In SQL, how do you explain the differences between clustered and non-clustered indexes? Can you name a time that you used each?

"In the simplest of terms, a clustered index order records in a table the way that they are physically stored. There can only be one clustered index per table. Non-clustered indexes do not store data to match the physical order that it is stored. Rather, it can hold up to 249 indexes per table. Both types come with their own benefits over the other. In my experience, clustered indexes are suited best for programs that use primary key as an identity integer column. On the other hand, non-clustered make the most sense for programs that need JOIN and WHERE clauses within them."

eNova uses indexes to improve query performances within their software and for this question, your interviewer is looking to hear that you have a basic understanding of both clustered and non-clustered indexes. Explain the differences between the two types of indexes and be sure you can either speak to relevant times that you've used each or when would be the appropriate application to use each.

"In my experience, clustered indexes are faster to read but very slow when it comes to update data within. Non-clustered indexes are just the opposite in that they are slower to read but much fast to insert new data into them. In my current role, I mostly use clustered indexes when large numbers of rows need to be retreived and when insert operations are important. Most other times, I will use non-clustered as the standard."

In your current role, how would describe your ability to communicate and coordinate with the developers, testers and architects that you work closely with?

"As you can see from my resume, my current job is with a worldwide software development organization. Because of our reach, a lot of my colleagues that I work with are in different locations than me. Most communications are in email and I consider myself great at communicating clearly through email. We also utilize Skype for video meetings when I need to get face to face with my engineers and testers on my projects. While not having someone in an office next door can be difficult at times, especially when looking to coordinate high needs tasks, being organized and timely in communications is key to success."

At eNova, teamwork is of utmost importance for the system analysts to perform their job well. Talk to your interviewer about your most comfortable methods to communicate with others on your team and give examples of how you've contributed to a team based atmosphere. Be sure that your interviewer walks away from your conversation without a shadow of a doubt that you will be a team player if hired for this position.

"I consider myself excellent at coordinating activities among my team of colleagues and keeping lines of communication open with them as well. In my current role, I lead a bi-weekly huddle where our testers, architects, engineers and analysts can get together in a room for 30 minutes to discuss high needs items as a group. All of the individuals involved in these meetings have been very thankful for my coordination of them because of the eventual time that is saved through elimination of email chains and one-off conversations between people."

Talk about a time when things didn't go as planned on the job. What was the situation and what allowed your to persevere in that situation?

"A couple of years ago in my first role as a UI designer out of college, my team was tasked with coming up with a very short notice proposal for a potential high end customer. With a week turnaround time, I set right to spending my time gathering information on the company to build a mock design. When the proposal was submitted, I found out that the potential customer scoffed at my idea and the customer went with another organization's proposal for their use. The biggest piece of feedback that I got was that the UI design just wasn't conducive to the type of customers they were expecting. From that point forward, whether it has been with short notice or long-term products, I take the time to communicate with key decision makers from clients to gather information for making my design as user friendly as possible."

As a professional in the tech industry, you have likely had a project that failed, a promotion that passed you over or a meltdown occur at some point in time. Realizing that your interviewer fully understands and expects that failure happens, talk openly and honestly about a situation where you experienced failure or failed plans. Most importantly in your answer, focus on how you overcame the particular situation and discuss lessons that you learned moving forward that you can bring to this role at eNova.

"Last year, I was working on a large scale project that put me face to face with a key customer. After traveling onsite with the customer to spend time with them, I exchanged contact information with two of the key decision makers. In the weeks following, I was sending them follow up emails with our business proposals and was getting frustrated at the lack of response from the clients. After my manager had questioned the viability of the potential customer, I picked up the phone and called them directly. It turns out that their responses back to me were being sent to a junk email folder that I neglected to consider. I apologized for the mistake, took action quickly and we came to a great agreement on future business together. After having a laugh about it with my boss, I now incorporate diligent communication follow ups both by phone and email with customers while also regularly checking all email inboxes."

eNova 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 eNova 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."

What is one thing that really tests your patience when dealing with your coworkers?

"As a person that values diversity and differences of opinion in the workplace, there aren't many things that grind my personal gears when it comes to my colleagues. The only real true test of my patience is a coworker that doesn't pull their weight in a team effort. When I've been in this situation in the past, I first seek to learn if the issue is a lack of training or knowledge. If it is, I take the necessary steps to help my colleague get on track. But if I find that it is due to a lack of effort, I talk to the person immediately in a professional manner. The sum is only as good as the effort of all of its parts and a team efforts requires everyone's maximum effort."

While on the surface this question may seem like your interviewer is trying to get you to talk negatively about a situation, it is really more of a test to see what can potentially drive you crazy on the job in a team atmosphere and how you handle those situations. In your answer, be honest about your pet peeves when it comes to coworkers and do so in a positive light. Then, expand on your answer by talking about how you handle those situations."As a person that values diversity and differences of opinion in the workplace, there aren't many things that grind my personal gears when it comes to my colleagues. The only real true test of my patience is a coworker that doesn't pull their weight in a team effort. When I've been in this situation in the past, I first seek to learn if the issue is a lack of training or knowledge. If it is, I take the necessary steps to help my colleague get on track. But if I find that it is due to a lack of effort, I talk to the person immediately in a professional manner. The sum is only as good as the effort of all of its parts and a team efforts requires everyone's maximum effort."

"Having been raised in a rural farm setting, I have always been a stickler for being on time and holding meetings to set lengths of time. While watching people show up late for meetings has bothered me internally because of how I am wired, I don't let it bother me on the exterior. We are all very busy in our lines of work and showing up a few minutes late is only normal from time to time."

We seek to hire highly ambitious people. Where would you like your career with eNova take you?

"One of the reasons I was so excited to interview with eNova is because of the endless growth opportunities you appear to offer your high performing employees. My biggest ambition is to be awarded a management role in the next 3-5 years."

Have you researched eNova enough to know how their internal hierarchy works? Do they have a variety of departments and management levels, offering you choices when it comes to carving out your career path? Talk to the interviewer about your career ambitions specifically related to this role and their organization.

"What interests me most about your company is that there are so many options when it comes to career growth. Ideally, I would like to earn my way into a team lead role, then a division manager position in the digital management department. Eventually, a CDO (Chief Data Officer) level role would be ideal. Of course, I understand that this will take many years of dedication and hard work."

How do you feel that your prior experience would benefit you in a training role here at eNova?

"As you can see from my resume, I have extensive business training experience in my current role I've been working in for the past eight years. In this role, I travel onsite to the locations of our customers to train staff on our products and how to use them in a healthcare setting. My business education and training background has prepared me to create effective training programs and be a natural leader in front of others. If fortunate enough to be hired for this position, the initial hurdle that I would have to overcome would be to learn the software I would be training people on to be able to talk about the features and benefits in the presence of customers."

When eNova rolls out new software to their customers, they rely on this role to train end-users on utilizing the new software. Successful candidates can come from either a focused technical role and learn how to effective train people or they can come from formal business training background and learn the software aspect of the job. Either way, be sure to project success in this role by talking about your ability to be an effective trainer in this role based on the experience that you will be bringing to the table if hired at eNova.

"Having been in software industry for many years now, I bring a great amount of technical knowledge surrounding usage of programs and training end users. With a majority of my experience being on the sales end of the software business, a transition into the training side would be very natural for me as I have the ability to speak at great lengths about the technical aspects of a program in a manner that the everyday user can understand and appreciate."

eNova hires developers with a strong understanding of object-oriented programming. Discuss your knowledge in this area.

"When I was hired for my first development position five years ago, my employer provided in-depth programming and development courses. I trained in Java and C++, and over the years I have gained expertise by using these applications for my development roles."

The interviewer would like to understand your knowledge and experience in object-oriented programming languages, such as Java, C++, Python, Visual Basic, Ruby, etc. Walk them through your experience, being sure to highlight any specialized training or coursework. If you took on a significant project using an object-oriented programming language, you could give an overview of that work.

"Here are some other essential characteristics that you can draw on: - Disciplined - Intuitive - Takes Initiative - Responsible - Positive Attitude - Solid Communicator"

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

"Looking to join the team here at eNova 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 eNova. 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 eNova. 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 eNova. 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."

Tell me about your problem-solving skills. Do you enjoy analyzing and solving complex problems?

"In my last development position, I was responsible for front-line communications with end users. Third tier helpdesk staff would contact me with software bugs, and I was able to quickly and professionally respond to problems. I was able to reduce the bug backlog by 70%."

Software developers spend a great deal of time debugging programs. It is essential for eNova to have someone experienced in quickly identifying problems and responsive in providing solutions. The interviewer would also like to gauge how you work with internal and external customers when problem-solving.

"If you did not have a good relationship with your previous boss: "I have had healthier relationships in the past with previous employers, but we did the best that we could. Our communication styles were very different which made it challenging at times."

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, eNova 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 eNova, I also have experience performing perfective, preventative and corrective maintenance on software as well."

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."

As you reflect back on your career to this point in your search for a new position, what would you say is your ideal work environment or culture?

"As I begin this job search now 15 years out of college, I'm looking for an employer that promotes and encourages innovation, new ideas and collaboration among all members of the team. From what I know about eNova from speaking with others, you sound like a perfect match for what I am looking for in a career."

While using this question as a key indicator on how you'll fit with the team and the organization at eNova, it will be very important for you to research as much as you can on the work environment at eNova so you can match your priorities to that environment. If you have the opportunity to speak with an employee at eNova prior to your interview, that can shed valuable information. In the end, the culture and value of an organization are often a key indicator of long-term success in a job, so make sure that you reflect your values into what the company values.

"With all of the companies that I have both worked for and consulted with in the past, I realize that a company culture is basically the personality of the company and I am looking for a new organization that really meshes well with my personality. I am a casual person that believes in hard work, teamwork and having fun on the job. As I embarked on a job search, I was so happy to see that eNova was hiring because I believe our styles will fit perfectly together."

At eNova, 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 eNova 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 eNova, your entire team would appreciate from my first day on the job."

What do you feel is one of the top issues that is faced by data engineers today?

"Over the past couple of years, I've come to realize that one of the largest issues we face as data engineers is the large amounts of data that are needed to store and then draw information from. Here at eNova, I can only imagine how big of an issue that is in the healthcare industry. I have a lot of experience with cloud based data storage and also server based storage."

Being in the midst of the greatest technological revolution in the history of man, data engineers face many difficult issues in the work that they perform on a daily basis. While there are many directions that you can go with this question, be sure to focus your answer on something that you can speak passionately about. If you can research a common issue in the industry that eNova works in, you may likely score some bonus points with your interviewer.

"In my recent experiences, continuous, real-time integration is an issue that we will face each and every day moving forward. The need for fast paced information is certainly to blame for this. To stay on top of the continuous integration landscape, I am happy to hear that new and improved systems are being created to stay more real-time and up to the minute. Here at eNova and working in the financial industry, how have you seen this need for real-time data impact your products?"

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 eNova?

"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 eNova. 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."

We are looking for innovators to join us here at eNova. Where have you brought innovation in automation to a process in your career?

"To be very honest with you, I was really drawn to the automation side of engineering because of the constant need to be flexible and continuing me education to stay ahead of new trends. Last year, I helped develop a codeless test automation for my company that brought together our software engineers and end users to test in environments in a fast and efficient manner. The codeless testing was a first for my organization and really helped free up time for our software engineers to come up with solutions rather than spend time testing."

Innovation in software has occurred in many phases over the last 20 years and eNova is always striving to be on the forefront of innovation in their field. For this question, think back on your automation experience and talk about a concept that you helped create that you felt was innovative. Really sell your interviewer on your ability to think outside of the box with this question by hammering home the idea that you can help bring new innovations to the team at eNova.

"About four years ago, I was on a team that developed an AI bot that could test scripts and provide analysis on extremely large amounts of data in a short period of time. Our work focused on the algorighms that the AI would utilize in its testing work. From the start, the AI process was extremely accurate and efficient. Now, as things have changed over time, modifications to the AI system all center around changes to the algorithms. Based on our success, we presented our AI system at a national conference last year and it received a lot of great accolades."

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 eNova, 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 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 eNova, 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."

What SDLC models are you familiar in working with?

"During my training in software engineering and in my early career, the waterfall model was the standard. In this model, each phase of the development process happens in a set order and projects using this model are easily managed. But over time, as the development projects that I have led have become more complicated and intricate, I have implemented the spiral model. This model has allowed the ability of end users to give feedback early on and often during development and helps to build a more customized product to our customers."

As a software engineer, you are very familiar with the software development life cycle. For this question, your interviewer is looking to hear what models you have worked on in the past. While there isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer to this question, try to show your flexibility to working with different SDLC models by bringing up your past experiences. Then, show you have knowledge of different models like the waterfall model or agile model. It is also a good idea to use this question as an opportunity for you to learn more about eNova by asking your interviewer which model they work off of.

"In my current position with XYZ Company, my department utilizes the agile model in development life cycle. Since our products are so tailored to the needs of our customers, we get a working product very early on in the process and then I work hand in hand with customers to fine tune the software moving forward. It is a very effective model that has built a great reputation for our software among customers. I also have familiarity working with the iterative model and it has similar advantages to the agile model. If I were hired here at eNova, can you expand on what models you use here in your software development life cycle?"

Tell me about a time your manager changed the scope of the project in the middle of it. How did you deal with it?

"We were working on a software upgrade project which was supposed to take 12 weeks; however, 4 weeks in, my manager approached us and requested different modifications, even though the modifications were almost 75% complete. I understand that changes can happen and it was my job to get back on track and get going on it. I immediately took action and worked with my team and manager to come up with a plan moving forward, as that disrupted our schedule. We were able to all pick up extra and through that, we still hit our initial deadline."

With this question, your prospective employer is looking to see how you handle change, especially change that can be frustrating and disrupting to your work. In your answer, be sure to explain what happened, as briefly as possible, and how you handled that change to get back up-to-speed and on-track with your project.

"I can assure you that, if hired, I would put the customers of eNova first. When working in the financial services world, your customers can determine your success. I have a very high referrals rate which tells me that my customers are happy."

If you were confronted with a time where you wouldn't be able to meet a deadline here at eNova, what steps would you take when you made that realization?

"In my current position, I am very used to handling multiple tasks and projects on a day to day basis. Last year, my team was tasked with what started as a low priority project. After assembling a team to initially discuss the details and set a deadline for completion with our management, the project unfortunately fell off the radar of everyone on the team with many more high priority projects coming up each week. As the initial project's deadline was within a week of being due, our CEO reached out to me for a progress report. I immediately took full responsibility for letting this fall off the radar and I ensured our CEO that we would have an updated timeline set by the end of the week. In doing this and completing the project to his satisfaction, this was really the tipping point in our department moving forward utilizing a detailed project management tracking system. To this day, I can't say enough about how appreciative I am about utilizing this awesome system. Moving forward, you can rest assured knowing that I take full accountability for my actions and do what is necessary to communicate new expectations and meet them fully."

At some point in any person's career, the inevitable happens and an important deadline needs to be missed. With your interviewer fully understanding this fact, they are solely interested in how you react to this situation and what you do to make the situation right. In your answer, focus on the refocused planning and communication needed while also avoiding blaming others for the situation. Your interviewer holds accountability as a desirable virtue, so be sure to take accountability for actions in your response.

"Having been in this situation before, I would first sit down to gather all the facts possible in the situation. What was the deadline, why wasn't it met and what can be done are all important questions moving forward. From there, communicating to all key parties is extremely important and doing so in a timely manner is critical. In this communication, taking accountability and setting new expectations for delivery in a concise and tactful manner will most often put stakeholders at ease and allow for successful completion."

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 eNova, 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."

What data cleaning methods are you familiar with and comfortable using if hired for this role at eNova?

"In my current work, I use a very methodical fashion in cleaning data for finished systems. My first step is to remove duplicate and irrelevant observations within the data. Then I scan the data to remove extra spaces, convert numbers stored as text into numbers and remove duplicate data. These steps help ensure clean and accurate data and I never overlook them. If hired for this position, what methods does the current data analyst team her at eNova utilize?"

To improve data quality and increase overall productivity of a system, eNova relies on their data analysts to use data cleansing methods to ensure quality data exists in their software. Be open and honest with the ways that you've helped ensure quality and accurate data in the systems that you've worked with while also showing that you have an open mind to learning and utilizing more methods if hired for this position.

"I am familiar with many methods used in the cleansing of data. The initial monitoring of errors within a system is very important to identifying where errors occur and give insight into how to fix corrupt data. I have utilized the tools within Domo software to validate data accuracy and scrub for duplicate data in my processes as well. Being very proficient in data analysis, I'm very open to learning new methods as well if hired for this position."

Do you consider yourself stronger in C++, C#, Java, or Python?

"In my last company, we had a bit of an outdated tech stack and used C# and .NET. I found myself fully immersed in those technologies, but had a strong desire to learn more and become more familiar with modern technologies and how I can apply that in my career. That's what has me so interested in this role. Over the last year, I've taken courses in Java and C++, which I noticed you prefer. I've become proficient in the skills and in side projects, applied my increasingly strong knowledge. I'm probably strongest professionally in C# as that has been where my experience lies, but my passion and dedication is on the Java and C++ side, as I feel that's the more modern alternative. I'm excited about the possibility of applying that knowledge in a role at eNova."

Before your interview, do some research to understand what tech stack eNova uses so you can best prepare and highlight your expertise. If you aren't as strong in one of the skills you feel is necessary, be sure to explain how you've used it and how you are growing your knowledge to become better. Be sure to be honest in your answer, as the company will likely test your strengths.

"I am motivated and excited about this new opportunity because it will challenge me to grow in my (X) skills. I love soccer and enjoy spending time with my teammates. I am interested in continuing my education by studying (Y) to further my career."

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 eNova 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."

What would you say is your top non-technical skill that will help you succeed in this role here at eNova?

"As I grew in the software development field over my career, I was best suited to be a architect because of my ability to be a great project manager. If hired for this role here at eNova, you'll quickly find that I have the ability to lead others, negotiate, budget and oversee a project from idea to final delivery."

As a software architect at eNova, you will be relied upon to be the bridge to between the business and technical side of the organization. Your work my be relied upon to work within many silos of the organization. Because of this need, your interviewer is asking you to dig deep inside of yourself and talk about what you feel is your greatest skill to help you do this that is outside of your technical ability. As you prepare for this question, there are many ways that you can answer. No matter how you answer, be sure that your answer relates to your ability to work with other people in some way, shape or form.

"From a self introspection point of view, I think that my ability to be empathetic towards others that I work with has led to a huge amount of my success in the software architecture field. While I do have the technical skills to do great things here at eNova, my ability to learn from others, see their point of view and become a great teach to them when needed will really set me apart from others that you are interviewing for this position. If given the opportunity to work here, this skills will greatly improve the team atmosphere."

Talk about a successful training program that you had the opportunity to design and implement. What do you feel were the keys to success for the program?

"Two years ago in my current role, my organization was putting a new educational tool out to elementary school teachers to help organize their lesson plans and I was tasked with creating both an online training module and an in-person training for new customers. Looking back, I'd say that the biggest key to success for this training program was the consideration of the work style of the teachers that would be using the program and then creating a program around those work styles. To do this, I conducted significant research on school teachers and it was determined that online training modules were the preferred method for training. I also would be tasked by some districts to do in person training. This provided a very unique opportunity for me to develop two unique, yet similarly focused, programs."

If hired for this role at eNova, you will be looked upon to design new and innovative training programs for end users of the companies products. To gain insight on how you would do this moving forward, your interviewer is giving you the opportunity to talk about a past program that you created that ended up being a success. As you talk about that program, make sure to hit on what you feel was a key to success for the program. Some things to potentially keep in the forefront when answering would be considering expectations of the customer, thinking about the work style of the end user and thinking about how to motivate others during the training.

"With my current organization that is a large healthcare employer, I created a training series that focused on patient safety for our staff that were directly in patient care areas. For it to be a success, the biggest key was to make the program fun and interactive for our staff. If you know the healthcare industry, safety has been drilled into the heads of staff throughout their whole career and if this new training wasn't fun and interactive, it would've been just another training in the eyes of staff. Upon rolling out the training six months ago, me and my staff received rave reviews from our staff and their leaders and we look forward to continuing this training with all new staff that is hired."

Enova Interview Questions

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1. In SQL, how do you explain the differences between clustered and non-clustered indexes? Can you name a time that you used each?
2. In your current role, how would describe your ability to communicate and coordinate with the developers, testers and architects that you work closely with?
3. Talk about a time when things didn't go as planned on the job. What was the situation and what allowed your to persevere in that situation?
4. eNova embraces an Agile environment. Explain your experience in Agile methodologies and why you think it is important.
5. What is one thing that really tests your patience when dealing with your coworkers?
6. We seek to hire highly ambitious people. Where would you like your career with eNova take you?
7. How do you feel that your prior experience would benefit you in a training role here at eNova?
8. eNova hires developers with a strong understanding of object-oriented programming. Discuss your knowledge in this area.
9. If hired for this position here at eNova, would you be comfortable handling overall project manager responsibilities for new software development?
10. Tell me about your problem-solving skills. Do you enjoy analyzing and solving complex problems?
11. What experience do you have in the different types of software maintenance?
12. If you were asked to review a colleague's code that they had written, what key things would you look for?
13. As you reflect back on your career to this point in your search for a new position, what would you say is your ideal work environment or culture?
14. At eNova, 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?
15. What do you feel is one of the top issues that is faced by data engineers today?
16. 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 eNova?
17. We are looking for innovators to join us here at eNova. Where have you brought innovation in automation to a process in your career?
18. 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?
19. What software analysis and design tools do you have familiarity working with?
20. What SDLC models are you familiar in working with?
21. Tell me about a time your manager changed the scope of the project in the middle of it. How did you deal with it?
22. If you were confronted with a time where you wouldn't be able to meet a deadline here at eNova, what steps would you take when you made that realization?
23. How do you stay organized and on track when working on multiple projects or duties at the same time?
24. What data cleaning methods are you familiar with and comfortable using if hired for this role at eNova?
25. Do you consider yourself stronger in C++, C#, Java, or Python?
26. In your mind, when is monkey testing the most effective in testing new software?
27. What would you say is your top non-technical skill that will help you succeed in this role here at eNova?
28. Talk about a successful training program that you had the opportunity to design and implement. What do you feel were the keys to success for the program?

Enova Interview Questions

1. In SQL, how do you explain the differences between clustered and non-clustered indexes? Can you name a time that you used each?

2. In your current role, how would describe your ability to communicate and coordinate with the developers, testers and architects that you work closely with?

3. Talk about a time when things didn't go as planned on the job. What was the situation and what allowed your to persevere in that situation?

4. eNova embraces an Agile environment. Explain your experience in Agile methodologies and why you think it is important.

5. What is one thing that really tests your patience when dealing with your coworkers?

6. We seek to hire highly ambitious people. Where would you like your career with eNova take you?

7. How do you feel that your prior experience would benefit you in a training role here at eNova?

8. eNova hires developers with a strong understanding of object-oriented programming. Discuss your knowledge in this area.

9. If hired for this position here at eNova, would you be comfortable handling overall project manager responsibilities for new software development?

10. Tell me about your problem-solving skills. Do you enjoy analyzing and solving complex problems?

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

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

13. As you reflect back on your career to this point in your search for a new position, what would you say is your ideal work environment or culture?

14. At eNova, 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?

15. What do you feel is one of the top issues that is faced by data engineers today?

16. 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 eNova?

17. We are looking for innovators to join us here at eNova. Where have you brought innovation in automation to a process in your career?

18. 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?

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

20. What SDLC models are you familiar in working with?

21. Tell me about a time your manager changed the scope of the project in the middle of it. How did you deal with it?

22. If you were confronted with a time where you wouldn't be able to meet a deadline here at eNova, what steps would you take when you made that realization?

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

24. What data cleaning methods are you familiar with and comfortable using if hired for this role at eNova?

25. Do you consider yourself stronger in C++, C#, Java, or Python?

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

27. What would you say is your top non-technical skill that will help you succeed in this role here at eNova?

28. Talk about a successful training program that you had the opportunity to design and implement. What do you feel were the keys to success for the program?