Object-oriented design

Programming language

Before attending an interview for a technical career, you do not need to know any specific programming language. However, familiarity with a major language is usually required for success. You should be familiar with the syntax of programming languages such as...

Data structures

The majority of software development labor requires storing and making data accessible effectively and efficiently. This requires a strong background in data structures. You’ll need to understand the inner workings of common data structures and be able to compare and contrast their use in various applications. You will be expected to know the runtimes for common operations as well as how they use memory....

Algorithms

For your interview, you don’t have to know all the algorithms off by heart. However, it will be much simpler to answer some of the questions if you have a solid understanding of the most popular algorithms. Consider revising common algorithms such as divide and conquer, breadth-first search vs. depth-first search, and traversals, and make sure you understand the trade-offs for each. Knowing the runtimes, theoretical limitations and basic implementation strategies of different classes of algorithms is more important than memorizing the specific details of any given algorithm....

System Design

Nowadays System Design has become the favorite topic of interviewers. it is one of the most important concepts because if you want to create scalable and robust software you should be aware of the basic concept of system Design. it is a blueprint of software in which we deeply go through the actual requirements of the client and then deeply analyze the architecture, components, modules, interfaces, and data for a system to satisfy specified requirements. let’s discuss the High-Level Design(HLD) and Low-Level Design(LLD)....

Coding

It’s a good idea to clear the cobwebs and practice coding with a pen and paper if your skills in programming without an IDE or in a particular language are rusty. Expect to be asked to write syntactically correct code rather than pseudo code. The most important thing a software development engineer does is write scalable, robust, and well-tested code. These are the main evaluation criteria for your code. A good rule of thumb is to check for edge cases and make sure that no bad input can go through. This is your chance to show off your coding ability....

Object-oriented design

Good System design is paramount to extensible, bug-free, durable code. We know that there are nearly infinite ways to resolve any software issue, but when it comes to software extensibility and maintenance, good software development is essential. One way to build lasting software is to use object-oriented design best practices. You should have a working knowledge of a few common and useful design patterns and know how to write software in an object-oriented way. You probably won’t be asked to give detailed descriptions of how specific design patterns work, but expect to have to defend your design choices....

Databases

The vast majority of software written by Software Development Engineers (SDEs) is stored on data-storage systems. A lot of the issues faced by techs come from figuring out the best way to get and hold data for the future. You’ll need to be familiar with the general concepts of databases and their uses. The more familiar you are with the trade-offs that exist between a relational database and a non-relational database, the better off you’ll be....

Distributed computing

Systems in any scalable enterprise operate under very tight tolerances at high loads. As a result, you’ll need to be familiar with some of the basics of distributed computing. Understanding topics like service-oriented architectures (SOA), map-reduce (map reduction), distributed caching (DGC), and load balancing (LFB) will help you to address some of the more complex distributed architecture questions you may face....

Operating systems

You don’t need to know how to build your operating system from scratch, but you should be familiar with some OS topics that can affect code performance (e.g. memory management, processes, threads, synchronization, paging, and multithreading)....

Internet topics

Every company demands that their Software development engineers understand the basics of the Internet. Learn how browsers work at the highest level. Learn about DNS lookup, TCP/IP, socket connections, etc....

General Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

You’ll likely be asked questions about data-based modeling, training/testing procedures, error checking, and statistics. For instance, you’ll be asked, “What is a problem definition for machine learning?” You’ll then be asked to define the problem as a machine learning problem and then come up with a solution. You’ll want to think about data sources, annotations, modeling techniques, and pitfalls. It’s also worth revisiting your favorite ML/AI textbooks to ensure you’re familiar with the basics of AI/ML techniques and algorithms....

Conclusion

We understand this was a relatively long list of topics to review. You should bear in mind that your interviewers won’t be evaluating your ability to memorize all the details of each of these topics. They will be analyzing your ability to apply what you know and solve problems efficiently and effectively. Given that you sometimes have only limited time to prepare for a technical interview, we recommend reviewing computer science fundamentals and practicing coding outside of an integrated development environment. This will likely yield the best results for your time....