Software Engineer Interview Questions

Software Engineer Interview Questions

Practice 5,054 real software engineer interview questions for 2026. Covers top employers like Google, Amazon, OpenAI, and Uber — real questions from actual onsites with detailed solutions — and is built for focused interview preparation. This collection emphasizes coding and algorithms first, then system design, performance, and role-specific domains so you can train the exact skills interviewers test. What’s distinctive: coding rounds still dominate at every company, Google often emphasizes algorithms and distributed-systems thinking, Amazon commonly probes scalable-services design and operational tradeoffs, OpenAI leans toward ML systems, model deployment and inference-scaling problems, and Uber typically asks real-time routing, geospatial and consistency challenges. Expect live coding, pair-programming, and whiteboard/system-design sketches. To prepare efficiently, drill medium-to-hard algorithm problems with time limits, practice end-to-end system design sketches focused on capacity and reliability, and rehearse concise behavioral stories that show ownership and impact.

5.1k Questions 403 Companies08.04.2026
Showing 20 results
Role
Verkada logo
Verkada
Medium
Software Engineer

Find users with access to all cameras

Given entities and relationships (user, owns, camera), (user, belongs_to, group), (group, owns, camera), and (group, belongs_to, group) where groups c...

Coding & Algorithms
7
0
65 people solved
Aug 8, 2025
Amazon logo
Amazon
Medium
Software Engineer

Count expressions reaching a target sum

Count expressions reaching a target sum Given an array of non-negative integers nums and an integer target T, assign either a + or − sign to each numb...

Coding & Algorithms
1
0
36 people solved
Aug 8, 2025
TikTok logo
TikTok
Medium
Software Engineer

Implement distinct islands and sliding maxima

Implement distinct islands and sliding maxima 1) Given a binary grid where 1 represents land and 0 represents water, count how many distinct island sh...

Coding & Algorithms
2
0
36 people solved
Aug 8, 2025
DoorDash logo
DoorDash
Medium
Software Engineer

Generate the next lexicographic array arrangement

Generate the next lexicographic array arrangement Given an integer array nums (which may include negative numbers and duplicates), modify nums in plac...

Coding & Algorithms
4
0
54 people solved
Aug 8, 2025
DoorDash logo
DoorDash
Medium
Software Engineer

Compute nearest courier for each customer

Compute nearest courier for each customer You are given two sets of 2D points: customers C = {c1..cn} and active couriers (dashers) D = {d1..dm}. Each...

Coding & Algorithms
5
0
84 people solved
Aug 8, 2025
Amazon logo
Amazon
Medium
Software Engineer

Design LCA with flexible inputs and rule

Design LCA with flexible inputs and rule Design a function to find the lowest common manager of two employees in an organizational tree. Support two i...

Coding & Algorithms
5
0
50 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Meta logo
Meta
Medium
Software Engineer

Compute binary tree diameter

Compute binary tree diameter Given the root of a binary tree, compute the tree's diameter defined as the maximum number of edges on any path between t...

Coding & Algorithms
4
0
43 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Meta logo
Meta
Medium
Software Engineer

Find power-of-two subarrays within sum range

Find power-of-two subarrays within sum range Given an integer array nums and an integer k, find all subarrays whose length is a power of two and whose...

Coding & Algorithms
3
0
29 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Coupang logo
Coupang
Medium
Software Engineer

Sort products by price and attention score

You are given a list of strings, each formatted as "product,price,attention". Parse the list into records and return the product names sorted to prior...

Coding & Algorithms
6
1
59 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
PayPal logo
PayPal
Medium
Software Engineer

Describe std::string copy semantics

Describe std::string copy semantics In C++, what happens with std::string when you write: std::string a = "123"; std::string b = a; Describe which ope...

Coding & Algorithms
4
0
41 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Oracle logo
Oracle
Medium
Software Engineer

Minimize sum with halving operations

Minimize sum with halving operations You are given an array of non-negative integers nums and an integer k. In one operation, choose any index i and r...

Coding & Algorithms
4
0
46 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Amazon logo
Amazon
Medium
Software Engineer

Compute optimal locker placement with obstacles

Compute optimal locker placement with obstacles Given house coordinates H = {(xi, yi)} and tree coordinates T = {(xj, yj)} on a 2D integer grid, choos...

Coding & Algorithms
4
0
30 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Meta logo
Meta
Medium
Software Engineer

Sort a string by custom order

Sort a string by custom order Given a priority string P of distinct characters and a text string S, reorder S so that all characters appearing in P co...

Coding & Algorithms
3
0
39 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Meta logo
Meta
Medium
Software Engineer

Find buildings with rightward view

Find buildings with rightward view You are given an array of building heights aligned along a street that faces the ocean to the right. Return the ind...

Coding & Algorithms
3
0
25 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Coinbase logo
Coinbase
Medium
Software Engineer

Count users over n connections

Count users over n connections Given a stream of relationship events in the form [[user_a, user_b, op], ...], where op ∈ {"connect", "disconnect"}, tr...

Coding & Algorithms
7
0
51 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Amazon logo
Amazon
Medium
Software Engineer

Design a streaming median structure

Design a streaming median structure Design a data structure for a number stream that supports: add(num: int) in O(log n) time and median() -> float in...

Coding & Algorithms
2
0
32 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Coinbase logo
Coinbase
Medium
Software Engineer

Recommend movies by shared ratings

Recommend movies by shared ratings Write a function recommendations(user, ratings) that returns a list of movies to recommend to the given user based ...

Coding & Algorithms
6
0
70 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Bridge logo
Bridge
Medium
Software Engineer

Design Minesweeper and Optimize Click Performance

Design a Minesweeper game. At game start, initialize an m×n board by randomly placing k bombs. Implement: ( 1) printBoard(): return a human-readable s...

Coding & Algorithms
8
0
66 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
NVIDIA logo
NVIDIA
Medium
Software Engineer

Apply sliding window techniques

Apply sliding window techniques Explain the sliding window technique and apply it to solve: ( 1) Given an array of positive integers and a target S, r...

Coding & Algorithms
9
0
97 people solved
Aug 7, 2025
Coinbase logo
Coinbase
Hard
Software Engineer

Design image upload end-to-end

Design image upload end-to-end System Design: End-to-End Image Upload Pipeline Context Design an end-to-end system that handles user picture uploads f...

System Design
6
0
68 people solved
Aug 7, 2025

Frequently Asked Questions

How difficult are Software Engineer interview questions at top tech companies?
Top tech-company Software Engineer interview questions are challenging but predictable. Expect a range: entry-level screens focus on easy to medium algorithmic problems and core data structures, mid-level rounds push medium to hard problems plus design, and senior interviews center on large-system architecture, tradeoffs, and expected impact. Coding rounds usually require clear, correct, and reasonably optimized solutions under time pressure. Behavioral and ownership questions probe product judgment and collaboration. Companies like Meta, Google, Amazon, and OpenAI maintain high standards, so strong algorithmic fluency, system-thinking, and communication are required to clear screening and onsite loops.
What is a typical Software Engineer interview process and where are these roles most commonly hiring heavily right now?
A typical loop starts with a recruiter screen within a week, then one or two timed online or phone coding screens in the next 1–2 weeks. Successful candidates move to technical onsite rounds or virtual loops that include two to four interviews covering coding, system design, and behavioral questions across 2–4 weeks. Senior roles add deep design and leadership interviews and some companies use take-home projects. Right now, Meta, Amazon, Google, and OpenAI are hiring Software Engineers heavily; expect Meta questions to emphasize graph and feed-scaling themes, Amazon on distributed throughput and reliability, Google on algorithmic performance, and OpenAI on inference and API infrastructure.
How should I structure my interview preparation timeline for Software Engineer roles?
A 6–8 week plan balances depth and repetition. Weeks 1–2: reinforce language fundamentals, data structures, and complexity reasoning. Weeks 3–4: practice timed coding problems daily from medium-to-hard sets and do mock interviews. Week 5: focus system design basics, capacity planning, and tradeoffs using end-to-end case studies. Week 6: polish behavioral stories using STAR format and run full-length mock loops. Final weeks: company-specific tuning, a few targeted practice sessions on themes like graphs or distributed systems, and light review. Integrate feedback cycles and 2–3 real mock interviews per week for confidence.
What key subtopics should I master for Software Engineer interview questions?
Core algorithm topics include arrays, strings, trees, graphs, dynamic programming, hashing, and complexity analysis. For mid-to-senior roles, add concurrency, caching strategies, database schemas, CAP tradeoffs, and performance tuning. System design covers APIs, data modeling, partitioning, consistency, load balancing, and monitoring. Testing, clean code, and debugging are evaluated during coding rounds. Company-specific recurring themes to prioritize are graph and feed-scaling problems for Meta, distributed systems and cost-throughput tradeoffs for Amazon, performance at scale for Google, and inference/API platform design for OpenAI. Practice end-to-end problems that combine algorithms and systems thinking.
What are standout tips and common pitfalls to avoid in Software Engineer interviews?
Standout tips: clarify requirements and constraints before coding, narrate your thought process, write clean pseudocode then production-ready code, test edge cases aloud, and discuss tradeoffs in design questions. Use structured STAR stories for behavioral rounds and quantify impact. Common pitfalls: jumping into code without confirming expectations, ignoring time or memory constraints, failing to consider scalability and failure modes in design questions, and underselling ownership or impact. Avoid rote memorization of solutions; interviewers value reasoning and adaptability. Finally, practice mock interviews under timed conditions and incorporate iterative feedback to close weak spots.

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