Behavioral / Scenario based Questions
How to answer scenario based questions like... - Tell me a project where you couldn't deliver on time, what did you do if your manager/team didn't agree with your solution... basically anything related to your weakness or situation where you may be seen as bad teammate. - Another set of questions where you need to show your technical/leadership abilities like... tell me about your most challenging project, how did you resolve conflict between teammates, how did you show mistakes of others without being rude etc. - Why are you leaving current job? What exactly are you looking in new position? Why us? My main reason is compensation but don't think that's a good answer to tell interviewer :) If someone can tell me what exactly they look for, that will be great. These are for senior software engineering position.
We are basically looking for how the candidate handles conflict, stress, and group problem solving. There are a lot of acceptable answers, one is mainly looking for red flags.
Since when developers became psychologists? Behavioral questions is total bullshit. It’s a wildcard round to find excuses to not hire someone who passed technical rounds.
You don't need to be a psychologist to answer these, just need to collect your thoughts together about your work experience before the interview. Behavioral questions are justified because they are a part of checks and balances in place to filter out candidates who only did well in the 3 hours of technical interview, but don't actually work hard or deliver results in everyday work. Often these questions ask for example from a candidate's real life experience.
You'll need to sit down during practice and compile answers to a few of these questions. You won't be able to answer them impromptu usually. When the question is related to a weakness, know that you have to actually show a growth mindset. Like an example where you failed but are taking concrete steps to improve. When they ask for the most challenging project, you'll need to work on pitching the problem statement as extremely complex, not the solution so much (people don't get impressed by solutions, bamboozle them with the complexity of the problem here). You have to be honest about your reasons for moving to a new job, include your other reasons as well besides a pay increase.
Thanks but my main reason for moving us money :)
Give that reason then
The answer or actual scenario is really irrelevant. What they want to see is that you can admit your own weaknesses, what you did to identify that weaknesses, and what you did to correct it. Ex: I one exactly how I wanted to accomplish x, my team disagreed but I proceeded anyway, when it failed I consulted my team, recognized that listening to input and thinking differently would have helped me. Implemented team solution that worked and learned it is good to listen to others because they more know better about certain things. Use A STAR format.
I m also struggling to awnser those questions. It is same for everyone?
Most of the time engineers focus on technical aspects and that's why we struggle in these kinds of questions.
How to awnser those questions
S(situation) T(task) A(action) R(result) format. Google that