How to prepare for a coder interview
Programming interviews can be challenging—they usually include a mix of questions about your professional background and experience, as well as technical questions designed to assess your programming knowledge and coding skills.
Practicing answers to common coding interview questions can help you prepare for your interview, giving you the best possible chance of getting the job.
Knowing the most in-demand programming languages is important for anyone who wants to get into software development. Having hands-on experience with some of them, such as Java, Python, C#, or jаvascript, is essential. However, the best options for you will depend on the types of applications you’ll be developing on the job.
Review the requirements listed in the job description and make sure you can discuss the technical differences between each of the listed coding languages.
Programming interview questions
Programming interviews can seem intimidating, but preparing can give you a better understanding of the whole process and help you feel more confident during your interview. This section discusses some common questions you might be asked and offers strategies for answering them.
1. “Can you tell me a little about your background?”
This is one of the most fundamental questions you’ll need to answer in any programming interview—or any interview at all, for that matter. The hiring manager will want to learn about your experience and how well you might fit into the company’s environment.
This question is fairly open-ended, and coming up with a good answer can feel overwhelming. One common tactic is to answer using the “present, past, future” format. Start by talking about what you’re doing now, how your past experience prepared you for this position, and what you hope to do in the future. Mention any relevant projects, programming languages, or other details specific to the job you’re interviewing for.
One way to answer this question using the “present, past, future” format might be:
2. “Can you tell me about some projects you’ve worked on?”
This question lets you discuss your previous experience in terms of projects you’ve worked on in the past. If you have professional coding experience, you can talk about the development life cycle for some of your best projects—the planning stage, your contribution to delivering the project, and any maintenance you were involved in after it was completed.
If you don’t have professional programming experience but have worked on impressive projects on your own, consider discussing your contributions in that context. Many programmers get started by contributing to open-source projects, working for clients on a freelance basis, or developing their own applications. Discussing these projects in detail can help you demonstrate your experience without prior work experience.
An example of how you might answer this question:
3. “Can you tell me which programming languages you use? Talk about your experience with each language and which ones you prefer.”
Questions like this are likely to come up in most programming interviews. Since it’s an experience-related question that also focuses on your personal preferences, there’s no “right” answer.
One way to answer this question is to focus on your favorite programming language and mention other languages you know:
4. “How do you keep your technical knowledge up to date?”
Programming is a constantly evolving field that requires continuous learning. This question gives you an opportunity not only to discuss your commitment to ongoing learning in the field, but also how you keep up with best practices, new technologies, and new programming languages. Talk about any websites, blogs, podcasts, video creators, or social media influencers you follow in the space. This is also an opportunity to discuss any side projects or online courses you’ve worked on to improve your skills.
Possible answers to this question might look like this:
5. “How do you handle working with nontechnical people from different backgrounds?”
While coder roles usually focus mainly on hard programming skills (i.e., technical knowledge of programming languages and how to build applications), soft skills are also important for computer programmers. Programmers often have to work with nontechnical people in other departments to get their support and better understand the organization’s needs.
When answering this question, discuss the value of cross-functional collaboration within an organization. You can talk about how getting a non-programmer’s perspective can help improve and update an application. Discuss how you communicate technical concepts to nontechnical people, and the importance of these interpersonal skills in the workplace.
For example:
6. “How do you start a new programming project?”
Software development is about more than just knowing how to code—knowing how to plan, structure, and execute a project is also extremely important. This question gives you a great opportunity to use the STAR method. The STAR method is a technique used for behavioral and situational interview questions.
Using this technique creates a simple story the interviewer can follow, with all the necessary information included.
Start by discussing the context of the situation or problem. Make sure this section is specific, brief, and to the point, and provides enough background for the interviewer to understand it. For the question above, this might look like:
