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Technical Interview Question Bank & Scorer
500+ curated interview questions with scoring rubrics and panel planning tools. Build comprehensive interview loops and consistent evaluation criteria.
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System DesignSenior (5-8 yrs)45 min
Design a URL shortener like bit.ly
Follow-up Questions:
- How would you handle 10M requests per second?
- What database would you use and why?
- How would you implement analytics tracking?
- How would you prevent abuse?
What to Evaluate:
Scalability considerationsDatabase designAPI designCaching strategyTrade-off analysis
System DesignStaff (8-12 yrs)60 min
Design a distributed rate limiting system
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you handle consistency across multiple servers?
- What algorithm would you use (token bucket, sliding window)?
- How would you handle clock skew?
What to Evaluate:
Distributed systems understandingCAP theorem applicationAlgorithm selectionEdge case handling
System DesignMid-Level (2-5 yrs)45 min
Design a real-time chat application
Follow-up Questions:
- How would you implement read receipts?
- What protocol would you use for real-time communication?
- How would you handle message persistence?
What to Evaluate:
WebSocket understandingMessage queue designDatabase schemaScalability planning
System DesignSenior (5-8 yrs)60 min
Design a content delivery network (CDN)
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you decide where to place edge servers?
- How do you handle cache invalidation?
- How do you optimize for video streaming vs static assets?
What to Evaluate:
Geographic distribution strategyCaching policiesLoad balancingCost optimization
System DesignPrincipal (12+ yrs)60 min
Design a globally distributed database with strong consistency
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you handle network partitions?
- What consensus algorithm would you use?
- How do you balance consistency vs latency?
What to Evaluate:
Consensus algorithms (Paxos, Raft)CAP theorem masteryTrade-off analysisProduction experience
System DesignMid-Level (2-5 yrs)45 min
Design a notification service (email, SMS, push)
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you ensure delivery reliability?
- How do you handle retry logic?
- How do you prevent duplicate notifications?
What to Evaluate:
Queue designRetry strategiesIdempotencyScalability
System DesignSenior (5-8 yrs)45 min
Design a search engine autocomplete system
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you handle typos and suggestions?
- How do you rank suggestions?
- How do you personalize results?
What to Evaluate:
Trie data structure understandingRanking algorithmsCaching strategiesLow-latency design
System DesignStaff (8-12 yrs)60 min
Design a multi-tenant SaaS platform with tenant isolation
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you handle database-per-tenant vs shared database?
- How do you ensure one tenant cannot access another tenant's data?
- How do you handle scaling for different tenant sizes?
What to Evaluate:
Multi-tenancy patternsSecurity and isolationResource allocationCost modeling
System DesignJunior (0-2 yrs)30 min
Design a simple URL redirect service
Follow-up Questions:
- How would you store the mappings?
- How would you generate unique short codes?
- What happens if the same URL is shortened twice?
What to Evaluate:
Basic system design understandingDatabase basicsAPI designProblem decomposition
System DesignMid-Level (2-5 yrs)45 min
Design a job scheduler system (like cron)
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you handle job failures?
- How do you prevent duplicate job execution?
- How do you scale to millions of jobs?
What to Evaluate:
Task queue understandingDistributed lockingReliability designMonitoring
CodingMid-Level (2-5 yrs)30 min
Implement a LRU (Least Recently Used) cache
Follow-up Questions:
- What data structures would you use?
- What is the time complexity of get and put?
- How would you make it thread-safe?
What to Evaluate:
Data structure knowledge (HashMap + Doubly Linked List)Time complexity analysisCode cleanlinessEdge case handling
CodingJunior (0-2 yrs)15 min
Reverse a string in place
Follow-up Questions:
- What if the string contains Unicode characters?
- How would you handle null or empty strings?
What to Evaluate:
Basic algorithm knowledgeCode correctnessEdge case handling
CodingSenior (5-8 yrs)45 min
Find the median of two sorted arrays
Follow-up Questions:
- Can you optimize to O(log(min(m,n))) time?
- What if arrays have different sizes?
What to Evaluate:
Algorithm optimizationBinary search masteryEdge case handlingCode efficiency
CodingMid-Level (2-5 yrs)20 min
Implement a thread-safe singleton pattern
Follow-up Questions:
- What are the different ways to implement this?
- How do you handle lazy initialization?
- What are the trade-offs of each approach?
What to Evaluate:
Concurrency understandingDesign pattern knowledgeThread-safety awareness
CodingSenior (5-8 yrs)30 min
Design and implement a rate limiter class
Follow-up Questions:
- Which algorithm would you use (token bucket, sliding window)?
- How do you make it thread-safe?
- How would you test this?
What to Evaluate:
Algorithm selectionConcurrency handlingAPI designTesting approach
CodingMid-Level (2-5 yrs)25 min
Detect a cycle in a linked list
Follow-up Questions:
- Can you do it with O(1) space?
- How would you find the start of the cycle?
What to Evaluate:
Algorithm knowledge (Floyd's cycle detection)Space complexity optimizationProblem-solving approach
CodingJunior (0-2 yrs)15 min
Check if a string is a palindrome
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you handle spaces and punctuation?
- What about case sensitivity?
What to Evaluate:
Basic problem solvingString manipulationEdge cases
CodingStaff (8-12 yrs)60 min
Implement a lock-free concurrent queue
Follow-up Questions:
- What are the challenges with lock-free data structures?
- How do you handle the ABA problem?
- When would you use this vs a locked queue?
What to Evaluate:
Advanced concurrency knowledgeLock-free programmingTrade-off analysisPerformance understanding
CodingMid-Level (2-5 yrs)35 min
Implement a binary search tree with insert, delete, and search
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you handle deletion with two children?
- What is the time complexity in worst case?
- How would you balance the tree?
What to Evaluate:
Tree data structure knowledgeAlgorithm implementationComplexity analysis
CodingSenior (5-8 yrs)40 min
Implement a distributed lock using Redis
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you handle lock expiration?
- What happens if the client dies while holding the lock?
- How do you prevent deadlocks?
What to Evaluate:
Distributed systems knowledgeRedis understandingEdge case handlingProduction awareness
BehavioralMid-Level (2-5 yrs)15 min
Tell me about a time you had to make a difficult technical decision with incomplete information
Follow-up Questions:
- How did you gather the information you needed?
- What was the outcome?
- What would you do differently?
What to Evaluate:
Decision-making processRisk assessmentOutcome orientationLearning from experience
BehavioralSenior (5-8 yrs)15 min
Describe a situation where you had to convince your team to adopt a technology they were resistant to
Follow-up Questions:
- What was their main objection?
- How did you address their concerns?
- Was the adoption successful?
What to Evaluate:
Influencing skillsStakeholder managementTechnical leadershipChange management
BehavioralStaff (8-12 yrs)15 min
Tell me about a time you made a technical decision that you later regretted
Follow-up Questions:
- What would you have done differently?
- How did you handle the consequences?
- What did you learn?
What to Evaluate:
Self-awarenessLearning from mistakesOwnershipGrowth mindset
BehavioralMid-Level (2-5 yrs)15 min
Describe a conflict you had with a team member and how you resolved it
Follow-up Questions:
- What was the root cause?
- How did you approach the conversation?
- What was the outcome?
What to Evaluate:
Conflict resolutionEmotional intelligenceCommunication skillsTeam collaboration
BehavioralPrincipal (12+ yrs)20 min
Tell me about a time you had to balance technical debt with feature delivery
Follow-up Questions:
- How did you make the trade-off decision?
- How did you communicate this to stakeholders?
- What was the long-term impact?
What to Evaluate:
Strategic thinkingStakeholder communicationLong-term planningBusiness acumen
BehavioralSenior (5-8 yrs)15 min
Describe your most challenging debugging experience
Follow-up Questions:
- How did you approach the problem?
- What tools did you use?
- How long did it take to resolve?
What to Evaluate:
Problem-solving methodologyPersistenceTool proficiencyLearning approach
BehavioralJunior (0-2 yrs)10 min
Tell me about a project you are most proud of
Follow-up Questions:
- What was your specific contribution?
- What challenges did you face?
- What did you learn?
What to Evaluate:
Technical contributionProblem-solvingTeam collaborationPassion for work
BehavioralStaff (8-12 yrs)15 min
Describe a time you mentored a junior engineer. What approach did you take?
Follow-up Questions:
- What were the biggest challenges?
- How did you measure success?
- What did you learn from the experience?
What to Evaluate:
Mentorship skillsPatience and empathyTeaching abilityInvestment in others
BehavioralMid-Level (2-5 yrs)10 min
Tell me about a time you received critical feedback. How did you respond?
Follow-up Questions:
- Who gave you the feedback?
- How did you feel about it?
- What actions did you take?
What to Evaluate:
Receptiveness to feedbackGrowth mindsetSelf-improvementEmotional maturity
BehavioralPrincipal (12+ yrs)15 min
Describe how you would handle a situation where your technical recommendation was overruled by management
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you stay motivated when this happens?
- How do you prevent this from happening?
- What would you do if the decision led to problems?
What to Evaluate:
Organizational navigationStakeholder managementProfessionalismStrategic influence
Technical DepthSenior (5-8 yrs)20 min
Explain how a database index works and when you would use different types (B-tree, Hash, etc.)
Follow-up Questions:
- What are the trade-offs between index types?
- How do you decide which columns to index?
- What is the cost of over-indexing?
What to Evaluate:
Database internals knowledgeIndex type understandingPerformance optimizationTrade-off analysis
Technical DepthStaff (8-12 yrs)25 min
Explain the CAP theorem and how it applies to distributed databases
Follow-up Questions:
- Can you give examples of CP, AP, and CA systems?
- How does eventual consistency fit in?
- What is the PACELC theorem?
What to Evaluate:
Distributed systems masteryTheoretical understandingPractical applicationReal-world examples
Technical DepthMid-Level (2-5 yrs)15 min
Explain the difference between authentication and authorization
Follow-up Questions:
- What are common authentication methods?
- How does OAuth 2.0 work?
- What is RBAC vs ABAC?
What to Evaluate:
Security fundamentalsProtocol knowledgeAccess control patterns
Technical DepthSenior (5-8 yrs)20 min
How does garbage collection work in your preferred language?
Follow-up Questions:
- What are the different GC algorithms?
- How do you tune GC for performance?
- When would you use manual memory management?
What to Evaluate:
Language internals knowledgePerformance tuningMemory management
Technical DepthPrincipal (12+ yrs)30 min
Explain consensus algorithms (Paxos, Raft) and when you would use them
Follow-up Questions:
- What are the key differences between Paxos and Raft?
- How do they handle leader election?
- What are the performance implications?
What to Evaluate:
Distributed consensus masteryAlgorithm comparisonProduction experienceTrade-off understanding
Technical DepthMid-Level (2-5 yrs)15 min
Explain how HTTP/2 differs from HTTP/1.1
Follow-up Questions:
- What is multiplexing?
- How does server push work?
- When would you use HTTP/3?
What to Evaluate:
Protocol knowledgePerformance optimizationModern web standards
Technical DepthSenior (5-8 yrs)25 min
Explain different types of database transactions and isolation levels
Follow-up Questions:
- What is the difference between Read Committed and Serializable?
- How do you handle deadlocks?
- What are the performance trade-offs?
What to Evaluate:
ACID understandingIsolation level masteryConcurrency controlProduction experience
Technical DepthJunior (0-2 yrs)15 min
Explain the difference between a process and a thread
Follow-up Questions:
- When would you use threads vs processes?
- What is context switching?
- What are green threads?
What to Evaluate:
OS fundamentalsConcurrency basicsUse case understanding
Technical DepthStaff (8-12 yrs)25 min
Explain how TCP congestion control works
Follow-up Questions:
- What are slow start and congestion avoidance?
- How does TCP detect packet loss?
- What is TCP BBR?
What to Evaluate:
Network protocol depthAlgorithm understandingPerformance optimization
Technical DepthMid-Level (2-5 yrs)15 min
Explain the difference between SQL and NoSQL databases
Follow-up Questions:
- When would you choose one over the other?
- What are the different types of NoSQL databases?
- Can you give real-world examples of each?
What to Evaluate:
Database fundamentalsUse case analysisTrade-off understanding
LeadershipStaff (8-12 yrs)20 min
How do you handle underperforming team members?
Follow-up Questions:
- What is your process for identifying underperformance?
- How do you create performance improvement plans?
- When do you decide to let someone go?
What to Evaluate:
Performance managementCoaching skillsDifficult conversationsTeam standards
LeadershipPrincipal (12+ yrs)25 min
Describe your approach to building engineering culture
Follow-up Questions:
- What are the key elements of a strong culture?
- How do you measure culture?
- How do you maintain culture as you scale?
What to Evaluate:
Culture definitionStrategic thinkingValues alignmentScalability mindset
LeadershipStaff (8-12 yrs)20 min
How do you prioritize technical debt vs new features?
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you communicate this to product managers?
- What metrics do you use?
- How do you prevent tech debt from accumulating?
What to Evaluate:
Strategic balanceStakeholder managementLong-term thinkingData-driven decisions
LeadershipSenior (5-8 yrs)15 min
Tell me about your approach to 1-on-1s with your direct reports
Follow-up Questions:
- How often do you meet?
- What topics do you cover?
- How do you track action items?
What to Evaluate:
People managementStructured approachCareer development focusFollow-through
LeadershipPrincipal (12+ yrs)25 min
How do you scale yourself as an organization grows from 10 to 100 engineers?
Follow-up Questions:
- What changes in your role?
- How do you delegate effectively?
- What systems and processes do you put in place?
What to Evaluate:
Scalability thinkingDelegation skillsProcess designLeadership maturity
LeadershipStaff (8-12 yrs)20 min
Describe your process for making technical decisions with multiple stakeholders
Follow-up Questions:
- How do you gather input?
- How do you handle disagreement?
- How do you communicate the decision?
What to Evaluate:
Decision-making frameworkStakeholder managementConsensus buildingCommunication
LeadershipSenior (5-8 yrs)15 min
How do you keep your team motivated during long, difficult projects?
Follow-up Questions:
- What are the signs of low morale?
- What interventions have you tried?
- How do you celebrate progress?
What to Evaluate:
Team motivationEmotional intelligenceMorale monitoringRecognition practices
LeadershipPrincipal (12+ yrs)25 min
How do you create alignment between engineering and product teams?
Follow-up Questions:
- What are common sources of misalignment?
- How do you resolve conflicts?
- What processes help maintain alignment?
What to Evaluate:
Cross-functional leadershipStakeholder managementProcess designConflict resolution
LeadershipStaff (8-12 yrs)20 min
Describe your approach to promoting engineers on your team
Follow-up Questions:
- What criteria do you use?
- How do you ensure fairness and consistency?
- How do you handle disagreements about promotions?
What to Evaluate:
Career developmentFairness and equityCriteria clarityCommunication
LeadershipSenior (5-8 yrs)20 min
How do you handle disagreements with your manager or CEO about technical direction?
Follow-up Questions:
- Can you give a specific example?
- How do you present your case?
- What do you do if you still disagree after the decision is made?
What to Evaluate:
Upward managementInfluence without authorityProfessionalismStrategic thinking
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How to Use This Tool
1. Select Questions
Filter by category and difficulty level, then select questions for your interview loop. Mix system design, coding, behavioral, and leadership questions based on the role.
2. Build Interview Panel (Pro)
Plan your interview loop with multiple panel members. Assign interview types and durations to each interviewer for balanced coverage.
3. Create Scoring Rubric
Define evaluation criteria with weights. Use the Excel export to score candidates consistently across all interviewers.
4. Export Scorecard
Download an Excel scorecard with all questions, evaluation criteria, and automated score calculations. Share with your interview panel.
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System Design
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Coding
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Behavioral
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Technical Depth
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Leadership