Interview prep

Full Stack Developer interview questions

13 questions full stack developers get asked, grouped by type. Under each one are the skills it is really testing, so you can pick a story from your own work that shows them.

Technical

  1. How do you decide whether a piece of validation belongs on the client, the server, or both?
    Tests: system design, security
  2. Walk me through how you'd build a feature that touches the database, the API, and the interface, from start to finish.
    Tests: system design, delivery
  3. A page feels slow to users. How do you figure out whether the problem is the database, the server, or the browser?
    Tests: performance, debugging
  4. You're asked to migrate a feature from an old framework or library to a new one while it stays in active use. How do you scope that work?
    Tests: system design, delivery
  5. How do you make sure an error in the backend actually surfaces as something useful to the person using the interface?
    Tests: error handling, system design

Situational

  1. How do you keep quality consistent when you're switching between backend and frontend work on the same feature in one day?
    Tests: code quality, focus
  2. A third-party service your app depends on, such as payments or email, goes down. What do you do in the moment and afterward?
    Tests: reliability, communication
  3. You're the only person who understands a feature end to end. How do you avoid becoming a single point of failure for it?
    Tests: ownership, communication

Behavioral

  1. Tell me about a time you disagreed with a coworker and how you handled it.
    Tests: conflict resolution, communication
  2. Describe a project or task that did not go well and what you did about it.
    Tests: ownership, reflection
  3. Give an example of persuading someone to adopt an idea they initially resisted.
    Tests: influence, communication
  4. Walk me through how you decided what to work on when you had more requests than time.
    Tests: prioritisation, judgment
  5. Tell me about a time you had to learn something new quickly to get a job done.
    Tests: learning agility, ownership
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Full Stack Developer interview questions — Gurus Consulting