Software Developer Job Interviews: Essential Preparation Guide in 2024

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• [toc headings="h2" title="Table of Contents"] After a slow hiring year in 2023, demand for software developers is back on an upswing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates 327,900 new jobs will be added by 2033, a growth rate of 17%. In the shorter term, 30% of companies who responded to a CoderPad survey said they plan to hire 50 or more developers by the end of 2024, with junior and mid-level developers particularly in demand. While this job outlook certainly gives software developers cause for optimism, it also remains a highly competitive field, especially at the entry level. For developers seeking a new job, strengthening your software development interview techniques can help you to stand out from the crowd and find success with your search.

• Software developer interview formats

• The first step in preparing for a software developer interview is knowing what kind of interview you’re preparing for. Interviews for these roles often span multiple rounds and you may see a few types of interview over the course of them, each of which will call for a different type of preparation. Here are some of the most common you may encounter and some basic tips for acing each.

• Quizzes and tests

• Before you even get to a one-on-one interview, you may be asked to complete an asynchronous skill assessment or quiz. These are typically used in early rounds to filter out candidates who lack the technical skills for the role. Typically, these assessments use a structured question format with clear right or wrong answers, allowing them to be administered by non-technical hiring team staff, or even conducted automatically with the help of AI. Since these tend to focus solely on the technical side of the role, the best way to prepare for them is to brush up on your core developer knowledge. This is particularly important interview preparation for junior developers, but even if you have several years in the field under your belt, it’s smart to review the basics so you can pass this kind of screening assessment with flying colors.

• Coding assessments

• One way for companies to assess the top coding languages for software interviews is to include real-world problems for candidates to solve during the software engineer interview process. These can be conducted remotely or done on-site, depending on the company at the interview stage. Some formats these assessments can take include:

  • Algorithm and data structure problems – These test a developer’s understanding of key algorithms like searching and sorting, as well as data structures such as arrays, hash tables, trees, or linked lists. They’re normally administered remotely through platforms like HackerRank or LeetCode, and you can use those platforms to prepare for them, as well.
  • Whiteboard coding challenges – Whiteboard coding interviews are live assessments of the developer’s ability to both solve problems and communicate their thought process, without using the aid of an integrated development environment (IDE). The focus here is on your problem-solving approach more than the technical solution to the challenge.
  • Take home coding assignments – In this format, candidates are asked to build a feature or small application on their own time. The amount of time you’re given can vary, though usually isn’t longer than a few days. These assignments test your ability to develop, test, and document quality code. Since they take longer to both perform and review, these tend to be more common from small companies and startups.
  • Pair programming exercises – These interviews pair the applicant with either another candidate or a current team member, asking them to work together to solve a coding problem. This tests both your technical skills and soft skills like teamwork, collaboration, and communication.
  • System design interviews – More common for senior roles, these test your ability to design scalable system architecture. They assess skill areas like database design, load balancing, and your ability to balance performance and costs.
  • Code reviews – In these tests, you’re not writing the code but instead reviewing existing code to find bugs or suggest improvements. This gives the interviewer insights into both your technical capabilities and your attention to detail.
  You may see other developer interview coding assessments, but the basic steps to prepare will be the same across the board. Brush up on the company’s preferred programming language, as well as overall development best practices.

• Phone interviews

• This is the most common format you’ll see in job interviews, and can take two different forms. It can be a form of technical interview for software developers, with the candidate working on a question using a collaborative editor like CoderPad or CoderPen while on the line with an interviewer. Other companies will use phone interviews to ask common software developer interview questions, including behavioral questions that assess the candidate’s soft skills and cultural fit.  Before taking a phone interview, make sure you verify what kinds of questions you’ll be asked during it. If it’s a technical interview, find out what platform you’ll be editing with so you can familiarize yourself with it if you haven’t used it before. For behavioral interviews, do some research into the company’s culture and values so you can speak to how you align with them.

• Onsite interviews

• These will typically be the last round in the interview process, just before the company makes a decision, so it’s a good sign if you make it to this stage. An onsite interview often lasts several hours, over which you’ll go through multiple assessment rounds including behavioral interview questions as well as coding and system design challenges. One thing to ask before an on-site interview is how you’ll be working on any tests. Many smaller companies especially prefer that candidates use their own laptop. If so, make sure you have your development environment prepared and ready to go in advance.

• Preparing for your interview

• In addition to the different interview formats you might encounter, the best practices for software developer interviews will also vary depending on the specifics of the role. Most developers will be asked to go through both behavioral and technical assessments prior to being hired. Learning software development interview techniques for both of these areas will help you to excel throughout the process and land the role you’re targeting.

• Coding interview preparation

• Whether it’s an in-person test, a take home assignment, or an online quiz, every software developer interview will include some kind of technical interview. The coding interview is used to assess a candidate’s competencies, often focusing on data structures and algorithms, and usually lasts around 30-60 minutes. During that time, the interviewer will give you a technical question and then ask you to write code to solve it while they watch.  The first step to prepare for a coding interview question is to decide which language you’ll use. Best coding practices for technical software developer interviews are to use Python, C++, or Java, so one of those is a good option if the interviewer doesn’t specify a language they want you to use. Once you’ve made that decision, it’s time to study and practice. Brush up on any technical areas where you’re weak and find questions on a platform like LeetCode that can put that knowledge to the test and reinforce your learning.  The specific technical challenges you’ll be given in an interview will vary depending on the company and role. Some common coding challenges in software engineer interviews include:

  • Array and string manipulation, such as finding duplicate elements, rotating arrays, or reversing strings
  • Search and sorting algorithms, such as implementing binary search or searching for specific elements in arrays
  • Dynamic programming to solve problems based on overlapping subproblems, such as Fibonacci sequences or the knapsack problem
  • Linked lists, like detecting cycles, reversing linked lists, or removing elements from a linked list
  • Tree and graph algorithms, like detecting cycles in a graph or finding the lowest common ancestor
  • Greedy algorithms, like interval scheduling, Huffman encoding, or the coin change problem
  • Matrix manipulation, such as traversing 2D matrices or searching in sorted matrices
  • Stack and queue problems, like balancing parentheses or evaluating postfix expressions
  Behavioral and soft skill interview preparation A great software developer needs to have skills beyond expertise with a programming language. Soft skills become increasingly important as the seniority level of positions rises. Along with skills in problem-solving and decision-making, technology leaders need to have strong communication and interpersonal skills that will allow them to effectively manage teams and collaborate across departments.  Behavioral interviews are the main way that employers gauge these soft skills in candidates. These interviews are also an opportunity for hiring managers to determine whether an applicant will be a good fit for the company’s culture and existing team. One helpful framework you can use to answer behavioral questions in a software developer interview is the STAR format. This acronym stands for:
  • Situation – Describe your experience or the challenge that you faced
  • Task – Explain your goals or what you were trying to achieve
  •  Action – Outline what you did and why you chose that course over the alternatives
  • Results – The outcome of your actions and what you learned through the process
  You can use this format to structure your answers to a range of questions. Typically, behavioral interview questions will ask about your past professional experiences or how you responded to various situations you’ve encountered in the workplace, though they may be more general inquiries into your career plans and workplace preferences.  Some common behavioral interview questions for developers include:
  • Why do you want to work for our company?
  • What are the main things you look for in a role?
  • What is the most challenging part of your current position?
  • Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a coworker and how you resolved the situation.
  • How do you approach challenges or problems that you come across in your work?
  • Tell me about a time that you encountered a difficult bug and how you fixed it.
  • How do you respond when you have a disagreement with your manager or supervisor?
  • What does an ideal work day look like for you?
  • Which of your past projects were you most passionate about or proudest of, and why?
  • How do you approach time management and task prioritization at work?
  • In which areas do you tend to receive the most critical feedback? How have you responded to or applied that feedback to improve your work?
  • How do you approach a project that has a tight deadline? Tell me about a time you’ve faced a challenging deadline and how you met it.
  • How would your coworkers describe you?
  • What makes you a good fit for this role?

• How to prepare for a junior software developer job interview

• At the entry level or junior level, interview questions often focus on basic programming concepts and assessing the candidate’s foundational knowledge. As a candidate, you should demonstrate your ability to write clean, functional code and solve straightforward coding problems centered around debugging or understanding algorithms. Most technical interviews at this level center on coding and algorithmic problems, with less emphasis on system-level design or complex architectural issues. While junior developer interviews tend to focus more on future potential than past experience, it’s still smart to think about your professional life thus far and how you can frame those to demonstrate your soft skills for software developer interviews. Expect to get questions about your ability to collaborate and work in teams, as well as how you receive feedback.

• Tips for acing a senior software developer interview

• For development managers and other senior level positions, interviewers want to see candidates demonstrate deep technical expertise, including in areas like system design, architecture, and optimization techniques. You may be given questions on topics like distributed systems, scalability, and system design concepts like fault tolerance and data consistency. To test this more advanced knowledge, senior developer candidates are typically given more complex, real-world problems to solve during interviews. The soft skills interviewers look for in senior developers are often different, as well. It’s often expected that senior candidates will have hands-on experience leading projects and mentoring teams, and be able to speak to those abilities in the interview. Senior developers are also evaluated on their ability to take ownership of large-scale projects, make high-level decisions, and provide a technical direction for their teams.

• Remote developer interview tips

• When you’re interviewing for a remote position, there’s often an additional element to the process. Not only do you need to demonstrate the same technical skills, soft skills, and cultural fit as in other situations, but you also need to show you’re capable of working independently and communicating effectively in a remote environment. If you’ve worked remotely in the past, describing those experiences can help show you have the skills to thrive in the role. Be prepared to talk about the asynchronous communication platforms and other remote work tools you’ve used. Share the details of your remote work setup and how you limit distractions to maintain your focus and productivity.  Since clear communication is critical for remote workers, you want to demonstrate this well in your interview. Explain your reasoning behind the steps you take in coding challenges to show you can articulate technical concepts well. Other key skills to highlight include time management, task prioritization, organization, and how you motivate yourself to stay on task and hold yourself accountable for completing your work.

• How to succeed in a software engineer interview step-by-step

• Step 1: Learn the details of the interview process.

• Like was mentioned earlier, software developers often go through multiple rounds of interviews involving a variety of formats. Before you start your preparation, get some information about how many interview rounds they anticipate having and what manner of software developer interview test will be involved in each. This will help you to best allocate your preparation time so that you’re focusing on the right skills and areas before each stage.

• Step 2: Research the company and role.

• The better you understand the company’s products and services, the more insight you’ll have into the types of technical challenges they’re most likely to face and how your skills are relevant to their specific needs. Many companies also use specific systems, frameworks, or methodologies like Agile or DevOps. Researching their tech stack can both guide your preparation and help you decide how to answer technical questions in interviews. Don’t only limit your research to the technical side of things, either. Gaining insight into their mission and values can help you demonstrate your cultural fit and decide which soft skills to emphasize in your behavioral interview responses. This process will also help you decide what kind of questions you want to ask during the process.

• Step 3: Review the essential technical skills.

• The first place to check is on the job posting itself. Review the job responsibilities and candidate qualifications that were listed by the company. Often, they’ll list both big-picture skill areas and specific details like the technology or frameworks they use, or the programming languages they prefer.  You can enhance the knowledge from the job posting with independent research. Once you know what key skills they’re most likely to be concerned about, you can make a point of focusing on those during your preparation.

• Step 4: Prepare your portfolio of past projects.

• A portfolio showcases your experience and skills in action through past projects, either ones you’ve completed professionally in past roles or personal projects you want to show off. Include a selection of 3-5 projects that demonstrate your coding skills, problem-solving abilities, and technical creativity. If you have more projects than that, use your research into the company and role to guide which ones you include. For each project, include a brief overview of its purpose and nature, as well as the tech stack used to build the project and your specific contributions to it. Along with this, explain the challenges you encountered and how you overcame them. You should also show the project’s outcome through screenshots or a link to the demo or live application.

• Step 5: Practice with a mock interview.

• Mock interviews give you the chance to put all this preparation in action and work out the kinks before the real thing. Even if you’re an expert developer, it can be challenging to excel under pressure. Practicing beforehand can help you get more comfortable with different types of interviews, as well as giving you a chance to refine your problem-solving approach and practice explaining it to others.  There are multiple ways you can practice interviews. One option is to reach out to a mentor or professor and ask if they’ll conduct a mock interview for you. You can also partner with other developers currently looking for work and interview each other to help you both prepare. There are online platforms you can use for this, too, like interviewing.io, Pramp, and Hello Interview.

• Job interview mistakes to avoid as a developer

• Now that you’ve gotten some software developer job interview tips, let’s take a look at the other side of the advice question: what not to do during your interview. Here are some common mistakes people make during developer interviews and how to avoid them.

• Mistake 1: Not clarifying the coding problem requirements before starting.

• Candidates eager to demonstrate their abilities can be guilty of jumping right into coding before they’ve taken the time to fully understand what’s being asked. This can lead to them delivering incomplete or incorrect solutions. To avoid this, make sure you take the time to fully and carefully read or listen to the problem statement before you start. Restate the problem in your own words to verify you understand it, and ask questions if any aspects of the problem aren’t clear. 

• Mistake 2: Writing code that’s hard to read or understand.

• Even if you know programming inside and out, the interviewer won’t see this if your code isn’t structured clearly or doesn’t follow standard conventions. Study up on clean coding principles before your interview day so you can avoid this problem. When writing the code, be precise with your indentation, spacing, and other formatting details, and include comments where it’s warranted to explain any portions of the code that aren’t obvious.

• Mistake 3: Being too quiet.

• When you’re writing code normally, you probably don’t narrate what you’re doing at the same time. In an interview, though, you want to make your approach and thought process clear to the interviewer, and that might not come across if you stay completely silent. Before the interview, practice thinking out loud when you’re solving coding problems. Explain not just what you’re doing but why and talk through the logic behind your decision, even if you’re not completely sure about it. When you come up against a challenge, don’t be afraid to say so—the interviewer will appreciate the chance to see how you approach difficulties you encounter during your work.

• Mistake 4: Ignoring the interviewer’s feedback.

• An interviewer isn’t going to give you the answer to a coding problem outright. However, they may give you subtle hints when you go off track, or if you miss a key element of the problem or its solution. Keep your ears open to what the interviewer says. If they ask a guiding question or mention an alternate approach, use this feedback to re-evaluate how you’re approaching the problem.

• Mistake 5: Poor time management.

• There’s normally a firm time limit on technical interviews. If you spend too much time working on one aspect, your interview might end before you’ve reached a solution. To avoid this problem, start by thinking through all of the steps you’ll need to take to find a solution so you can distribute your time accordingly. It’s also smart to prioritize finding a working solution first, even if it’s not the most elegant. If you have time at the end, you can go back to refine or optimize your solution.