Problem Solving Behaviors and Decision Making Questions
Covers the interpersonal and cognitive traits that shape how a candidate solves problems, including initiative, ownership, proactivity, resilience, creativity, continuous learning, and evaluating trade offs. Interviewers probe when a candidate takes initiative versus seeks help, how they balance speed versus quality, how they persist through setbacks, how they generate creative alternatives, and how they learn from outcomes. This topic assesses mindset, judgment, and the ability to make principled decisions under uncertainty.
HardTechnical
0 practiced
A cross-team disagreement is delaying an urgent security patch. As a senior engineer asked to mediate, describe how you would gather facts, frame the options and trade-offs, build consensus quickly, and ensure the patch is applied with minimal disruption.
EasyBehavioral
0 practiced
Describe a time you persisted through repeated failures to reach a solution (resilience). What was the problem, what iterations did you try, how did you maintain momentum or adjust your approach, and what did you learn from the outcome?
MediumTechnical
0 practiced
You must choose between refactoring a flaky module that causes frequent bugs and shipping a new feature that will generate measurable revenue. Describe your decision criteria, how you'd quantify costs and benefits, and how you'd present the recommendation to product and leadership.
MediumTechnical
0 practiced
How do you mentor junior engineers to improve their problem-solving skills? Provide a structured approach (pair programming, targeted exercises, feedback cadence) and an example of a mentee's progress you influenced.
HardTechnical
0 practiced
Design a cross-functional decision protocol for product launches that ensures technical risks are identified early without blocking speed. Specify required artifacts (e.g., risk register), roles (who signs off), gates, and communication steps for fast iteration and safe rollout.
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