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 The Shelby Group 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 The Shelby Group, can you expand on what models you use here in your software development life cycle?"

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

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

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

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

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

"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 The Shelby Group, 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 The Shelby Group. Prior to your interview, be sure you research and are family with the products that The Shelby Group 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 The Shelby Group 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."

If hired for this position at The Shelby Group, what leadership skills would you bring to our team?

"I would say that my credibility is my best leadership skill. My openness and honesty suits me well when working among a team of individuals and this helps them gain trust in following my lead when working on projects. Another skill I would bring here to The Shelby Group would be my ability to lead by example. I'm not afraid to take a risk in seeking innovation and I've been commended for this trait many times by my current manager."

While this position at The Shelby Group may not hold the title of manager, supervisor or director, the organization firmly believes that employees that demonstrate key leadership qualities are better set for future career success. Aside from that, leadership skills help you work better as part of a larger team and with potential customers as well. Prior to your interview, think about one or two leadership qualities that you possess and talk in detail about how you've exemplified those qualities in the past.

"If you were to offer this position to me, you'd quickly find that my positive attitude is an inspiration to those that I work closely with. In my current job, we work under the constant stress of tight deadlines and my positivity can be infectious to help others maintain their focus when negativity can easily take over in most situations. I would say that my other strong suit as a natural leader is my ability to be fluid on a day to day basis. Sometimes our world can be monotonous and when change comes, most resist that change. For me, change is a chance to break the current mold and grow as an employee."

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 The Shelby Group.

"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 The Shelby Group 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."

What do you see as the top benefits of moving to a cloud based computing platform?

"Over the past couple of years in my current position, we have greatly benefited from the vast amount of testing and staging servers that available on the cloud. In developing new programs, our testing and delivery has greatly increased our team's productivity to new levels. Add on the simple cost savings of the cloud and a move to the cloud was a no brainer for us in the end. If hired for this role here at The Shelby Group, I'd be able to bring new cloud computing ideas to your team from day one on the job."

While cloud based computing has certainly had its positive impacts across many different industries, the field of software and technology development has its own unique benefits. For this question, your interviewer will be looking to hear that you understand just how a cloud based platform benefits the field. In your answer, focus on resources that impact both the work that the team at The Shelby Group performs and the end users of the software.

"As with any of the work that I have done in this field, I focus on the consumer and the benefits that they can reap from my work. In the cloud, updates to existing software are made available almost instantaneously and end users have access to those updates with the simple click of a button. Rewind to years prior, these software updates took time and manpower that are almost unthinkable by today's standards."

We are looking for innovators to join us here at The Shelby Group. 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 The Shelby Group 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 The Shelby Group.

"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."

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

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

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

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

Can you describe the software development lifecycle?

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

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

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

What skills do you use to cope with the day to day stress and pressure on the job?

"Where many others get overtaken by stress to the point that they can't function in this field, high pressure situations sharpen my focus and that helps me work through them with ease. Last year, I was assigned a high priority, short notice project for a high profile customer. My manager gave it to me because of my proven success in those situations. From the start, I created a timeline for completion and mapped out a plan to make it happen. While staying in communication with my leaders and the client, I was able to create a great system update in just a few short weeks."

In modern technology industries, consumer demand has led to high volume of work and high pressure situations to work on tight deadlines. To prove that you are able to handle high stress, high pressure situations on the job, your interviewer is looking to hear first hand how you handle this type of environment in your own words. As you answer the question, try to turn potential perceived stress into a positive by highlighting your personal skills that enable you to perform well in those situations. If possible, try to use specific examples in your answer.

"I am confident in high stress work situations because of my ability to adapt, communicate and be organized in my work. These skills came in very useful a few weeks ago when our support staff were experiencing an extremely high volume of help desk calls. My adaptability helped me go with the flow and handle items on at a time. My communication skills enabled me to quickly and efficiently call on needed support. My organization skills helped me be prepared for anything on that day and enabled me to work through tickets in a quick and efficient manner."

Our cloud computing at The Shelby Group requires our experts to take proper security measures in their work. What security measures are you familiar with utilizing in a cloud platform?

"For me, the planning stage of the cloud deployment process really sets the groundwork for security in a project. In my current role, each project adopts a cloud framework that suits the project the best. This framework is the base for our security measures in the cloud. From there, I always look to utilize a cloud service that encrypts our data and take all measures to steer away from storing sensitive information within the cloud. Last, as with any project, I help implement strict testing measures to check on the security of our cloud operations."

As with any server or database storage, unique security risks are posed to organizations that have moved their data and applications to the cloud. At The Shelby Group, part of your role will be to ensure that all security measures are in place with the organizations data in the cloud and your interviewer is looking to hear that you are familiar with diagnosing security risks and taking action to prevent them with this question. Talk about your knowledge of the different cloud service providers and other security measures that you are familiar with taking in your work.

"In my current role, the biggest security risks that we face are loss of sensitive data and malware infections. To take all security measures possible, our first plan of attack for security is to ensure that all of our data is backed up locally with electronic copies of data. To prevent malware in all ways possible, we have implemented a strict password strength policy and we install anti-virus software in our own equipment and recommend that customers do the same as well."

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 The Shelby Group 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."

This role with The Shelby Group is highly technical. What is your understanding of this position and the responsibilities that come with it?

"From our previous conversation, understanding the job description, and researching the role online I feel that the job is best described as a project leader focused on X, Y, and Z. The technical requirements that you would like to see are A, B, and C. I am well versed in the tasks and programs you are asking for and am confident that I meet the strict requirements to perform in this role successfully."

Assure the interviewer that you bring a full understanding of the technical requirements attached to this particular job. It is essential that you research the role and thoroughly consume the information provided in the company's job posting/job description. Keep your answer to the point.

"My understanding is that you seek a candidate with expert level skills in X, Y, and Z, who can train junior employees. I am an expert user in all three of these areas. Do you have any questions about my technical expertise?"

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

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

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

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

What is one unique personality trait you possess that would help you be successful in this role with The Shelby Group?

"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 The Shelby Group 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 The Shelby Group. 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."

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 The Shelby Group, 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."

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 a consultant with The Shelby Group, your role will be vital in gather information from our customers in building new technology for them. What would be your goals in an initial consultation with a new or existing client?

"As an experienced consultant looking to break into the technology field, I will break a lot of awesome client focused skills to your team. In an initial consultation, my number one goal is to learn the business of the client and listen to what they are looking for in my products. Once their need is known, I can knowledgeably speak to the products that I work with to help them create a custom solution to fit their needs. If hired for this position, my first order of business would be to work very closely with the design and engineering staff to know the possibilities of customization. From there, my natural ability to consult with clients would take over in a win-win situation for all involved."

Software consultants are the bridge between the end users and the development teams of new software to help come up with new and creative solutions for the business. In this role with The Shelby Group, you will be expected to live in two different worlds and this question focuses on how you will work with end users of the companies products. In an initial consultation, focus your efforts on how you will learn the business needs of the client, talk about what can potentially be offered and then how you will start the creative problem solving process with them.

"In consulting with a new client or an existing client looking for system modifications, my number one goal in a first meeting with them would be to lay the framework for how we will move forward and to set expectations moving forward. I would look to understand their business needs and talk with them about all of the solutions possible for them with us as their software provider. From there, I have the ability to set expectations on a time frame for a solution proposal and we can move forward from there. At the end of a first meeting, I want to ensure that the key decision makers are comfortable with me and the business that I represent so they don't hesitate to reach out to me with questions or for clarification on items discussed."

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 The Shelby Group, 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 The Shelby Group 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 The Shelby Group, 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."

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

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

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

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

The Shelby Group 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 The Shelby Group 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."

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

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

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

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

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, The Shelby Group 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."

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

"Looking to join the team here at The Shelby Group 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 The Shelby Group. 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 The Shelby Group. 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 The Shelby Group. 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."

The next cloud engineer that we hire here at The Shelby Group 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."

If hired here at The Shelby Group, what do you feel would be the biggest hurdle for you to overcome from the start?

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

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

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

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 The Shelby Group?

"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 The Shelby Group."

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 The Shelby Group 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.

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 The Shelby Group, 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."

The Shelby Group Interview Questions

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1. What SDLC models are you familiar in working with?
2. Tell me about a time that there was a delay in the project and how did you handle that delay?
3. Talk about your previous user interface design experience in detail. Why do you feel that this experience will translate well to this role with The Shelby Group?
4. If hired for this position at The Shelby Group, what leadership skills would you bring to our team?
5. How do you ensure that you have a healthy work-life balance in your career?
6. What do you see as the top benefits of moving to a cloud based computing platform?
7. We are looking for innovators to join us here at The Shelby Group. Where have you brought innovation in automation to a process in your career?
8. As the onsite consultant for our clients here at The Shelby Group, you may be privy to confidential information or data. How can we ensure that you will hold client data security in the highest confidence?
9. Can you describe the software development lifecycle?
10. What skills do you use to cope with the day to day stress and pressure on the job?
11. Our cloud computing at The Shelby Group requires our experts to take proper security measures in their work. What security measures are you familiar with utilizing in a cloud platform?
12. In your mind, when is monkey testing the most effective in testing new software?
13. This role with The Shelby Group is highly technical. What is your understanding of this position and the responsibilities that come with it?
14. Our implementation consultants here at The Shelby Group often face conflicts with our customers while onsite during implementations. What interpersonal skills do you use to handle conflicts with clients?
15. What is one unique personality trait you possess that would help you be successful in this role with The Shelby Group?
16. How would you handle a situation where a colleague was being very difficult to work with?
17. If you were asked to review a colleague's code that they had written, what key things would you look for?
18. As a consultant with The Shelby Group, your role will be vital in gather information from our customers in building new technology for them. What would be your goals in an initial consultation with a new or existing client?
19. 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?
20. In our consulting services here at The Shelby Group, we often have to work with people who aren't very tech savvy. How would you handle a situation like this if hired for this role?
21. The Shelby Group embraces an Agile environment. Explain your experience in Agile methodologies and why you think it is important.
22. Do you have experience working with different CASE tools? If so, what do you have experience with?
23. In your experience in software testing, would you consider yourself proficient in both testing and debugging processes?
24. If hired for this position here at The Shelby Group, would you be comfortable handling overall project manager responsibilities for new software development?
25. The next cloud engineer that we hire here at The Shelby Group 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?
26. If hired here at The Shelby Group, what do you feel would be the biggest hurdle for you to overcome from the start?
27. 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 The Shelby Group?
28. What software analysis and design tools do you have familiarity working with?

The Shelby Group Interview Questions

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

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

3. Talk about your previous user interface design experience in detail. Why do you feel that this experience will translate well to this role with The Shelby Group?

4. If hired for this position at The Shelby Group, what leadership skills would you bring to our team?

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

6. What do you see as the top benefits of moving to a cloud based computing platform?

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

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

9. Can you describe the software development lifecycle?

10. What skills do you use to cope with the day to day stress and pressure on the job?

11. Our cloud computing at The Shelby Group requires our experts to take proper security measures in their work. What security measures are you familiar with utilizing in a cloud platform?

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

13. This role with The Shelby Group is highly technical. What is your understanding of this position and the responsibilities that come with it?

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

15. What is one unique personality trait you possess that would help you be successful in this role with The Shelby Group?

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

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

18. As a consultant with The Shelby Group, your role will be vital in gather information from our customers in building new technology for them. What would be your goals in an initial consultation with a new or existing client?

19. 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?

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

21. The Shelby Group embraces an Agile environment. Explain your experience in Agile methodologies and why you think it is important.

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

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

24. If hired for this position here at The Shelby Group, would you be comfortable handling overall project manager responsibilities for new software development?

25. The next cloud engineer that we hire here at The Shelby Group 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?

26. If hired here at The Shelby Group, what do you feel would be the biggest hurdle for you to overcome from the start?

27. 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 The Shelby Group?

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