You’ve worked hard to land your Junior Software Developer interview. You’ve built your skills, created a Junior Developer resume, applied to jobs, and now, you’re this close to launching your new career. All you need to do is impress the hiring manager.
While it’s impossible to know exactly what questions you’ll face during your interview, rehearsing with common interview questions is a great way to prepare. Here’s a list of technical and behavioral Junior Software Developer interview questions.
Traditional Junior Software Developer interview questions
Traditional interview questions are those you’re probably familiar with. They help your interviewer learn more about who you are as a person, your motivations, goals, etc.
While these questions are pretty standard, make sure you highlight your enthusiasm for software development in your responses.
1. Tell me about yourself
This one kicks off almost every interview. Have a brief elevator pitch ready that explains who you are, your experience, and what you bring to the table. You’ll also want to touch on your motivations and what you’re looking to gain from your next role.
Elevator pitches lie at the heart of networking and interviewing, so practice your pitch until it’s perfect.
2. Why do you want to be a Software Developer?
As an aspiring Junior Software Developer, this is likely your first (or one of your first) development roles. The hiring manager will want to know what inspired you to start (or switch to) a career in software development.
It might be the creative aspects, a love for problem-solving, or wanting to be in a field where you’re constantly learning new things. Think about what drew you to software development and, if you’re a career changer, what prompted the change.
Behavioral Junior Software Developer interview questions
Behavioral interview questions help recruiters get a sense of how you respond to specific situations. They usually pertain to your past experiences, and they’re a great way to showcase your soft skills. Here are a few potential behavioral interview questions you might face.
3. Tell me about a problem you faced and how you solved it
Problem-solving is an essential skill for a Software Developer, so the hiring manager will want to know how you approach problems. Think of a specific problem from a previous job (or even from school or a volunteer position) and explain how you found and implemented a solution.
4. Tell me about an issue you encountered with a team member and how you resolved it
Software Developers often work collaboratively, so it’s important that you know how to function as part of a team. Still, any team will occasionally have friction, so you’ll also need to know how to resolve it.
Think of a situation where you had an issue with a team member — for example, a group project where someone wasn’t pulling their weight. Explain how you resolved the issue.
5. Tell me about a time when you were under a lot of pressure. How did you handle it?
Software development can be a high-pressure job. Hiring managers want to know you can handle and adapt to pressure. Discuss your approach to dealing with challenging situations. For example, you might break a task into smaller pieces to make it feel more manageable and assign deadlines to each piece.
Or, if the task was impossible to finish in the time allowed, you might ask for more time. Interviewers don’t expect you to be perfect, but they do expect you to handle pressure effectively.
Technical Junior Software Developer interview questions
Technical interview questions assess your knowledge of the tools and programming concepts you’ll use in your new role. Keep in mind that you don’t need to have all the answers — especially as a Junior Software Developer.
It’s okay to admit that you don’t know the answer if your recruiter asks you something you weren’t prepared for, but you’ll want to explain how you’d go about finding it. This will showcase both your willingness to learn and your approach to problem-solving.
Here are a few common technical interview questions for Junior Software Developers.
6. What’s your preferred programming language and why?
Discuss the programming language you prefer and why you like that particular language. Compare it to other programming languages so the hiring manager can see that you’re familiar with multiple languages and their pros and cons. Programming languages to familiarize yourself with include:
7. What is continuous integration, and why is it important during development?
Continuous integration is a DevOps practice that involves integrating code changes into a single software project on an ongoing basis. After code has been added, automated builds and tests are run.
Continuous integration is important because it allows you to find bugs in real-time and expedite software development.
8. What does equality refer to in JavaScript?
The equality operator ( = = ) checks whether two operands are equal, returning a Boolean result. If the operands are different types, it’ll try to convert them to the same type before comparing.
Questions to ask during your interview
Hiring managers also consider the questions you ask during an interview, so you’ll want to have at least a few prepared. Ideally, these are questions that’ll help you get to know the company as well.
Remember, the interview isn’t just for the hiring manager. It’s also to help you decide whether the company is a good fit for you. Questions to ask include:
- What does a typical day look like for your Software Developers?
- What’s your company culture like?
- What are you looking for in an ideal candidate?
- What are the company’s plans for growth?
- What are the next steps in the interviewing process?
Preparing for the next steps
If you do well during your first interview, you might be asked to undergo a technical interview. Technical interviews often involve completing coding problems to showcase your programming skills and give the recruiters a sense of your abilities.
You’ll definitely want to prepare for technical interviews ahead of time. It’s not enough to be able to solve the problem — your interviewer will also be looking at your approach and the efficiency of your code. So, you’ll want to make sure you’ve mastered your programming languages and their respective methods and functions. To get started, check out the courses below:
- Pass the Technical Interview with Java. This Skill Path reviews data structures, hash maps, algorithmic concepts, and graph data structures.
- Pass the Technical Interview with Python. This Skill Path teaches advanced coding skills, linear data structures, hash maps, and more. You’ll also have the opportunity to complete projects to include in your portfolio.
- Pass the Technical Interview with JavaScript. This Skill Path reviews linear and non-linear data structures, graph data structures, and algorithms.
If you still need help after taking the courses above, check out our Career Center. You’ll find our guide to acing technical interviews, tips from recruiters in the tech industry, guides to resume and portfolio-building, and more.
