The role of Software Engineer at BYU Broadcasting is pivotal in shaping the technological landscape of the organization's media products. As a Software Engineer, you will be responsible for developing, maintaining, and enhancing software applications that support broadcasting operations, content delivery, and audience engagement. Your work will directly influence the quality and reliability of the services provided to viewers and listeners, making a significant impact on user experience and satisfaction. This position not only involves coding but also requires collaboration with cross-functional teams, including production, engineering, and design. You will engage in creating innovative software solutions that streamline processes and enhance content distribution across various platforms. The complexity of the projects at BYU Broadcasting allows for a rich environment where technical skills meet creative storytelling, providing an exciting opportunity to be part of a mission-driven organization. Expect to contribute to key initiatives that utilize modern technologies and methodologies, ensuring that remains at the forefront of the media industry. As a Software Engineer, you will face challenges that require critical thinking and problem-solving skills, further enriching your professional journey within an inspiring team atmosphere. BYU Broadcasting
Initial Screening Interview
reportedConducted via video call with a panel of team members to assess candidate fit and team culture.
What to demonstrate
- Conducted via video call with a panel of team members to assess candidate fit and team culture
- Depth in Programming Problem Solving
How to prepare
- Be able to walk your CV end to end in two minutes, and say why this company specifically.
- Have your salary expectations, notice period and location constraints ready, and ask for the rest of the loop in writing.
Coding Assessments
reportedCandidates participate in coding tests focusing on technical skills and problem-solving abilities.
What to demonstrate
- Candidates participate in coding tests focusing on technical skills and problem-solving abilities
- Depth in Programming Problem Solving
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: Discuss a challenging bug you encountered and how you resolved it.
- Answer aloud and timed: Write a function to reverse a string in place.
PracHub editorial advice for the preparation topics above.
Prepare for Technical Assessments
Practice coding problems and algorithms beforehand. Utilize platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to refine your skills.
Understand the Mission
Familiarize yourself with the goals and values of BYU Broadcasting. Reflect on how your experiences align with their mission.
Be Authentic
During interviews, be yourself and engage genuinely with the interviewers. They appreciate candidates who are authentic and can communicate openly.
Follow Up
After your interview, consider sending a thank-you note to express your appreciation for the opportunity and reiterate your interest in the role.
Choose a category, try a prompt, then open its approach, worked solution or follow-up when you need it.
Write a function to reverse a string in place.
Write a function to reverse a string in place.
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
Explain the time complexity of your solution to a common algorithm problem.
Explain the time complexity of your solution to a common algorithm problem.
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
How would you implement a data structure for a LRU cache?
How would you implement a data structure for a LRU cache?
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
Write the update path that detects a concurrent edit
resource carries version INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 1. resource_revision holds revision_id, resource_id, version, actor_user_id, change_kind, patch JSONB, request_id, created_at with UNIQUE (resource_id, version). outbox_event holds aggregate_type, aggregate_id, aggregate_version, event_type, payload, status. A PUT carries the version the client read. Write the exact statements for the single transaction that applies the edit, records the revision and enqueues 'resource.updated', and give the handler's branch on zero affected rows. Then say what PostgreSQL 16 does under READ COMMITTED when two of these updates hit one row at once.
Approach
- One transaction, three writes, no network call inside it: UPDATE resource SET title = $3, version = version + 1, updated_at = now() WHERE resource_id = $1 AND tenant_id = $4 AND version = $2; then INSERT the resource_revision row at version $2 + 1; then INSERT the outbox_event row at the same aggregate_version. The event goes to a table rather than a broker because no transaction spans both.
- Branch on the affected-row count before doing anything else. Zero has three causes — stale version, wrong tenant, row gone — so re-read once and map to 409 carrying the current version, or 404 for an id outside the caller's tenant, which also stops the endpoint confirming that another tenant's id exists.
- State the engine behaviour instead of assuming it. Under READ COMMITTED the second UPDATE blocks on the row lock, and when the first commits PostgreSQL re-evaluates the WHERE clause against the newly committed row, so the version predicate now fails and the statement reports zero rows. Under REPEATABLE READ the identical collision raises SQLSTATE 40001 instead, so the handler must fold both shapes into one conflict response.
- Keep UNIQUE (resource_id, version) even though the predicate already serialises writers. It is what makes a lost update unwritable if any other path ever reaches the revision table, and it converts a logic bug into 23505 rather than into a silently missing history row.
Follow-up
- A client sends the version it read ten minutes ago and the resource has moved three versions. What is in your 409 so it can resolve the conflict without a full re-fetch?
- Two editors, two disjoint fields, no overlap. Does your answer still refuse the second write, and should it?
Explain why the owner filter ignores the listing index
The only index on resource is (tenant_id, status, updated_at DESC, resource_id DESC). A new endpoint returns one user's resources across all statuses, newest created first: WHERE tenant_id = $1 AND owner_user_id = $2 ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 20. On a tenant with 2M rows it takes 900 ms and EXPLAIN shows a sort above a large scan. Explain precisely why the existing index cannot serve it, give the index that can, and state which of these the new index still will not help: owner_user_id alone across tenants; the same query ordered by updated_at. PostgreSQL 16.
Approach
- Separate the two jobs an index does. For filtering, a composite btree is seekable only on a left prefix, so with no predicate on status the scan can at best range over tenant_id and test owner_user_id per row; PostgreSQL 16 has no btree skip scan to jump the unconstrained column.
- For ordering, the index is sorted by (status, updated_at) within a tenant and not by created_at, so the LIMIT cannot stop early: every matching row is read and then sorted. That is the 'Sort Method: top-N heapsort' line, and it is why the plan reads 2M rows to answer with 20.
- Derive the replacement from the access path — equality, equality, then the ordering column: CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY ON resource (tenant_id, owner_user_id, created_at DESC). The scan seeks to the (tenant, owner) range and walks 20 entries in order, so the Sort node disappears along with the row-read.
- Treat INCLUDE (title, status) as conditional, not free. An index-only scan still visits the heap for any row whose page is not marked all-visible, so on a table taking 1.2k writes/second the win depends on autovacuum keeping the visibility map current, and the wider index costs more on every insert.
Follow-up
- 90% of rows are status='active'. Would a partial index WHERE status = 'active' change your answer, and for which of the three queries?
- A dashboard runs this for 40 owners in one page load. What changes about the design?
What programming languages are you proficient in, and how have you used them in past projects?
What programming languages are you proficient in, and how have you used them in past projects?
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
Discuss a challenging bug you encountered and how you resolved it.
Discuss a challenging bug you encountered and how you resolved it.
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
How would you approach designing a new feature for a streaming service?
How would you approach designing a new feature for a streaming service?
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
Given a set of requirements, outline how you would architect a solution.
Given a set of requirements, outline how you would architect a solution.
Approach
- Fix the scope first: who calls this, how often, and what they do when it fails.
- Name the read and write paths separately; they rarely have the same bottleneck.
- Choose a partition key and say what query it makes expensive.
- State the consistency you need, and where you are willing to be stale.
Follow-up
- What breaks first when traffic grows ten times?
- How does this behave when that dependency is down for an hour?
Design a system for managing user accounts and authentication.
Design a system for managing user accounts and authentication.
Approach
- Fix the scope first: who calls this, how often, and what they do when it fails.
- Name the read and write paths separately; they rarely have the same bottleneck.
- Choose a partition key and say what query it makes expensive.
- State the consistency you need, and where you are willing to be stale.
Follow-up
- What breaks first when traffic grows ten times?
- How does this behave when that dependency is down for an hour?
Explain how you would ensure scalability for a high-traffic web application.
Explain how you would ensure scalability for a high-traffic web application.
Approach
- Fix the scope first: who calls this, how often, and what they do when it fails.
- Name the read and write paths separately; they rarely have the same bottleneck.
- Choose a partition key and say what query it makes expensive.
- State the consistency you need, and where you are willing to be stale.
Follow-up
- What breaks first when traffic grows ten times?
- How does this behave when that dependency is down for an hour?
Exports duplicate a row range about once a week
Roughly once a week an export writes a file containing a duplicated range of rows. The affected job_run rows show attempt = 1, status = succeeded, one started_at, and a lease_owner naming a different host from the one whose logs show the job starting. Leases last 30 seconds and are heartbeated every 10 from inside the handler; lease_expires_at is computed on the worker and compared against the database's now(). Find the mechanism, and give a fix that holds even if you cannot fix the clocks.
Approach
- Start from the fact that eliminates the obvious answer. attempt = 1 means no retry was recorded, so this is not a re-run after failure; two workers ran the same row concurrently and the takeover path never touched the counter. lease_owner naming a host other than the one that started the job is the same statement from the other side.
- Enumerate the mechanisms that cause a premature takeover, then find the signal that separates them. Either the lease genuinely expired because the heartbeat did not fire, which is what happens when the heartbeat runs on the handler's own thread and the handler makes a long blocking call, or it only appeared expired because two clocks disagree, since lease_expires_at is written from the worker's clock and evaluated against the database's. The discriminator is the distribution: incidents clustered on the longest exports indict the heartbeat, incidents clustered on one host indict skew. Measure both, and measure each host's offset against the database directly.
- Read the reclaim query precisely. In PostgreSQL now() is transaction start time, not statement time, so a reclaimer holding a long transaction compares against an older timestamp than expected; clock_timestamp() is the statement-time function. This is worth ruling in or out before you redesign anything, because it changes which rows look expired.
- Remove the second clock rather than trying to synchronise it. Issue and extend the lease in the database, with lease_expires_at = now() + interval '30 seconds' in both the claim and the heartbeat, so exactly one clock is ever compared and worker skew stops mattering to this predicate.
Follow-up
- The displaced worker has already streamed half the file to object storage. What makes that side effect safe to repeat?
- You now count takeovers. What alert fires on that counter, and at what threshold?
Built from the rounds and topics BYU Broadcasting candidates report.
Prepare, practise & reflect
One practical outcome each day. Spend longer where you need it.
0 / 7 done01Map the BYU Broadcasting loop
- Write out the reported sequence: Initial Screening Interview, Coding Assessments.
- For each round, write one sentence on what it is judging, from the description above, and mark the one you are least ready for.
Deliverable: A one-page map of the 2 reported rounds, with the weakest marked.
02Work Programming Problem Solving
- Spend the session on Programming Problem Solving, which BYU Broadcasting candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Programming Problem Solving and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Programming Problem Solving.
03Work Coding Tests
- Spend the session on Coding Tests, which BYU Broadcasting candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Coding Tests and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Coding Tests.
04Work Data Structures
- Spend the session on Data Structures, which BYU Broadcasting candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Data Structures and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Data Structures.
05Answer out loud: Technical / Domain Questions
- Answer aloud, timed: What programming languages are you proficient in, and how have you used them in past projects?
- Answer aloud, timed: Can you explain the software development lifecycle and your experience with it?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Technical / Domain Questions question(s), under time.
06Answer out loud: Coding / Algorithms
- Answer aloud, timed: Write a function to reverse a string in place.
- Answer aloud, timed: Explain the time complexity of your solution to a common algorithm problem.
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Coding / Algorithms question(s), under time.
07Answer out loud: Behavioral / Leadership
- Answer aloud, timed: Describe a time when you had to work as part of a team. What role did you play?
- Answer aloud, timed: How do you prioritize tasks when working on multiple projects?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Behavioral / Leadership question(s), under time.
Expand any day for tasks and deliverables. Your progress is saved on this device.
Behavioural rounds judge the decision you made and what it cost.
Can you explain the software development lifecycle and your experience with it?
Can you explain the software development lifecycle and your experience with it?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
Describe a time when you had to work as part of a team. What role did you play?
Describe a time when you had to work as part of a team. What role did you play?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
How do you prioritize tasks when working on multiple projects?
How do you prioritize tasks when working on multiple projects?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
Can you share an experience where you received constructive feedback? How did you respond?
Can you share an experience where you received constructive feedback? How did you respond?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
- 01
Can you explain the software development lifecycle and your experience with it?
- 02
Describe a time when you had to work as part of a team. What role did you play?
- 03
How do you prioritize tasks when working on multiple projects?
- 04
Can you share an experience where you received constructive feedback? How did you respond?
How difficult is the interview process?
The interview process is designed to be challenging yet fair. Candidates should prepare for a mix of technical and behavioral questions. Generally, you can expect a moderate level of difficulty that assesses both your skills and fit within the team.
BYU Broadcasting Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What differentiates successful candidates?
Successful candidates demonstrate strong technical skills, effective communication, and a clear alignment with the values of BYU Broadcasting. They are able to articulate their thought processes and collaborate effectively.
BYU Broadcasting Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What is the culture like at BYU Broadcasting?
The culture at BYU Broadcasting emphasizes teamwork, innovation, and a commitment to the organization’s mission. Employees are encouraged to share ideas and contribute to a positive working environment.
BYU Broadcasting Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What is the typical timeline from initial screen to offer?
The timeline can vary, but candidates usually hear back within a few weeks after their initial interview. The process may take longer if multiple interviews are scheduled.
BYU Broadcasting Software Engineer candidate reports ↗Are there remote work opportunities?
BYU Broadcasting typically operates in a hybrid model, allowing for a mix of in-office and remote work. Specific arrangements can vary depending on team needs and project requirements.
BYU Broadcasting Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What topics does BYU Broadcasting test in interviews?
BYU Broadcasting interviews most often cover Marketing Analytics, Programming Problem Solving, Data Analysis, Coding Tests, and Analytics Skill Demonstration. The exact emphasis depends on the specific role you apply for.
BYU Broadcasting Software Engineer candidate reports ↗Sources & methodology 3 sources ↗
No official company page is cited. Rounds and questions come from candidate reports and PracHub editorial material; each source shows the date it was read.
- 01BYU Broadcasting Software Engineer candidate reports ↗
Company-reported rounds, questions and FAQ.
Candidate reports · Accessed 2026-09-22 - 02PracHub Software Engineer practice ↗
PracHub practice material, not company-reported.
PracHub page · Accessed 2026-09-22 - 03PracHub preparation framework ↗
PracHub preparation guidance.
PracHub page · Accessed 2026-09-22
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