Outline:

• Soft skills and their importance for software developers

• Interviewer’s role: What questions to ask?

• Interviewee’s role: What answers to give?

     1. Soft skills and their importance for software developers

To play nicely in a team, technical specialists need more than just their left brain and technical skills. They need certain right-brain interpersonal attributes and personality traits, i.e., soft skills, to strengthen the integrity of a team. 

Soft skills questions reveal what interpersonal traits a candidate has that can help them succeed in their future job. Employers ask a job seeker about soft skills during an interview because they want to hire a candidate who can easily adapt to various situations and coordinate well with different people in a complicated working environment. Soft skills are as crucial for a software developer as hard skills (see our next article) and complement them. 

Source: Indeed

     2. Interviewer’s role: What questions to ask?

Sure, an interviewer can ask as many questions as time, imagination, and an interviewee’s patience will allow. However, Sonerim’s recruitment experts recommend sticking to nine questions which are the most popular, ‘evergreen’ ones. If the necessity arises, an interviewer can dilute these basic questions with more intricate and unusual ones, like “Would you rather solve a complex math equation or sing a song?’ or ‘What would you do if you met an extraterrestrial?”

While choosing a methodology for a software developer interview, a recruiter must understand who exactly they’re looking for: who will match with the team best and become an ideal final piece for their puzzle? Every company and every team has its ecosystem; to achieve the maximum sustainability of the team, an interviewer can use this system as a basis for questions about soft skills. 

While getting ready for an interview, a recruiter should be guided by the client’s requirements and the team’s characteristics. To achieve the goal of discovering their unique superstar, interviewers can resort to other methods besides direct questions. However, most of them pay attention to proneness to conflict and toxicity. 

Below, you can find the nine most common interview questions about soft skills for software developers:

• What project are you most proud of and why? 

For a candidate, it’s a chance to brag for a reason and demonstrate their skills; for an interviewer, it’s an opportunity to get a glimpse into a candidate’s personality, dedication to work, and passion. You need to listen to excitement and pride when they talk about such projects—you can find out what motivates them at work and check if you can meet this motivational need. 

• What would you like to gain from the next role that you have previously lacked?

It can help gauge whether your candidate’s career aspirations align with the company’s needs, as well as help understand their motivation at work that keeps them happy. You need to listen without judgment to what makes them tick (growth opportunities, financial remuneration, or passion for the job) and what it will take to retain them in the company for a long time. 

• Tell me about a day at work that was really fun. What made it so enjoyable?

It’s about discovering how a candidate can find joy in their job. The right candidate can find positives everywhere, even though work isn’t smooth sailing every day. You need to listen to the details about cooperation and find out if a candidate enjoys communicating with colleagues while successfully completing a project. 

• Can you describe a situation where you worked with a decision you disagreed with?

Sometimes, a candidate must accept certain situations they disagree with and understand the possibility of being wrong. You need to listen to a mix of humility and assertiveness, indicating that a candidate can clearly and timely communicate their concerns and understand that another person’s opinion might take precedence. 

• What resources would you recommend to become a better software developer?

It’s a chance to see if a candidate is actively pursuing professional development. You need to listen to steps such as attending conferences and boot camps, taking online courses, and joining professional groups. You will see if they are tapped into the industry trends and have a continuous learning mindset, essential for a great specialist. 

• What was the most challenging problem you had to solve?

For an interviewer, it’s a chance to discover how a candidate deals with complex problems and what challenges they perceive in their job. You need to listen to real-life examples of problems they effectively resolved, steps they undertook to remedy the situation, and lessons they derived from the challenging experience. 

• Describe a technical mistake you have recently made. What did you learn from it?

Mistakes are inevitable as we are not machines; the right candidate needs to be able to accept mistakes and employ the lessons learned for their future development. You need to listen to how a candidate recovered from different mistakes and came back stronger. It’s a chance to show whether they can acknowledge errors, analyze feedback, apply the learned lessons, and reflect on the whole process. 

• Tell about your experience with being mentored or mentoring someone. 

Mentoring is very important for any sphere and at any level of experience, be it a junior QA specialist or a senior software developer. You need to listen to a candidate’s desire to help their teammates grow their careers, lend a helping hand to their peers, and appreciate the mentor and mentee relationship. 

• If your colleagues could describe you in three words, what would those words be?

For a candidate, it’s a chance to discover more about themselves than they might think; for an interviewer, it’s an opportunity to get insight into a candidate’s real self and how they behave with colleagues. You need to listen to the following words: ‘focused’, ‘innovative’, ‘organized’, ‘determined’, ‘adaptable’, ‘flexible’, and other adjectives that describe a great candidate. 

     3. Interviewee’s role: What answers to give?

This part of the article is intended for an interviewee more than for an interviewer, though the latter can also derive additional insight from it. Here are three tips for interviewees:

1. Re-read a vacancy description to properly analyze its requirements. Get familiar with a company’s website and study employee information and corporate culture. Read the company’s reviews to form an impression about your prospective colleagues. 
2. To gain confidence, browse through the most popular interview questions and sample answers about soft skills we have collected for you in this article. 
3. Be honest during an interview. Mind the strengths that will help you in completing unconventional tasks. If you’re a newbie in IT, jot down your self-presentation and read it aloud several times to decrease your stress.

Below, you can find nine tips and sample answers for the most common interview questions about soft skills:

• How do you handle criticism?

This soft skills interview question for software developers tests a candidate’s honesty and self-assessment ability. The answer lets an interviewer know whether a candidate has a defensive attitude or can accept their drawbacks and use them to an advantage.

Sample answer: I appreciate constructive criticism. When I had my first job with a big company, my mentor pointed out that I talked too loudly on business calls. I hadn’t realized that the habitual noisy surroundings in our office caused it, but when this drawback was pointed out to me, I tried to tone down my voice as much as possible. Now, I always speak quietly.

• What motivates you: the desire to win or the fear of losing?

This question tests a candidate’s self-assessment and lets an interviewer know a candidate’s attitude toward winning and losing because companies tend to hire people with a positive mindset.

Sample answer: I am motivated by winning; however, I think losing is an inseparable part of any process, like two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, losing teaches me to perform better when I’m driven out of my comfort zone; on the other hand, winning makes me believe I can accomplish anything because my confidence increases. So, winning keeps me moving forward.

• How do you like working in a team?

Collaborations are crucial for any organization if its employees want to achieve mutual goals. This question assesses a candidate’s collaboration and communication skills. The answer lets an interviewer know whether working individually or in a team is a candidate’s preference and whether it corresponds with the job.

Sample answer: I enjoy working in a team. Brainstorming helps me come up with my own ideas, and I enjoy contributing to a common cause. However, I can work alone well, and I sometimes need it, especially when my part of the project requires concentration. 

• What is your biggest strength?

This question lets an interviewer know about a candidate’s communication skills; if answered right, it makes them a valuable acquisition for an organization. A candidate should choose a strength related to the job and amplify it with an example. 

Sample answer: My biggest strength is that I’m a fast learner: I grasp new concepts and adopt different technologies very quickly. While studying new ideas, I pay much attention to details. You were looking for someone quick-witted and hard-working for this role, so I believe I will fit right in with my strengths. 

• What is your biggest weakness?

This question tests a candidate’s self-awareness and willingness to overcome an obstacle, as well as communication and interpersonal skills. A candidate should turn this question into an opportunity by framing their weakness in a positive way.

Sample answer: My biggest weakness at the moment is my lack of hands-on experience with this emerging technology. However, I’m a quick learner, and I’m eager to start contributing to this project. I believe my expertise with different programming languages and my participation in multiple advanced projects will benefit this job.

• How do you manage several simultaneous projects with tight deadlines?

This question lets an interviewer assess how a candidate performs in stressful situations and whether they are ready to work on multiple projects. The answer should demonstrate their strategies and ways of prioritizing tasks. 

Sample answer: At the very beginning, the task might seem unachievable. However, I can figure out the best method to complete all projects on time. First, I prioritize the tasks according to managers’ requirements; then, I seek assistance from other team members and even freelancers, if necessary. 

• Where do you see yourself in five/ten years?

This question helps reveal a candidate’s ambitions and vision. The candidate should clarify their professional goals and align them with the job in question.

Sample answer: I see myself working in a middle/senior managerial position for a rapidly-developing company that believes in mutual growth. I want to gain expertise in my sphere and hone my soft skills to become a decision-maker in a company like yours.

• Tell me about an instance when you disagreed with your manager.

With this question, an employer attempts to ascertain how a candidate manages to stand up for their beliefs while remaining respectful. A candidate can share a story about a misunderstanding with their boss, detail the conflict resolution tactics, and explain how they managed to establish consensus and keep a good relationship.

Sample answer: No one agrees with every decision; disagreements are fine, but what really matters is what a person does. I always try to remain professional. I raise my concerns in a productive way. If I have solid proof that I am 200% right, I offer it; otherwise, I show that I can support a decision even though I think it’s wrong (as long as it’s not immoral or unethical).

• How would you explain the technical elements of your work to a non-technical person?

A candidate also needs to interact with non-technical leaders and stakeholders to get buy-ins. The answer lets an interviewer assess how a candidate handles conversations of different levels and translates complex technical concepts into simple terms.

Sample answer: I use my ability to empathize with people to help them understand complex concepts. I try to avoid the technical jargon related to software products; instead, I use simple words that are more relatable to my audience. For instance, I mention how each feature could affect a person’s daily work and life if it didn’t function properly. 

Bottom line

A resume can offer a wealth of information about a software developer’s professional skills and experience. However, only a real-time interview can help determine whether a person fits the company.

Every interview includes questions about a candidate’s soft skills as it’s an integral part. That is why it’s important for both an interviewer and an interviewee to properly prepare for this event. How to do it? Read our articles about soft skills and hard skills interview questions for software developers. 

Sources:

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/soft-skills-interview-questions

https://www.homerun.co/interview-questions-templates/software-engineer 

https://buzzworks.com/soft-skills-interview-questions-for-freshers/ 

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