Why are you leaving your current job, and why do you want to join us?

The interviewer checks your motivation and whether you would leave them for the same reason.

Tell me about a project you are proud of. What was your part in it?

The interviewer checks the scale of what you have built and what you personally did in the team.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

The interviewer checks self-awareness and honesty.

What are your salary expectations?

The recruiter checks whether you fit the budget and know your market value.

We have a few minutes left. What questions do you have for us?

The interviewer checks your interest and what matters to you; "no questions" reads as indifference.

Tell me about the hardest bug you have fixed.

The interviewer checks how you debug: how you narrow a problem down, which tools you use and whether you fix the cause or the symptom.

Tell me about a mistake you made that reached production. What changed afterwards?

The interviewer checks ownership: whether you admit the mistake, limit the damage fast and change the process so it does not happen again.

Tell me about an on-call incident you handled. What happened after it?

The interviewer checks how you act when production is on fire: mitigate first, communicate, find the cause, then learn from it without blame.

Tell me about a conflict with a colleague. How did you resolve it?

The interviewer checks whether you can disagree without damaging the working relationship.

How do you estimate a task, and what do you do when you see you will miss the deadline?

The interviewer checks whether you plan realistically and raise a risk as soon as you see it, not on the deadline day.

Tell me about a time you disagreed with a product or design requirement. What did you do?

The interviewer checks whether you think about the product and push back with arguments instead of silently building or refusing.

How do you give and receive feedback?

The interviewer checks whether you can hear criticism without getting defensive and tell a colleague about a problem without hurting them.

How have you helped a junior developer grow, or raised your team's level?

The interviewer checks whether you multiply the team's output, not just your own.

How do you convince the business to give you time for technical debt?

The interviewer checks whether you speak the business's language and prioritise, instead of asking for a rewrite.

Tell me about a disagreement over service boundaries or a database choice. How was it decided?

The interviewer checks whether you make architecture decisions by criteria and record them, rather than by taste or the loudest voice.

Tell me about a time you made a service hold up under much higher load. How did you approach it?

The interviewer checks whether you treat reliability as a project: measuring before changing, finding the real bottleneck, protecting the service from overload and coordinating with other teams.

Irbisa · Cheatsheet

Behavioral Interview

Tell me about yourself, the hardest bug, mistakes in production, conflicts, pushing back on requirements, estimates and deadlines, feedback, mentoring, questions for the interviewer

Junior Developer · 17 questions

01
Tell me about yourself.
The interviewer checks whether you can give a short, relevant summary and why you fit this role.
02
Why are you leaving your current job, and why do you want to join us?
The interviewer checks your motivation and whether you would leave them for the same reason.
03
Tell me about a project you are proud of. What was your part in it?
The interviewer checks the scale of what you have built and what you personally did in the team.
04
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
The interviewer checks self-awareness and honesty.
05
What are your salary expectations?
The recruiter checks whether you fit the budget and know your market value.
06
We have a few minutes left. What questions do you have for us?
The interviewer checks your interest and what matters to you; "no questions" reads as indifference.
07
Tell me about the hardest bug you have fixed.
The interviewer checks how you debug: how you narrow a problem down, which tools you use and whether you fix the cause or the symptom.
08
Tell me about a mistake you made that reached production. What changed afterwards?
The interviewer checks ownership: whether you admit the mistake, limit the damage fast and change the process so it does not happen again.
09
Tell me about an on-call incident you handled. What happened after it?
The interviewer checks how you act when production is on fire: mitigate first, communicate, find the cause, then learn from it without blame.
10
Tell me about a conflict with a colleague. How did you resolve it?
The interviewer checks whether you can disagree without damaging the working relationship.
11
How do you estimate a task, and what do you do when you see you will miss the deadline?
The interviewer checks whether you plan realistically and raise a risk as soon as you see it, not on the deadline day.
12
Tell me about a time you disagreed with a product or design requirement. What did you do?
The interviewer checks whether you think about the product and push back with arguments instead of silently building or refusing.
13
How do you give and receive feedback?
The interviewer checks whether you can hear criticism without getting defensive and tell a colleague about a problem without hurting them.
14
How have you helped a junior developer grow, or raised your team's level?
The interviewer checks whether you multiply the team's output, not just your own.
15
How do you convince the business to give you time for technical debt?
The interviewer checks whether you speak the business's language and prioritise, instead of asking for a rewrite.
16
Tell me about a disagreement over service boundaries or a database choice. How was it decided?
The interviewer checks whether you make architecture decisions by criteria and record them, rather than by taste or the loudest voice.
17
Tell me about a time you made a service hold up under much higher load. How did you approach it?
The interviewer checks whether you treat reliability as a project: measuring before changing, finding the real bottleneck, protecting the service from overload and coordinating with other teams.

Tell me about yourself.