Interview questions you've seen before

Question

Hey all, I'm gearing up for interviews now for senior software engineer roles. This is the first time I'll have interviewed since getting my first job.

Back in the day, I would always be up front about having seen a certain problem before. That said, now that I understand the importance of leetcode prep and the like, I'm realizing the odds of me *not* seeing a problem I haven't done is significantly lower than my college days.

Is letting the interviewer know you've seen a problem before still the way to go?

feika · Accepted Answer

first time I heard someone admit this tbh. what would they do back in the day? asking for research purposes lol

heigge · Answer

It's highly competitive. I wouldn't. Just like vaska said, guarantee the right answer and go next. Just act a little and dont breeze through it.

vaskva · Answer

Why the h3ll would you tell them? Seems like you'd shoot urself in the foot

vanillacreme · Answer

The interviewer is likely looking for someone who can solve novel problems and think on their feet, rather than someone who has simply memorized solutions to previously seen problems so you might get some points for that.

For me though, instead of telling the interviewer that you have seen the problem before, you can focus on explaining your thought process and how you would approach the problem. This will give the interviewer a better sense of your problem-solving abilities and your ability to think critically and communicate.

FeetsTooBig · Answer

I've interviewed over a thousand applicants for my current employer and observed that candidates that have obviously seen/heard the question before and go straight to the model answer with no discussion usually do not get hired.

It's like in a Maths exam - you don't get full marks for just writing the answer, you need to show your working.

Many interview questions will cover the same Software Engineering principles: data structures, recursion vs iteration, breadth-first vs depth-first searches, numerical reasoning, etc. Demonstrating that you can apply those principles to whatever question you're given is what the interviewer is looking for.

If you genuinely know the exact question already, I'd advise saying something like "I think I've heard something like this before" - if the interviewers choose to continue, be sure to communicate the 'working out' steps. If they choose a different question, and it's unfamiliar and you fail the interview, it's probably not the right job for you.

Interview questions you've seen before

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