I wanted to share an updated version of the written interview that helped me progress to the next step in the recruitment process for an open-source company.

I answered the questions concisely, based on how I felt at the time. Describing my school days and my journey into software development was a fulfilling and enjoyable task.

After successfully completing the Written Interview stage, I progressed to the Psychometric Assessment and then onto the Aptitude Testing, ultimately making it to the next step in the recruitment process.

In the end, I received an email from the company stating that while they acknowledged the imperfect nature of their decision-making, they would not be progressing my application further for the role. Although receiving this news was initially disappointing, I chose to view it as an opportunity for growth and self-reflection.

Education

How did you fare in high school mathematics, physical sciences and computing? Which were your strengths and which most enjoyable? How did you rank, competitively, in these subjects?

I was a smart student and qualified to study in Science High School. I was successful in my classes. But when I think about it now, I realise that I didn't really enjoy the lessons since I hadn't met computer programming in those years.

What sort of high school student were you? Outside of required work, what were your interests and hobbies? What would your high school peers remember you for, if we asked them?

I was a quiet, rule-following student. My high school peers may remember me for my skills in painting and crafts, perhaps unexpectedly from a Science High School student.

In languages and the arts at high school, what were your strongest subjects and how did you rank in those among your school peers?

I didn't like English class in high school very much because I couldn't be interested in language learning until I learned that English is a very effective tool for computer programming and document reading at university. As for art, in high school, I received an award in the painting competition of an organisation called Yeşilay which aims to raise public awareness about harmful habits.

Please outline some high school achievements considered exceptional by peers and staff members.

Being able to solve physics problems before anyone else when focused. To be good at art. To be organised. Being able to get along well with even the meanest person. To be loved by teachers.

Which degree and university did you choose, and why?

I chose Science High School and the Department of Numerical Sciences because I am talented in arts, mathematics, science and biology.

Which university courses did you perform best at? How did you rank in your degree?

I performed well in all courses, but I can say that I was more comfortable in courses with a lot of visual elements such as Biology and Organic Chemistry.

Outside of class, what were your interests and where did you spend your time?

Our high school was a small campus consisting of education and dormitory buildings. In my spare time, we used to play games with friends in the garden, stroll by the river, eat in the cafeteria, do homework, and go shopping on the weekends.

What did you achieve at university that you consider exceptional?

Learning software by myself in my free time at university.

Web engineering experience

What does semantic markup mean?

Semantic markup is a way of writing and structuring your HTML to describe its content’s structural semantics or meaning, not how it visually presents the content. In other words, HTML only focuses on the structure of your web page, and CSS focuses on the style of the content of your web page.

What is the box model?

A CSS box model is a compartment that includes numerous assets, such as edge, border, padding and material. It is used to develop the design and structure of a web page. It can be used as a set of tools to personalise the layout of different components. According to the CSS box model, the web browser supplies each element as a square prism.

How would you save a login session?

I would use local storage and session storage in harmony.

How do you debug a web page?

Debugging is the process of finding and fixing errors within a script. All modern browsers and IDEs support debugging tools that make debugging much easier. It also allows us to trace the code step by step to see what exactly is going on.

Software engineering experience

What kinds of software projects have you worked on before? Which operating systems, development environments, languages, databases?

I started doing real world projects with Android. I developed mobile applications with Android Studio, Java, SQL and Firebase on Windows. Then I started using Ubuntu Budgie. When I put the applets I developed for my own needs on Github, I got the Budgie Team's attention. Here, I developed desktop applets with Python and Vala for a while for the open source community. I developed a CRM application with dot-net core in a startup for about a year. Then, for about two and a half years, I developed system monitoring software with React, Java and PostgreSQL in a telecommunication and security software company. Recently, for about three months, I worked at a logistics company.

Would you describe yourself as a strong coder? Why?

I describe myself as a strong coder, because, I care about writing code that is readable and understandable by any developer when it needs maintenance.

Outline your thoughts on open source software development. Have you been an open source maintainer, and can you point to those projects?

I believe it is important to develop software with modern tools and techniques that are available to everyone. As a member of the Ubuntu Budgie team, I developed desktop applets.

How extensive is your experience of Python software engineering? How do you test Python applications? Outline the applications that you have led in Python, and your takeaways from that experience.

I first developed desktop applets for Ubuntu Budgie with Python. Then, with the team's advice, I imported them into Vala to adapt upstream. I haven't written a unit test in Python. I manually tested the app and the code. Python is an efficient language when organised. I forgot about its syntax a bit, but I can quickly refresh my knowledge if needed.

How extensive is your experience of Golang software engineering? Outline the applications that you have led in Golang.

I don't have any Golang experience, but it is a language that interests me, that I can learn if needed.

Describe your experience of web programming - JavaScript, Typescript, React and CSS in particular.

At Kron, I developed OS monitoring software with React, JavaScript, TypeScript, and CSS. I've worked with React's class components as well as modern function components and HOOKs. I implemented the reusable component philosophy and I've been constantly reading articles and documentation for more effective uses. I have created decent infrastructures that can be used by future developers. I followed best practices on proper CSS writing rules (like BEM). At Hubtic, I learned Tailwind CSS, Antdesign. In a way, React allows writing Html inside JavaScript, and Tailwind allows writing CSS inside JavaScript. I love building UIs with CSS primitives. The best of my software development experiences so far has been React. I think Component Philosophy, VSCode and Hot Reload have an effect on this.

How have you used relational data, such as SQL databases, in your work? How much data model design work have you done? How do you approach this work? What has been unexpected for you in working with structured data models and design?

Although database entity relations are nice with modern Spring JPA and Hibernate, I also worked on creating very complex sql reports manually in a legacy codebase. Although I am not as expert as a database administrator, I can work in many areas from the entity of a project to its sql and data extraction efficiency.

Describe your experience with micro-service architectures - web front ends, REST APIs, data stores, event processing and other kinds of integration between components. What are the key considerations for architecture, maintainability, and reliability in these large systems?

I developed an application that calculates and reports bandwidth usage for a company as a microservice and prepared its document. I think microservices are important in that they are small units that can be easily managed, secured and worked on. I'm currently focusing on Next.js and NextAuth.

Outline your thoughts on quality in software development. What practices are most effective in software teams to drive improvements in quality?

It is important to use modern methodologies and to have good communication between the tester and the developer.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading! I hope you have found this post helpful.

Reference

• Cover Photo by Jake Givens on Unsplash