tech-interview-handbook/contents/behavioral-interview-questions.md

---
id: behavioral-interview-questions
title: The 30 most common Software Engineer behavioral interview questions
description: How to prepare for Software Engineer behavioral interviews
keywords:
  [
    software engineer behavioral interview questions,
    software engineering behavioral questions,
    software developer behavioral interview questions,
    software engineer behavioral questions,
    amazon software engineer behavioral interview questions,
    behavioral interview software engineer,
    how to prepare for behavioral interview software engineer,
  ]
sidebar_label: Most common behavioral questions to prepare
---

In the software engineer interview process, behavioral interviews may seem so much more varied and unstructured as compared to technical interviews. However, in most cases, the interviewer is actually just trying to get to know you better and there's always a set of common questions that need to be asked to achieve that.

## Most commonly asked behavioral questions across top tech companies

Here are some of the 30 most commonly asked behavioral interview questions across top tech companies:

1. Why do you want to work for X company?
1. Why do you want to leave your current/last company?
1. What are you looking for in your next role?
1. Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with a co-worker.
1. Tell me about a time in which you had a conflict and needed to influence somebody else.
1. What project are you currently working on?
1. What is the most challenging aspect of your current project?
1. What was the most difficult bug that you fixed in the past 6 months?
1. How do you tackle challenges? Name a difficult challenge you faced while working on a project, how you overcame it, and what you learned.
1. What are you excited about?
1. What frustrates you?
1. Imagine it is your first day here at the company. What do you want to work on? What features would you improve on?
1. What are the most interesting projects you have worked on and how might they be relevant to this company's environment?
1. Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with your manager.
1. Talk about a project you are most passionate about, or one where you did your best work.
1. What does your best day of work look like?
1. What is something that you had to push for in your previous projects?
1. What is the most constructive feedback you have received in your career?
1. What is something you had to persevere at for multiple months?
1. Tell me about a time you met a tight deadline.
1. If this were your first annual review with our company, what would I be telling you right now?
1. Time management has become a necessary factor in productivity. Give an example of a time-management skill you've learned and applied at work.
1. Tell me about a problem you've had getting along with a work associate.
1. What aspects of your work are most often criticized?
1. How have you handled criticism of your work?
1. What strengths do you think are most important for _your job position_?
1. What words would your colleagues use to describe you?
1. What would you hope to achieve in the first six months after being hired?
1. Tell me why you will be a good fit for the position.

## Airbnb Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

While loving to travel or appreciating Airbnb's growth may be good answers, try to demonstrate the deep connection you have with the product.

- What does "belong anywhere" mean to you?
- What large problems in the world would you solve today?
- Why do you like Airbnb?
- If you had an unlimited budget and you could buy one gift for one person, what would you buy and who would you buy it for?
- If you had an unlimited budget and you could go somewhere, where would you go?
- Share one of your trips with us.
- What is the most challenging project in or out of school that you have worked on in the last 6 months.
- What is something that you don't want from your last internship/job?
- Give me an example of when you've been a good host.
- What's something you'd like to remove from the Airbnb experience?
- What is something new that you can teach your interviewer in a few minutes?
- Tell me about why you want to work here.
- What is the best gift you have ever given or received?
- Tell me about a time you were uncomfortable and how you dealt with it.
- Explain a project that you worked on recently.
- What do you think of Airbnb?
- Tell me something about yourself and why you'd be a good fit for the position.
- Name a situation where you were impressed by a company's customer service.
- How did you work with senior management on large projects as well as multiple internal teams?
- Tell me about a time you had to give someone terrible news.
- If you were a gerbil, which gerbil would you be?
- What excites you about the company?
- How does Airbnb impact our guests and hosts?
- What part of our mission resonates the most with you?

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Airbnb-Interview-Questions-E391850.htm)

## Amazon Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

- How do you deal with a failed deadline?
- Why do you want to work for Amazon?
- Tell me about a situation where you had a conflict with a teammate.
- In your professional experience have you worked on something without getting approval from your manager?
- Tell me a situation where you would have done something differently from what you actually did.
- What is the most exceedingly bad misstep you've made at any point?
- Describe what Human Resources means to you.
- How would you improve Amazon's website?

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Amazon-Interview-Questions-E6036.htm)

## ByteDance Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

- What do you know about <role> and why?
- Take me through a product you launched from start to end
- What's the biggest achievement in your previous projects?
- Tell me about a recent failure and what you learned from the experience
- Why do you want to work at ByteDance?
- What makes you a good fit for this position?
- What excites you about the role?

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.sg/Interview/ByteDance-Interview-Questions-E1624196.htm)

## Dropbox Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

- Talk about your favorite project.
- If you were hired here what would you do?
- State an experience about how you solved a technical problem. Be specific about the diagnosis and process.

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Dropbox-Interview-Questions-E415350.htm)

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## Hired Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

- Tell me about yourself.
- What is your biggest strength and area of growth?
- Why are you interested in this opportunity?
- What are your salary expectations?
- Why are you looking to leave your current company?
- Tell me about a time your work responsibilities got a little overwhelming. What did you do?
- Give me an example of a time when you had a difference of opinion with a team member. How did you handle that?
- Tell me about a challenge you faced recently in your role. How did you tackle it? What was the outcome?
- Where do you want to be in five years?
- Tell me about a time you needed information from someone who wasn't responsive. What did you do?

Source: [Glassdoor](https://hired.com/blog/candidates/10-top-interview-questions-how-to-answer/)

## Lyft Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

- Tell me about your most interesting/challenging project to date.
- Why Lyft? What are you looking for in the next role?

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Lyft-Interview-Questions-E700614.htm)

## Palantir Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

- **What is something 90% of people disagree with you about?**
- **What is broken around you?**
- How do you deal with difficult coworkers? Think about specific instances where you resolved conflicts.
- How did you win over the difficult employees?
- Tell me about an analytical problem that you have worked on in the past.
- What are your three strengths and three weaknesses?
- If you were in charge of picking projects for Palantir, what problem would you try to solve?
- What are some of the best and worst things about your current company?
- What would your manager say about you?
- Describe Palantir to your grandmother.
- Teach me something you've learned.
- Tell me a time when you predicted something.
- If your supervisors were to rate you on a scale of 1-10, what would they rate you?
- What was the most fun thing you did recently?
- Tell me the story of how you became who you are today and what made you apply to Palantir.

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Palantir-Technologies-Interview-Questions-E236375.htm)

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## Slack Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

- Tell me something about your internship.
- Why do you want to join Slack?
- Tell me about your past projects.
- Explain me your toughest project and the working architecture.
- Apart from technical knowledge, what did you learn during your internship?
- If someone has a different viewpoint to do a project like different programming language, how would handle this situation?
- What are your most interesting subjects and why?
- Did you find any bugs in Slack?
- What is your favorite feature and why?

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Slack-Interview-Questions-E950758.htm)

## Stack Overflow Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

- What have you built?
- What is the hardest technical problem you have run into?
  - How did you solve it?
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
- Why do you want to work here?
- How do you handle disagreements with co-workers?

Source: [Glassdoor](https://hired.com/blog/candidates/10-top-interview-questions-how-to-answer/)

## Stripe Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

- How do you stay up to date with the latest technologies?
- Explain a project that you worked on recently that was difficult.
- Where do you see yourself in five years?

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Stripe-Interview-Questions-E671932.htm)

## Twitter Software Engineer behavioral interview questions

- What would your previous boss say your biggest strength was?

Source: [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Twitter-Interview-Questions-E100569.htm)