Welcome to the Treehouse Community

The Treehouse Community is a meeting place for developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels to get support. Collaborate here on code errors or bugs that you need feedback on, or asking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project. Join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today. (Note: Only Treehouse students can comment or ask questions, but non-students are welcome to browse our conversations.)

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and a supportive community. Start your free trial today.

Business Careers Foundations Careers in the Tech Industry Careers in Mobile Development

Sean Kelley
Sean Kelley
7,118 Points
Posted by Sean Kelley
Sean Kelley
7,118 Points

Programming Interview Questions

Hi all, I am a university student and aspiring Android/Web developer. Next school year, I will be applying for internships, primarily software engineering internships that specialize in Android.

My question to you is this: How much time should I devote to preparing for Programming based questions? I know Java literacy is important, but I don't really have a good metric for how much time I should spend preparing for them for an Android-related position. I have spent some time on Coderbyte, doing some of the Java challenges, but I'm wondering if it is even worth my time.

This isn't the most specific question, but I would appreciate any feedback from somebody who has been down this road before.

1 Answer

Dane Parchment
MOD
Dane Parchment
Treehouse Moderator 11,023 Points
Dane Parchment
Dane Parchment
Treehouse Moderator 11,023 Points

Well if you are applying to be a Software Engineer expect questions in the following categories:

  • Data Structures: LinkedLists, Queues, Nodes, Stacks, Arrays, etc.
  • Bit Manipulation: Left Shifts, Right Shifts, XOR, AND, OR, etc.
  • Object Oriented Programming: Polymorphism, Encapsulation, probably design a small OOP program (most often chess), etc.
  • General Math/Logic Questions: Fizzbuzz, Logic Puzzles, etc.
  • Language Specific Questions: How do you write a class in Java, write a method in C, etc. (it will be your general language preference, though sometimes they may ask you questions in relation to the job you apply for)
  • Algorithms: Big O Notation, Algorithm Design, Algorithms Speed/Efficiency, etc.

Because you want to do web stuff, you may be asked questions that may ask you about DOM manipulation, Web Servers, Applets and Servlets, etc.