At Elastic Path Software, we take security risks very importantly in our products. In your experience, what are the biggest security risks in software and what is your experience in any prevention methods?

"As I'm fully aware, cyber-security has become a very important issue over the past ten years. In my current role, our biggest security risk is injection of code used by hackers to access information in our web applications. To help prevent any risks associated with injection, we've implemented the use of a safe API and using specific LIMIT and other SQL controls within queries to prevent loss of records in case of an injection."

As an expert in software industry, you are obviously aware of the many security risks that systems face in this day and age. For your answer to this question, talk knowledgeably about the security risks that you are most familiar with combating in your day to day work. Explain why the posed risk is important to combat against and talk about the methods you used to minimalize risk in the finished product.

"In the healthcare field where I currently work, broken authentication vulnerability has allowed attackers to hack into electronic medical records and gain control over those systems. This type of attack potentially puts hundreds of thousands of people at risk within a given system. We use many methods to prevent this type of security risk. First, we take the time to properly test the code before rolling out new updates to software. We also utilize very detailed external security audits. Other details we have implemented have been multi-factor authentication processes and recommendations to align password requirements with the NIST guidelines."

What experience do you have in the different types of software maintenance?

"Being familiar with all four types of software maintenance, my most used method of maintenance in my current role is corrective. Based on bug reports from end users, I work through coding and logic issues to resolve issues in a timely and effective manner. In the maintenance I perform, I never hesitate to pick up the phone and contact customers to hear first hand about what they are experiencing. By doing this, they feel like they are an important part of the process and it reflects well on me and my organization."

As a reputable company, Elastic Path Software takes their software maintenance processes seriously and your interviewer is looking to hear that you are familiar with the four different types of software maintenance. Talk to your interviewer about any work you have done in the past with corrective, adaptive, perfective and/or preventative software maintenance. Use specific examples and make sure that your interviewer walks away from your conversation knowing that you understand the importance of proper system maintenance.

"In my current role, I'd definitely say that a majority of the maintenance work that I do is adaptive maintenance. Working in banking software that is used around the globe, I help perform system maintenance for changes in currency on a pretty regular basis. This work requires research and talking with end users to help adapt the programs for their use. If hired here at Elastic Path Software, I also have experience performing perfective, preventative and corrective maintenance on software as well."

How would you handle a situation where a colleague was being very difficult to work with?

"In all honesty, any great work atmosphere that I've been a part of in the past has involved conflict between colleagues. In situations I have witnessed, conflict has stemmed from very open-minded people giving their two cents in particular situations and two people not seeing eye to eye. This happened recently to me in the planning phases of a new project. On of our UX Designers and I had a disagreement on the final layout of a new software roll out we were planning. It worked best for both of us to talk about our ideas and list the pro's and con's for our ideas. I kept an open mind to learn from her point of view and she did the same to me on my end. This led us to come up with a great compromise in the end."

In the team based atmosphere at Elastic Path Software, departments with different skills and backgrounds can often see things from different points of view and these situations can cause some internal conflict between coworkers. With this question, your interviewer is looking to hear how you handle situations where you are working with someone that can be seen as difficult. To give them the sense that you are able to work through conflict in a professional and sensible manner, try to talk through how you handled a conflict at work previously in the past and highlight the interpersonal skills that you used to help make it a positive situation.

"Last year, we had a new engineer join our team that was hired on from his internship with us. From his first day, he made it very evident that he would only handle certain tasks within our team and only work on certain projects. As his mentor to help get him up and running, I sat him down and discussed the expectations of each of our engineers as part of our larger team. I explained to him that our approach was not to pigeonhole ourselves into smaller tasks, but rather be well rounded engineers that could handle any project and be able to cover for each other if needed. He really appreciated this approach when I explained the benefits for his long term career goals with this approach. This example shows my approach to being very direct with people that I have a conflict with in the workplace and doing so in a very professional and educational manner."

What publication tools do you have experience working on during your time as a technical writer?

"For document processing, I would consider myself on expert on both Microsoft Word and Adobe FrameMaker. I have received extensive training on both programs. I also would consider myself very fluent in Microsoft Visio for creating robust diagrams within my projects. A newer system that I have been learning over the past two years is Calameo. My current organization utilizes the site to share my departments online through interactive publications."

On top of the basic word processing tools, your interviewer will be looking to hear that you have familiarity with some of the various diagramming tools, online content management tools and other digital publishing tools. Be open and honest with what you are experienced with and don't hesitate to point out where you may be inexperienced, as long as you can point out that you are willing and able to learn new tools of the trade.

"Having been in the technical writing trade for almost 20 years now, I sure have seen an array of great advancements in technology that has bettered my work over time. Other than the basic processing tools, one of the unique tools that I have mastered is Sublime Text. This HTML editor is used to write the basis of our website and technical documents online and I have received a lot of training on utilizing the system. With my experience on this system, I feel like I could flawlessly learn and master other HTML editors here at Elastic Path Software."

In our consulting services here at Elastic Path Software, we often have to work with people who aren't very tech savvy. How would you handle a situation like this if hired for this role?

"In my days in software sales and consulting, I've found that the best approach with clients is to always discuss things in terms of their business results as opposed to the processes involved. I've found that clients aren't interested in how a software program works to pull information out of a data table. They want to know the steps they have to take to successfully pull the relevant information to them in their work and I try to focus my efforts on that. If I get the sense that a certain person has a good understanding of the software, I don't hesitate to brag a bit about the creative programs that were designed behind the scenes because they can definitely show appreciation for that."

When working onsite with clients on new software and new technologies, most front line employees working on the new system won't have the technical acumen that you possess. Because of this fact, your consulting services will have to be performed in a fashion that is easy to understand for the clients. Give your answer a personal touch by explaining your ability to work with clients on a one-on-one basis and customizing your approach with them based on their level of knowledge. From a high level, then talk about certain techniques that you've found to be useful in the past.

"Having a lot of experience doing this in my time consulting and training with external customers, there are many tools of the trade that can be implemented. I always avoid technical jargon and use wording that makes sense to a client to explain technical processes. I find that customers appreciate the use of meaningful analogies and presentations that have a lot of visuals to help understand new processes that we will be working with."

Do you have experience in developing white papers as part of your technical writing experience?

"In my current role in the medical device industry, I have a lot of experience writing white papers for prospective and current customers. In this role, our white papers were what I would call a blend between a technical document and a marketing document as they really outlined how new products would help solve a problem for our customers. The process of my writing required a great amount of technical knowledge and the ability to convey that knowledge in layman's terms."

In the software industry, Elastic Path Software uses white papers to explain complex terms in more simpler terms for their end users. If you do have experience creating white papers, discuss your experience in detail and explain what types of products you wrote them for. If you don't have direct experience, make sure that you can explain the basic premise of a white paper and talk about the skills that you have that give you the ability to write them effectively.

"As a newer technical writer, I don't have direct experience writing white papers but I think my skills would be great for producing great ones here at Elastic Path Software. From what I know about white papers, they are very concise and to the point. They are reaching to a specific audience to explain a product and convey the benefits that customers can get from the product. In the software industry, I think my excellent technical writing skills will be very beneficial in the creation of white papers for your clients here at Elastic Path Software."

What programming languages would you consider yourself fluent in?

"From the start of college, where software engineering grew into a passion for me, I've become very fluent in Java, JavaScript and C++. My current role has me working primarily with C++, but I pride myself on my ability and passion to learn new programming languages and would be able to do so if hired for this role with Elastic Path Software."

While this question gives your interviewer insight into the diversity of your programming language experience, they most importantly want to know that you are adaptable and able to learn on the fly if needed. Talk about the different languages that you consider yourself fluent in and, if possible, do as much research into Elastic Path Software as you can prior to your interview and try to speak to the specific languages that they work with.

"During my training to be an engineer and then in my current role since graduating, a majority of my experience falls within Python. My current role delves deeply into artificial intelligence and Python is awesome with this advanced technology. As I understand it from talking to another engineer here at Elastic Path Software, a requirement would be for me to learn Scala. Though I haven't worked directly with Scala, I believe my experience and willingness to learn would have me up and running in no time if hired for this role."

If hired for this position here at Elastic Path Software, would you be comfortable handling overall project manager responsibilities for new software development?

"Looking to join the team here at Elastic Path Software directly out of college, I feel very confident in my abilities to manage the entire scope of a new development project. I have leadership experience as my campus' president of the software engineering club. In that role, I developed skills that would help me utilize staff and resources in the best way possible. During my internship, I was exposed to the planning stages of new projects and I have a very good feel of estimating the budget and length of time needed to have a fully functional system."

As a skilled software engineer, you have all of the necessary tools in your bag to be a successful engineer at Elastic Path Software. This question is allowing your interviewer to get a better sense of your project management skills and people skills if you were to join the team at Elastic Path Software. In your answer, talk about your ability to estimate the time and cost of a project, the staffing needed and the overall scope of planning for a particular project. If you have direct experience in being the lead on a large development project, be sure to discuss that experience with your interviewer.

"I would absolutely be comfortable if tasked with project manager duties here at Elastic Path Software. In my last two roles, I have led successful projects that started with great planning and budgeting process and went through to completion with great people and processes in place under my leadership. While it's not a regular duty for me in my current role, I always welcome leadership duties."

How do you stay organized and on track when working on multiple projects or duties at the same time?

"With any project that I am working on, I make sure to set benchmarks to meet deadlines ahead of time and set early personal deadlines to allow for some wiggle room. To do this, I am a proponent of using the Microsoft Outlook calendar and tasks functions to help keep me organized. I find that this method helps me stay on track with multiple projects while also leaving me wiggle room each day to fight the high needs fires that do come up in this job."

In this role with Elastic Path Software, you will likely be expected to manage multiple projects at the same time. Your ability to plan, manage deadlines and handle high needs items that come up on a regular basis will be essential to your success in this role and your interviewer is looking to hear how you plan for success. Whether you utilize an electronic tool or a written list, there are no right or wrong answers as long as you can prove in your answer that this method works out great for you.

"For me to stay on track, I make sure to take ten minutes at the end of each day to recap what was accomplished, what new came up on my task list and re-prioritizing my work for the next day. Then, upon arriving the next day and working through emails from the previous evening, I can adjust my task list for the day if needed. I tend to set aside two hours per day to work on long-term project needs while focusing a majority of my time on the short-term needs."

As the onsite consultant for our clients here at Elastic Path Software, you may be privy to confidential information or data. How can we ensure that you will hold client data security in the highest confidence?

"Having worked as a consultant for a large healthcare medical record software organization, I had access to thousands of medical records with each new client that we brought aboard. While often required to sign confidentiality and HIPAA agreements with each client, my own values would never allow me to compromise the secure data of a patient. If hired for this role, I would hold the confidential data with your clients in the highest regard and wouldn't hesitate to take all measures possible to ensure that data is secure."

The consulting world at Elastic Path Software will put your in a position to have access to client databases, applications and directories that could potentially contain sensitive data. Consultants have a responsibility to their clients to maintain that privacy. Be sure that your interviewer understands that you adhere to that responsibility by talking about past experiences where you have been exposed to and kept sensitive data confidential. It is important to talk about your own personal morals and values in your answer to this question.

"Successful consulting relationships with customers are built on trust and I value and respect the trust that my customers show my by maintaining all policies on confidentiality with each customer. My current role in the banking industry allows me access to the software of many banking institutions when I am onsite with them. When working with staff at bank branches, I don't discuss any personal financial data that I have access to even with them."

Tell me about a time that there was a delay in the project and how did you handle that delay?

"I was working with my team on the configuration of the new HR system we were rolling out and the HR team asked for a new module that we thought would significantly delay the launch. In order to meet our internal client's needs, we offered to add the new module, but to avoid delays to the project, we reallocated a resource to work exclusively on the module. We all chipped in extra effort on the major project parts to make up for our coworkers' absence as he was working on the module. The coworker who did the module did a fantastic job which didn't require many changes from the group. Through all this, we were able to roll the product out on time and within budget."

In your answer, be sure to tell your prospective employer why there was a delay, but most importantly, how you handled it and got back on track. It's important to use the STAR format for questions like these: situation, task, action, result. Situation: the delay. Task: resolving it quickly and getting back on track. Action: how you went about executing the task. Result: how the steps you took to resolve it led to the effective and successful resolution of that delay.

"I am motivated by knowing something about the end customer and being able to relate to them as a person. A personal touch is always helpful for me."

The software we develop here at Elastic Path Software requires you to have working knowledge of both privileges and roles within Oracle. Can you talk about your knowledge and experience of both within Oracle?

"In my current role, I have great working knowledge of both role and privilege within Oracle as I work with the system administrators of our end users very closely. I work with them on using the grant and revoke commands to define the roles or their users and grant permissions within their system. To do this, I have to gain strong knowledge on the different people that are allowed access to the system and what they will be doing with their access."

On the development end of software, your role at Elastic Path Software will require you to have knowledge of the differences between user privilege and role. Your role will put you working with end users on the two roles and explaining your knowledge of the two will be important to your interviewer. Give a basic understanding that privilege relates to the right to execute SQL statements and another user's objects as defined by Oracle. Then talk about roles being created by administrators to grant privileges to their users.

"As you can see from my resume, it has been a few years since I've worked directly with Oracle but I do have great working knowledge of the system. To best explain my knowledge, privileges control the ability to run SQL statements with the database and my role has been to outline those privileges for our end users. Then, roles group together different privileges for each end user. In my past work, I'm most familiar with creating the different roles within the system and then working with key decision makes with our end users to grant the privileges to the roles we defined."

In Oracle, do you understand what a join is and what the various types of joins are?

"Having worked with Oracle for the past five years, I have a strong experience in using join to query data from multiple tables within the system. I have written queries utilizing left and right join, but the majority of my work in my current role utilizes inner join. This query looks to select data that is common in multiple tables and has been extremely useful in healthcare related software."

As a software developer that utilizes Oracle databases, your interview will expect that you have a strong working knowledge of concepts within oracle. One such concept is joins. Let your interviewer know that you understand that join is used to combine columns from multiple tables based on values within the columns to allow you to query data from those multiple tables. Then, explain what you know about left, right, inner, full outer and cross joins.

"I do fully understand the join process in Oracle and have experience working with all of the types of joins that are possible in querying in the system. I've recently become very familiar with the cartesian cross join that basically joins all rows from multiple tables. In recently helping develop a program for the auto sales industry, I created a grid in Oracle that populated all of the common specs of makes and models of vehicles and the cross join made this much easier."

Our implementation consultants here at Elastic Path Software often face conflicts with our customers while onsite during implementations. What interpersonal skills do you use to handle conflicts with clients?

"Any time that I face a conflict in the workplace, I maintain my own personal composure by not taking things personally and keeping a smile on my face. After setting myself, I look to gain insight into the potential conflict by using my reflective listening skills and then problem solve from there. In this role, I would listen to the needs of the client and be empathetic in my approach with them. My ability to creatively problem solve would take over from there to help find a solution for the client."

In the software implementation process for large customers of Elastic Path Software, you will be working with top level managers and key decision makers onsite and more often than not, issues can arise. In your role as the implementation consultant, these issues come directly to you and your interviewer will be looking to hear how you will handle these issues to maintain both a great relationship with the customer and honor to the Elastic Path Software. In your answer, focus on finding solutions to issues that benefit both parties and talk about the important communication skills that you possess that will make this possible in any situation that you may face.

"The biggest skill that I would bring to the team here at Elastic Path Software as a consultant to clients would be my ability to express mutual respect to all that I work with. As an organization, Elastic Path Software has their own goals that I will be vital in helping to achieve. Your clients also have their own goals that can offer different greatly from yours. A sense of mutual respect allows me to put myself in the shoes of all involved and that really helps me find solutions that work for everyone."

Can you describe the software development lifecycle?

"Absolutely. In my last job, we leveraged the waterfall method, making sure we completed each phase of the project - and completed it on time and to the highest quality, before moving on. The software development lifecycle consists of 6 steps, starting with planning, of course, followed by implementation, testing, documentation, deployment, and maintenance. Every step is crucial to ensure we're producing a quality product and also maintaining that product to meet the changing needs and demands of our end users."

With this question, employers are looking to test your knowledge. They want to know how much you've participated in the projects you've been involved in to truly understand the software development lifecycle. The question may seem basic to some, but employers are expecting an accurate answer to know that they're hiring a true pro.

"I am new to my career in financial services and sales; however, I have taken an online course focused on cold calling. This course was incredibly helpful and I look forward to meeting and exceeding my targets with Elastic Path Software."

What is one unique personality trait you possess that would help you be successful in this role with Elastic Path Software?

"From what my parents have told me about me as a young child, passion has been a personality trait that has driven me my whole life. When I tackle something in life, I need to be passionate about it for it to be a success. From my time as a young child up to today, I have been passionate about physical fitness and this has driven me to participate in running and biking races across the country. This same passion in the pursuit of excellence has translated into my career as a software engineer. From tinkering with computer hardware at a young age and learning the internal components of a system to learning how to create and design software, you'll quickly find that my passion to engineer the most unique software here at Elastic Path Software will be extremely beneficial to your team."

This question is allowing you to have the floor during your interview to wow your interviewer with something they might not know about you yet from your resume or time so far during the interview. Think about a strong, unique trait that you have that has led to prior success in your field and explain in detail how this will help further you in your career with Elastic Path Software. If possible, be very unique in your answer to draw a direct line between your personality and success in this role.

"I would have to say that my humility has been instrumental in getting me to where I am at today in my career. Having worked with one of the largest software companies in the world, egos were certainly high with a lot of my teammates and I have always used my humility to let my work do my talking for me while remaining a friendly and curious colleague to all."

Talk about a recent successful project that you worked on that required you to navigate some troubled waters during the project. What were the roadblocks and how did you overcome them?

"A couple of years ago, I was the lead architect on a new software package that we were developing. As in any project, I was tasked with reviewing and approving the code the would be enveloped in the software. Because the final code impacted our potential clients and this was certainly a unique package we were developing, I proposed putting together a focus panel of existing clients to discuss potential needs out of a new system. My senior leaders were very reluctant to do this as they didn't want any word getting out about the program in its infancy. Knowing that we really wanted their feedback to start the coding process, I worked with our sales staff to build a list of our most dedicated customers. Then, I approached out leadership with this group and they approved without reluctance. After putting together the focus panel and gathering their thoughts, we built a phenomenal program that exceeded all of our sales and performance expectations."

While your resume and your past experiences can easily show your interview that you have the technical abilities for this position with Elastic Path Software, your interviewer needs some insight on your problem solving skills. This question allows your interviewer a chance to see how you handle adversity by using resources available to you. In your answer, talk about your ability to think critically and leverage people and resources to the advantage of beating a roadblock in your work. Make sure that your answer provides an example of a project that ended in success.

"I know that a large part of my success in the software architecture field is due to my ability to work collaboratively with others and provide mentorship to those on my team. On a recent project, I faced a design engineer that was very rigid in their ways and was unable to conform with new requirements for a system we were designing. In one of our first planning meetings, it became very evident that he would be unwilling to change in his ways. Being a person that wants to talk things out before escalating things further, I invited him to my office to talk one on one. I used a very educational approach to explain why we would be using the process we would be and I encouraged his participation in that approach. He hesitantly agreed. As we moved from design phase to the implementation phase, the engineer went right back to his old way of doing things and not embracing our new process. Rather than upsetting the entire project time, I immediately approached the engineer with a your either on board the ship or off the ship approach. Rather quickly, he asked that his seat on the team be reassigned to another engineer. In doing that quickly, our project was back up and running with success."

What do you feel are the primary features and benefits of the Java programming language?

"When I started working with Java three years ago, the first huge benefit was the fact that the Java syntax was based on C++. At that time, I had a great working knowledge of C++ and my transition to Java was absolutely seamless. The other amazing feature that I've come to appreciate with Java is how robust the memory management is in exception handling and automatic garbage collection."

As a company that utilizes Java, Elastic Path Software and your interviewer want to make sure that you have an understanding of the Java programming language and they do so by asking this question. Obviously a language packed with unique features, talk about the features that you can speak the most knowledgeably about and tie your direct experience to.

If hired here at Elastic Path Software, what do you feel would be the biggest hurdle for you to overcome from the start?

"As you can see from my resume, I don't have any direct working experience with the financial industry and I would see that as my largest learning opportunity if offered this position. Like I did with my current job in the healthcare industry, I would take the time to learn the basics of the industry that would help me design the most intuitive user interfaces in the products here at Elastic Path Software."

The key to answering this question with confidence starts with understanding that you are interviewing with Elastic Path Software because your interviewer feels that you are a strong candidate for this position. What your interviewer is focusing on with this question is how they could be of most help to you if hired for the job. So, take the time prior to your interview to think about an aspect of the position that would be the most difficult for you to overcome to be up and running at full speed and then take time to explain how you would plan to overcome that hurdle if hired. This structured answer will tell your interviewer that you have put thought to your potential shortcoming with a plan of action.

"Being a team player by nature, I've always considered my first challenge at any new company to be the task of getting to know my colleagues, their work preferences and their work styles. In the same breath, I want them to know who I am and how I best work as part of a team with them. To accomplish this, I would take the initiative to set one on one meetings with individuals that I didn't get to touch base with during my orientation process to get to know them better."

What software analysis and design tools do you have familiarity working with?

"As my career and experience in software engineering has grown over the years, I've come to really appreciate and utilize these tools that are available. A great example of this would be my recent education and use of Structured English for designing insurance claim software for a large auto insurer. The simplicity of the structured decisions in the program were a perfect example of a program that could utilize the tool and the end product ended up very functional for our customer."

As a software engineer for Elastic Path Software, your interviewer wants to hear that you have experience in utilizing tools that you make you more proficient in your work. Dig back on your past experiences and talk openly about your experiences with the different analysis and design tools that are available to help you be better in the work that you do. In the end, make sure that your interviewer understands that you are proficient in the use of these tools and open to learning and using new tools as well.

"I have great working knowledge in creating and reading data flow diagrams. To help with both our own sales staff and with customers, DFD's have been super helpful and I consider myself very proficient in creating them. I've also recently been introduced to decision tables to aid in product testing. I was working on a new system that involved some very complicated business rules and the decision table helped outline everything perfectly for our testing."

In your mind, when is monkey testing the most effective in testing new software?

"In my experience, monkey testing has been very effective in load testing and stress testing new software as standard testing methods couldn't do this without a lot of extra work. Because of the adhoc approach to the testing, load and stress on the software was most highly gauged through monkey testing."

By utilizing random inputs to check the behavior of a program, monkey testing has its time and place in the software testing process. For this question, your interviewer is looking to hear that you have an understanding of the theory behind monkey testing and how you would look to put it to work at Elastic Path Software to test their products.

"Because monkey testing is able to find unique bugs that standard testing won't find, I've found it to be very effective for testing new pilot software programs that are reaching new bounds. At my current job, I helped design a brilliant monkey testing process that utilized user behavior to look for certain probabilities of bugs within our systems that we were designing."

At Elastic Path Software, we rely on a full team effort to deliver top quality products to our customers. Tell me about a time that you worked well as part of a team. Are you comfortable in a similar role here?

"Throughout my career, I've always enjoyed working as part of a larger team on the job and this personal enjoyment started with my love of and participation in team sports like baseball and basketball. Growing up playing sports, I learned that each team member brought a unique skill set that could help us achieve our goals. Through a great coaching staff that knew how to make these individual skills shine, this same philosophy holds true for a team that is looking to design a new software system. I know that my skills as an engineer are just part of the final product and I work very well with designers, architects, analysts and sales to help build the greatest system possible."

While this potential role with Elastic Path Software will require your to be an independent worker that can think on your feet, you will also need to work as part of a larger team that is working toward one common goal. Because of this fact, your interviewer will want to hear that you thrive in an environment where you work with team members from other disciplines than you are trained in. In your example, stress to your interviewer that you have excellent communication skills and that you fully understand that every person on a team plays a vital role in the organization's success.

"I am a people person by nature and my current role has me working very closely with our engineering and design staff on writing technical manuals for our products. While I certainly can handle long days at my computer in solitude, my desire to work hand in hand with others really sets me apart from my peers in this field. I have excellent verbal, listening and written communication skills that, if hired here at Elastic Path Software, your entire team would appreciate from my first day on the job."

Do you have experience working with different CASE tools? If so, what do you have experience with?

"In my current role, I regularly utilize both diagramming and web development tools. The diagram tools assist our software projects by outlining the system data and components in a graphical form for us and this saves us a great amount of time while also being very reliable. The web development tools greatly help me visualize site changes that I am making because I don't have a deep background in web development. If hired for this position, I'd look forward to learning other CASE tools for prototyping, quality assurance and maintenance."

The world of software engineering has greatly benefited from advancements in computer aided software engineering tools. Because Elastic Path Software is at the forefront of the industry, your interviewer will be looking to hear which tools you have experience with. Make sure not to concern yourself with providing a correct answer here, but rather focus on your flexibility to learn new aides when needed while explaining what you have experience with.

"During my career and in my experience with CASE tools, most of my experience is in the lower CASE elements that focus on coding and testing the software after initial development. CASE tools have certainly made life as a software engineer more efficient and effective and I'd look forward to learn any new CASE tools if hired for this position here at Elastic Path Software."

What do you think you will like about this role with Elastic Path Software?

"I look forward to helping companies by analyzing data that will help them make solid decisions surrounding their digital future."

The interviewer wants to hear what you are looking forward to learning and experiencing in this new position. Talk about what excites you! Share how this position will challenge you and help you grow. New opportunities are a chance for you to demonstrate your skills.

"I am looking forward to getting more experience in UI, and feel that Elastic Path Software is the best place for me. You have a great reputation for creating beautiful and easy to use products."

Elastic Path Software embraces an Agile environment. Explain your experience in Agile methodologies and why you think it is important.

"The majority of my experience has been in an Agile environment. For ten years I have been personally responsible for leading agile teams, and I have helped define team goals and milestones. This approach is important to me as I see how Agile methodology helps employees deliver better products in less time. In my current role, team productivity increased by 34% once we introduced an Agile environment, and our on-time project rate skyrocketed another 18%."

The interviewer would like to understand the depth of your knowledge in Agile. The interviewer would also like to know if you work well with team collaboration, are responsive to stakeholder needs, and can work well with team defined milestones. Give a specific example of your experience.

"I especially want to work for Elastic Path Software because I have friends who have worked here before with really positive feedback on their experiences. I am looking for a positive work environment where I can stay for a long time to come."

Would you say that you are a goal oriented on the job? What would I be able to do as your manager to help you achieve your goals if hired here at Elastic Path Software?

"I would definitely say that I am goal oriented on the job in wanting to contribute any way that I can to the overall benefit of the organization. In my current organization, our leadership focuses on overall sales numbers at the end of the year. To help achieve these goals, our department creates our own goals to help achieve the sales numbers needed to succeed. Last year, one of those goals was to be as creative as possible in our user experience design processes. With the launch of an exciting new app midyear, sales numbers skyrocketed and our department was instrumental in that. For me, it was important that we determined our goals as a team with the final stamp of approval from our manager. While this style of management really helped motivate me, I can thrive under any management style as long as expectations and goals for my work are clearly set."

At the heart of this question lies your interviewers desire to see what motivates you as a potential employee at Elastic Path Software. Make it clear to your interviewer that you certainly are motivated by on the job goals and do this by using an example of a time where you were motivated by and achieved a goal. Then, think deeply about the type of manager that you like to work for in terms of goal setting and helping our achieve your goals. Let your interviewer know what type of management styles you appreciate the most while being open to any style.

"For me, my day to day work is much more meaningful when I have goals to work for. In my current role, we have set timelines for our projects and this helps lay the framework for our goals. If hired for this position, my expectations of you as my manager would be to have goals clearly defined and a supportive atmosphere to be provided to work within."

If you were asked to review a colleague's code that they had written, what key things would you look for?

"As an experienced software engineer, I fully expect my colleagues to reach out to me for my insight and I never hesitate to provide open and honest feedback. When asked to do this, my main focus is ensuring that the code is readable and functional. If there are lines of code that need to be removed, I don't hesitate to let my colleague know that while also giving them feedback on why I feel it is unnecessary."

For this question, your interviewer will obviously be looking to hear that you have adequate knowledge when it comes to coding processes. But most importantly, your interviewer will be looking to gauge your ability to be a team player and focus on the bigger picture when working on a project. In your answer, focus on your attention to detail and your ability to help others when needed.

"When I'm asked to do this in my current position, my main focus is on regulatory requirements that were put in place for the project and security issues. I work with a team of great engineers that are very efficient coders and these two areas are most often overlooked."

In your experience in software testing, would you consider yourself proficient in both testing and debugging processes?

"Yes, I definitely would consider myself proficient in both testing and debugging software. My current role that I've held for four years since graduating from college has exposed me to both processes. In testing, I use known conditions and predefined methods to test for expected outcomes to find errors within the system. I utilize testing prior to new software rollouts. The debugging process happens to already released software that has had issues and comes with unknown conditions and unpredictable outcomes. In this process, my goal is to find the cause of the error to fix it efficiently and effectively to roll an updated program back out to end users."

As a reputable provider of software, Elastic Path Software relies on their software testing engineers to both test and debug their products when necessary. Make your interviewer aware that you are knowledgeable on both processes by briefly explaining each process as you've worked on them in the past. Then, talk about your openness to working both testing and debugging processes if hired for this position.

"While a majority of my career has been focused on software testing, I am very familiar with debugging processes as well. If hired for this position, I would take the time to focus on debugging processes to bring myself up to speed while being able to hit the ground running on testing processes."

Elastic Path Software Interview Questions

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1. At Elastic Path Software, we take security risks very importantly in our products. In your experience, what are the biggest security risks in software and what is your experience in any prevention methods?
2. What experience do you have in the different types of software maintenance?
3. How would you handle a situation where a colleague was being very difficult to work with?
4. What publication tools do you have experience working on during your time as a technical writer?
5. In our consulting services here at Elastic Path Software, we often have to work with people who aren't very tech savvy. How would you handle a situation like this if hired for this role?
6. Do you have experience in developing white papers as part of your technical writing experience?
7. What programming languages would you consider yourself fluent in?
8. If hired for this position here at Elastic Path Software, would you be comfortable handling overall project manager responsibilities for new software development?
9. How do you stay organized and on track when working on multiple projects or duties at the same time?
10. As the onsite consultant for our clients here at Elastic Path Software, you may be privy to confidential information or data. How can we ensure that you will hold client data security in the highest confidence?
11. Tell me about a time that there was a delay in the project and how did you handle that delay?
12. The software we develop here at Elastic Path Software requires you to have working knowledge of both privileges and roles within Oracle. Can you talk about your knowledge and experience of both within Oracle?
13. In Oracle, do you understand what a join is and what the various types of joins are?
14. Our implementation consultants here at Elastic Path Software often face conflicts with our customers while onsite during implementations. What interpersonal skills do you use to handle conflicts with clients?
15. Can you describe the software development lifecycle?
16. What is one unique personality trait you possess that would help you be successful in this role with Elastic Path Software?
17. Talk about a recent successful project that you worked on that required you to navigate some troubled waters during the project. What were the roadblocks and how did you overcome them?
18. What do you feel are the primary features and benefits of the Java programming language?
19. If hired here at Elastic Path Software, what do you feel would be the biggest hurdle for you to overcome from the start?
20. What software analysis and design tools do you have familiarity working with?
21. In your mind, when is monkey testing the most effective in testing new software?
22. At Elastic Path Software, we rely on a full team effort to deliver top quality products to our customers. Tell me about a time that you worked well as part of a team. Are you comfortable in a similar role here?
23. Do you have experience working with different CASE tools? If so, what do you have experience with?
24. What do you think you will like about this role with Elastic Path Software?
25. Elastic Path Software embraces an Agile environment. Explain your experience in Agile methodologies and why you think it is important.
26. Would you say that you are a goal oriented on the job? What would I be able to do as your manager to help you achieve your goals if hired here at Elastic Path Software?
27. If you were asked to review a colleague's code that they had written, what key things would you look for?
28. In your experience in software testing, would you consider yourself proficient in both testing and debugging processes?

Elastic Path Software Interview Questions

1. At Elastic Path Software, we take security risks very importantly in our products. In your experience, what are the biggest security risks in software and what is your experience in any prevention methods?

2. What experience do you have in the different types of software maintenance?

3. How would you handle a situation where a colleague was being very difficult to work with?

4. What publication tools do you have experience working on during your time as a technical writer?

5. In our consulting services here at Elastic Path Software, we often have to work with people who aren't very tech savvy. How would you handle a situation like this if hired for this role?

6. Do you have experience in developing white papers as part of your technical writing experience?

7. What programming languages would you consider yourself fluent in?

8. If hired for this position here at Elastic Path Software, would you be comfortable handling overall project manager responsibilities for new software development?

9. How do you stay organized and on track when working on multiple projects or duties at the same time?

10. As the onsite consultant for our clients here at Elastic Path Software, you may be privy to confidential information or data. How can we ensure that you will hold client data security in the highest confidence?

11. Tell me about a time that there was a delay in the project and how did you handle that delay?

12. The software we develop here at Elastic Path Software requires you to have working knowledge of both privileges and roles within Oracle. Can you talk about your knowledge and experience of both within Oracle?

13. In Oracle, do you understand what a join is and what the various types of joins are?

14. Our implementation consultants here at Elastic Path Software often face conflicts with our customers while onsite during implementations. What interpersonal skills do you use to handle conflicts with clients?

15. Can you describe the software development lifecycle?

16. What is one unique personality trait you possess that would help you be successful in this role with Elastic Path Software?

17. Talk about a recent successful project that you worked on that required you to navigate some troubled waters during the project. What were the roadblocks and how did you overcome them?

18. What do you feel are the primary features and benefits of the Java programming language?

19. If hired here at Elastic Path Software, what do you feel would be the biggest hurdle for you to overcome from the start?

20. What software analysis and design tools do you have familiarity working with?

21. In your mind, when is monkey testing the most effective in testing new software?

22. At Elastic Path Software, we rely on a full team effort to deliver top quality products to our customers. Tell me about a time that you worked well as part of a team. Are you comfortable in a similar role here?

23. Do you have experience working with different CASE tools? If so, what do you have experience with?

24. What do you think you will like about this role with Elastic Path Software?

25. Elastic Path Software embraces an Agile environment. Explain your experience in Agile methodologies and why you think it is important.

26. Would you say that you are a goal oriented on the job? What would I be able to do as your manager to help you achieve your goals if hired here at Elastic Path Software?

27. If you were asked to review a colleague's code that they had written, what key things would you look for?

28. In your experience in software testing, would you consider yourself proficient in both testing and debugging processes?