The definitive

book of
developer
interview
questions
for savvy
recruiters

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 The definitive book of developer interview questions for savvy recruiters

Table of contents
Introduction 3

Section I 89 General interview questions 4

1 Behavioral interview questions 5
2 Phone interview questions 11
3 Second interview questions 13
4 Situational interview questions 14

Section II 170 Technical interview questions that work 15

5 Questions that work with any technology 17
6 Java interview questions 17
7 SQL interview questions 18
8 JavaScript interview questions 18
9 Python interview questions 18
10 .NET Core and .NET interview questions 18
11 C and C++ interview questions 19
12 Android interview questions 20
13 Web developer interview questions 20
14 Scala interview questions 23
15 iOS interview questions 23
16 Ruby on Rails interview questions 24
17 Security engineer interview questions 24

Section III Why whiteboard interview questions don’t work 27

18 Whiteboard interview questions to avoid 28
19 Technical interviews focused on work sample coding tasks 28

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Introduction

Software developer interview questions take time to prepare. As a recruiter or

hiring manager, you need to get to the heart of how the developer thinks and solves
problems. On top of that, you need to get to the bottom of what they know about the
tech stack the position requires.

No conversational interviews can replace seeing your candidate actually do the work
they will be doing on the job. But when coupled with a work sample coding test or
code pair interview, these questions will give you a much deeper understanding of
your candidate’s fitness for the role. This approach allows you to screen out more
candidates earlier in the funnel so that you only spend your time on candidates who
could fill the role.

This ebook is for the efficient recruiter and hiring manager who doesn’t always have
time to organize a full slate of interview questions for each interview. In addition to
general interview questions, you can find technical questions for 12 different tech
stacks. Also, find out what questions not to ask (hint: they involve whiteboards).

We know you are busy so take a look at these questions and have an
amazing interview.

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Section I
89 General interview
questions

General interview questions can be used by recruiters for any technical position.
They do not require any technical expertise. Instead, they will help you get to know
your candidate’s approach to their work. Use these questions to get to know how your
candidate thinks and how they solve problems.

Questions in this section:

Behavioral questions
Phone interview questions
Second interview questions
Situational interview questions

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1. Behavioral interview questions

Behavioral questions are used to evaluate a candidate’s past experiences and

behaviors in order to determine their potential. They involve asking the candidate
about how they resolved a situation in the past.

Behavioral-based questions reveal in-depth information about the way a candidate

thinks, feels, and what type of experience the candidate has from previous jobs.

45 Behavioral interview questions

Action-oriented and self-motivation

1. Describe a situation when you did much more than was expected of you to get
the project done. Were your efforts recognized? By whom and how? How did
that make you feel?
2. Tell me about a time when you took ownership of a project. Why did you do this?
What was the result of you taking on the challenge? What could have happened
if you did not take ownership?
3. Think about an instance in which you came up with a project idea which was
implemented primarily because of your efforts. What was it about? What was
its outcome? What was your role?
4. Describe a time when you made a suggestion to improve something on the
project that you were working on.
5. Give me an example of the project or initiative that you started on your own.
It can be a non-business one. What prompted you to get started?

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Ability to adapt

6. Describe a situation in which you met a major obstacle in order to complete

a project. How did you deal with it? What steps did you take?
7. Tell me about a time you had to work on several projects at once. How did you
handle this?
8. Describe a situation in which you experienced a significant project change that
you weren’t expecting. What was it? How did that impact you, and how did you
adapt to this change? How did you remain productive through the project?
9. Describe a situation in which you had to adjust to changes over which you had
no control. How did you do this?

Communication skills

10. I’d be interested in hearing about a miscommunication you had with your
supervisor. How did you solve it? What was the reason for that? How did you
deal with that situation?
11. Tell me about an instance when you had to communicate a really bad piece of
news to your supervisor or team members. How did you handle it? What was
the outcome?
12. Give an example of a time when you didn’t agree with another developer. Did
you stand up for something that you believed was right?
13. Tell me about a time when you had to present a complex programming problem
to a person that doesn’t understand technical jargon. How did you ensure that
the other person understood you?
14. Describe a situation in which you felt you had not communicated well enough.
What did you do? How did you handle it?
15. Tell me about a situation that you had to speak up and be assertive in order to
get a point across that was important for you.

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Conflict management

16. Tell me about a time when you had a disagreement with another programmer.
How did you handle the situation? Were you able to reach a mutually
beneficial resolution to that conflict? If not, why were you and your co-worker
unable to reach a mutually beneficial resolution? If you knew then what you
know now, what would you have done differently to either prevent the conflict
or to resolve it?
17. Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult person to
accomplish a goal. What was the biggest challenge? How did you handle it?
18. Has there been a time on a project when you disagreed with someone? What did
you do about it?
19. Tell me about when you had to deal with conflict within your team. How was
the conflict solved? How did you handle that? How would you deal with it now?

Creativity

20. Give me an example of a time you had to take a creative and unusual approach
to solve a coding problem. How did this idea come to your mind? Why do you
think it was unusual?

Decision making

21. Give me an example of a time when you were faced with a complex project
related matter and you could not decide on the best way to deal with it. What
did you do? How did you go about making the decision? Can you lead me
through your decision process? If you could make the decision once again,
would you change anything?
22. Think about an instance in which you made a decision at work that was
unpopular. How did you handle it?

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23. Give me an example of a project that completely failed. Why do you think it
was a failure? Could there be anything done differently in order to turn it into
a success?
24. Describe a situation in which you worked diligently on a project and it did not
produce the desired results. Why didn’t you get the desired results? What did
you learn from the experience?
25. Think about a situation when you made a poor decision or did something that
just didn’t turn out right. What happened?

Goal orientation

26. Give an example of an important project goal you reached and how you
achieved it.
27. Think about an instance in which you worked on and achieved multiple
project goals.
28. Describe a circumstance when you were not able to achieve a project goal
that was set by your supervisor. How did you handle this situation? What was
the outcome?
29. Think about an instance in which you had to depend on others to help you
achieve a project goal. How did you feel?

Influence and persuasion

30. Tell me about a recent situation at work in which you were able to get
management to accept one of your ideas.
31. Describe a situation in which you experienced difficulty in getting others to
accept your ideas? What was your approach? How did this work? Were you
able to successfully persuade someone to see things your way?
32. Have you ever had to “sell” an idea to your project team? How did you do it?
Did they “buy” it?

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Planning, priority setting, time management

33. Tell me about a situation when you were responsible for project planning.
Did everything go according to your plan? If not, then why and what kind of
counteractions did you have to take?

Problem-solving skills

34. Tell me about a situation when you made a mistake at work. What happened
exactly and how did you deal with it? What steps did you take to improve the
situation?
35. What is the biggest problem you have faced on projects so far and how did you
solve it? What made the problem difficult to resolve? What was the result?
Would you do anything differently now?
36. Give me an example of a time when you noticed a small problem before it
turned into a major one. Did you take the initiative to correct it? What kind of
preventive measure did you undertake?
37. Walk me through a difficult/complex problem/project you encountered. How
did you decide what to do first? What information did you need? What
obstacles did you face? Which ones were you able to overcome? Did you have
to ask for help?

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Teamwork

38. Tell me about a time when you worked with someone who was not completing
his or her share of the work. How did you handle the situation? Did you discuss
your concern with your coworker? With your manager? If yes, how did your
coworker respond to your concern? What was your manager’s response?
39. Describe a situation where you had to work in a team that didn’t get on very
well. What happened? What did you do and what role did you take? How did
the situation evolve?
40. Describe a team experience you found disappointing. What would you have done
to prevent this?
41. Give me an example of working cooperatively as a team member to
accomplish an important goal. What was the objective? To what extent did
you interact with other project members?
42. Tell me about the most difficult situation you have had when leading a team.
What happened and how did you handle it? Were you successful? What was
the most important thing you did?

Working under pressure

43. Describe a situation when you worked effectively under pressure. How did 4
you feel when working under pressure? What was going on, and how did you
get through it?
44. Tell me about a situation when you had problems working under pressure.
How did you handle that situation? Did you decide to ask for support? How
and when did you ask for help?
45. Give me a recent example of a stressful situation on the job. What happened?
How did you handle it?

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2. Phone interview questions

Phone interviews are a lean way of getting an idea about who your candidate is and
what they believe they can achieve before they take a technical assessment. Compared
to in person interviews, they take less time and are less disruptive to the candidate.
Combining the information you get from the phone interview with a technical
assessment will allow you to screen out any unsuitable candidates before any face-to-
face interaction, reducing the number of technical interviews you need to conduct.
The best questions to ask in a phone interview aim to verify a number of things, from job
experience to working preferences, expectations, and attitude, to name but a few.

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20 Phone interview questions

1. Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?

2. Why did you apply for this position?
3. What are you looking for in your next job?
4. Why does this position appeal to you?
5. How can you contribute and help us grow?
6. Tell me about your current or most recent job. What did you do?
7. Could you describe your typical work week?
8. In your previous roles, what major challenges and problems did you face?
How did you handle them?
9. What challenges do you look for in a position?
10. Do you prefer working on your own or as a part of the team?
11. Which work environments do you function best in?
12. What keeps you motivated?
13. What are your biggest strengths?
14. What are your biggest weaknesses?
15. Why do you want to make a career change?
16. What are your long-term career goals?
17. What are your salary expectations?
18. Are you willing to relocate for this role?
19. If you were offered this job, when would you be able to start?
20. Are there any questions that I can answer for you?

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3. Second interview questions

Once candidates pass the screening and the first interview stage, they often get invited
to the second interview. The second interview is used to either assess company fit in
a second soft skills interview or verify technical skills through a technical interview.

Second interview questions are more detailed than the questions used in the first
interview. They are often asked to inquire about specific skills, attitudes, personality
traits, patterns of behavior, or particular events.

12 second interview questions

1. What are your career goals?

2. Was there a time in your career when a project was changed? How did you adapt?
3. What are the main attributes needed to be successful in this role?
4. How have you resolved a conflict with a colleague or superior?
5. Could you tell me a little more about your current or most recent job?
6. What challenges are you currently looking for?
7. Have you ever been assigned to more than one project? How did that affect your work?
8. What role do you typically take on a team?
9. What would you change about the company?
10. Can you tell me about a time when you worked successfully as part of a team?
11. What salary are you seeking?
12. What is your notice period?

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4. Situational interview questions

Situational interview questions are questions about how the candidate would handle
a challenge they would face in the role. They can help push candidates past generic
answers by making them think about how they would handle a situation. Situational
interview questions are a great way of establishing how a candidate’s values and
priorities might influence a future action at your company.

How to structure a situational interview question

1. “What would you do…”

These 5 words can turn a simple yes or no question into a detailed, intricate response.
Try rewording your favorite interview questions to start with this phrase. You’ll be able to see
how candidates respond to the same question, just worded differently.

11 more situational interview questions

2. How would you fix a mistake that you make in a project?

3. How would you motivate someone or others around you?
4. Imagine you found yourself in a situation where you couldn’t achieve your goals.
What would you do?
5. Describe how you would prioritize, organize, and track your work.
6. Describe a situation where you would be proud of your work.
7. Tell me about how you would navigate a situation where you had multiple
projects with conflicting deadlines or goals.
8. What would you do if you had a disagreement or conflict with a co-worker and
what would your role be in resolving it?
9. What would you do if you felt nervous, stressed or unconfident?
10. How would you handle a situation that regularly happens in your workplace?
11. What would you do if you had to work for your least favorite boss or manager,
and why?
12. How would you adjust to big changes in your workplace?

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Section II
170 Technical interview
questions that work

Technical interview questions will help you learn about your candidate’s technical
knowledge. Hiring managers can use these to get a feel for how well the candidate
understands the specific technologies they need for the position. Unlike the general
interview questions in the first half of the book, the answers to these questions require
a technical background to understand, so should be asked by a technical interviewer.

Technical interview questions should be used along with a work sample coding test.
The candidate’s answers can show their breadth of knowledge but they can’t show if the
candidate can apply their knowledge practically.

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Questions in this section:

Questions that work in any technology

Java interview questions
SQL interview questions
JavaScript interview questions
Python interview questions
.NET Core and .NET interview questions
C and C++ interview questions
Android interview questions
Web developer interview questions
Scala interview questions
iOS interview questions
Ruby on Rails interview questions
Security engineer interview questions

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5. Questions that work with any technology

1. With which technologies listed on your resume have you had commercial
experience in the past 2 years? What were your responsibilities? What was
your biggest achievement?
2. Think about a programming project decision you made that was a failure. Why
do you think it was a mistake? Why did it happen? Could there be anything
done differently in order to turn it into a success? What steps did you take to
improve the situation? What did you learn from this experience?
3. I’ve noticed you listed framework/technology X on your resume. How is it used?
What’s your opinion about it? Is it a good choice?
4. On what stage did you join recent projects? Were you involved in the choice
of technology or project setup? If yes, which technology did you choose or
recommend for the project and why?
5. What was the most interesting project you’ve participated in? What was your
role? Can you describe it and explain why you considered it to be so attractive?
6. Do you like to participate in the analysis, design, and deployment phases of an
IT project or do you prefer to concentrate on the pure development of a well-
described task? Why?
7. What is your biggest programming success story? Why did it happen? How can
you repeat it?
8. For more senior-level applicants: Would you like to mentor a junior developer?
Why? How would you go about doing it? Do you have any experience mentoring
other people?

6. Java interview questions

9. Which Java open source libraries do you consider to be valuable and why?

Why should I ask this and other questions to a Java candidate?

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7. SQL interview questions

10. On what stage did you join recent projects? Were you involved in the choice
of technology or project setup? If yes, which technology/ relational database
management system did you choose or recommend for the project and why?

Why should I ask this and other questions to an SQL candidate?

JS 8. JavaScript interview questions

11. Which JavaScript libraries do you consider to be valuable and why?

12. If you would like to learn new technology connected to JavaScript, what would
it be?
13. Are you contributing to any Open Source project or maybe are you maintaining
your own Open Source Project? Are you attending any JavaScript conferences?

Why should I ask these and other questions to a JavaScript candidate?

9. Python interview questions

14. Which Python open-source libraries do you consider to be valuable and why?

Why should I ask these and other questions to a Python candidate?

10. .NET Core and .NET interview questions

15. Could you explain the difference between similar frameworks A and B (for
example the difference between ASP.NET MVC and Web Forms)?
16. I’ve noticed you listed framework X on your resume. What’s your opinion about it?
Is it a good choice?

Why should I ask these and other questions to a .NET candidate?

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C++ 11. C and C++ interview questions

17. (C/C++) (C/C++) What were the constraints for your previous projects?
18. (C/C++) Which systems did you program for?
19. (C/C++) Were you coding adhering to any specific standards?
20. (C++) What are the main differences between C++ and C?
21. (C/C++) What is pointer arithmetic?
22. (C++, entry-level) What is the difference between a class and an object?
23. (C++) What is a lambda expression?
24. (C/C++) What are locks, what problems do they solve and what are the
potential problems with them?
25. (C/C++, expert) What is volatile, and how does it relate to the question about
locks and synchronization?
26. (C++) How would you create a dynamic array?
27. (C++) What is RAII? Do other languages have it?
28. (C++) Can you throw from a destructor?
29. (C++) Can you inherit a constructor?
30. (C++) Can you have a virtual constructor?
31. (C++) What is an interface?
32. (C++, expert) Can you have an implementation of a pure virtual function?
33. (C++, expert) Can you have a virtual template function and why?
34. (C++, expert) How would you implement std::is_same?
35. (C/C++) What is your favorite change (or a number of changes) in Cnn/C++nn?
36. (C++) What are the differences between C++98 and C++11?
37. (C/C++) How would you detect and fix a memory corruption bug?
38. (C/C++) Do you have experience using custom allocators?
39. (C/C++) You have framework/library X in your résumé, describe your
experience with it. Was using it a good choice? Is there an alternative that you
had preferred, or would prefer now?

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40. (C/C++) Which is your preferred build system and why? How does it compare to
the competition?

Why should I ask these and other questions to a C or C++ candidate?

12. Android interview questions

41. Tell us about the most interesting problem you encountered after publishing
an application for users. How did you solve this problem?
42. Enumerate ready-made components of Material Design whose
implementations can be found in the Support library family.
43. What is your favorite shortcut in Android Studio?
44. What do you have to do to make an Android application freeze?
45. How do you deal with fragmentation?
46. It is also a good idea to ask about the source of the developer’s projects,
i.e. PSD or provided by a designer. How do they deal with cutting graphics and
cooperating with designers?

Why should I ask these and other questions to an Android candidate?

13. Web developer interview questions

General

47. Have you recently learned something new or interesting?

48. What made you interested in programming?
49. In which programming environment do you feel most comfortable?
50. What is the piece of code you are most proud of? Are you working on any
personal projects at the moment?
51. What industry sites and blogs do you read regularly?
52. Do you prefer working alone or in a team?
53. What size websites have you worked on before?

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54. From a web software developer’s perspective, what sites do you admire and why?
55. What’s your favorite development language and why? What other features
(if any) do you wish you could add to this language?
56. Do you find any particular languages or technologies intimidating?

Fact-based

57. What is the difference between tags and HTML elements?

58. What is “Semantic HTML”?
59. How do you optimize a website’s assets?
60. What are three ways to reduce page load time?
61. What kind of things must you be wary of when design or developing for
multilingual sites?
62. What does DOCTYPE mean?
63. What’s the difference between standards mode and quirks mode?
64. What are the limitations when serving XHTML pages?
65. What is the syntax difference between a bulleted list and numbered list?
66. How do you make comments without text being picked up by the browser?
67. What is the difference between linking to an image, a website, and an email address?
68. What is the difference between <div> and <frame>?
69. What is the difference between the page model of HTML and HTML5?
70. Ok, what’s the real difference between HTML and HTML5?
71. What are some of the major new API’s that come standard with HTML5?
72. What is the difference in caching between HTML5 and the old HTML?
73. What is the new DOCTYPE?
74. What are some new HTML5 markup elements?
75. What elements have disappeared?
76. What are the new media-related elements in HTML5?
77. What are the new image elements in HTML5?
78. What is the difference between SVG and <Canvas>?
79. What are some new input attributes in HTML5?

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80. What are data-attributes good for?

81. What purpose do Work Workers serve and what are some of their benefits?
82. Describe the difference between cookies, sessionStorage, and localStorage.
83. How do you optimize your web pages for print?
84. What existing CSS frameworks have you used locally, or in production?
How would you change/improve them?
85. How is responsive design different from adaptive design?
86. Explain how a browser determines what elements match a CSS selector.
87. What is the difference between classes and IDs in CSS?
88. What’s the difference between “resetting” and “normalizing” CSS?
Which would you choose, and why?
89. Explain Ajax in as much detail as possible.
90. What’s the difference between .call and .apply?
91. What’s the difference between an “attribute” and a “property”?
92. Why is extending built-in JavaScript objects not a good idea?
93. Is jQuery is a replacement of JavaScript?
94. What are the advantages of jQuery?
95. Which is the fastest selector in jQuery? Which is the slowest?
96. Where jQuery code is getting executed?

Situational or hypothetical questions for web developers

97. I just pulled up the website you built and the browser is displaying a blank
page. Walk me through the steps you’d take to troubleshoot the problem.
98. The website is not rendering correctly on different devices. What are the first
steps you would take to correct that?
99. We’re developing an eCommerce website for a small store. Give me a list of
requirements and a time-frame for delivering the entire project.

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100. A project needs to be deployed in one month but the code, written by
a previous developer, is messy and not functional. Do you re-write or start
from scratch? Why and what does it depend on?
101. We have a need to use a technology you are not familiar with. Would you
begin learning it or outsource/ask for outside help?

14. Scala interview questions

102. What is pattern matching?

103. What are case classes?
104. Which object-oriented patterns are implemented in Scala?
105. What is a trait and is there any equivalent in Java?
106. Which Java open source libraries do you consider to be valuable and why?

Why should I ask these and other questions to a Scala candidate?

15. iOS interview questions

107. Please compare Swift and Objective-C.

108. Which iOS technologies are in wide use now, and which may become popular
in the future?
109. How can you avoid memory leaks?
110. Have you had experience tutoring and mentoring someone in Swift?

Why should I ask these and other questions to an iOS candidate?

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16. Ruby on Rails interview questions

111. What are the changes between Rails 4 and Rails 5?

112. In Ruby on Rails, where do you write your logic: Models, View or Controllers?
Is there any alternative?
113. What are the main difference between rspec and minitest?
114. Given a class that has these methods,
a. def factorial(number): returns the factorial of #number
b. def fibonacci(n): calculates the value of the nth Fibonacci number
what unit test would you write?
115. You have a code and tested a ticket for a new feature on a new page. Just
after deploying it to production we detect that the new page loads, but it
takes one minute. What do you look at?
116. Why did you choose Ruby on Rails?
117. What does Rails add to Ruby?

Why should I ask these and other questions to a Ruby on Rails candidate?

17. Security engineer interview questions

118. Have you handled a breach? How did it happen? How could it be prevented?
119. What’s your opinion about the security engineer role in the company?
120. What do you think about BYOD (bring your own device)?
121. What is a threat, vulnerability, exploit, and mitigation? (explain)
122. What is a SQL Injection and how it differs from XXE? (explain)
123. What leads to SSTI (server-side template injection) and is it more dangerous
than XSS? How do they differ?
124. What are: IDS, IPS, and EDR. How they differ?

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125. How does asymmetric encryption work? When should you use it? What are
the pros and cons in comparison to symmetric encryption? Name one
symmetric and one asymmetric encryption algorithm.
126. What is the difference between stream cipher and block cipher?
127. What is hashing (cryptographical), what it is used for, when, and how does it
differ from encryption? Name one hashing algorithm that should not be
used and one “not proven unsecure”.
128. What is PBKDF, how does it work? Why use it?
129. How CSRF differs from XSS?
130. What is a fingerprint?
131. How to check if the downloaded file is correct?
132. Explain the CIA principle.
133. What is port knocking?
134. Name a secure protocol to manage remote servers?
135. What is rlogin and should it be used? Why? Why not? Explain.
136. What is hardening?
137. What is penetration testing? What is vulnerability assessment?
How do they differ? What is a security audit?
138. Name one pentesting guide.
139. What is PKI (public key infrastructure)? How does it work?
140. What is Kerberos? What it’s used for? Can it be used in Windows domains?
141. What is certificate pinning? How to do it properly?
142. What you do when your private certificate is stolen?
143. Name one popular vulnerability scanning tool?
144. What is a blue team, red team, and purple team? Which one is the most
important one?
145. What is DLP, how does it work?
146. What is WAF? Name one WAF solution.
147. What is SOP (same origin policy)?
148. What is CSP (content security policy), when should it be used?

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149. How to mitigate SQL Injection?

150. What is HSTS? Why should you use it?
151. Explain how TLS works (in a few sentences).
152. What is the difference between authorization and authentication?
153. What are ACLs? How to use them?
154. Name levels of confidentiality.
155. What is RADIUS? When should you use it?
156. What is VLAN, when should you use it? How does VLAN hopping work?
157. How to secure WiFi in an organization? (network separation)
158. Name three ways of security testing depending on the level of knowledge
of the attacker. Which one is the most reliable and simulates
a real-world scenario?
159. Name every layer of the ISO/OSI model.
160. What is residual risk?
161. Imagine you work for a small company. There are several interns employed
each month for a short period of time. They need access to some servers
and a WiFi network. How will you handle it?
162. What is a password manager? What should it be used for?
163. Which policy is better – blacklisting or whitelisting, and why?
164. Define what a man in the middle attack is.
165. How does the Diffie-Hellman key exchange (DHKEX) work?
166. What is SIEM and how does it work?
167. What are DoS and DDoS? What’s the difference?
168. How do you prevent DNS spoofing and how do you secure a DNS?
169. The last two years were occupied by ransomware attacks that caused havoc
in organizations and companies which caused giant financial and
reputational losses. What steps would you take to prevent such accidents
happen in your organization?
170. Your IDS reported a breach. What would you do to eliminate the threat?

Why should I ask these questions to a security engineering candidate?

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 The definitive book of developer interview questions for savvy recruiters

Section III
Why whiteboard
interview questions
don’t work

Whiteboard interviews are still common in tech recruitment but in most cases
are inefficient.

Whiteboard interviews are essentially tech quizzes which tell you very little about real
coding skills. Candidates are asked to invert binary trees on a whiteboard or recall
algorithms off the top of their head. To quote coding instructor Quincy Larson,

“Unfortunately, interviewing practices at big tech companies aren’t that scientific.

The decision of whether to hire a developer usually comes down to the candidate
walking up to a whiteboard and regurgitating algorithms that haven’t changed since
the 1970s, like a (classically) trained monkey.”

Whiteboard testing puzzles don’t resemble the day-to-day work of developers – there
are no computers, no access to reference materials. This scenario is unrealistic and as
such, tells you very little about one’s real coding abilities. As Quincy Larson wrote,

“The only world where you would actually need to be able to recall an algorithm would
be a post-apocalyptic one, where the hard drives of all the computers connected to the
internet were fried, and all copies of foundational academic papers and computer science
textbooks had been reduced to ashes.”

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 The definitive book of developer interview questions for savvy recruiters

18. Whiteboard interview questions to avoid

Here are a few common questions that you should avoid:

1. How do you find the missing number in a given integer array of 1 to 100?
2. How do you find the middle element of a singly linked list in one pass?
3. How do you print duplicate characters from a string?
4. How do you perform an inorder traversal in a given binary tree?

So if whiteboard interview questions don’t work, what is the solution?

19. Technical interviews focused on work sample coding tasks

Ask your candidate to complete a task which meets the following criteria:
• The test is an authentic work sample
• It gives your candidate all of the resources they would normally use at work
• It bases the task on a business problem they will face when they start
working for you

These tasks should be tailored to the work of the position you will be filling so we
can’t feed you questions that work for every developer who uses the tech stack. You
can find tests you can use in our coding test catalog or make your own. Here are the
requirements Devskiller has for creating effective coding tasks:

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 The definitive book of developer interview questions for savvy recruiters

The 4 key requirements for creating

quality tasks on

1. Tasks are created by reputable subject-matter experts, also from outside our
team. Due to the fact that our test library comprises of over 57 languages,
frameworks, and libraries, we use both our development team as well as
subject-matter experts who specialize in the tech stack we want to cover

2. All tasks are in alignment with our RealLifeTesting™ methodology so that

they mirror real work. Task concepts are based on real-life work and first-hand
experience of the developers creating the tasks, our Tech Team, and most
importantly, our customer base (based on their experience and internal needs)

3. Multiple quality assurance touchpoints are created for every project and
every expert, regardless of their level of expertise. This is a safeguarding
mechanism to ensure that each and every task added to our library
meets our standards

4. Assigning the right difficulty levels to tasks is based on the results of beta
testing and the suggestions of additional technology experts. Furthermore,
the scores of each test are constantly monitored after they are published
on the platform. In some cases, test difficulty levels and/or time limits are
adjusted based on these numbers

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 The definitive book of developer interview questions for savvy recruiters

Here is a task created using these requirements:

It doesn’t ask a developer to come up with a complicated algorithm to get a predefined

result. Instead, the tasks ask the candidate to do real software development, in this
case adding features to an address book application using React built on Redux.
Through doing this, the developer needs to show expertise in the entire tech stack by
solving a real business problem.

This task can be used in a code pair interview or as an automatic tech screen. When
it is a part of a tech screen, Devskiller will automatically evaluate the solution the
developer comes up with based on whether it works, the cleanliness of the code and
the efficiency of the solution.

This will tell you whether your candidate has the right coding skill, tech stack
experience, and problem-solving ability that you need for the position you want to fill.

At Devskiller, we’ve made it easy for companies to create their own work sample
tasks or to choose from our extensive catalog of premade work sample coding tasks
in 57+ technologies.

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Like our interview question ideas?
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