Senior Capstone Class Interview Questions: Preparation and Tips - Prof. M. Bailey, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Software Engineering

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CS 461/462/463: Senior Capstone Class

Sample Interview QuestionsMike Bailey

November 4, 2008

Eye Contact - Maintain eye contact with your interviewer. Show you want the job with your interest. Watch your Body Language: Folded arms, fidgeting, clenched fists, … Be Positive - In particular, avoid negative comments about past employers. Adaptdetails of dress, office furniture, and general decor which will afford helpful clues to assist you in - Listen and adapt. Be sensitive to the style of the interviewer. Pay attention to those tailoring your presentation. Relate - Try to relate your answers to the interviewer and his or her company. Focus on achievements relevant to the position. Mention "Transferrable Skills". Encourage - Encourage the interviewer to share information about his or her company. Demonstrate your interest. Mention Behaviors Rather than Traits: “I only missed one day of work last year” vs. “I am reliable”. Expect Open-ended Questions: “Tell me about a time…” vs. “Are you…” It’s OK to think about your answers: Up to 10 seconds of pause is considered constructive. After 15 seconds the pause might turn into destructive tension.

What was the largest programming project you have done? This was to get an idea on the complexity of programming projects the student has done. (If the answer was measured in howmany "pages" the print-out was, I was not impressed).

Choose a programming project you did and describe it to me.about methodology , rather than specific content. This gets at whether you understood the This is probably asking more requirements, the approach, algorithms, etc., and whether you can communicate technicalinformation. The description will usually bring up other questions, like what was the most challenging part of the assignment, and specific follow-up questions on the application. What was your favorite class and why? Or what was your least favorite class and why? Gives an idea of what they are enthusiastic about, and more on being able to communicate.

How do you approach solving problems when your programs aren't working? This gets at technical skills, but is probably not as valuable in an environment with debugging tools. Maybe a better question now would be to get them to describe what debugging tools they have used andhow. (If the answer to this one is, "I just look at the code until I see the problem," I am not impressed).

What editor(s) are you familiar with? This would probably be phrased differently now too. Believe it or not, I once got the following response to that question: "What's an editor?" That person did not get an offer.

In most of the real world programming is a team sport. The largest program that I have workedon had over 100 programmers hammering away, with 8 in the graphics group alone. There was a lot of daily discussion about the ("program to the agreed upon interface") contract or this or thatfeature. There was also a lot of "could you help Frank with …" direction from the lead and "you and Glenn are responsible for …" assignments. There was also interested in both the size of what someone has done individually and what they may have done in collaboration with others. How did you decide who was going to do what on your joint project? How did you plan and execute the integration?

What was the last book you read? Movie you saw? Sporting event you attended? Talk

about books, sports or films to show that you have balance in your life.

Are you creative? Yes. Give examples that relate to your current job.

How would you describe your own personality? "Balanced" is a good word to use, but remember the type of company you are interviewing with.

What are your future goals? Avoid, "I would like the job you advertised." Instead, give

long-range goals.

What are your strengths? Present at least three and relate them to the company and job

you are interviewing for.

What are your weaknesses? Don't say that you don’t have any. Try not to cite personal

characteristics as weaknesses, but be ready to have one if the interviewer presses. Turn a

negative into a positive answer. “Because I’m just getting out of school, I know my

management abilities are weak, but that is something I hope to work on in my first job”.

Or, “I am sometimes intent on completing an assignment and get too deeply involved

when we are late.”

Tell me about you! Keep your answer to one or two minutes; don't ramble. Use your

resume summary as a base to start.

How would you react if I told you that your interview, so far, was terrible?

Why is a manhole cover round?

How many cars are there in the USA? (A popular variant is "How many gas stations are there in the USA?") You've got someone working for you for seven days and a gold bar to pay them. The gold bar is segmented into seven connected pieces. You must give them a piece of gold at the end of every day. If you are only allowed to make two breaks in the gold bar, how do you payyour worker?

Imagine a disk spinning like a record player turn table. Half of the disk is black and theother is white. Assume you have an unlimited number of color sensors. How many sensors would you have to place around the disk to determine the direction the disk is spinning?Where would they be placed?

You have 4 jars of pills. Each pill is a certain weight, except for contaminated pillscontained in one jar, where each pill is weight + 1. How could you tell which jar had the contaminated pills in just one measurement?

What's the difference between a linked list and an array? Write a function to print the Fibonacci numbers. Suppose we wanted to run a microwave oven from the computer. What kind of softwarewould you write to do this?

How would you design a coffee-machine for an automobile? What was the hardest question asked of you so far today? If you could gather all of the computer manufacturers in the world together into one room and then tell them one thing that they would be compelled to do, what would it be?

How did you choose your college major? What made you decide to apply for this position? How did you hear about this job opening? What special aspects of your work experience have prepared you for this job? Can you describe for me one or two of your most important accomplishments? How much supervision have you typically received in your previous job? What is important to you in a company? What things do you look for in an organization? Everyone has strengths & weaknesses as workers. What are your strong points for this job? What would you say are areas needing improvement? Do you prefer working alone or in groups? What kind of people do you find it most difficult to work with? Why? What are some things you would like to avoid in a job? Why? What would you say is the most important thing you are looking for in a job? What are some of the things on your job you feel you have done particularly well or in which you have achieved the greatest success? Why do you feel this way? What things about a job are likely to frustrate you the most? What do you usually do about it? What are some things you particularly liked about your last job? What special aspects of your education or training have prepared you for this job? What courses in school have been of most help in doing your job? What is your long-term employment or career objective? What kind of job do you see yourself holding five years from now? What do you feel you need to develop in terms of skill & knowledge in order to be ready for that opportunity? Why might you be successful in such a job? How does this job fit in with your overall career goals? Who or what in your life would you say influenced you most with your career objectives?

Can you pinpoint any specific things in your past experience that affected your present career objectives? What would you most like to accomplish if you had this job? What might make you leave this job? What kind of things do you feel most confident in doing? Can you describe for me a difficult obstacle you have had to overcome? How did you handle it? How do you feel this experience affected your personality or ability? How would you describe yourself as a person? What do you think are the most important characteristics & abilities a person must possessto become a successful ( )? How do you rate yourself in these areas?

Do you consider yourself a self-starter? If so, explain why (and give examples) In your work experience, what have you done that you consider truly creative? Of your creative accomplishments big or small, at work or home, what gave you the most satisfaction? What kind of problems have people recently called on you to solve? Tell me what you have devised. Do you consider yourself to be thoughtful, analytical or do you usually make up your mind fast? Give an example. (Watch time taken to respond) What was your most difficult decision in the last six months? What made it difficult? The last time you did not know what decision to make, what did you do? What organizations do you belong to? Tell me specifically what you do in the civic activities in which you participate. (Leading questions in selected areas. i.e. sports, economics, current events, finance.) Have you made any individual presentations recently? How did you prepare? Would you rather write a report or give a verbal report? Why? What kind of writing have you done? For a group? For an individual? What is the extent of your participation in major reports that have to be written? What has been the highest pressure situation you have been under in recent years? How did you cope with it?

What do you like to do best? What do you like to do least? How much of your education did you earn? What kind of books & other publications do you read? Give an example when you had to deal with unreasonable expectations of you. Tell me about a high-stress situation you’ve been in that required you to keep a positiveattitude.

Tell me about a time you made a decision, knowing that it would be unpopular. Tell me about a time you had to teach a skill to someone else. Tell me about a time when you combined tools to achieve a goal. Tell me about something you wrote that you are proud of.