{"id":336,"date":"2025-01-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/springgreen-curlew-885344.hostingersite.com\/blog\/ai-interview-tips-software-engineers\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T05:37:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:37:41","slug":"ai-interview-tips-software-engineers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastroundai.com\/blog\/ai-interview-tips-software-engineers","title":{"rendered":"Interview Tips Nobody Gave Me as a Junior Developer"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been on both sides of the interview table now. Did around 50 interviews as a candidate over the years, and now I help interview engineers at my company. The gap between what actually matters and what most candidates focus on is wild.<\/p>\n

Here’s the stuff I wish someone told me back when I was starting out. Would’ve saved me a lot of failed interviews and anxiety.<\/p>\n

The Coding Round: What We’re Actually Looking For<\/h2>\n

When I’m interviewing someone, I honestly don’t care if they get the optimal solution. What I’m looking for:<\/p>\n

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Do they think before coding?<\/h4>\n

The best candidates spend 5 minutes understanding the problem before writing anything. The worst start typing immediately.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Can they explain their thinking?<\/h4>\n

Silent coding is a red flag. I want to hear “I’m trying X because Y. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try Z.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Do they handle being stuck gracefully?<\/h4>\n

Everyone gets stuck. Good candidates say “I’m stuck on X, can you give me a hint?” Bad ones panic or pretend they’re not stuck.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Do they test their code?<\/h4>\n

“Okay it’s done” without running through a test case = red flag. Walk through your code with an example.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/path><\/path><\/path><\/svg>Pro Tip: The First 5 Minutes Matter Most<\/h4>\n

I’ve pretty much made up my mind about a candidate in the first 5 minutes. How do they approach the problem? Do they ask clarifying questions? Do they seem organized? This matters more than the final solution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

System Design: How to Not Sound Like a Tutorial Video<\/h2>\n

So many candidates have clearly watched the same YouTube videos and regurgitate the same memorized answers. “We’ll use a load balancer, then Redis for caching, then…” Stop. Please.<\/p>\n

What works better:<\/p>\n

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Start with requirements, not architecture<\/h4>\n

“Before I dive in, let me clarify – are we optimizing for reads or writes? What’s the expected scale?” Shows you think about trade-offs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Admit what you don’t know<\/h4>\n

“I’ve used Redis but never at this scale, so I’d want to validate these assumptions with the team.” Way better than pretending.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Draw and explain as you go<\/h4>\n

Don’t draw the whole diagram then explain. Draw each component, explain why it’s there, then move to the next.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Talk about what could go wrong<\/h4>\n

“The obvious risk here is single point of failure at X. We could solve that with Y.” Proactively addressing issues is impressive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Behavioral Questions: The Part Most Engineers Hate<\/h2>\n

I get it. You became an engineer to code, not to talk about “a time when you dealt with conflict.” But these questions matter because working with other humans is 50% of the job.<\/p>\n

The STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) works but feels robotic. Here’s what I do instead:<\/p>\n

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The Story Formula<\/h4>\n
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  1. 1. The Setup<\/strong> (10 seconds) – “I was on a team building X…”<\/li>\n
  2. 2. The Conflict<\/strong> (20 seconds) – “The problem was Y, which was causing Z…”<\/li>\n
  3. 3. What I Did<\/strong> (30 seconds) – Specific actions, not vague stuff<\/li>\n
  4. 4. What Happened<\/strong> (15 seconds) – Actual results, ideally with numbers<\/li>\n
  5. 5. What I Learned<\/strong> (10 seconds) – Brief reflection<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    Have 3-4 stories ready that you can adapt to different questions. One about conflict, one about a technical challenge, one about leading\/mentoring, one about failure\/learning.<\/p>\n

    Using AI Tools in Interviews: My Honest Take<\/h2>\n

    Okay, I’ll just say it: I’ve used AI tools in interviews. Before you judge, hear me out.<\/p>\n

    Interviews are artificial performance tests. In real work, I Google syntax constantly. I use Copilot. I ask teammates questions. Interviews pretend none of that exists.<\/p>\n

    Using an AI tool that helps with syntax when I blank out? That feels like correcting an artificial handicap. It’s not giving me knowledge I don’t have – it’s helping me access knowledge I do have under pressure.<\/p>\n

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    What AI Tools Actually Help With<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n