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2,159 principal software engineer interview questions shared by candidates

The 1.5-hour pair programming question was not like your typical LeetCode question. It simulated a type of problem that you would solve at a bank/credit card company. The focus was algorithmic implementation; not so much OOP concepts.
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Principal Software Engineer

Interviewed at Capital One

3★
Dec 17, 2024

The 1.5-hour pair programming question was not like your typical LeetCode question. It simulated a type of problem that you would solve at a bank/credit card company. The focus was algorithmic implementation; not so much OOP concepts.

Tech Topics: Microservice Architecture, Domain-Driven Design, Event-driven architecture, CQRS, Cloud services, Containerization, C# language (in-depth), Maintainable code, API design, RESTful services, CQS, Design Patterns, SOLID principles, Information hiding, Test-Driven Development, Unit testing, CI/CD, Specific services such as service bus, Redis, RabbitMQ, virtual machines, switches. DevOps. Azure/AWS. Database design, performance, versioning, and schema updates. iHerb current and future architecture. Dev/Collaboration Topics: Software Development Lifecycle: Analysis-Design-Implementation-Deployment, Code reviews, Scrum/Agile Practices, My strong points, My weak points. How I handle conflict or under-performing workmates. Do I enjoy mentoring and teaching? What are my objectives in applying for iHerb? Given a theoretical set of requirements, how would I translate those into an architectural design? How would I name methods and organize namespaces?
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Principal Software Engineer

Interviewed at iHerb

3.8★
Dec 16, 2020

Tech Topics: Microservice Architecture, Domain-Driven Design, Event-driven architecture, CQRS, Cloud services, Containerization, C# language (in-depth), Maintainable code, API design, RESTful services, CQS, Design Patterns, SOLID principles, Information hiding, Test-Driven Development, Unit testing, CI/CD, Specific services such as service bus, Redis, RabbitMQ, virtual machines, switches. DevOps. Azure/AWS. Database design, performance, versioning, and schema updates. iHerb current and future architecture. Dev/Collaboration Topics: Software Development Lifecycle: Analysis-Design-Implementation-Deployment, Code reviews, Scrum/Agile Practices, My strong points, My weak points. How I handle conflict or under-performing workmates. Do I enjoy mentoring and teaching? What are my objectives in applying for iHerb? Given a theoretical set of requirements, how would I translate those into an architectural design? How would I name methods and organize namespaces?

Round 1: coding round, 2 leetcode problem, 1 medium, 1 hard - Leetcode no - 64. Minimum Path Sum,295. Find Median from Data Stream Round 2: HM round, current project and some design questions Round 3: Architect round, current project and LeetCode Medium 240. Search a 2D Matrix II Round 4: Current project and Kafka Internals
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Principal Software Engineer

Interviewed at Saviynt

4★
Jul 29, 2025

Round 1: coding round, 2 leetcode problem, 1 medium, 1 hard - Leetcode no - 64. Minimum Path Sum,295. Find Median from Data Stream Round 2: HM round, current project and some design questions Round 3: Architect round, current project and LeetCode Medium 240. Search a 2D Matrix II Round 4: Current project and Kafka Internals

1) How would you parse a large (60GB) log file into a csv and what language would you use for it. 2) Describe what happens in the browser when a user visits an address. The questions are senior level at most. Also, tip, even though the first question is more of a sysadmin than developer one make sure to answer that you'd use JavaSCript because to them, JavaScript is the best thing since sliced bread. The interviewers felt like they were senior devs with inflated titles. The questions should be easy but they are really look for something very specific and something that they themselves understand.
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Principal Developer

Interviewed at Security Compass

4.1★
Apr 2, 2023

1) How would you parse a large (60GB) log file into a csv and what language would you use for it. 2) Describe what happens in the browser when a user visits an address. The questions are senior level at most. Also, tip, even though the first question is more of a sysadmin than developer one make sure to answer that you'd use JavaSCript because to them, JavaScript is the best thing since sliced bread. The interviewers felt like they were senior devs with inflated titles. The questions should be easy but they are really look for something very specific and something that they themselves understand.

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