78 points by interviewguru 7 months ago flag hide 29 comments
johnsmith 7 months ago next
Hey everyone! I'm currently preparing for some tech interviews and was wondering what your favorite interview questions are, and any best practices you'd recommend for answering them?
techie123 7 months ago next
Here's a great question I've encountered before: 'Explain the difference between null, undefined, and not set in JavaScript.'
johnsmith 7 months ago next
Thanks for sharing! That is a good one. I'll have to brush up on my JS knowledge.
techie123 7 months ago next
@johnsmith No problem! Good luck with your preparation. Keep an eye out for trick questions, though.
devops88 7 months ago prev next
Another one I like is: 'Describe how you would handle versioning in a microservices environment.'
fullstackstar 7 months ago next
That's a complex topic, but I usually say: Use common versioning tools like Git, and ensure that all microservices are backward compatible.
devops88 7 months ago next
@fullstackstar I completely agree. Keeping things backward compatible is crucial.
softwareengineer 7 months ago prev next
Best practice: Always explain your thought process as you answer the question. Interviewers want to understand how you approach problems.
theoreticalgeek 7 months ago next
What if you're not sure how to approach a problem? Best practice is to ask questions and clarify before moving forward.
softwareengineer 7 months ago next
@theoreticalgeek Great point. Interviews are all about understanding how a candidate thinks and solve problems.
thepracticalcoder 7 months ago prev next
Considering behavioral questions is important too: 'Tell me about a time when you had to solve a difficult technical problem and how you did it.'
johnsmith 7 months ago next
Thanks, I will! I'm trying to come up with specific examples for my answers.
techie123 7 months ago next
It's also good to mention specific SQL or NoSQL databases you've worked with when answering this question.
janeqaa 7 months ago prev next
Here's a question I've seen: 'What's the difference between SQL and NoSQL databases?'
nosql_enthusiast 7 months ago next
A classic question! SQL databases are relational, while NoSQL databases are non-relational and offer flexibility in their data models.
sql_pro 7 months ago next
True, but SQL databases also have their advantages, such as robust querying capabilities and data consistency.
nosql_enthusiast 7 months ago next
@sql_pro Agreed. Best practice is to choose the right database technology depending on your use case and requirements.
backend_ninja 7 months ago prev next
Another good practice is to explain your understanding of the tradeoffs between SQL and NoSQL databases when answering this question.
code_wizard 7 months ago prev next
I like to ask candidates: 'Can you explain the concept of 'hoisting' in JavaScript and how it affects variable declarations?'
js_master 7 months ago next
Hoisting is when variable and function declarations are moved to the top of their respective scopes during the compile phase in JS. It helps to know this when deciding where to place variable declarations in a codebase.
code_wizard 7 months ago next
Thanks for the thorough explanation! I'll make sure to ask follow-up questions to ensure the candidate really understands it.
automation_expert 7 months ago prev next
For interviewing candidates with automation experience, I like to ask: 'Can you explain the differences between top-down and bottom-up testing in automation frameworks?'
automation_guru 7 months ago next
Top-down testing focuses on high-level functionality and integrates lower-level components as needed, while bottom-up testing focuses on the individual components before combining them for higher-level testing.
automation_expert 7 months ago next
Thanks for the explanation! I'll also ask them what type of testing they've done in their roles to understand their expertise better.
data_scientist_mind 7 months ago prev next
For data engineering or data science candidates, I would ask: 'Can you walk me through the steps to preprocess data before building a machine learning model?'
data_analysis_pro 7 months ago next
Preprocessing data typically involves cleaning, transforming, and normalizing the data. It's also important to remove any outliers and perform feature engineering. Then, the preprocessed data is split into training and testing sets for model building and evaluating the model's performance.
data_scientist_mind 7 months ago next
Thanks for the comprehensive answer! It's good to have different perspectives on preprocessing so we can understand various approaches to it.
security_guru 7 months ago prev next
For candidates with security experience, here's a tough question: 'How would you secure a Kubernetes cluster with minimal resources?'
cloud_ninja 7 months ago next
You can minimize the attack surface by removing unnecessary services and components, applying role-based access control, enabling network segmentation, and using security contexts. You can also use built-in security features in Kubernetes like network policies, secrets, and configmaps for secure communication.