The interviews in the software companies are always different from the regular companies. They are focused on various avenues of life, including Technical Skills, Soft Skills, and Behavioral Skills. The Behavioral Interview is a part of the software engineering recruitment process.
The majority of software engineering enthusiasts prepare thoroughly for the Technical interviews but miss out on the Behavioral interviews. This is one of the biggest mistakes as it can hamper the entire interview process.
All of the big tech companies like Alphabet, Meta, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, and others conduct behavioral interviews for software engineering roles. It’s imperative to know about these software engineer behavioral interview questions and prepare sane and logical answers for them.
The behavioral questions are pretty simple, but there is no specific answer available for them. Hence, you should learn about a few behavioral interview questions for a software engineering position and practice it in your style. Let’s check out a few common questions and the expected way to answer them.
What are Behavioral Interviews?
Ever heard a joke about the “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?” question? Well, that question is a part of Behavioral Interviews in the Software Industry. These interviews are meant to understand the behavioral capacity and tendencies of the candidates.
As there can be a lot of strange issues happening in companies, it’s important to hire someone who is sane-minded and has the right attitude to solving problems. The behavioral interview questions help interviewers assess the behavioral tendencies, emotional intelligence, and other soft skills of the candidates.
They are as important as the Technical interviews. Anyone with good technical skills but a lack of behavioral intelligence can be a toxic performer and that’s not good for the teamwork in the companies.
Common Software Engineer Behavioral Interview Questions
There are more than a few hundred commonly asked questions in the behavioral interviews. You will find only a few most important questions for you to check and understand.
#1 - What was the hardest technical problem you've faced and How did you fix it?
This question is a part of the Technical Interviews as well as the Behavioral Interviews. The aim behind this question is for the Hiring Manager to understand the approach taken by the Candidate.
The Hiring manager focuses on the various soft skills of the candidates, including problem-solving attitude, teamwork, effective communication, and also technical proficiency.
The candidates should answer this question in a composed manner. They can explain the situation that they’ve faced, the complexity of the problem, the possible impact on the company or the project, and the approach taken to solve it.
#2 - Tell me about a time when you got stuck and your senior helped you solve the problem.
This question is commonly asked at Google or Alphabet. Inc. The aim of this question is to assess the problem-solving attitude and teamwork abilities. Hiring managers look for the approach taken by the candidates in stressful situations.
This question also focuses on the teamwork abilities of the candidates, as well as the communication with the senior teammates. Candidates have to answer this question based on the situation that they’ve experienced beforehand.
#3 - When you disagree with a coworker, how do you handle it?
When you are working in a team, the disagreements are bound to happen. In such cases, your attitude towards the situation is very important. That’s what the hiring managers are looking to find through this question.
This is a common question to find out the teamwork abilities and the conflict-solving attitude in critical times. Depending on the actual situation that you’ve faced in the work environment, you have to craft your answer.
The answer should reflect how you were able to solve the disagreement with a coworker and proceed hand-to-hand to complete the project.
#4 - Tell me about a time you failed.
Failure is a part of life and there will be numerous failures in the professional career. It’s important to take a positive approach to the failures and learn from them. That’s exactly what the hiring managers are looking for in the candidates.
The managers check for the positive attitude of the candidates in the situation of failure. This is quite important, as it helps them hire candidates who can think straight about crisis issues. Also, those who learn from their mistakes become wiser in the long run. Hence, this question is commonly asked in Behavioral interviews.
The candidates have to answer this question with honesty. The candidates can use the SPSIL framework that includes Situation, Problem, Solution, Impact, and Lessons to structure the answer.
#5 - Imagine it is your first day here at the company. What do you want to work on? What features would you improve on?
This is a completely subjective question as the answer depends on your experience. The hiring managers are looking for the preparedness of the candidates. The candidates are expected to do the homework about the job role and the company.
Hence, the question focuses on checking for the preparedness of the candidates. Depending on the Job role, responsibilities, and the company, you can explain the various things that you will bring to the table and take over after joining the company.
There is no specific way to answer this question, hence using your communication skills is the best way.
#6 - Can you Tell me about a time you did something at work that wasn't your responsibility?
This is a question asked at Amazon to assess the ownership ability of the candidates. The interviewers ask this behavioral interview question to see if the candidate takes responsibility for the tasks that are assigned to them.
There can be numerous occasions when the employees have to undertake a task that is not part of their job description. That’s why the interviewers see the response of the candidates in such situations.
The candidates can answer this question using the STAR framework of Situation, Task, Action, and Result. This way, the interviewers can understand your leadership and responsibility-taking abilities.
#7 - How seriously do you take hobbies and interests?
Big companies always focus on the work-life balance and this question checks if the candidates can enjoy life after their work. The hobbies and interests help everyone to get out of boredom and live a stress-free life.
Candidates who can take their hobbies and interests seriously can differentiate between their work life and personal life. The interviewers aim to see if the candidates can handle the stress in their work life while balancing their hobbies and interests.
This question does not need any kind of formal structure, as it’s a subjective question. You can answer it any way you want with truth and honesty.
#8 - In your professional experience have you worked on something without getting approval from your manager?
Again, this question focuses on teamwork, communication skills, and professional responsibility. It’s a common question asked at Amazon and other companies. This question is meant to identify if the candidates had a chance of making a responsible decision in the absence of the manager.
Also, it helps recruiters identify if the candidate is capable enough to make quick decisions in the absence of the seniors. Not just that, it also allows the interviewers to identify the communication skills of the candidates. It’s a serious question and the candidates are supposed to answer in a structured format using STAR framework.
Final Words
The behavioral interview questions for Software Engineering positions are common in the interview process. They can be asked at any point of time in the interview schedule.
These questions aim to identify the various soft skills of the candidates. When these soft skills are paired with technical skills, the companies can get an efficient employee who performs well in any situation.
As many people get blank while answering such questions in the interview, we tried to help them with a little explanation of the answering methods.
As there are more than a few hundred different questions that can be asked, it’s better to practice for all of them or at least the most common ones.