra support from our specialist team, whether it’s compiling your interview questions or support with your tech recruitment strategy.