Soft Skill Questions for Software Developers

Are you innovative?

Interview questions

• “What have you done to positively contribute to a company or product?”
• “Can you share an example of an idea you believed in and had to push hard to convince others to support/adopt? Why did you propose this? Why did others resist/push back? How did you convince them?”
• “What do you do outside of work hours to make yourself a better developer?”

Are you collaborative?

Interview questions:

• “Tell me about a time you had to deal with a team member who constantly opposed your ideas.”
• “What do you think makes a good team? How much interaction would you need with coworkers in order to work successfully?”
• “How would you mediate between two colleagues who had very different ideas for how to approach a new project?”

Are you a clear communicator?

Interview questions:

• “Imagine I know nothing about programming. Explain DevOps to me in less than 1 minute.”
• “Tell me about a technical problem you’ve had to deal with at your previous company, and how you resolved it.”
• “Have you ever had to explain an error or delay in a project to a senior manager or client? How did you go about it?”

Are you flexible?

Interview questions:

• “You have one hour until the project deadline and code that’s not working. What do you do?”
• “How has company growth affected the way you code?”
• “Would you feel comfortable telling your project lead or CTO if you felt you’d taken on more than you could handle?”

Are you humble?

Interview questions:

• “You’re asked by a CTO to change your code, but you don’t agree with their decision. How do you react?”
• “Tell me about a time when you had to take responsibility for an action so the project could move forward.”
• “How would you react if someone in your team suggested a new way of working you don’t agree with or don’t think will be successful?”

Are you meticulous and thorough?

When one small error can set a release back weeks, developers need to have great attention to detail. E-commerce developers should check their work as a matter of routine, and must be able to spot even the smallest errors blindfolded.

Interview questions:

• “How do you find errors that aren’t immediately obvious? (Do you use any tools to check your work?)”
• “What’s more important to you, getting the work finished on time or making sure it’s of a high standard? Why?”
• “Tell me about a time when you discovered an error made by someone more senior than you. How did you discover it and what did you do?”