Software Engineering Fundamentals interview questions

Showing 541–570 of 1208 results

• Linux Host and Filesystem FundamentalsMedium

  Review practical Linux fundamentals: memory and swap interpretation, safe directory enumeration, process-versus-thread trade-offs, filesystem links, and option-safe file deletion. Also explain responsible recovery steps after an accidental recursive delete.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Minimize Array Amplitude After Removing a Contiguous BlockMedium

  Tests array manipulation and prefix/suffix extremum tracking to minimize the spread (max - min) of an array after removing a contiguous subarray of length k.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Python Language and Runtime FundamentalsMedium

  Review core Python semantics through decorators, dictionary hashing, generators, unpacking syntax, and memory management. Distinguish language guarantees from CPython behavior while connecting edge cases to API design, debugging, and safe resource cleanup.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Query Order and Batch Lifetimes from Event FilesMedium

  Design an event-driven tracker to query lifetimes for individual orders or order batches, correctly handling open orders and aggregate start/end timestamps.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Reason About C++ Inlining, Allocation, and PolymorphismHard

  Tests deep C++ systems knowledge regarding the runtime and compiler-level impacts of dynamic dispatch, heap allocations, and function inlining within latency-sensitive pipelines.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Reason About Unix Signals, Zombies, and Process ReapingMedium

  Assess understanding of Unix process lifecycles, signal handling mechanics, zombie state accumulation, and process reaping responsibilities in parent processes and PID 1.

  Hudson River TradingSite Reliability EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Split a Message into Length-Limited Parts with Numbered SuffixesMedium

  This problem tests your ability to handle string manipulation, edge-case arithmetic, and iterative construction while adhering to dynamic length constraints imposed by mandatory metadata.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Troubleshoot a Host That Rejects SSH ConnectionsMedium

  Tests systematic Linux systems and networking troubleshooting methodology by designing an evidence-based diagnostic path for an unreachable or rejecting SSH service.

  Hudson River TradingSite Reliability EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Wrap a Fixed-Chunk Stream Reader with Arbitrary-Length ReadsHard

  Implement an arbitrary-length stream reader on top of an underlying reader that only yields data in fixed-size chunks, managing internal buffering and end-of-stream state across successive calls.

  Hudson River TradingSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Debug and Harden a Ticketing Backend APIMedium

  Implement and harden an in-memory ticket service backend to handle deterministic cursor pagination, idempotent reservations, cache invalidation, and oversell prevention.

  IBMSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessment
• Explain CI/CD, Kubernetes delivery, and troubleshootingEasy

  This question evaluates operational DevOps and cloud-native competencies, specifically CI/CD concepts and tools, GitOps delivery with Argo CD, Kubernetes deployment and troubleshooting (including Helm and StatefulSet vs Deployment), containerization rationale, Linux process and file inspection, network diagnostics, database deployment safety, and infrastructure concepts such as HPC and VPC. It is commonly asked in Software Engineering Fundamentals and DevOps interviews to measure production-readiness, troubleshooting ability, and tooling familiarity, emphasizing practical application while requiring underlying conceptual understanding of system behavior and reliability.

  IBMSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Debug Kubernetes crashes and review Python ingestion scriptEasy

  This question evaluates operational debugging and system reliability skills — specifically Kubernetes pod/container troubleshooting, health-probe configuration, and practical Python ETL code review, focusing on observability, dependency management, and production-readiness.

  IXL LearningSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Analyze an Instruction Trace with Latency, Throughput, Cache, and Roofline ConstraintsEasy

  Implement a pipeline simulation that calculates total execution cycles under RAW data hazards and computes roofline bottleneck metrics for a given instruction trace.

  ImcHardware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Analyze time complexity and threading trade-offsMedium

  This question evaluates understanding of worst-case time complexity for common data structure operations and the performance trade-offs between multithreading and single-threading, testing knowledge in the Software Engineering Fundamentals domain.

  ImcSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Answer conceptual true/false and caching questionsMedium

  This problem tests foundational knowledge of computer architecture (integer representation), memory management strategies (caching), and graph theory essentials.

  ImcSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen
• Compute the Probability for Two Uniform VariablesHard

  This question evaluates understanding of continuous probability, joint distributions, and order statistics for independent uniform variables, focusing on comparing transformations of random variables.

  ImcQuantitative TraderSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Find valid range of q for outcome probabilitiesEasy

  This question tests the ability to solve a system of linear inequalities derived from probability constraints, requiring an understanding of basic arbitrage-free pricing principles.

  ImcData ScientistSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• When to use a dictionary vs an array?Hard

  This question tests your understanding of the underlying trade-offs between contiguous memory structures (arrays) and hash-based key-value stores (dictionaries), focusing on performance, memory usage, and structural requirements.

  ImcSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen
• Compare Arrays and Linked Lists for Indexed OperationsMedium

  Compare arrays, linked lists, and unrolled lists across indexed access, insertion, allocation, cache locality, and position-search costs.

  IndeedSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Add Backend Search and Filters to the Items API of a Library Lending SystemMedium

  Implement and test backend search, multi-attribute filtering, sorting, and pagination logic for a library lending system's items catalog.

  InstacartSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessment
• Add Hold-Available and Loan Due-Date Notifications to a Library Lending SystemMedium

  Tests domain modeling, queue management, and idempotent notification triggering for an event- and time-driven library lending workflow.

  InstacartSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessment
• Debug Metrics Computed Before FilteringMedium

  Debug a metrics endpoint whose summary is calculated before user filters are applied even though its rows are filtered correctly. Trace the data lineage, aggregate over the full matched population before pagination, preserve security scoping, and add unit and endpoint regression tests.

  InstacartBackend EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessment
• Debug Search and Stock Behavior in a Library ApplicationEasy

  Debug a library application’s incomplete search and stock displays by reproducing symptoms, tracing API behavior, checking query semantics, and validating focused fixes.

  InstacartSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessment
• Design a bus simulation metricHard

  This problem tests your ability to design a telemetry metric for a simulation environment, requiring you to define efficiency, implement instrumentation within existing logic, and explain how to validate the metric's accuracy.

  InstacartSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Design a task system with assignmentsMedium

  This question tests your ability to design a flexible data model for a task-assignment system, focusing on efficient lookups and state management in an in-memory environment.

  InstacartSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Evaluate a Target Variable from Assignments with Plus, Minus, Cycles and ConflictsMedium

  A three-part coding exercise that computes a target variable's value from a list of assignment equations. It starts with right-hand sides that are numbers or other variables, adds addition and subtraction with cross-references, and finally requires an empty string for cycles, undefined variables and conflicting assignments.

  InstacartSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsTechnical Screen
• Evaluate a Variable from Chained Assignments with +/- Expressions and Cycle DetectionMedium

  A coding problem that evaluates a target variable from chained assignments such as T1 = T2 and T2 = 5, then extends to right-hand sides with plus and minus and to inputs that may contain cycles. It tests parsing, memoized dependency resolution and cycle detection that does not flag shared dependencies.

  InstacartSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Library Catalog and Lending System: Five-Phase Engineering AssessmentHard

  This problem tests the ability to design an extensible lending system, implement a search algorithm with concurrency constraints, and debug race conditions in a multi-threaded environment.

  InstacartSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnline Assessment
• Make a Variable Resolver Safe for Production UseMedium

  Analyze variable-resolution complexity and improve stack safety, validation, cycle detection, error reporting, caching, and update consistency.

  InstacartSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite
• Parse Pipe-Delimited Order Lines: Totals, Cheapest Promotion per SKU, Aisle OrderingMedium

  A three-part coding exercise that parses pipe-delimited order lines with prices in cents, applies the cheapest of several percentage and buy-X-get-Y promotions per SKU, and orders products by aisle with frozen items last. It tests input validation, exact money arithmetic, extensible pricing rules and composite sorting.

  InstacartSoftware EngineerSoftware Engineering FundamentalsOnsite