Software Engineering Fundamentals interview questions

Showing 511–540 of 1208 results

• Highlight Overlapping Phrases in a SentenceHard

  Tests string search algorithms, interval merging techniques, and clean API design for formatting highlighted spans in text without redundant or malformed tags.

  HarveySoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Incremental Variable Resolver for a Build PipelineMedium

  Build an in-memory variable resolver for a CI configuration system in three stages: plain integer variables, expression variables that reference other variables, then cycle detection with recomputation limited to the affected dependents. Checks whether a candidate can grow a design incrementally, respect a correct computation order, and reason about a dependency graph under change.

  HarveySoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Mini Spreadsheet with Formulas Evaluated in set_cell and Cycle RejectionMedium

  A three-part coding exercise: build a mini spreadsheet with set_cell and get_cell, add formulas that sum constants and cell references with values computed eagerly in set_cell, and detect and reject circular dependencies. It tests dependency graphs, ordered recomputation and cycle checks.

  HarveySoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Spreadsheet Class With Set/Get, Cell-Reference Formulas and Cycle-Rejecting WritesMedium

  Implement an in-memory spreadsheet class in three steps: set and get integer cell values, support formulas that reference other cells, and reject any write that would create a circular reference while leaving the sheet unchanged. It tests dependency tracking, update propagation and cycle detection.

  HarveySoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Spreadsheet Class with Formula Cells, Recalculation and Cycle DetectionMedium

  Build an in-memory spreadsheet class in three stages: integer cells with set_cell and get_cell, formula cells such as =B1+C1+1 with explicit handling of never-set cells and recomputation on every write, then cycle detection and recomputing only dependent cells. Tests incremental design, evaluation order and dependency graphs.

  HarveySoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• C++ Sliding-Window Mean of a Float Array With Inf, -Inf and NaN HandlingMedium

  Implement an O(n) sliding-window mean over a 32-bit float array containing IEEE-754 special values (+inf, -inf, NaN) without poisoning subsequent windows or suffering numerical drift.

  HeadlandsData ScientistSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessment
• Build a Dual Fixed-Window Rate-Limiting MiddlewareMedium

  Tests your ability to design and implement a thread-safe, dual fixed-window rate limiter and integrate it cleanly as HTTP middleware in an asynchronous Python framework.

  HeadwaySoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Debug a Stale Insurance Eligibility StatusMedium

  Tests your ability to resolve data staleness and synchronization bugs between denormalized cache records and immutable event snapshots, while establishing clear domain invariants and handling out-of-order writes.

  HeadwaySoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Implement Layered Endpoint and Global Rate LimitsMedium

  This problem tests your ability to design a thread-safe, memory-efficient rate limiter that manages hierarchical quotas using a rolling window mechanism.

  HeadwaySoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Build a GPU VM Fleet CLIMedium

  This problem tests your ability to design a robust CLI interface and state management logic for an abstraction layer that interacts with multiple heterogeneous cloud GPU providers.

  HeygenSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Design an hourly call-agent schedulerMedium

  This problem tests your ability to model resource scheduling under capacity constraints and optimize the assignment of tasks to workers over discrete time slots.

  Hippocratic AiSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Implement a Thread-Safe Pub-Sub ServiceMedium

  This question evaluates concurrent programming and thread-safety skills within the Software Engineering Fundamentals domain, focusing on synchronization primitives, message delivery semantics, and coordination between publishers and subscribers at a practical application level.

  Hot Agent StartupSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• JavaScript Fundamentals: Prototype Chains and How 'this' Is BoundMedium

  A JavaScript fundamentals question that asks you to predict and explain how this is bound in method calls, detached calls, bound functions and arrow functions, trace property lookup through a prototype chain, and rewrite constructor-based inheritance with class syntax. It tests precise reasoning about core language behaviour.

  HubSpotFrontend EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• C++ Fundamentals: Memory, Compilation, and ContainersHard

  Tests deep C++ expertise in zero-allocation data structures, cache-line alignment, manual object lifecycle management via placement new, and the compilation/inlining implications of template-based designs.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Compare C++ Pointers and ReferencesMedium

  Tests in-depth understanding of C++ raw pointers versus references, their language semantics, memory representations, and how to apply them to design safe, idiomatic, zero-cost APIs.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Compare C++ Virtual Dispatch with CRTPMedium

  Compare C++ virtual dispatch with CRTP across runtime flexibility, object layout, separate compilation, heterogeneous collections, inlining, code size, diagnostics, ABI stability, and measured performance.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Compare Multithreading and MultiprocessingMedium

  This question tests your understanding of concurrency primitives, operating system process models, memory isolation, context switching overheads, and the architectural trade-offs between threads and processes in low-latency systems.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Compare Python Generators, Decorators, and Context ManagersMedium

  Tests understanding of Python's execution timing, protocol methods, and resource cleanup across generators, decorators, and context managers, culminating in a robust lazy stream processor.

  Hudson River TradingSite Reliability EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Count Matrix Cells Whose Row and Column Neighbors MatchMedium

  This problem tests your ability to efficiently traverse a grid while implementing conditional neighborhood logic and handling boundary constraints.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Design a Fixed-Size Memory Allocator with Correct AlignmentMedium

  Design a slab-backed fixed-size allocator with constant-time free-list operations, correct stride and alignment, separate object lifetime, corruption defenses, concurrency choices, and efficient handling of nine-byte payloads.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Design an Indexable Deque with O(1) AccessHard

  Tests understanding of low-level data structure design, memory layout, and trade-offs required to build a double-ended queue supporting strict O(1) random indexing and amortized O(1) push/pop operations.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Diagnose I/O, Memory, and CPU ConstraintsMedium

  Tests your ability to systematically diagnose, measure, and resolve CPU, memory, and I/O bottlenecks in high-throughput, low-latency systems.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Explain C++ Inline, Segfaults, Virtual Memory, and std::string InternalsHard

  Tests deep understanding of low-level systems and modern C++ fundamentals, focusing on compiler inlining mechanics, virtual memory paging, segmentation fault root causes, and standard library string memory layouts.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Explain Large Memory Allocation, Swap, and C++ Inline Trade-offsHard

  Tests deep understanding of OS virtual memory management, demand paging and swap mechanics, and low-latency C++ compiler optimizations centered around inlining and instruction cache trade-offs.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Explain Python and React performance fundamentalsHard

  This question evaluates knowledge of Python resource management (context managers and the with statement), React rendering and optimization concepts (hooks, memoization, and frontend performance), and on-call debugging and incident triage skills.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Explain Virtual Memory, MMUs, and TLBsMedium

  Trace a virtual-memory load through TLB lookup, page-table walking, MMU permission checks, cache and physical access, page-fault handling, context switches, huge pages, and cross-core shootdowns.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Explain Why du and df Report Different Disk UsageMedium

  This question tests your understanding of Linux filesystem internals, specifically how kernel-level storage reporting differs from user-space directory traversal.

  Hudson River TradingSite Reliability EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Explain and Diagnose a Segmentation FaultMedium

  This question tests your understanding of virtual memory, the lifecycle of a segmentation fault, and your ability to diagnose memory corruption using standard tooling.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Find a Local Minimum in One and Two DimensionsHard

  Tests divide-and-conquer optimization techniques to locate a local minimum in 1D and 2D arrays in sublinear time, requiring rigorous reasoning about termination and invariants.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Find the Longest Common Digit Prefix Across Two ArraysMedium

  Tests candidate's ability to efficiently match string/digit prefixes between two collections of integers using hash sets or a prefix tree (Trie).

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen