10 Common Technical Interview Questions and how to answer them

Preparing for common technical questions can help you clear the interview with confidence while you show off your communication skills and other soft skills to the interviewer.

While some people might not find tech job interviews nerve-wracking, for most of us who have Computer Science or IT degrees, the interview process is a stuff filled with anxiety and fear.

While you might have come across some of the standard technical interview questions, you can expect in a tech job interview; technical interview questions are notoriously unpredictable. It can leave you feeling lost when it comes to preparing. Prepare for the most common questions asked in the interview.

But there’s no reason to panic. Recruiters in tech companies are interested to know your technical skills and your problem-solving skills. And their questions are designed to know how you think and work through problems.

In this blog post, we’ve compiled some of the top questions after speaking with hiring professionals who supplied IT interview questions and some pointers for formulating answers even to the questions nobody expects coming.

1. What do you know about our company?

Sound obvious? Sometimes the best technical interview question is what you know about the company. And they’re more revealing than you might expect. Sometimes, people come unprepared and they do not answer the same.

When it comes to reading up on a prospective employer, “candidates take the time to research our company from a business standpoint.” Our tip would be before you walk into the interview, gather information about the business motto and who all are the company’s competitors, audience, or customers.

2. What’s the most challenging/exciting project you have done in the past two years?

Your answer should tell about your work specifications and previously handled projects by you. The goal of this technical interview question is to figure out what you’re passionate about.

You should start preparing for this question long before you send out resumes and dig into each of your previously done projects. Focus on what parts of web development, and app development, you have executed well with your subordinates, etc. It will give them an idea about what you’re passionate about, what motivates you, and the types of work you want to do in the future.

Then, try practicing articulating the list of projects you have done previously. So if an interviewer asks you to explain a project from your portfolio, you’ll have more to say than a simple list of specs.

3. What kind of tech projects do you work on in your spare time?

If you haven’t already asked this question before, passion goes a long way in tech. This can be a common question that can stumble upon you, especially when you are a fresher and entering into the corporate world. When an interviewee asks this question, he wants to know where exactly your inclination is towards and what you are passionate about in technology.

It doesn’t matter what your hobby is: talk about the tech projects you do in your free time, which will show your genuine enthusiasm towards the work that you do.

Secondly, this question also helps the interviewer to figure out “how the candidate might fit into the particular team and what ‘bonus’ skills they might bring to the company”. There are things that you didn’t even think to add to your resume but can be asked during an interview which will be a cross-check on if you are a well-rounded applicant.

4. Tell us about the most difficult technical challenge you’ve encountered and how you resolved it.

This technical round interview question is asked to make sure the prospective employee can do more than check off a box when the problem is fixed. Companies do not look for people who can churn through bugs but can understand the big picture when they become part of a large product team.

So you don’t have to be up all night before the interview, wracking your brain for all the challenges you’ve ever faced. Try keeping a list of occasions or project details where your skills were pushed to the limits and how you rose to project delivery expectations. You don’t need to write an essay, but jogging some pointers in your memory of the experience will suffice and tell it to the interviewer.

5. What technologies could you not live without?

Stephen Negron of LegalTech Consulting, Inc. asks the candidate what skills will he bring to the table. But he has a different way of asking and judging the candidate. His line of questioning has the following –

He asks:

Tell me about your computers at home. What’s your internet speed?
What are your favorite gadgets? What are your favorite apps?
What kind of phone do you have?

etc.

By asking such questions he wants to know if they practice what they preach, if they live the tech life in real, and if they have an understanding of the everyday tech frustrations.

Amid this, his point is that it is easy to overlook amidst loftier talk of expertise. But being a tech person, if you’re not consciously engaging with devices, apps, and websites, all the technical skills in the world won’t help to bridge the gap towards empathizing with the end user when you happen to design your own tech products.

6. A time you were asked to do something you had never done before. How did you react, and what did you learn?

Your ability to deal with challenging scenarios depends on where you best contribute to a company.

The best way to show your adaptability in an interview setting is to look for real answers, not the canned, stereotypical responses. Try to club the real-time scenarios with yours.

If you are not a particularly adaptable person, don’t panic. Self-awareness is also a key trait. You don’t need to pretend certain skills are your strong point if they aren’t. At the same time, if adapting quickly is hard for you, that’s okay. In interviews, questions about your weakness alongside strengths are common. You likely have other soft skills an employer wants, so play those up during your interview.

7. Tell me an incident when you were asked to do something you had never done before. How did you react, and what did you learn?

Here the interviewer looks for real answers, not the canned ones.

Start thinking about your career journey achievement, then associate with your personal life which will show how you’ve been able to adapt, persevere, and manage the change. You don’t need to pretend any skills that you are not aware of.

8. What is an IP address- this is one of the commonly asked technical interview questions for freshers.

Do not get confused when you face this basic question by the interviewer. What they’re really asking is if you can talk about technical concepts in easy-to-understand language about this question.

With this type of question, an interviewer might look for a straightforward answer from the candidate to see if he/she knows basic IT terminology. It can also be a way to see how well you explain technical concepts, especially if you’ve applied for a help desk position.

9. How would you make sure a computer network is secure?

By asking you this question, they want to know if you have the skills to keep our data safe.

This question helps them to gauge your technical knowledge in addition to showing an interviewer how you would approach a problem. Basic security knowledge should be a part of your arsenal. Such as firewalls, routers, and VPNs. Think also about good security practices you can implement and describe them in detail.

10. How do you stay on top of new technology?

What they’re really asking by asking you is if you are seeking to learn and grow.

Because technology is an ever-evolving field, it’s important for IT professionals to stay on top of new innovations that can improve a workplace. The interviewer can ask this question to see how plugged-in you are to the IT and the changes happening in the IT community.

Maybe they want to check if you follow tech experts or companies on social media. Whether you have subscribed to any newsletter that keeps you updated about the changing technology. Or maybe they want to check if you’ve taken courses that incorporate newer technologies into their curriculum.

Choose to respond, showing your interest in new technology and willingness to stay on top of new innovations.

Similarly, they can also ask the same question in another form. Like-

Which industry leaders do you enjoy following?
What podcasts or blogs do you follow?

To wrap up, while prepping for the various technical interviews, we recommend Googling for technical interview questions and answers for your specific area of expertise for example, “front-end developer interview questions”. It will give a good idea of the range of questions that you may be asked and will help you practice answering them.

After discussing technical knowledge, salary expectations often come up. Sometimes in same round and sometimes in another. Learn how to tactfully answer What’s Your Expected Salary?

Even if you don’t know all of the answers right off the bat, with practice, you’ll be on your way to acing your technical interview in no time.

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