An Interview with a FAANG engineer

Watch someone solve the behavioral interview problem in an interview with a FAANG engineer and see the feedback their interviewer left them. Explore this problem and others in our library of interview replays.

Interview Summary

Problem type
Behavioral Interview
Interview questions:

1. Can you describe a time when you made a mistake at work? How did you handle it, and what was the outcome?
2. Give an example of a time when you had to understand and work within the constraints of a project. How did you navigate these constraints to deliver value?
3. Describe a challenging problem you faced and how you approached solving it creatively.
4. Can you share an example of how you've mentored a team member to help them improve their technical skills and communication?

Interview Feedback

Feedback about Ultra Automaton (the interviewee)

Advance this person to the next round? Yes
How were their technical skills?
3/4
How was their problem solving ability?
4/4
What about their communication ability?
3/4

Overall:
Great story! You clearly have the communication and project management skills to solve unique problems and put a "bow" on the project. I would just practice your story 10-20 times to get it concise. That's really the main blocker.

1. Can you describe a time when you made a mistake at work? How did you handle it, and what was the outcome?

• Estimation problem - did not account for onboarding time, realized scope on day 2
• Went to manager and gave new estimate
• Next time: account for other elements, paper trail for communication, gathered info you find in one place from learning (docs) for outdated code base
• Looked for workarounds for how to set up environment due to blockers
• Be clear about timelines for setting up and each tasks

Suggestions:

• Rephrase “leave a paper trail” to “collect documentation from what I learned for future use”

Interview Transcript

Deliberate Pumpkin: Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself? What kind of role are you going for? A little bit about your background and what are you looking for in this session? Do you want to get more tips? Do you want to just practice questions? Yeah, let me know what sounds good for you.
Ultra Automaton: Yeah, of course. So a little bit of background about myself. My name is Viha and I've been actively interviewing because yeah, my company decided to shut down our team. So I've just been looking at other options and hopefully land something this year. I have about four to five years of experience as a software engineer and the role I'm interviewing for is also for a backend engineer with Stripe. I also have a bachelor's and master's in computer science and I really want to practice for my upcoming behavioral interview.

Deliberate Pumpkin: Awesome. All right, so in that case, I'll ask you a question and based on that, you'll give an answer, and I'll give a little bit of feedback and tips. How does that sound?
Ultra Automaton: Awesome! Yeah, I think that sounds good. I can do that.

Deliberate Pumpkin: Great. Okay, question number one. Can you describe a time when you made a mistake at work? How did you handle it and what was the outcome?
Ultra Automaton: Sure, I most recently worked on a new code base with a 15-day estimate, but I didn't account for onboarding time for understanding it. When I realized the error on day two, I discussed with my manager and worked on improving the estimation process moving forward.

Deliberate Pumpkin: Gotcha. Can you tell me more about how the paper trail helps and what type of issues does it specifically help you with?
Ultra Automaton: Yeah, so a major issue I faced was setting up an environment. The outdated instructions led to significant onboarding setbacks. I made sure to document everything and communicate with my team regularly to navigate those challenges effectively.

Deliberate Pumpkin: Gotcha. And what was an example of a conflict that you had where you couldn't find the middle ground at first, but eventually you worked through it?
Ultra Automaton: One example was when I had to depend on another team's resources. I initially reached out through informal channels but needed to escalate to formal discussions. Gathering detailed information from all parties involved helped facilitate negotiations.

Deliberate Pumpkin: That's great. What advice would you give someone preparing for a behavioral interview?
Ultra Automaton: Practice communicating clearly and concisely. Gather stories that showcase your problem-solving abilities and ensure you're ready to discuss your contributions to past projects.

Deliberate Pumpkin: Excellent points. Just to wrap up, remember that confidence comes with preparation. Good luck with your interview!

Feedback about Deliberate Pumpkin (the interviewer)

Would you want to work with this person? Yes
How excited would you be to work with them?
4/4
How good were the questions?
4/4
How helpful was your interviewer in guiding you to the solution(s)?
4/4

General Observations

• Practice makes perfect.
• Gather and keep track of your experiences.
• Focus on answering questions by showcasing your unique skills and learning experiences.