What do you consider to be a good litmus test for when you would automate a test process for a new system versus testing manually?

"Having been in automation in both manufacturing for many years and now software for the last three years, a common misconception among people is that automation can help improve any situation and that couldn't be further from the truth. The amount of time, effort and resources that goes into an automation process makes it ideal for repetitive tasks and tests that have multiple data sets. If a testing process calls for unique and one time process, it would make the most sense to run that process manually."

As your role with REI Systems will look to help further their automate testing processes for new systems, you will need to have a good sense for when automation makes sense and when it does not. Reiterate your sense for this to your interviewer by sticking to the high level response that repetitive tasks, as are common with large software companies, are prime candidates for automation whereas one time test cases are not.

"I"n my current position, most of the automation testing that I design is in program sanity testing. These automated tests work great because they run on similar systems following changes in code to ensure that no bugs remain in the system. If our group of engineers are working on unique, one off type projects, my automation processes are not utilized."

When would you utilize a trigger within Oracle to execute a function automatically?

"In the current work that I do in Oracle, I utilize triggers to prevent invalid transactions within the software that I am working with. I have a full understanding of how to write create trigger statements using declaration statements, executable statements and exception handling statements to set the appropriate triggers. If hired for this role here at REI Systems, you could have full confidence in my ability to utilize triggers within Oracle."

To answer this question, it is important to first have an understanding of what a trigger is within Oracle. Simply defined, a trigger is a named block stored within the database that executes on its own when a certain even takes place. While you talk about your understanding of what a trigger is, be sure that you explain that you understand how to create a trigger in Oracle and that you understand that proper situations to utilize them in.

"With my two prior years spent working on Oracle, I have written database triggers using insert, update and delete statements that are issued against a table. These database triggers allow our end users to be able to reap the benefits of the triggers. The instances that I've utilized database triggers have been for pulling statistical information from the tables within the system."

In your current work, what are the important steps you take in the data validation process?

"As I embark on a data validation process in my current role, my first step is to roadmap a detailed plan to keep on task. I utilize benchmarks and the expectations of key stakeholders as my guide. Once underway, I validate the database and the data formatting to ensure that data is properly screened for its overall health. Then, by finishing with sampling, tests are performed to hopefully show that the data is useful within the system."

Depending on your training and your past roles prior to interviewing at REI Systems, you may be familiar with one or two of the many trains of though regarding the steps of a data validation. Whatever formal process you are familiar with, be sure to check the boxes of discussing data screening and data verification as part of your process. Your interviewer will be looking to hear that you check those boxes as they are imperative in the software field.

"The most important steps in a data validation process are determining the data to sample, scouring the existing database and validating the final data format. My first step is to use my best judgment to determine if I will validate a sample or the entire data set. This determination is based on overall size of the set and the timeframe that I have to work on the project. Then, I take the time to screen data in the existing database to calculate the number of unique ID's and records to come into the system. Last, I have to verify that the source data matches the schema within the targe"

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 REI Systems.

"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."

How do you measure the success of a data integration project?

"With any large data integration project that I have managed in the past, success starts with setting realistic yet high standard goals for the project. To do this, I need to make sure that I get input from all key stakeholders in the project. With a recent project, we measure our success in a few different ways. Because of the need set forth by our sales force to be more competitive with our competition in the market, we measured timeliness of the system pre and post integration. Then, to measure the financial impacts of the project, we measured our end of project costs versus what was budgeted. Because our goals were measurable, it was easy to see that the project was a huge success."

Similar to evaluating any project, measuring the success and impact of any data integration project should rely on goals that were defined at the start of the project. In your answer, be sure that you speak about the consideration for the people involved in the project (i.e. customers, sales, IT, engineering) and how success was measured in their eyes. Another great point to touch on in your answer is using the SMART method for setting goals to assure that they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time oriented.

"I think that I can best demonstrate this by talking about a recent data integration project we worked on in creating new banking software. At the beginning of the project, we clearly defined the end goals of the project in the data we wanted converted with a set deadline for completion. Our design team added their expectations on their desired workflow following the data conversion. One integration was complete, our goals were easily measured for the project to be considered a 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, REI Systems 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 for this position here at REI Systems, would you be comfortable handling overall project manager responsibilities for new software development?

"Looking to join the team here at REI Systems 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 REI Systems. 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 REI Systems. 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 REI Systems. 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 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 REI Systems, 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."

Give an example of a time that you used a universal design practice in your work as a UI or UX designer. Why was it important to do this?

"From a very high level, the business success of a program really relies on being universally designed. If we pigeon hole ourselves, a product will only reach a very limited group of end users. But taking that a step further, universal design is the morally right thing to do to help reach people that may not have access to the average program design. Last year, I was part of a project that utilized a voice user interface for users that were deaf or hard of hearing. This simple yet effective design was a huge win for our current customers and in helping drive new business with our groundbreaking software."

In the technology, software and mobile app fields today, accessibility is a huge topic. As a designer with REI Systems, you will be expected to help create products that are as accessible as possible to as many end users as possible. In this two part question, talk about why you feel that universal design is important in the work that you will be doing with REI Systems and then really sell your ability to do this by giving an example of a time you used a universal design in your previous work.

"Early in my career, the best piece of advice that I receive was from an experience designer and she said that when UX doesn't consider all potential users, we are no longer working on the user experience. We live in a very diverse world and the programs that I've designed for in the past have certainly had the goal to reach a wide audience. With your financial products here at REI Systems, this same philosophy applies. Last year, based on some feedback from current customers, we switched our design to include a strong color contract to make the system much more user friendly to color blind users. This was both a simple and very effective change to enhance the look of the program."

What is one unique personality trait you possess that would help you be successful in this role with REI Systems?

"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 REI Systems 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 REI Systems. 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 your previous user interface design experience in detail. Why do you feel that this experience will translate well to this role with REI Systems?

"Ten years into my career out of college, I consider myself very blessed to have such a well rounded background in user interface design. I have experience designing cutting edge mobile app designs, website design, video game design and software design. Here at REI Systems, your education software would greatly benefit from my creative designs to be user friendly and appealing to educators, parents and students and I'd love to bring these skills to work for you."

While your interviewer can get a good sense of your experience from your resume, they are looking for you to talk in details about your experiences in UI design in your previous work. While explaining your previous experience, be sure to highlight the skills that you developed that will help you be successful in designing new products with REI Systems. Prior to your interview, be sure you research and are family with the products that REI Systems puts out.

"While my experience in user interface design has really focused on web design over the past five years, I think my current skill set will benefit the team here at REI Systems greatly. In my web design, I prepare mockups and wireframes for customers and have experience utilizing a lot of different resources in doing these. In the software world, I would love to use these same principles. As well, my web experience has really driven me to be user focused. In this role, a more user focused drive is required out of your user interface design and I would be able to bring that to the team here."

The next cloud engineer that we hire here at REI Systems needs to be able build a system that can handle a high amount of traffic. How would you test our system's ability to handle large amounts of traffic?

"Cloud computing has certainly revolutionized the storage of high amounts of data and a key piece that cloud based systems bring to the table are their elasticity for handling large amounts of traffic. I see my job as building a cloud based system to scale horizontally to be able to handle the most data and traffic possible. To test systems, I've used a few different tools that were all very accurate prior to go-live."

This question allows your interviewer to gain insight into your thought process and ability surrounding building a cloud network that has an architecture that can handle large amounts of traffic without failure. Some key points to focus on your answer are your ability to match capacity to system demand and use horizontal scaling in the design of the system.

"In my current position as a cloud engineer, I have utilized internet scale services like Amazon S3 and Elastic Load Balancing to ensure that our cloud systems could handle large volume that fluctuate seasonally. Because of the great functionality of the internet scale services, internal testing wasn't necessary as we knew we were in good hands through those services."

Do you have any unique skills or past work experiences that we can't see on your resume that would benefit the team here at REI Systems?

"In my current role as a data engineer, I have gotten the opportunity over the last five years to work with clients in many industries. One of the industries that I've worked most closely with has been the private insurance industry. This experience and my gaining of insider knowledge in the insurance industry would benefit me greatly if brought aboard the team here at REI Systems."

This question is providing you the opportunity to potentially set yourself apart from your competition for this position. To do just that, it will be important for you to make sure that the unique skill or experience that you discuss matches with a critical need for REI Systems and the position that you are interviewing for. Whether you talk about a unique skill or experience, your research on this job will prove vital in your ability to make sure that it impresses your interviewer.

Here at REI Systems, we ask our test engineers to follow specific QA protocols. What role do you feel QA plays in software development and testing?

"As a test engineer, I take great pride in my role of ensuring that systems go out to consumers as error free as possible. In my current role, I take the time to learn all of the system specifications that are laid out by our design engineers and customize my testing to follow those specifications."

As an experience software testing engineer, quality assurance should be ingrained in your brain and your interviewer is looking to get a sense of your personal feelings towards it in your work with this question. In your answer, be sure to highlight QA's importance in reducing errors, maintaining specifications, testing failure parameters and preventing defects from occurring. In the end, make sure that quality is your mantra in the eyes of your interviewer by giving an example or two of how you put QA in the forefront of your work.

"In my work throughout my career, quality assurance in my testing was an every minute of every day job on my part. While creating effective testing processes on new software is extremely important in following QA protocols, the recording of defects, issuing of reports and assisting the designers on fixing issues are equally important parts of the process that I'd love to let shine here at REI Systems."

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 REI Systems 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 REI Systems, can you expand on what models you use here in your software development life cycle?"

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

"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 REI Systems utilize?"

To improve data quality and increase overall productivity of a system, REI Systems 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."

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

In a technical support role here at REI Systems, we expect that you would be able to bring great customer service skills to the role. Describe your customer service philosophy in the support that you would provide.

"To me, my job duties aren't fully satisfied if an end user leaves our conversation without a smile on their face. While any technical support specialist can handle the customer aspect of the job, few have the people skills to do so pleasantly for their customers. In any interaction that I have with a customer, I talk in a calm and boosting manner. If they are upset or mad about a situation, I reflectively listen and never place any blame back on them. By taking this approach, my customer surveys in my current position have been excellent for the three years I've held that role."

While your interviewer will be able to get great insight into your technical expertise during your interviewer, this one question will allow you the opportunity to describe how you will bring solid interpersonal skills to the role. Your interview knows that customers will rely on you to provide quick and sensible support for their needs, but the expectation to do that in a pleasing manner is of utmost importance. Talk from a high level about your feelings on why providing great service is important and give an example or two of ways that you have done that in the past.

"If hired for this role here at REI Systems, you'll quickly find that my mantra in working with customers is speed with a smile. To do this, I need to be resourceful in providing them with an answer or triaging them to the correct person. I need to be knowledgeable in our product base to give them answers with confidence. And last, but not least, I need to be positive in all interactions with them."

Here at REI Systems, we subscribe to the domain-driven design approach for our customers. If hired for this role, what will you do in your first 90 days on the job to ensure you can sustain in this job with that approach?

"In my current role, I've worked with large plastics and metals manufacturers in a domain-driven design approach and this required me to step outside of my comfort zone to learn manufacturing processes along the way in designing great products for that industry. If hired here at REI Systems, the financial industry would become my new passion in life to learn and understand. I know that my role as a software architect would require that I have a great working knowledge of the industry and I am willing to do what is necessary to get there."

Simply put, domain-driven design is the concept of utilizing the business needs of the end user in designing and creating software for them. To do this, the software architects at REI Systems need to have a firm understanding of the problems that their customers face and how the software they develop will help tackle those problems. For this question, be sure to do your research on REI Systems and the products they put to market and discuss how you will take the time to learn about the industries necessary to implement the domain-driven design approach.

"If I were lucky enough to be offered this position, my work would be dedicated to learning the property and casualty insurance industries inside and out. I would do this through talking with colleagues and customers to learn how our products help our end users succeed. If needed, I would also take the time to read more on the industry as well."

What do you know about our products and how do you think you'll be able to handle a support role surrounding them?

"One of the main things that is attracting me to a position with REI Systems will be the new opportunity to work solely with cloud based software. With my current experience in supporting server and data storage issues, I am confident in my ability to support the services here based on that experience."

This question allows your interviewer to gain insight into both your interest in this position and the skills that you will be able to bring to the table. To show your interest, be sure to do as much research on REI Systems as possible and get to know their products. Ensuring that you know the job description from front to back is important as well. Then, talk about how you feel that your skills will apply to working with end users that are contacting about the software.

"Upon reading the job description for technical application support, it was easy for me to see that my skills were a perfect match for the position. It sounds like you are looking for an expert that can provide support on GlobalLink applications and has exceptional experience across many different scripting languages. As you can see from my resume, I have experience using Perl and Python and I feel like these experiences would help make a smooth transition for me into this role. On top of that, my cloud based experience would translate nicely to this role here at REI Systems as well."

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, REI Systems 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."

The software we develop here at REI Systems 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 REI Systems 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."

Talk about a data integration project where you encountered an issue with completing tasks due to the negligence of others. How did you handle this issue to ensure solid completion of the project?

"Last year, I was working on a data consolidation project for a roll out of a new software program we were developing. Because the project was working with several of our existing systems, I was coordinating with several different engineers from our staff that were experts on their respective systems. As the project was going along smoothly from the start, I wasn't getting a response from one of our engineers that had key information for me to move forward. With fully understanding that people are very busy in their day to day duties, I gave him three additional days to respond with no success. Once I didn't receive a response, I went directly to his office to speak directly to him. He immediately apologized for his delay and we spoke at great length about the information that I needed to move forward. I'm glad I took this direct approach in this situation and would never hesitate to do this moving forward in a tactful manner."

Because REI Systems operates in a team based atmosphere, this question is allowing your interviewer to gain insight into how you will work as part of a larger team. Large data integration projects at REI Systems will require you to work with many people, so use a prior experience where you took the bull by the horns with others to ensure successful completion of a project. Make sure to clearly outline the situation and what you had to do to overcome it to produce a positive outcome.

"On a project a couple of years ago, I was interfered with by an outside department that was trying to interject their own unrelated tasks into the project. My first response was to have a frank conversation with the manager of the department, but he was still insistent that I move forward with his proposes changes that weren't outline in the project. Because of his insistence, I had to approach my manager about the requests and it was determined that we would not move forward with the requests of that department. Unfortunately, the end conversation had to be held with leaders from top level management with my organization. I certainly didn't want that situation, but it was called for to ensure that standards of the project."

Do you have experience writing a custom exception in Java?

"Yes, I certainly do have experience writing custom exceptions in Java in my time in the financial software industry. Because some of the business logic and workflow needed customization, I was tasked with extending the exception class and all subclasses in standard Java to create the custom exceptions needed."

As a Java expert, you will hopefully have the ability to inform your interviewer that you do have experience in writing custom exceptions in Java. As a reputable software company, the engineers and architects with REI Systems often need to demonstrate the ability to do just this. While talking about the experience that you do have, be sure to discuss your thought process in initially determining the need for writing a custom exception above and beyond the standard Java exceptions.

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 REI Systems, 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."

At REI Systems, 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."

How do you ensure that you have a healthy work-life balance in your career?

"As I am passionate about my career as a UX designer, I am also passionate about my family. Any moments outside of work are spent coaching my kids traveling baseball teams in the summer months and then spending as many weekends as possible on the ski slopes. These activities help keep me active, physically fit and keep my mind centered on what it truly important in my life when work weeks get stressful."

In the fast paced world in software and technology development, heavy work loads and potential on-call duties have created a lot of burnout in professionals. Your interviewer is looking to hear that you are cognizant of the risks of burnout and that you do what is necessary to maintain your own personal health and well being and that of your family as well. While you can use this time to talk about personal interests or hobbies outside of work, try to focus on how these items help keep you refreshed for the work that you'll be doing for REI Systems.

"Having watched many of my senior colleagues over time suffer from work burnout that has caused marital issues and health issues, I make it a priority to maintain a healthy balance between my work and my home life. My free time is spent in the outdoors with my wife, whether that be on the lakes and rivers fishing or biking around town. I consider myself fortunate to be considered for a position here at REI Systems because I know that you put a focus on your employees maintaining this healthy balance because the organization realizes how important this is to be productive."

Here at REI Systems, we utilize feasibility studies with our customers to consider all impacts of a new system for them. Do you have familiarity working with feasibility studies in your work as a software engineer?

"I do have familiarity with feasibility studies throughout my career as a software engineer. On a current project that I am working on, we utilized a study to analyze if the project we were tasked with could use current technologies available to us while meeting a timeline for completion. On my end, I had to spend time researching the resources that were available, gauge their functionality and come up with a plan for action based on that. Where the project stands today, we are on pace for delivering a revolutionary system for a large security industry customer."

To properly answer this question, make sure you understand the reasons why feasibility studies are important. In essence, a feasibility study helps to determine if conditions are right to implement a project. The study looks at economic, operation, legal and technical aspects of the project to determine if moving forward with the project is best for all involved. If you have experience in the studies, talk about a specific time that you utilized a study, the steps you took and explain why it was important to do in the end. Make sure that your interviewer walks away from the interview comfortable with your ability to utilize feasibility studies in your work.

REI Systems Interview Questions

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1. What do you consider to be a good litmus test for when you would automate a test process for a new system versus testing manually?
2. When would you utilize a trigger within Oracle to execute a function automatically?
3. In your current work, what are the important steps you take in the data validation process?
4. 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?
5. How do you measure the success of a data integration project?
6. What do you feel are the primary features and benefits of the Java programming language?
7. If hired for this position here at REI Systems, would you be comfortable handling overall project manager responsibilities for new software development?
8. How would you handle a situation where a colleague was being very difficult to work with?
9. Give an example of a time that you used a universal design practice in your work as a UI or UX designer. Why was it important to do this?
10. What is one unique personality trait you possess that would help you be successful in this role with REI Systems?
11. Talk about your previous user interface design experience in detail. Why do you feel that this experience will translate well to this role with REI Systems?
12. The next cloud engineer that we hire here at REI Systems needs to be able build a system that can handle a high amount of traffic. How would you test our system's ability to handle large amounts of traffic?
13. Do you have any unique skills or past work experiences that we can't see on your resume that would benefit the team here at REI Systems?
14. Here at REI Systems, we ask our test engineers to follow specific QA protocols. What role do you feel QA plays in software development and testing?
15. What SDLC models are you familiar in working with?
16. What data cleaning methods are you familiar with and comfortable using if hired for this role at REI Systems?
17. What experience do you have in the different types of software maintenance?
18. In a technical support role here at REI Systems, we expect that you would be able to bring great customer service skills to the role. Describe your customer service philosophy in the support that you would provide.
19. Here at REI Systems, we subscribe to the domain-driven design approach for our customers. If hired for this role, what will you do in your first 90 days on the job to ensure you can sustain in this job with that approach?
20. What do you know about our products and how do you think you'll be able to handle a support role surrounding them?
21. In your experience in software testing, would you consider yourself proficient in both testing and debugging processes?
22. The software we develop here at REI Systems 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?
23. Talk about a data integration project where you encountered an issue with completing tasks due to the negligence of others. How did you handle this issue to ensure solid completion of the project?
24. Do you have experience writing a custom exception in Java?
25. How do you stay organized and on track when working on multiple projects or duties at the same time?
26. At REI Systems, 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?
27. How do you ensure that you have a healthy work-life balance in your career?
28. Here at REI Systems, we utilize feasibility studies with our customers to consider all impacts of a new system for them. Do you have familiarity working with feasibility studies in your work as a software engineer?

REI Systems Interview Questions

1. What do you consider to be a good litmus test for when you would automate a test process for a new system versus testing manually?

2. When would you utilize a trigger within Oracle to execute a function automatically?

3. In your current work, what are the important steps you take in the data validation process?

4. 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?

5. How do you measure the success of a data integration project?

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

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

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

9. Give an example of a time that you used a universal design practice in your work as a UI or UX designer. Why was it important to do this?

10. What is one unique personality trait you possess that would help you be successful in this role with REI Systems?

11. Talk about your previous user interface design experience in detail. Why do you feel that this experience will translate well to this role with REI Systems?

12. The next cloud engineer that we hire here at REI Systems needs to be able build a system that can handle a high amount of traffic. How would you test our system's ability to handle large amounts of traffic?

13. Do you have any unique skills or past work experiences that we can't see on your resume that would benefit the team here at REI Systems?

14. Here at REI Systems, we ask our test engineers to follow specific QA protocols. What role do you feel QA plays in software development and testing?

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

16. What data cleaning methods are you familiar with and comfortable using if hired for this role at REI Systems?

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

18. In a technical support role here at REI Systems, we expect that you would be able to bring great customer service skills to the role. Describe your customer service philosophy in the support that you would provide.

19. Here at REI Systems, we subscribe to the domain-driven design approach for our customers. If hired for this role, what will you do in your first 90 days on the job to ensure you can sustain in this job with that approach?

20. What do you know about our products and how do you think you'll be able to handle a support role surrounding them?

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

22. The software we develop here at REI Systems 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?

23. Talk about a data integration project where you encountered an issue with completing tasks due to the negligence of others. How did you handle this issue to ensure solid completion of the project?

24. Do you have experience writing a custom exception in Java?

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

26. At REI Systems, 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?

27. How do you ensure that you have a healthy work-life balance in your career?

28. Here at REI Systems, we utilize feasibility studies with our customers to consider all impacts of a new system for them. Do you have familiarity working with feasibility studies in your work as a software engineer?