Computing & IT Interview Questions & Answers

There were three interviews, one primary phone interview with a recruiter, a technical phone interview then a 3D CV and personality interview at the assessment day.

None of these were particularly hard, the phone interview was with an engineer so you cant blag your way through this one! The 3D CV was with one of many assessors inside tesco who work in IT.

The technical question provided was the most difficult which asked about why, how and the considerations required for Tesco moving their IT services to the cloud.

If going for a techncial role make sure to find out definites such as languages you may be required to know and accurate details. Also make sure to prepare more for the technical question than the 3D CV.

I recently applied to Tesco's graduate software engineer scheme and was unsuccessful but this is not the focus of my complaint. My complaint is with regard to the recruitment process, how it was handled and the feedback provided.

First, I was scheduled for a phone interview, I rescheduled my work and day around the interview but never received a phone call or email. I left a message for the recruiter and attempted to call her multiple times over the following days to no avail and only received contact back via email the next week (4-5 days after the scheduled date).

Second, after being sucessful in the telephone interviews I was given less than 48 hours notice that I was to attend an assessment day, leaving me no time to prepare anything as I was out for the whole day when I recieved the email and working the day before the assessment day. When I got to the assessment day I found everyone else had at least a week to prepare.

Third, I was told during the phone interviews that I could carry out the programming task in a language of my choosing (C#), when I got to the assessment day I was told to use a different language (Java) that I had never used before and a different editor, so I was immediately at a huge disadvantage to the other participants who had used the language before or were told the language they would be using. This fact was also not reflected in the feedback which stated that I required a lot of help with syntax and the editor, which is to be expected when I am using a different language in a different editor.

Fourth, when I replied to the recruiter, telling her my thoughts on the feedback she provided more verbal feedback which said: "completed the task in java which he had a knowledge of". This is untrue, I have never used Java before the assessment day and having to complete a task in another language and editor no matter the similarities is unfair. Which also makes it seem like some of the feedback provided is false or blanket statements as her verbal feedback stated I had a knowledge when I made it clear to the assessor that I had no knowledge or experience with it at all.

It is fair to say the entire process has been nothing but hassle, wasting my time and providing no helpful feedback to improve myself.

There were several interviews, some with senior management. A little time was spent discussing my background and experience but the majority was going through the solutions I had come up with during the problem solving exercises. They would challenge points you had made, ask you to expand on certain ideas and push you to make further refinements and improvements to your initial answers.

One of the tests and subsequent interviews was an abstract problem solving exercise which involved having to decode an 'alien' numbering system to answer the questions.

Other than the presentation (which doesn't carry too much weight overall) you can't really prepare or practise much. Essentially you just have to be intelligent enough and display 'blue sky ' problem solving skills (their words).

The first stage was an online aptitude test, essentially an IQ test. The second stage was at one of their offices. It featured a longer version of the online test, two problem solving exercises and then interviews based largely around the exercises. The third stage featured 3 more problem solving exercises, giving a half hour presentation and more interviews around the exercises with senior management.

Initially I had a phone interview which was competence based. Basically you get questions like: Tell me about a situation when.. someone was treated unfairly? What did you do? etc Very few questions about your previous work experience.

Then I have been invited to assessment day where I had lots of different questions like, there are 4 groups of questions they ask, technical, competence, and two more which I can't quite remember.

Tell me about a situation when someone was treated unfairly, what did you do?
Tell me about your presentation skills, what feedback did you get after your recent presentation?
Why do you want to work for HP?
Describe a situation when you had to make a difficult decision, what was the outcome?

You have to look at their corporate values + volunteering they do, you will probably get questions about it.

We had interviews first, then 20min long presentations, then about 10 people in a group for a group task which was quite simple.

A very relaxed phone interview with basic interview questions. Plenty of feedback and was more of a conversation than an interview.

Used the obvious interview formula of eduacation, work experience and general CV questions.

Some basic programming questions but nothing too technical. During the phone interview they take into account your knowledge of Java.

Explain object oriented programming to me as if I was a beginner.

If you have never used Java before don't bother turning up. I was assured that my experience in other programming paridigms would be fine... except it wasn't. The interview was 70% Java specific questions and the Java test was all about syntax and code specific questions. Considering from my initial application to assessment day I had 2 days to prepare, my crash course in OO programming failed. My advise would be make sure you know Java backwards and in the assessment day don't get exploited. I am good at video editing so ended up stuffed with 3 video tasks and a debate which was simply too much - I should have flagged this but was conducting my interview whilst tasks were dished out. I therefore had no time to prepare my part of the presentation and obviously it was far from polished.

When you arrive you receive a quick presentation about NetBuilder. Next stage is to conduct a technical Java test. After this you are handed a booklet outlining around 20 tasks that need to be fulfilled before the end of the day - past that you are given no guidance. The only requirements are that you need to elect a team leader and create a timetable to schedule everyone to have an interview. The tasks include creating a video advertisement and a song among other fun activities. However the clear problem with this system is that the only way to complete eveything on time is to split up the tasks and the two assesors are also conducting interviews in parallel. This means you are barely (if at all) assessed during the day, instead marked on the Java test, presentation and interview.

Applied online and received a callback almost immediately.

Organised a 10 minute phone interview which consisted of very typical questions about why I wanted to work for FDM and what my degree was etc. Received an invitation to an assessment centre a few days after this.

The assessment centre started at 8:45am and finished at around 3pm. It consisted of a logical test, a maths test, a venn diagram test and a set of three 5-minute interviews

Would you compromise the quality of your work in order to meet a deadline?

What does success look like?

Read up on the company beforehand and prepare yourself for a lot of time 'learning without earning'. The 'deal' here is that you receive up to 16 weeks of unpaid (!) training, after which you will be placed with one of FDM's affiliated companies. On the day you start your placement, you enter a two year contract with FDM, during which time you may potentially be relocated anywhere within the UK. You are given a £500 bonus upon the acceptance of your first placement but as far as I can gather you receive no further financial help if you need to relocate again. Cancelling the contract can also incur a fine of up to £20,000 which they claim is the cost of the training. They aren't trying to catch anyone out and are very upfront about these terms, but it still seems like a bit of a rum deal.

Practice your mental maths, make sure you know basic computer-related acronyms (HTTP, HTML, SQL etc).

The three interviews are only five minutes long but consist of scripted questions. This means the interviewers will not ask you for further information about anything you mention, so make sure you embellish! They also won't have read your CV (for fairness, apparently) so make sure to point out anything that was on there that is relevant to the questions.

The assessment centre began with an introduction to the company, followed by a logic test lasting around an hour. The test was for both technical and business streams and so there was a range of questions. Some were flow-chart/pseudocode based, some were definitions, one was an anagram!

The test was followed by the interview stage. There were three separate rooms with three separate interviews, each focused on a different aspect of the job. One was about your education and degree, one was more about FDM and why you wanted to work for them and one was more situation-based, posing hypothetical workplace issues and asking how you'd deal with them. This was followed by a lunch break

After the lunch break, there were two more tests. One was a set notation and venn diagram test and mostly involved shading in the correct region of venn diagrams. There was an instruction booklet that came with this, if needed. There was also a maths test based at GCSE level to be done without a calculator, involving questions on Pythagoras' theorem and simultaneous equations etc.

My phone interview was with an outsourced company based overseas. They were very friendly and asked basic competency questions, details about me, my motivations..etc. They heavily emphasised the use of the STAR technique for answering their questions. It was nothing technical.
Just be friendly and confident.

To be honest they were all run of the mill, so it was pretty easy to prepare for. I guess the hardest for me personally (due to only having one example) was to describe a time when I have worked in a team with a member not pulling their weight, how I approached this situation, and what was the outcome?

Be prepared, read up about the company.
Make sure you have commercial awareness of the industry.
Get your personal brand on point - make out that your values match those of the company.
And be nice!

There was an individual presentation based on some literature you are given for 45 mins beforehand. You prepare your presentation using power point, and present only to one interviewer. There was also a group task where you are watched by three assessors. In the group task you are given a project and have to devise a plan for that project within around 20 minutes. Then finally there were speed dating styled one on one interviews with competency and technical questions.

The first step I took was to apply online, after that I got an email asking me if I would to attend an assessment centre at the HQ in Leeds. I booked the assessment day online using the link that the Asda Graduate team provided. There were no personality questionnaires or online tests during the process, just apply online and invited to assessment centre also know as Asda Reality.

The day comprised of the following (which I will discuss in more detail later on):
· Group discussions - these can involve the whole candidate group or smaller sub-groups who must work together to meet an Asda challenge
· One-to-one meetings - You will work with another candidate to come up with some solutions to a range of issues
· Interview - You will spend some time with an Asda manager to explore your application in greater depth

IMPORTANT (the attachment below is what was provided to me before the day. Pre-work)
http://adeel718.com/docs/Graduate%20Reality%20Pre%20Work.pdf

The penny-wise scenario is important and the exercises carried out on the day was based on this scenario.

Group Exercise 1 - A handful of pennies was provided to us, there were many challenges and as a group we had to figure out a strategy on how the challenges could be met, i.e. work as a group but complete as many challenges as possible within 5 mins, or work individually but have more time to complete as many challenges in 15 mins, or work in a sub-group with time limit of 10 mins. After the strategy was decided (as a team), the team decided to work as a group, the list of challenges was given to us from which we could complete as many challenges in which ever order. 1st challenge, line up the pennies in 1 row with 8 pennies, now stack the pennies so that they are in groups of two's (you can only move the pennies in one direction). 2nd challenge, you have a total of £1.20 with 2 coins, one of them is not a £1 coin, what are the 2 coins?. 3rd challenge, create a rectangle with the pennies (4x5 rows) now create a square by only removing 6 of the pennies.

The other exercises were related to team decision making and showing that you are a leader, a quick example if that every team member is given a different option or decision Asda can make based on a Scenario that is given to you at the assessment centre, You have to pick out the advantages and disadvantages of each option on how this could impact Asda etc and discuss the findings with the rest of the team. The scenario I had was on how Asda could meets its challenge of bringing more to the community, more jobs, less waste etc. The option I had was giving more money to diary farmers who produce the milk. Some other member had the option of setting up a web-cam so that shoppers can see live chicks in farms, which would in return create IT jobs (maintaining the web cams) etc.

The last exercise was again based on your leaderships skills, each member was given a scenario and a range of options/ actions that I could take depending on what I seemed best fit for the business and its customers. The scenario I had was on the Grants that Asda gives to individual charities, The amount of applicants for the grants has fallen over the past few years and it is my duty to increase the number of charities that apply for the grant, the options are: advertise the grant to increase awareness, create a web-site, decrease the value of the grant, increase the value of the grant. Since you are the project manager it is your decision on what option should be taken.

Lastly the interview. The type of questions that were asked at the interview were things like, 'how did you find about this role?' , 'how did you find the activities and how well do you think you have done?'. More questions about the skills that I have and what I can bring to Asda, things like 'Tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision?'' and 'Tell me about a time when you had to handle the costs of something?', 'Tell me about a time when you had to remain confident'.

The interview lasted around 45 mins and we were given a tour around Asda House.

Tips:
Remain confident, and show the assessors that you are prepared and are driven to becoming a leader, they want to see your leadership skills and how you can make an impact to the business. Please remember to consider the customers when making decisions or answering questions.

Describe a time when you had to manage the costs of something, for example when you were given the responsibility to manage costs.

Be confident. Show you leadership side and make sure you remember the customers when making decisions.

There were 5 people in the team and occasionally we were split in to one group of 2 and one group of three during the exercises but then had to come back together as a team to discuss our ideas etc. During the exercises we sometimes had to write down our ideas on paper or the flip-board.

The assessors were very friendly. Over all the day lasted approximately 5 hours.

The interview consisted of a short discussion with three members of the company. The graduate scheme was mainly operated by the tutor and a small number of other staff members who also carried out work / taught some of the modules you had to study alongside the job during the scheme.

It began with an overview of my CV and a discussion about my experiences at uni, commercial work and the kind of work that I wished to pursue. The panel asked generic questions like why they should employ me, what I would do with unhappy clients, how well I work with other people and examples of when I have worked with other people that have gone well and bad (and what I had learnt from them - this came up in several of my interviews).

The technical task process was very poorly organised, the interviewer was an elderly man and clearly disliked me so treated me in a bad manner. The work I was presenting on the board was correct but he spoke down to me regularly and at one point called mey ideas stupid (to which at that point I had had enough and called him stupid and asked not to be spoken to like that...).

The interview was rounded up with a small discussion about myself, to which they didn't pay much interest!

The technical task wasn't too difficult, just be sure to be prepared for things you may overlook in your preparation due to thinking you have it down perfectly! The hardest question I encountered was "Give us an example of a piece of work which went well and a piece that went bad, with the approaches you'd take to make them better and how you could incorporate teamwork into the process"

Seemed like a big question at the time and took me a bit to think about and process my answer in my head!

Be prepared for anything, some companies I had interviews for were genuinely lovely people - even if I wasn't appropriate enough for the job.

The interview in my opinion was very bad. I was spoken to in a rude manner before I had a chance to even show my abilities, it wasn't like I hadn't made an effort either as I had dressed well and was well spoken.

I am glad I had this interview as it made me realise how some companies employ graduates and push them around at such low rates of pay (this was £14,000!). If you don't like a companies ways, go elsewhere - I'm now with a lovely company, there's plenty of better people out there!

The interview was unique to any other I've experienced. With no prior warning or any real understanding of what to expect, I was placed into different rooms, completing mathematical exams and solving problems. The interview was not focused upon the role at all, nor were questions asked about myself.

In the UK, approximately how many lamp posts are there?

My advice to anyone applying to this company would be to have no expectations, because it is beyond anything I expected. I would say to 'think outside of the box' and don't expect a regular interview!

I was asked to complete a mathematical examination, within 15 minutes whilst someone watched.
Then I was placed into another room and asked to work out how many lamp posts are in the UK without any figures or materials.
Lastly, I was told that if I had 3 jars of marbles with green, red and red/green assortments, how many marbles would I need to remove to ascertain which jar was which if I knew that every label was incorrect.

Applied online, did the tests, phone interview, then waited like 5 months for further info as they kept pushing back their deadline date with no mention to the fact, going months without updates. Really do not recommend if you like being in any way valued, as opposed to being just another resource.

Dealing with an uncooperative/struggling person - the struggling person part was a follow up and quite interesting as it's not an angle i'd come across for that question

Know about all the different services and competitors, it shows good awareness, and the interviewers were impressed by my ability to talk somewhat in depth about the field.

otherwise don't be afraid to take the lead in the group exercise, but make sure not to overpower others, as they will notice this. Rather try to make sure peoples voices are heard - facilitate rather than dictate

Standard assessment centre stuff, group exercise with about 5/6 others where you had to plan a project, and presentation followed by competency based interview with some forays into technical project management stuff - pretty much as you'd expect.