Common Tech Interview Questions & Tips

According to Deloitte, 2025’s global IT spending is set to grow by 9.3%. AI is also expected to reach a yearly growth rate of 29% from 2024 to 2028. With all the new funding rounds for AI start-ups, this forecast is certainly off to a good start. This means more job opportunities and a perfect time to prepare yourself with  common tech interview questions.

Robert Half’s data showed that 58% of technology employers are actively looking for talent to fill permanent positions. And the CIO’s in-demand roles are data engineers, senior software engineers, software developers, cloud architects, and systems engineers. In this article, we’ll give some tech interview tips to give you the best chance of securing your dream role.

Tech Interview Tips

1. Do Your Research

The most obvious one is know the company–their values, industry trends, culture and product landscape. Check their social media, such as web pages, LinkedIn profiles, and employee reviews. This way, you can figure out how you align to the company’s working environment and culture.

Check Glassdoor reviews or YouTube videos of people with the same roles. This includes researching common tech interview questions for the role you’re targeting. If you have friends with a tech background, ask them some of the possible questions you might encounter.

You can also check communities like LinkedIn tech role discussions for the best answers for common tech interview questions. All in all, secondary research will give you a lot to work with and help you understand the skills needed for the role’s day-to-day tasks.

2. Review Training or Past Experiences

If the role calls for specific tech skills, it could be worth reviewing your training and certifications to make sure your knowledge is still fresh in your mind. If you already have working experience with that skill, formulate strong examples and stories that highlight this.

For example, the projects you’ve led, problems you’ve solved, innovation you are proud of. Build a mini library of succinct and engaging stories that answer the common tech interview questions you might be asked.

Let’s say you’re in cybersecurity and you’ve faced supply chain attacks in your previous role. There’s a high chance that the hiring manager will ask interview questions around how you tackled these threats.

Let those stressful experiences shine. Be ready to explain your decision flow during this experience such as why you relied on specific tools or solutions over another. Ensure you demonstrate how good your critical thinking skills are during compressed time.

3. Be Straight to the Point

A job interview is about good communication. So practice answering your gathered common tech interview questions for your role, keeping them authentic and direct. Interviewers will see how prepared you are based on how you answer.

Use simple words. The more you explain technical terms so they’re easy for any audience to understand, the better your EQ and communication will come across.

If you encounter an unfamiliar question/scenario, be upfront and confident in asking for clarity or more context. If you don’t have a particular skill, don’t try and fudge it – you can try something along the lines of, “That’s an interesting area I’ve been keen to learn more about but not something I have deep skills with at the moment. Would you like me to give you an example of how I’ve gotten up to speed with another skill quickly when it was required for a project?

Lastly, listen actively and ask questions based on what you’ve learnt. Have some prepared questions and also have conversational questions as you learn more about the role and projects.

5 Common Tech Interview Questions

In your role, how do you stay updated with the rapid advancements in AI?

• Hiring managers want to see how you leverage AI as a productivity tool to enhance your performance at work
• Avoid stating that you rely entirely on an AI co-pilot to complete your work, hiring managers and colleagues can easily recognize when AI is being used effectively versus over-relied upon.
• Explain how you use AI to streamline tasks, enhance learning, and deepen your understanding of various topics. Always emphasize that you conduct additional research to verify sources.

Sample answer:
“I use AI as a tool to enhance my productivity and performance. It helps me stay organized, manage tasks efficiently, stay informed about industry updates, and digest complex information more effectively.”

How do you handle tight deadlines?

This is one of the most common tech interview questions. When hiring managers ask this question, they aren’t just assessing whether you can meet deadlines, they’re evaluating your communication, conflict resolution, negotiation, and organizational skills.

Key things to remember:

• Avoid blaming others; instead, focus on how you adapt and take initiative to improve the situation.
• Showcase your ability to break down work, communicate effectively, and manage expectations.
• Provide a concrete example where you either met a tight deadline or successfully negotiated an extension through clear communication and planning.

Sample Answer:
“It depends on the situation, but I typically start by breaking the project into smaller, manageable tasks and setting time estimates for each. This helps me assess whether the deadline is realistic and what resources I might need to stay on track.

If I anticipate challenges, I proactively inform my manager and stakeholders, offering solutions such as adjusting timelines or redistributing workload. For example, in a recent project, I recognized early on that the initial deadline was too aggressive due to unforeseen complexities.

By clearly outlining the risks and proposing a phased delivery approach, we successfully negotiated an extension that ensured a high-quality outcome.”

How do you explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders?

In today’s cross-functional work environment, engineers regularly collaborate with teams across various departments, including marketing, sales, finance, and operations. Clear communication is essential to ensure technical concepts are well understood and that no critical details get lost in translation

Hiring managers want to see how well you can adapt your communication style to suit different audiences, particularly those with limited technical knowledge. Your ability to simplify complex ideas and align them with business goals is a key skill that sets strong candidates apart.

Sample answer:

“In a previous role, I needed to explain the benefits of transitioning to a cloud-based system to a group of non-technical stakeholders. Instead of using technical jargon, I focused on relatable analogies, comparing cloud storage to online banking, where data is securely accessible from anywhere rather than being tied to a single device.

I also highlighted key business advantages, such as cost savings, improved collaboration, and scalability. By framing the discussion around real-world benefits rather than technical specifics, I ensured the stakeholders not only understood but also supported the transition.”

Why should we hire you?

• Connect how your certificates are useful for the role.
• Strip down your experiences and tie how it is useful to the role.

Sample answer for cybersecurity:

“Because my CISSP and CompTIA Security+ certifications helped me have a strong grip on what it means to be in cybersecurity. Both in theory and in practical practice. My experience extends to (mention other experiences), which highly matches the skills you’re looking for in this role.”

Do you have any questions?

This question is an opportunity to demonstrate your interest in the company and showcase the research you’ve done beforehand. Hiring managers want to see that you’ve taken the time to understand their business, products, and challenges.

To make the most of this moment, prepare thoughtful questions that:

• Provide deeper insight into the company’s goals, challenges, and culture.
• Help you understand the role’s expectations and growth opportunities.
• Show your enthusiasm for contributing to the team’s success.

Here are some strong examples:

Company & Product Insight: “I saw that your company recently launched [Product/Feature]. What was the biggest challenge in bringing it to market, and how has the reception been so far?”
Team Challenges: “What are the biggest technical or business challenges the team is currently facing, and how do you see this role contributing to solving them?”
Company Culture: “How would you describe the company culture? What kind of people thrive here?”
Career Growth: “What are some key skills or achievements that would make someone in this role successful over the next year?”

By asking well-researched and meaningful questions, you’ll leave a lasting impression and gain valuable insight into whether the company and role align with your career goals.

Pursuing a Tech Role

Tech roles are in high demand, but competition is fierce. To make a lasting impression on your interviewer, you need to be well prepared for the most common tech interview questions. Here’s how we think you can make a lasting impression:

DO YOUR RESEARCH – Understand the hiring manager(s), company, its products, and the role’s key challenges. Tailor your answers to show how you can contribute.
PREPARE THOROUGLY – Practice explaining your experience, your key achievements, technical skills, and problem-solving abilities (tell me a mistake you made but learnt a lesson from? Or tell me about a challenging problem you had to solve recently) in a way that aligns with the company’s needs.
BE MEMORABLE – Share impactful stories, highlight unique strengths, and show enthusiasm for the role and company.
STAY RELAXED & OPEN-MINDED – Interviews are a two-way street. While you want to perform your best, remember that not every role will be the right fit. If you don’t get the job, keep moving forward, there are plenty of opportunities in tech and we can help you refine your search.

The right role is out there. Keep refining your approach, stay persistent, and you’ll find the opportunity that suits you best.

Looking for your new tech role? Explore our tech careers.