12 Questions to Ask Your Next Software Engineer – Part 1

When your firm has an opening for a software engineer, it’s critical to know the right and practical questions to ask. Interviews allow you to get to know potential recruits and determine the most excellent candidate for the role. 

When interviewing applicants, you should ask various questions about their general working preferences and prior experiences. This post will cover the most important questions to ask a software engineer, explain why you should ask them, and what responses you can expect from the right candidate.

1. What Made You Pursue this Career?

This is a crucial question since the response will reveal how enthusiastic they are about their work and how committed they will be to it.

Their response should show whether they have a strong interest in software engineering.

2. What are Your Preferred Programming Languages?

This allows the candidate to discuss the programming languages they have used and what they like or hate about particular elements of each. Do they prefer object-oriented languages, or do they prefer more functional ones?

3. How Do You Balance Speed and Quality?

Learning how a candidate responds when faced with a tight deadline not only indicates how they could fit in with your office culture but also allows them to demonstrate their dedication to high-performance levels. 

A strong applicant may utilize this topic to highlight how they stay on track and avoid making compromises wherever feasible.

4. What are You Looking for in this Position?

This is also an essential question to ask since you want to discover why they are searching for a new job and why they applied to your firm in particular. Did they conduct any research on your company? Try to find out what they know about your business’s goal, values, and corporate culture.

If they haven’t researched your firm and are merely searching for a new job because they need the money, they might not be a suitable fit for your team. You want to ensure that their work beliefs are compatible with yours and that they will be committed to your vision.

You want to recruit a software engineer who is enthusiastic about your values and goals and eager to work with you in achieving them.

5. How Would Your Old Employers and Coworkers Describe You?

It is beneficial to involve coworkers and managers since some employees respond differently depending on who they speak to. By comparing an applicant’s responses to the two separate groups, you may obtain a better picture of their attitude to workplace dynamics. 

You may also compare this response to genuine reviews from the applicant’s former employer or reference to learn more about the applicant’s self-awareness and honesty.

6. What Makes You the Best Candidate for this Job?

This is also an essential question since it allows the candidate to tell you more about themselves, their talents, what they bring to the table, and how they will help your organization achieve its goals.

That final element is crucial since it will allow you to determine whether or not collaboration is essential to them.

You don’t want them to just talk about their education and talents; you want them to show you how they can help you and be a valuable team member.

Conclusion

The initial round of questions of what to ask software engineers aims to learn mainly about the candidate’s behavioral aspect and see how well they’d fit the company culture. In the second part of this software engineer interview series, we’ll be focusing more on the technical aspects of the job.

If you’re looking to fill a position with professional software engineers but don’t know where to start, Technical Paradigm can help! We are an IT staffing company providing companies worldwide with innovative workforce solutions. Contact us today to learn more about how our services can help you find the right talent quicker!

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