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Software Engineer Interview Questions
Practice 9403 coding, system design and machine learning questions from 546 companies, sorted by role, topic and interview round. Every question has step-by-step hints, a code runner that supports 8 languages and an AI mentor; members also get the full solution walkthrough.
- 9403
- Questions
- 546
- Companies
- 11
- Topics
- 8
- Languages
Showing 1–25 of 25 results
- Akuna CapitalHardSoftware EngineerChoose Between Python, Java, and C++ for a Service
This question tests your understanding of language-level performance characteristics, memory management, and development velocity trade-offs in a distributed systems context.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenSystem DesignPerformanceConcurrency - Akuna CapitalMediumSoftware EngineerImplement React check-in/out month dropdowns
This question evaluates front-end React skills including controlled components, state synchronization, interdependent input validation, keyboard accessibility/ARIA, and unit testing for UI behavior, and it sits in the Front-end/UI development domain (Other/Miscellaneous) with an emphasis on practical implementation rather than purely conceptual reasoning. It is commonly asked because interviewers use it to verify an engineer's ability to enforce input constraints, integrate dropdowns with existing form state and submission flows, maintain accessibility with native controls, and provide test coverage for validation and disabled-option behavior.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen - AmazonHardSoftware EngineerDesign a Recursive File-Search API
Implement a secure, recursive file-search API that validates search boundaries, handles symlink cycles, catches permission errors gracefully, and returns deterministically sorted matching paths.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenFile SystemsSecurityRecursion - ArmEasySoftware EngineerExplain GPU pipeline and execution hazards
This question evaluates understanding of GPU architecture concepts including the graphics pipeline from vertices to pixels, register read-after-write hazards in pipelined execution, memory behavior, throughput considerations, and execution scheduling, reflecting competency in computer graphics and parallel processor design.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen - Axq CapitalMediumSoftware EngineerRow-Wise vs Column-Wise Array Reads, L1/L2 Caches, and the TLB
Compare horizontal and vertical reads of a large two-dimensional array, explain how L1 and L2 caches differ from main memory, and describe what the TLB does and what a TLB miss costs. It tests understanding of cache lines, locality, prefetching, address translation, and practical fixes for memory-bound code.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen - Boston Consulting GroupEasySoftware EngineerDiscuss languages, packages, and tools you know
This question evaluates familiarity with programming languages, libraries/frameworks, and development tooling, along with the ability to apply a technology stack to deliver measurable impact.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen - CloudflareEasySoftware EngineerExplain debugging methodology for production issues
This question evaluates a candidate's troubleshooting and incident-response skills, including root-cause analysis, systems-level reasoning, and prioritization under production constraints.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen - DiscordHardSoftware EngineerExplain C++ alignment and ABI stability
This question evaluates mastery of C++ low-level memory concepts—memory alignment, padding and struct/class layout—and understanding of ABI stability, including calling conventions, name mangling, vtable layout and other binary compatibility concerns, reflecting competence in systems-level C++ and binary interfacing.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen - DiscordHardSoftware EngineerExplain your database experience and debugging approach
This question assesses the candidate's depth in database architecture, specifically regarding isolation levels and race conditions, while testing their methodology for validating code generated by AI or external tools.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenDatabasesConcurrencyDebugging - DisneyMediumSoftware EngineerDiscuss Terraform, Infrastructure as Code, and AWS Experience
Describe infrastructure-as-code experience through reviewed changes, state management, cloud validation, drift, partial failures, and honest ownership.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen - ImcMediumSoftware EngineerAnswer conceptual true/false and caching questions
This problem tests foundational knowledge of computer architecture (integer representation), memory management strategies (caching), and graph theory essentials.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenFundamentalsComputer ArchitectureCaching - ImcHardSoftware EngineerWhen to use a dictionary vs an array?
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.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenData StructuresMemory ManagementTime Complexity - LinkedInMediumSoftware EngineerImplement map and render to DOM
This question evaluates a candidate's skills in vanilla JavaScript utility implementation and DOM rendering, covering array and plain-object iteration semantics, higher-order functions, input validation, error handling, and safe text rendering for browser environments.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen - MongoDBMediumSoftware EngineerExplain Modern Python Features and Ecosystem
This question assesses your depth of knowledge regarding modern Python language evolution, the utility of popular libraries, and internal implementation details that impact memory and performance.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenPythonInternalsMemory Management - OpenAIHardSoftware EngineerBuild a Reliable Streaming Chat UI
This question evaluates understanding of real-time front-end architecture and state management in React, focusing on transient streaming state, concurrency control, UI consistency during tokenized updates, and the appropriate use of hooks such as useRef versus useState in the Software Engineering Fundamentals domain.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen - OpenAIHardSoftware EngineerExplain JS threading and useState vs useRef
This question evaluates understanding of JavaScript's execution model and concurrency mechanisms (including worker-based threading) along with React state-management semantics, specifically the behavioral differences between useState and useRef.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen - OptiverHardSoftware EngineerImplement Expiration-Aware Retrieval Across Storage Levels
Design and implement a multi-level storage system that purges expired items, filters for under-utilized storage tiers, and deterministically retrieves the highest-weight item.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenData StructuresDesignHeap - RipplingHardSoftware EngineerDesign several backend components
This problem tests your ability to design a robust backend architecture for an employee management system, focusing on data consistency, audit logging, and extensible API design.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenSystem DesignDatabase ModelingConcurrency - SquarepointMediumSoftware EngineerDefend a Redis Choice and Explain Database Index Trade-offs
This question evaluates architectural decision-making around data access patterns, comparing the introduction of an in-memory cache like Redis against optimizing relational database indexing and query plans.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenDatabase IndexingRedisSystem Design - SquarepointMediumSoftware EngineerExplain Core Python Runtime and Language Concepts
Assesses foundational Python runtime semantics and language mechanics, focusing on mutability, generator behavior, concurrency models under the GIL, and robust resource management.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screenpythonconcurrencymemory-management - SquarepointMediumSoftware EngineerUse find, ps, top, and kill Safely on Linux
Tests practical Linux troubleshooting skills using standard command-line tools (`top`, `ps`, `find`, `kill`) to diagnose resource contention, safely manage processes, and handle tricky file artifacts.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenLinuxSystemsDevOps - TeslaMediumSoftware EngineerDiscuss Distributed-System Experience with Go, Java, Spark, and Elasticsearch
Tests your ability to clearly explain distributed systems architecture, justify technology selections (such as Go, Java, Spark, and Elasticsearch), and discuss operational bottlenecks and fault tolerance from real production experience.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenDistributed SystemsGoJava - TeslaMediumSoftware EngineerInvestigate Recurring Bugs and Prevent the Same Failure from Returning
Implement an invariant analysis engine to identify recurring bugs across production incident traces, pin down the earliest violating step, and flag failures recurring above a frequency threshold.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenDebuggingTestingData Processing - TeslaMediumSoftware EngineerUse Metrics and Logs to Establish a Production Root Cause
This question tests your systematic approach to troubleshooting production incidents in distributed architectures using metrics, distributed tracing, structured logs, and change audit trails.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR ScreenObservabilityDistributed SystemsSite Reliability - UpstartMediumSoftware EngineerDescribe Your Python Experience
Present Python experience through maintained production work, correctness practices, operational judgment, and honest tool-selection limits.
Software Engineering FundamentalsHR Screen
Akuna Capital
Amazon
Arm
Boston Consulting Group
Cloudflare
Discord
Disney
Imc
LinkedIn
MongoDB
OpenAI
Optiver
Rippling
Squarepoint
Tesla
Upstart