SWE Technical Interview Questions

8 questions focused on technical communication—how to explain your thinking, discuss trade-offs, and demonstrate depth without a whiteboard.

Categories: Debugging, Communication, Performance, Testing

Time to review: 60 minutes

Technical Communication Tips

Lead with the Problem

Before diving into your solution, make sure the interviewer understands the problem you were solving. "We had X issue causing Y impact" gives context for why your solution matters.

Quantify Everything

Numbers make your stories credible. "Improved performance" is forgettable. "Reduced latency from 800ms to 120ms, which increased conversion by 3%" is memorable.

Acknowledge Trade-offs

Every technical decision has downsides. Mentioning them proactively shows maturity. "We chose X because of Y, but the trade-off is Z, which we mitigated by..."

Practice Your Technical Explanations

Record yourself answering these questions. You'll catch filler words, unclear explanations, and missed opportunities to show depth.

System Design Questions →

SWE Technical Interview Questions

Walk me through how you would debug a slow API endpoint.

Explain a technically complex project you worked on to a non-technical person.

How do you decide between different technical solutions?

Describe your approach to writing maintainable code.

Tell me about a time you had to optimize a database query.

How do you approach testing? What types of tests do you write?

Explain the concept of eventual consistency.

Walk me through a code review you did that led to significant improvements.

Technical Communication Tips

Lead with the Problem

Quantify Everything

Acknowledge Trade-offs

Practice Your Technical Explanations