My Notes On SWE Behavioural Interviews

This page is everything I am prepared to provide publicly about my behavioural interview preparation. Unfortunately, I will not be providing my prepared answers.

(Not yet anyway. I will think about it…)

Resources

• AusDevs Wiki: Interviewing Resources
  • I actually help maintain this wiki. We aim to make it a great meta-resource!
• Tech Interview Handbook: Behavioral interview preparation

Company/Organization-Specific Research Checklist

• What do they do?
  • What is the basic idea of what they do?
  • What are they best-known for?
  • Do they have a slogan?
• List out the company values.
  • Their listed values are likely part of their selection rubric.
• Read through the whole job posting.
  • Unfortunately, the job postings sometimes get taken down. You could get into the habit of saving copies of all job postings you apply to… but it depends on whether you feel it’s worth it.
  • Sometimes, the job posting is very brief, but sometimes they’re super-detailed!
  • Sometimes, they even provide you a detailed copy of the job posting before your interview!
  • Stuff you might pay attention to:
    • What team(s) might you be involved with?
    • What do these team(s) do?
    • What might you be responsible for?
    • What qualifications/capabilities are they expecting out of you?
• Check if they have an interviewing tips or similar resource.
• If it’s feasible, try out their products!
  • For example, if it’s a games company, try out their games, or watch playthroughs.

Icebreaker Questions

• "Introduce yourself!"
  • This is typically asked at the start of a group interview or group situation.

Company/Organization-Specific Response Questions

• "Why did you apply for [OUR ORGANIZATION]?"
  • "Why do you want to work for [OUR ORGANIZATION]?"
• "What do you think makes you a great addition to [OUR ORGANIZATION]?"
  • "Why should we hire you?"
• "What excites you about your field?"
  • Adapt to your particular role.
• "Do you have any further questions?"

Situational (“STAR”) Questions

I will not be providing my STAR question set here quite yet. I am still deciding on how to present this publicly.

For now, just check Tech Interview Handbook under the Resources section above. Plenty of questions there.