There are a lot of steps you need to take before going to an interview. Even when you complete them all, applying for your first programming job can be an intimidating process, especially when you do not have any professional experience to back up your technical knowledge. A good way to showcase your practical competence is to set up a GitHub profile with all the projects you have completed so far.  In addition to assessing your coding skills, an interview serves as an opportunity for the recruiter to get to know you better and determine whether or not you would fit well into the company culture.

Although every organization has a different interviewing policy, the process usually includes the following steps: 

• Initial Conversation with a hiring manager;
• Technical Interview with a software developer;
• Coding Challenges.

There are three general groups of questions corresponding to each stage of the interview process – personal, technical, and practical. To give you a better idea of what to expect, we made a list of the most common ones and included hints on how to best answer them. 

Personal Questions

In most cases, you will first speak with a hiring manager, who will ask you open-ended questions common to most job interviews, irrespective of the industry:

• Tell me about yourself.
  Hint: You do not have to go into too many personal details. After all, you are there on a business matter. Share what sparked your interest in programming and what you expect to gain from the role you are applying for. Explain why you are a good fit for this position, and which of your skills and abilities would benefit the company and make you stand out as a candidate. 

• Where do you see yourself in five (or ten) years time?
  Hint: The purpose of this question is to find out if you plan in the long term and whether your goals align with the position you are applying for. 

• How did you hear about our company?
  Hint: Be prepared with specific information about the company. Look for information in forums, blogs, on the company’s Web site, etc. Research their goals and mission and the position you are applying for and mention how they align with your future plans.

• What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
  Hint: Mention actual personal qualities that are relevant to the current position. Give context, details, and an example from your own experience or a potential situation in which you would use these strengths to get through a challenge.
  When talking about your weaknesses you want to give a well-thought answer that does not sound too rehearsed. The best way is to give an example of a small shortcoming you are working on overcoming. Share what you have learnt from the process and how you will use the experience in your future work.

• What are your hobbies and interests?
  Hint: To dig deeper into your character, the hiring manager might ask you about your interests outside of work. Mention hobbies that you are really into, but make sure to clarify that they will not affect your dedication to the job. Sharing your interests outside of work is a genuine way to show your personality and connect with the interviewer. 

Technical Questions

The interview will continue with a test of your technical knowledge in the form of some behavioral and theoretical questions. At this stage, you are likely to have a software engineer who will ask you progressively harder theoretical questions. Although the technical part of an interview is highly dependent on the job requirements, there are some general questions at the start, like:

• Why did you choose this programming language, and what interests you about it?
  Hint: Express your understanding of the technology you chose. Describe its features, advantages, and disadvantages, as well as the applications you can develop with it. To show that you have at least a basic understanding of other languages, you can also draw comparisons with some of them.

• Describe the steps you take to develop a program, from getting the assignment or an initial idea to its final execution.
  Hint: Explain the actual sequence of steps you take when developing a program. Interviewers are particularly interested in your project planning process, what coding techniques you use, and whether you follow the best practices that guarantee high-quality and readable code.

• How do you debug your code and approach problems?
  Hint: Since troubleshooting and debugging are crucial components of a software engineer’s work, it is important to describe how you handle issues. This will demonstrate your level of logical and algorithmic thinking and problem-solving skills.

The more in-depth questions are usually theoretical, so it is entirely up to you to be prepared beforehand. This is a sample list of technical questions for four of the most popular programming languages for web development, as well as a separate section about Object Oriented Programming (OOP).

Java

• What are the main features of Java?
• Why is Java platform-independent?
• What is the difference between the JDK, JRE, and JVM?
• How do Heap and Stack memory differ?
• Explain the access modifiers used in Java.
• What is the role of the garbage collector?
• What is Final word in Java used for?
• What is the difference between Stack and Queue?

C#

• What are the main features of C#?
• How is C# compiled?
• What is the difference between managed and unmanaged code?
• Explain the different types of classes.
• Explain the access modifiers used in C#.
• What are boxing and unboxing in C#?
• What are the main differences between Array and ArrayList in C#?
• What is the difference between throw exception and throw clause? 

Python

• What are the main features of Python?
• What is the difference between list and tuples?
• What are the built-in data types?
• What is a namespace?
• What is PEP?
• How is Python interpreted?
• What are local and global variables?
  

JavaScript

• What are the main features of JavaScript?
• What are the data types in JS?
• What is the difference between ViewState and SessionState?
• What are JavaScript Cookies?
• What is the difference between pop() and shift() method?
• What are the disadvantages of using innerHTML?
• What are the different types of errors in JavaScript?
• What is the Strict Mode in JavaScript, and how can it be enabled?

OOP

• What are the principles of OOP?
• What are the features of OOP?
• What is the Singleton Class and how to implement it?
• What is inheritance?
• What is the difference between a class and an object?
• Explain superclass and subclass.
• What is the difference between method overloading and method overriding?

These questions can be asked specifically about your projects, in case you have any uploaded on your GitHub profile. The interviewer might be interested in discussing the technologies and practices that you used to develop them.

Coding Challenges

In addition to the theoretical questions, you might be given a problem to solve. It can be a take-home assignment or a coding challenge to do live during the interview. Make sure you are familiar with the syntax of the programming language required for the position you are applying for, because a coding challenge may require you to debug a block of code or determine what its result would be. It is possible that the code is intentionally made confusing in order to gauge how you would respond when faced with a challenge or in a stressful situation. In this case, the most important things are to stay calm, fight off any anxiety, and try to find a logical and well-structured solution to the problem. Demonstrating genuine enthusiasm for coding, algorithmic thinking, and a desire to learn is sometimes more important than coming up with the right answer.

Listed below are some basic junior coding challenges and hints on how to resolve them:

• Factorial
  The factorial of a positive integer is the sum of the multiplication of all the integers smaller than that positive integer. For example:
  4! = 4*3*2*1 = 24
  5! = 5*4*3*2*1 = 120
  Task: Write a program that takes a positive integer as an input and calculates the factorial of that number.
  Hint: To solve this problem, use either a loop or recursion.

• Palindrome
  A palindrome is a sequence of characters which reads the same backward as forward. For example, “radar”, “rotator”, and even longer phrases like “pull up if I pull up”.
  Task: Write a program that takes a string as an input and returns if it is a palindrome.
  Hint: You can: 

1. 1. 1. Check if the input is a string;
      2. Turn it to lower or uppercase;
      3. Reverse it (using a method or a loop);
      4. Check if the reversed string is equal to the input string;
      5. Return the result.

• FizzBuzz
  Task: Write a program that counts the numbers from 1 to 100 on a new line.
  If the number is divisible by 3, print “Fizz”.
  If the number is divisible by 5, print “Buzz”.
  If the number is divisible by both 3 and 5, print “FizzBuzz”.
  Otherwise, print the number.
  Hint: Make a loop that iterates over the numbers, and for every number, check the given conditions using the remainder operator. Be careful with the order of conditions because it can be crucial to the end result.
  
  
• Fibonacci
  The Fibonacci sequence is a series of integers (the Fibonacci numbers) like the following one:
  0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34
  Every number after the first two (0 and 1) is the sum of the two preceding ones:
  2 is the sum of the preceding two numbers – 1+1
  0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34
  3 is the sum of the preceding two numbers – 1+2
  And so on.
  Task: Write a program that takes a positive integer N as an input and returns the N-th element of the Fibonacci sequence.
  Hint: The easiest way to solve this is to use recursion, like in this example of Java code:

				
					public int fib(int n){

if (n<2) return n;

return fib(n-1) + fib(n-2);
}
				
			

• Anagram
  Anagrams are words with the same number of letters, but they may be arranged differently. For example, race and care, listen and silent.
  Task: Write a program that receives two strings as an input and returns true if they are anagrams.
  Hint: Sorting the two words and then comparing them is the quickest way, but it is not the best solution because usually sorting algorithms are time- and memory-consuming.
  Another approach is to generate HashMaps of both words and then compare them. Use the HashMaps to check if they contain the same elements and if these elements occurred the same number of times in both maps.

Conclusion

Most people are anxious when going to an interview, especially if it is their first time.
Preparing in advance will always work in your favor giving you a leg up over the other candidates and the chance to make a good impression. Having an idea of the general process will help you come up with the best answers to the most common personal, technical, and practical questions when interviewing for a software engineer position.

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Hello, Angel! Can you introduce yourself with a few words for the readers of our blog?

Hello, my name is Angel Buzov and I’m from Gotse Delchev. I have been actively engaged in programming for about 2 years, a few months ago I graduated from Software University and now I am a Junior Java Developer

What attracted you to programming and do you have a favorite programming language?

I’ve always had a great interest in computers and how things work in the background. That was the main reason I started programming. I have studied several languages, but my favorite is Java, it’s easy to write, has good documentation, and runs on all platforms.

Why did you choose Software University and what was the atmosphere during the training?

I chose Software university because the training is extremely innovative and modern, the new trends in the technological world are monitored and the training program is being updated along with them. Everything is “straight to the point”. Moreover, something that I think is extremely important is that much emphasis is put on practice rather than on dry theories

What was the biggest difficulty for you during the program?

I do not think I had any major difficulties. Only my first attempt with object-oriented programming was a little more complicated, but with hard work, everything was accomplished

What skills did you acquire at the Software University, in addition to programming?

I have been able to get teamwork skills. It seems easy at first glance, but to reconcile all the different ideas and opinions of the team is a rather complex task. Also, I learned to be organized and not to leave things for the last minute.

Did the Software University Diploma help you to find a realization?

I started looking for a job before my diploma was ready. I think that not the diploma, but the acquired skills and what you are showing in a job interview are the things that help to find a professional realization.

How do you see yourself after 5 years?

After 5 years I see myself as a programmer with even more knowledge and experience.

Finally, what will you advise all future students who are about to start learning at the Software University?

My advice to them is NOT to give up. No matter how difficult a problem seems to be, it always has a solution. That’s why they have to believe in themselves and do not stop trying!

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In our rubric, we share with you inspiring interviews with our most successful students to learn more about them – how they have found out that programming is in their blood, what motivates them to grow, which were their biggest obstacles, and other interesting questions.

How did Evegeni’s adventure in the world of programming begin, don’t miss out on reading in the next paragraphs!

Hello, Evgeni! Can you introduce yourself with a few words for the reader of our blog?

My name is Evgeni Viyachev. I’ve graduated from the Sofia High School of Mathematics and afterward UASG as a construction engineer. I have a year and a half old son.

What appealed to you to programming and do you have a favorite programming language?

In high school, I made my first steps towards programming with C++. Afterward, I applied for “Computer sciences” at Sofia University and I was accepted amongst the top 10 people. After all, I chose construction engineering and graduated with my master’s degree in UASG. At some point, I was just tired of the conservative environment in construction and went back to my first passion – programming. I enrolled in the Software University and this is how my adventure has begun all over again. My favorite language is C# and I am mostly oriented towards .NET technologies.

Which course from the program was the most useful for you and why?

The OOP and Quality Programming Code were the most useful for me. I think that they are the foundation for the career of every software developer. I was sincerely happy with the Database (SQL) course.

Why did you choose the Software University and what was the atmosphere during your education?

I chose the Software University, because of the opportunity for a comparatively quick start of my career, as I already had some minimal background in the sphere. After all, it all worked out and I am very happy. The atmosphere was joyful. A was focused during the lectures and I dedicated a lot of time to study every day and writing code, even though along with that I was projecting one of my last buildings for now.

What was the form of your education and why did you prefer it?

I was enrolled onsite because I think that this way a person becomes more engaged. Besides that, as I have already said, I was projecting from home and I needed everyday contact with people. After I have started a job in IT, I went into an online form of education.

What was the biggest difficulty for you during the program?

My biggest difficulty was…. To be honest, now I can’t think of anything particular. After UASG I was used to sleeping deprivation and studying, so I was easily adapted to the new environment. I guess the hardest part in this situation is to keep being persistent, motivated and to keep believing in the final successful result.

Men or women are better programmers?

An interesting question. I think gender doesn’t matter and the inaccessibility towards the IT-sphere for women is a myth. In my company, there are a lot of women in different positions – Dev, QA, Support, Managers. My manager is also a woman.

What kind of skills, besides programming, did you succeed to acquire in the Software University?

Teamwork, because of the team projects.

Did the diploma from the Software University help you succeed in the following professional realization?

What helped the most was the acquired knowledge. Of course, all of the certificates for excellently passed courses are a huge plus and can give an advantage over the bigger competition.

How do you see yourself in 5 years in a professional plan?

I see myself in a more leading position. I would want to have a small team, for which to be responsible. This, of course, will happen based on my acquired skills.

And finally – what will you advise all the future students, which are about to begin their education in the Software University?

You will constantly meet difficulties and obstacles, so don’t give up until you achieve your goals!

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Hello, Zacharia! Can you introduce yourself with a few words for the reader of our blog?

Greetings, my name is Zacharia Pehlivarova and I am 22 years old. I started my education at Software University in 2015 and I graduated in 2017. Since then, I have been working as a Back-End PHP Developer.

What attracted you to programming and do you have a favorite programming language?

I can’t say I have a favorite programming language, but I’ve been programming on PHP for more than a year and I really enjoy it. The thing about programming, that really caught my interest, was the fact that I was creating something new, which the people would like and make use of. Also, let’s not forget the feeling you get when you’ve spent hours, making thousands of attempts at something and finally you discover the right solution – it is priceless.

Which course from the program was the most useful for you and why?

Every course from the curriculum gave me additional knowledge, so I find each of them beneficial. Another thing, which I personally find very helpful was the team projects. I was lucky to have very cool colleagues – we helped each other.

Why did you choose Software University and what was the atmosphere during your education?

I choose Software University because of the curriculum. My decision was based on two main facts: the education was mainly focused on programming, with no unnecessary study material, and more importantly – the practical exercises are way more than the theory. I personally think that the latter one should be a priority in every profession.

What was the form of your education and why did you prefer it?

My form of education was onsite. I decided to study onsite. I preferred that form of education because of the ability to receive immediate help from the trainers and assistants for the things I did not understand, and they were always happy to help. I met different people with whom I exchanged knowledge and ideas.

What was the biggest difficulty for you during the program?

The hardest thing for me during my education was to “bend” my way of thinking so that I can understand what is actually happening “under the hood”

Who makes the better programmers, women or men?

I don’t think that gender affects this in any way. Every profession has its very good specialists, both men, and women. Everything depends on how much you are interested in programming itself and how big is your desire to do it. I admit, that people are staring strangely at me when I tell them what I am doing for a living, but I think, that nowadays more and more women are taking their place in this profession. The maxim and general idea, that software development is a man’s job, is starting to fall apart.

What other skills (besides programming) did you manage to gain from your education at Software University?

I managed to learn to work in a team, to understand other developers’ code, and to adjust mine to theirs.

Did the diploma from Software University help you succeed in the following professional realization?

Not only the diploma from the Software University helped me but also the academy itself. They helped me find the job I am currently working at.

How do you see yourself in 5 years in a professional plan?

In 5 years, I hope to be a person with much more technical knowledge, a person which performs way better, a person which is on a different level, a person which still strives to progress and develops.

And finally – what will you advise all our future students, which are about to begin their education at the Software University?

I want to advise them to never give up! There will be hard times, in which they will not know and understand what they are doing, but this is completely normal. Perseverance is the key – there is a lot to learn and you will need a lot more than a year, two, or three to do it.

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