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My Favorite Interview Questions

Friday, November 02, 2007 2:40 PM

These are the questions that I usually ask during an interview process with an applicant that is in for a technical assessment interview. These questions assumes that you are well rounded and full blown .NET Web Developer. A .NET web developer should at least know ASP.NET, C#/VB.NET and TSQL.

What are HttpModules and HttpHandlers, and what is the difference between the two?
What is the difference between CREATE PROC and CREATE PROCEDURE?
What is ViewState and what are its advantages and disadvantages?
What is the name of the method of the DataAdapter that should be invoked to load a DataSet with data.
What are the validation controls? Name and explain some.
What are themes?
What is the difference between Web.Config and Global.asax?
What is the transport protocol that is used to call a webservice?
What is WSDL?
How can you customize the tag prefix of a custom user control globally? So instead of <uc1:... I want to see <dnc:....
What happens when you set the "AutoPostBack" property of a dropdownlist control to True?
Explain the terms boxing and unboxing.
How do you disable ViewState on a specific page?
What is the difference between an abstract class and an interface?
What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect?
How is a SQL Server trigger similar to a C# event?
What is IL?
What is the most recent version of the .Net Framework?
How is CLI and CLR related?
What is the meaning of the class "Internal"
What is stack trace?
Explain in your own words what you understand of the term "Generics"?
Explain Garbage Collection.
What is the difference between using a Destructor and implementing the IDisposable interface?
What is an Application Domain?
What does the following statement do - GC.SuppressFinalize();?
What is serialization?
What is the relationship between a HashTable and IDictionary?
What is a Thread?
Can you pass a parameter to a thread?
How does the term "Lock" relates to threading?
Explain the term Inheritance.
Explain the term singleton.
What is DLLImport?
Explain the AppSettings of the web.config file?
What is a console application and how is it different from a web application?
What is normalization?
In SQL Server what do you know about indexing?
What are the different types of indexes and explain?
What is the difference from DELETE and TRUNCATE on a table?
What is a deadlock?
In TSQL how do you add/remove a column to an existing table?
Explain the term "Naming convention" and your preference.
Can SQL Triggers be invoked on demand?
What is the difference between Int and Int32?
Explain the SQL Server XML data type.
What is XQuery?
How do you specify a global page theme instead of page by page basis?
What is the difference between the App_Data and App_Code folders.
Do you love coding? Talk about your passion for development!

Your Comments.

# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
51. You can get "Mono" from coding in MonoRails? True/False

Left by Vijay Santhanam at 11/3/2007 3:59 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Thanks for sharing those questions with us. I like the fact that they are targeted for real developers and not to suome rock star alpha geek developers.
I think they could be very usefull in everyday "corporate" type interviews and I plan to use some of them

Left by Nikola Malovic at 11/3/2007 10:02 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
"These questions assumes that you are well rounded and full blown developer."

Actually most of these questions assume that you are a well rounded full blown *.NET* developer.

Only a few of these questions will allow the person being interviewed to prove he/she is a full blown software developer.

I prefer questions that see how well the person understands software development, not memorizing the .NET API's. A good developer can handle any language/environment/framework as long as they have a solid foundation.

Regardless these are some great questions and I had to Google several myself!

Left by Mike Breen at 11/3/2007 10:13 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Mike Breen: I've updated that statement, however, I had assumed that anyone reading this will know that I'm talking about .NET, since this is a blog that is focused on .NET development.

First off, these are not all the questions that I'll ask "randomly", these are just some of the coding related questions. I also ask questions that are related to certain scenarios and how they should be handled - I may post them if time permits and I usually start from junior questions all the way to senior questions. I'll stop where the applicant freezes. I've had too many people with "Senior" plastered on their resume but couldn't go pass a mid-level question. People think that because they've been coding since before I was born or before that, they are automatically Senior.

The idea is to figure out what level the applicant is by asking a series of questions and then drill on that level and while doing so, I'll like to know whether or not the applicant is willing to grow, learn and absorb.

Secondly, before I start my interview I always let the applicant know that I'm not expecting a direct quotation from MSDN - all I need to know is that he/she at least know what I'm talking about. We all google, including me, so I don't care as long as you understand the concept of the topic and we'll be fine.

I don't think any of these questions above requires cramming. I'm looking for your ability to span across the board. As a matter of fact, responding with "book" answers is usually negative on my part. My consulting times and previous jobs have all been with small companies, therefore, we are usually looking for someone that will do the full fledge work, starting from discovery to deployment.

Oh, and at the end of the interview I always answer and explain all of my questions so I don't leave him/her blank. It's a good learning experience for both of us at the end of the day.

Left by Rydal at 11/3/2007 11:26 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
@Rydal:

Your introduction made it sound like this is a checklist that you run through during an interview or I just plain misunderstood. Now that you've explained a little about your process it's more clear how these questions fit in. Thanks for taking the time to follow up.

I feel we in the the .NET community can sometimes focus too much on the .NET framework itself and not on good coding practices (I too am guilty of this). All I was trying to do is point out that good coding fundamentals are just as important as knowing the ins and outs of .NET.

With all that said this is still a great list of questions. I plan on using a couple during our next screening.

Thanks again.

Left by Mike Breen at 11/3/2007 12:36 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Mike Green: You are absolutely right, the fundamentals need and have to be there! That's when scenario based questions come in, I usually ask "How would you do this, given this and that?". The fun part is when you ask questions that could be handled in multiple ways - just to see how creative he/she is.

Left by Rydal at 11/3/2007 3:46 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Does it really make sense to ask ASP-specific stuff like Question 1?
The point is, no matter how qualified you are, when you start a new job, there will be lots of new things for you to learn. Heck, I'm doing my job for a few years, and I still need to learn new stuff all day. So asking highly specifc knowledge like that sounds more like a lottery to me: Maybe Mort worked in a shop that did something similar to yours before, so he knows the difference between HttpModules and HttpHandlers. But Einstein, who did a lot of Windows.Forms programming lately, doesn't. So what? Einstein may need some time to learn all those new things, but give him a month, and Mort will come running to him if he's got a problem he can't solve.
Wouldn't it make more sense to ask questions that show if the person understands what she's doing or not? If the person can recognize (and hopefully produce) high-quality maybe even beautiful code?

Left by Niki at 11/4/2007 4:54 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Niki: Yes question #1 is absolutely necessary, I've taken the time to refine the questions I ask. One of the reasons why I ask #1 is because I've met too many ASP.NET developers who can't tell the difference. Again, I wouldn't ask this question if you are interviewing for a mid-level position.

I completely disagree with your statement "The point is, no matter how qualified you are, when you start a new job, there will be lots of new things for you to learn." - there is no way I'm going to hire anyone if they can't answer questions that pertains to the level & position that they are applying for. Except if you are an Intern!!! Granted if its something fairly new, I'll skip. For example if I ask a "Generics" questions and he/she is unable to answer because he/she is tightly locked in NET 1.1 - then thats fine.

We all learn new stuff everyone and with the speed in which the development technologies are advancing, its hard to keep up, however, there are some basic things that you need to know that is specific to the position that you are applying for say - "ASP.NET Web Developer".

I really don't get your point, If your primary focus is Windows development, why would you be applying for a Web development position? and again as I said, if its an entry level position that's fine, however, I will not hire a Senior developer who can't answer questions like that or at least have some idea. Age of development does not necessarily mean senior.

I also stated above that those are just technical questions, I also ask scenario questions that takes the technical part out of the interview and really focus on how well you produce solutions.

I don't ask these questions to anyone that comes in, I shuffle them around based on the level and position. Thanks for your insight - Interesting!

Left by Rydal at 11/4/2007 1:18 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
The second any employer asks me this:

"What is the difference between CREATE PROC and CREATE PROCEDURE?"

is the same second I'd hit the door. It's 2007, not 1997.

Left by OrMapperGuy at 11/4/2007 10:41 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
OrMapperGuy: Why would you hit the floor? 70% of the people that I ask that question don't know the answer!

Left by Rydal at 11/5/2007 9:56 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
So what IS the difference between CREATE PROC and CREATE PROCEDURE ? The MSDN believes they are equivalent...
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187926.aspx

Left by James Curran at 11/5/2007 3:26 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
James: There is no difference. Its a short hand for creating a sproc. It's a trick question! Its just like asking what is the difference between "EXEC" and "EXECUTE"? Its amazing how many people have tried to say one is index over the other or some random answer. Thanks.

Left by Rydal at 11/5/2007 3:41 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
He'd hit the *door* - as in he doesn't want the job. Employers that base their hiring off of how well you can answer a "trick question" aren't fun to work for.

Left by Steven at 11/7/2007 5:20 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Once I get to about 3 of those Exec/Execute, Proc/Procedure trick questions in an interview I start answering with contempt. I'll flat out say in an interview "These things aren't important. I'll check the docs for both."

Left by Jay R. Wren at 11/12/2007 1:24 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Your response is completely acceptable, applicants will not get disqualified for that.

Left by Rydal at 11/12/2007 4:28 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
And Design Patterns? and Inversion of Control? Automated Testing? Code Coverage? Cyclotomatic Complexity?

A guy could know the difference between HttpModules and HttpHandlers, and still code with giants methods, full of ifs and cases.

Some of that questions would make me think twice about that job

Left by NicoGranelli at 11/13/2007 8:03 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
I'll post another set of questions, those are just a few. I do ask design patterns and automated testing questions.

Left by Rydal at 11/13/2007 9:16 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
"What is the name of the method of the DataAdapter that should be invoked to load a DataSet with data."

Honestly, I have no idea, though I can tell you how they work. I wrote a connection management layer 3 years ago and I've pretty much never needed to code against anything other than DataSet/DataTable since. MSDN is my friend if I ever need to do it again.

Personally, I try to make it a point not to memorize trivia, and any employer that thinks it's important is going to be a lousy fit. Same with nonsense like 'CREATE PROCEDURE'/'CREATE PROC'.

On the other hand, questions asking the interviewee to define things like IL, WSDL, and stack traces are good questions, because they help gauge the overall domain knowledge of the candidate.

What this interview won't capture is whether someone can really code well, or whether they just know stuff about .Net. We tend to hire kids out of college and such, so the most important questions I ask are about their understanding of the internals of the projects they've worked on, regardless of the tools they used. If I get someone who really understands what they're doing, but doesn't know anything about .Net, I generally assume they can figure it out on the job.

I also tend to probe broadly about exposure to other styles of programming language, because we're starting to incorporate F# and IronPython into our code base in problem domains where they're useful.

Left by Andrew Norris at 11/13/2007 10:12 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
why would you interview someone with these questions?

Left by Liu Leren at 1/19/2008 5:18 PM
# More Interview Questions & Answers
Thanks for good article.

Find more .Net Interview Questions with Answers At

New Dot Net Interview Faqs questions & answers

Left by New .Net interview Answers at 5/19/2008 1:39 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Here is a good collection of .Net 3.0 Interview Questions and Answers

http://www.oopsconcepts.com/Net+3+Interview+Questions+and+Answers

Left by Robert at 7/26/2008 12:23 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Very useful... thanks...

Left by custom net development at 9/22/2008 8:28 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Find more .Net Interview Questions with Answers At

Left by Siman at 12/3/2008 12:04 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Sorry, but if someone were asking me those questions in an interview, I would leae the meeting without answering anyone !

People having all right on these questions may write unmaintainable code - are you sure you ask the important questions?

What is more important to you: that someone knows what the API function XYZ does or someone that knows how to comment what have to be commented? Someone that knows how to code that design pattern without knowing why or someone that do not know how to code it but will arrive at work with its design pattern book and will read it twice a day ? Someone that name its loop variable this_is_the_counter_of_the_following_loop_and_it_is_an_int or someone who would keep its loops tight and would keep its loop variables as short as i or j are?

Do you prefer someone that would create 42 classes – as the Design pattern X suggests – for a very simple case, or someone that would ignore in that case that design pattern and create 2 classes of 20 lines each?

Some of your questions seem good, but most are too technical to me. Hey, gurus have done too much bad code !!! I prefer someone who don't know what is the difference between PSQL and TSQL but knows how much it is important to give a variable the name that describe exactly what it contains and a method the name that describe exactly what it is doing !

I prefer someone who as read and understood Code Complete to someone who as read and memorized Code in XYZ in 21 dayz, 220 Design Patterns and MSDN for geeks!

Now, it depends on your goals. If you want clever code that maybe unmaintainable, well, continue. If you want code that is maintainable, change some of your questions. Avoid technicalities and focus on what makes code maintainable.

Read Code Complete and ask things like : how would you code a test involving a lot of conditions (table driven code) ? How would you manage exceptions (or error codes) in an application ? Did you ever write inner (nested) classes and why ? What are the important things to trace ? Would you pass a object to a method that need an ID or just this Id and why ? What were the flaws you found in the last projects you work on and why ? If you know what a singleton is, when is it inappropriate ? If you don't know what it is, how would you make shure that only one instance of an object could be created ? If you have done some multitasking before, what were the pitfalls you encounter ? Do you think that VB.NET is better or worst than C# and why ?

The most important thing to me is the why that I add to every question...

Good programmers are people who write maintainable code. People that know that the 3rd param to the rarely used API XYZ function is passed by reference are dangerous to development projects - they have an outstanding memory, they may also be clever, but they think that all people should be at least as clever as they are - and will not comment anything and will do weird things on a single line !

Best wishes,
Sylvain.

This is why I would left is someone were asking me your questions in an interview. I don't want to work on a project where unmaitanaible code is praised based on bind principles.

Left by Sylvain at 12/23/2008 11:49 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
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Left by sasi at 4/22/2009 6:33 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Hi...

Above questions are very good.i want to know correct answers for the same.can you send them?

Left by prema at 5/25/2009 11:43 AM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
we need Answers

Left by a at 7/10/2009 12:47 PM
# re: My Favorite Interview Questions
Hey I have a thought why not ask the applicant to actually code something. I bet if you took 99% of drivers and gave them a written test they would not pass it. But guess what, they still know how to drive. If you don't know anything about the art and science of creating a test to properly measure skills for a job, then you should not be giving tests!! So I would have to ask how many times have you tested your test? How does it compare to national averages of people doing development when they are working developers and they take the same test? You need to do a lot of work, before you can determine if your test or any test is really an accurate evaluation of someone for a particular job. The best way of testing for a particular job, is to see if they can do the actual job! Instead of assuming you have created an accurate test!

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# re: My Favorite Interview Questions

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