Last Updated on 2024-10-11
Are you having a hard time recruiting software experts? This list of software developer interview questions can help you find exceptional candidates. Learn more below.
Today’s business landscape emphasizes the necessity of cutting-edge technology in order to grow. Regardless of business size, entrepreneurs are leveraging software solutions to build products and improve processes. Thus, there is a perpetual need for software development professionals.
If you’re a business owner looking to hire software developers, you’ve come to the right place. Here, you can gain insight into the best interview questions to ask. At Full Scale, we’ve hired over 250 developers in less than a handful of years. So, we can point out the fundamental assessments during recruitment.
A vital aspect of the hiring process is the interview. And in this article, we will lay out the most common questions for software development applicants. Here are the main topics we’ll discuss below:
- An Overview of Software Development
- What is a Software Developer?
- Top 10 Software Developer Interview Questions (and target answers)
- Hire a Software Developer Today
Before we dive deeper into the actual interview process, let’s have a refresher on software development.
An Overview of Software Development
In essence, software development is a set of computer science activities that aims to design, build, deploy, and maintain software products. These software products can be in a form of a website, system, program, or application software. All categories have different functions and processes.
Today, most businesses build software products that fall under the application category. Application development comes in various forms depending on the platform, operating system, or device the application uses. There are websites, web, desktop, mobile, and cross-platform applications. Software developers make it possible to build these software solutions!
What is a Software Developer?
Software developers are primarily responsible for designing, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance of software products. They may have different specialties such as front-end, back-end, or full-stack development.
Moreover, they may perform specific duties depending on their specialties. In front-end development, for example, developers can be experts in different frameworks and libraries. For example, we here at Full Scale have developers for React, Angular, JavaScript, PHP, RoR, Python, C++, C#, and more! That said, there are general responsibilities that software developers perform in a team setting.
Software Developer Responsibilities
As a member of a development team, a software developer should be mindful of their key responsibilities, such as:
- Write reusable code that is easy to read, understand, and scale
- Design, code, release, maintain, and support software products
- Modify software product by fixing errors, implementing enhancements, optimizing performance, and upgrading UI/UX
- Translate user requirements into working, functional code
- Work with team members, managers, and stakeholders to identify project goals
- Abide with team’s coding standards and version control practices
- Apply software development methodologies and best practices
- Create documentation for coding processes, debugging, and fixes
Software Developer Skills & Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, one must possess foundational skills in software development. These skills and qualifications commonly include:
- A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or any related degree is a plus but not required
- In-depth knowledge of the software development process and lifecycle
- Proven background in programming languages, libraries, frameworks, and tools
- Proficiency in writing algorithms and conditions
- Experience in OOP, data handling, and data security
- Ability to perform unit testing
- Creativity and out-of-the-box thinking
- Great written and verbal communication abilities
Top Software Developer Interview Questions
The following questions will support your efforts in securing top software developers. These questions will assess if the candidate has prepared for the interview and if they fit your software development needs.
1. Describe the software development process/lifecycle.
This inquiry determines an applicant’s knowledge of software development. Also, their response will indicate if they understand the steps to the different software development methodologies and life cycles. Their answer should give you an insight into what they’re doing, their role, and the required processes needed to build software.
2. Why did you decide to become a software developer?
An applicant’s answer to this question will allow you to know them better. Through their answer, you’ll determine if this is their passion, a means of livelihood, or if they’re born for it.
3. Describe your programming language expertise and why you chose that specific language.
This question allows the candidate to talk about the programming languages they like and why they appreciate them. Moreover, this should also give them a chance to express where their strengths in software development lie.
4. Talk about a previous project that you have completed.
This is another chance for your applicant to talk about their experience and portfolio. You should take note of their understanding of the project, their contributions, and how they worked with their teammates.
Sample answer:
“Most recently, I built a customer portal web application for our company’s online platform. I was assigned to create the endpoints for the system applications. In doing so, I assisted the front-end developers with their output during the system integration. Even after the QA process, we performed troubleshooting and bug fixing. Once we cleared the system from errors and malfunctions, we successfully deployed the application into a live environment. While iterating, we were able to provide support and continue to prioritize ongoing maintenance.”
5. Describe an instance where you made a mistake and how you approached the situation to resolve it.
A key point to remember is that you need a developer who can work responsibly and show accountability. This presents an opportunity for the candidates to elaborate on how they handle gaps, mistakes, and issues in development. More importantly, this is a chance for them to explain how they take a fall and how they rise back up.
6. How do you formulate your estimates?
Task estimation is simply vital to successfully delivering a software project. So, you must hire a software developer who knows how to provide a reasonable and appropriate time estimation.
Sample answer:
When considering task estimations, I consider the complexity of the functionality needing to be built. If it’s something that I’m not familiar with, I factor in a learning curve. Then, I throw in at least 20% of the development time to accommodate testing and bug fixing.
7. Walk me through your understanding of Object-Oriented Programming.
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a fundamental model of software programming. A developer must have a basic understanding of OOP and its concepts. By asking this question, you can gauge the range of a developer in terms of writing properly structured code.
8. How do you ensure quality in your outputs?
This question aims to unravel how an applicant values best practices and quality assurance in software development. Even when writing code, it’s essential to follow proper coding conventions and structures. Furthermore, your software developer should never neglect testing to ensure a quality software product.
9. What things do you do to continuously improve your skills and abilities in software development?
A software developer consistently eager to learn and improve their skills is a green flag. This question allows your applicants to express what they do to enhance their abilities continuously. Someone with this trait can significantly contribute to the team by presenting creative ideas and working with relevant tools.
10. Do you have any questions for us?
Finally, this question aims to awaken the applicant’s interest in the interview. Were the questions clear? Are there expectations to be fulfilled? Even more, one’s questioning ability indicates how good they are in listening.
Hire a Software Developer Today
Finding top-notch developers is not an easy feat. This is why it’s essential to take each step of the recruitment process seriously and meticulously. From posting a job description to the interview process, one must not be complacent in handling the required steps.
Sadly, though, that is a challenge for many budding entrepreneurs today, especially those who are not too tech-savvy. You may opt for IT recruitment agencies, but it will be costly in the long run.
Try Offshore Software Development with Full Scale!
With today’s evolving industry landscape, many entrepreneurs are leaning into offshore software development, and for good reasons! Offshoring is cost-effective and scalable when done right. So, partner with an offshore software development company like Full Scale.
We are a Kansas City-based company with an offshore arm in the Philippines. At Full Scale, we provide quality and affordable software development services to our clients.
As for the recruitment, we perform all the necessary steps in hiring highly skilled software developers for our clients, from interviewing to hiring. You don’t have to bask in all the recruitment stress but instead, focus on your core business processes. You can be sure that assembling your software team with us will deliver excellent results!
Hire a Software Developer from Full Scale today!
Matt Watson is a serial tech entrepreneur who has started four companies and had a nine-figure exit. He was the founder and CTO of VinSolutions, the #1 CRM software used in today’s automotive industry. He has over twenty years of experience working as a tech CTO and building cutting-edge SaaS solutions.
As the CEO of Full Scale, he has helped over 100 tech companies build their software services and development teams. Full Scale specializes in helping tech companies grow by augmenting their in-house teams with software development talent from the Philippines.
Matt hosts Startup Hustle, a top podcast about entrepreneurship with over 6 million downloads. He has a wealth of knowledge about startups and business from his personal experience and from interviewing hundreds of other entrepreneurs.