Programming interview questions and answers

Programming Interview Questions

When you’re hiring engineers and developers, you should look for candidates with theoretical and practical knowledge of specific programming languages and software that your company uses. Include a written assignment in your hiring process to evaluate the coding skills of candidates.

Use these questions to find programming candidates who are both knowledgeable and good team players. Most engineering roles require collaboration and meeting deadlines, so you should select candidates who are problem solvers and enjoy working on team projects.

It’s also important for programmers to stay updated on new technologies. Keep an eye out for candidates who showcase their skills and their enthusiasm for broadening their knowledge. Modify your interview questions for different seniority levels and add specific job requirements relevant to your roles.

For junior programmers

• What programming languages are you most familiar with?
• What JavaScript engines do you know of?
• What is the difference between an abstract class and an interface and when would you use one over the other?
• Describe the troubleshooting process you’d follow for a crashing program.
• How can you debug a program while it’s being used?
• Describe the programming processes at work from the time you type in a website’s URL to when it finishes loading on your screen.
• Can you name some limitations of a web environment vs. a Windows environment?
• Are you familiar with cloud systems? What are their pros and cons?
• What is your field of expertise and what would you like to learn more about?

For senior programmers

• Have you implemented significant improvements to an IT infrastructure? What were they?
• We want to install a new software system. What would be your research method and what steps would you follow before deployment?
• What’s the most effective way to gather user and system requirements?
• Describe a situation where you had to explain technical details to a non-technical audience. How did you modify your presentation?
• What guidance would you provide a new team member?
• What’s the most challenging project you’ve managed so far? What was your role and how did you manage your work to deliver on deadlines?

For additional technical interview questions, see our sample coding interview questions.