Technical Interviewing Guide

Technical Interviewing Guide

How to use this guide 

Technical interviews have expanded to include a wide breadth of definitions. For this guide, we define technical interviews as interviews that focus on your problem-solving approach and ask questions related to technical knowledge and skills in your industry. 

The resources below are organized by the type of technical interview and relevant skills you will be using within the role. 

What is technical interviewing? 

Technical interviews are a broad term for interviews that focus on technical knowledge and skills in your industry. Different roles may have different technical interviews depending on the skills being assessed.   

For example, if you are interviewing for a Software Engineering role, you may be asked to code for prompts using a particular programming language. Your work would be observed by a technical programming interviewer; generally, a Senior Software Engineer who uses the same programming language. 

Types of technical interviews may include programming/coding, hardware, product management, data science, machine learning, system design, and more. 

How do technical interviews differ from behavioral interviews? 

Behavioral interviews ask open ended questions to learn more about your past experiences and responses in various job-related situations. In behavioral interviews, you may tell a story that highlights your skills while in technical interviews you will demonstrate your skills by solving problems, communicating your approach, and receiving feedback.  

What should you expect? 

You can expect a technical interview for (almost) any technical role. Internships or full-time jobs with any technical skill requirements or qualifications will likely have a technical interview and each company has their own approach to technical interviewing, including the format and number of technical interviews they will hold. You may apply to a company who holds one technical interview and another that leans toward two, three, or even more.  

The role you are applying to may tell you more about the number of technical interviews you may be asked to complete; the more entry level the role, the fewer technical interviews you might expect.  

  • Internships: you can expect at least one technical interview. This does not include any initial technical assessments you are given as part of the application. 
  • Full-time roles: you can expect at least two or three. If you are applying to a more senior level role you can expect more technical interviews. 

You can always reach out to the company point of contact or recruiter you have been communicating with during the hiring process to ask more details about their technical interviews. It is also a good idea to connect with industry professionals at the company to gain insight into the technical interview process. 

How to prepare for any technical interview

The general themes below will help you be organized and better prepared for any type of technical interview. 

  1. Practice regularly
    • Consistent practice with a variety of problems, prompts and scenarios. 
    • Simulate interview conditions to build confidence by practicing in a blank document, dry erase board, or other medium. 
  2. Understand the job requirements
    • Thoroughly review the job posting and required qualifications. 
    • Tailor your preparation to align with the specific role. 
  3. Showcase Your Projects  
    • Highlight relevant projects on your resume and be prepared to discuss them in detail. 
    • Use an ePortfolio to showcase your work and technical skills. 
  4. Stay Updated with Industry Trends  
    • Establish your knowledge of current technologies, trends, challenges, industry terms and language, and best practices. 
  5. Demonstrate Problem Solving 
    • Highlight your approach to navigating challenges. 
    • Be open to feedback and demonstrate your ability to collaborate. 
    • Be curious and show your interest in continued learning. 
  6. Communicate Effectively 
    • Practice explaining your thought process and solutions clearly. Think out loud. 
    • Describe your experiences working in a team including the role you usually take within a team. 
    • Deliver complex information in simple terms with a nontechnical audience in mind. 

Key Skills, Topics and Resources for Types of Technical Interviews

Key Skills and Topics 

  • Programming Languages: Proficiency in languages like Java, Python, C++, etc. 
  • Algorithms and Data Structures: Understanding of sorting, searching, trees, graphs, and dynamic programming. 
  • System Design: Basic knowledge of designing scalable systems. (Typically for mid to senior level roles) 

Key Resources to Prepare 

  • Books: “Cracking the Coding Interview” by Gayle Laakmann McDowell, “Programming Interviews Exposed” by John Mongan. 
  • Platforms with Paywall: 
  • Additional Experiences: Hackathons, data challenges 

Key Skills and Topics 

  • Programming Languages: Python (algorithms and data structures), SQL, and optionally R (depends upon the position). 
  • Data Analysis and Manipulation: Data preprocessing, feature engineering. 
  • Statistics and Probability: Fundamental concepts and probability. 
  • Machine Learning (optional depending on position): Regression, classification, clustering, model evaluation, and hyperparameter turning. 

Key Resources to Prepare 

  • Books: “Cracking the Data Science Interview” by Maverick Lin. 

Key Skills and Topics 

  • Data Manipulation: Data cleaning, transformation, interpretation. 
  • Statistical Analysis: Fundamental statistical concepts and methods. 
  • Data Visualization: Creating visualizations using Tableau, Power BI, Python libraries. 
  • Technical Tools: Excel, SQL, Python, R. 

Key Resources to Prepare 

  • Books: “Cracking the Data Science Interview” by Maverick Lin. 

Key Skills and Topics 

  • Technical Concepts: System development processes, system design, basic coding principles. 
  • Product Development: Product design, strategy, go-to-market strategy, user research. 
  • Product Lifecycle: Prioritization, roadmap planning, user experience. 

Key Resources to Prepare 

  • Courses: Coursera product management courses. 
  • Books: “Cracking the PM Interview” by Gayle Laakmann McDowell and Jackie Bavaro. 

Key Skills and Topics 

  • Technical Concepts: Concrete technology, structural design, AutoCAD proficiency. 
  • Civil Engineering Principles: Fluid mechanics, materials science, structural analysis, construction methods, materials and processes. 

Key Resources to Prepare 

Key Skills and Topics 

  • Fundamental Principles: Beam equations, stress-strain, conservation of energy, free body diagrams. 
  • Technical Areas: Thermodynamics and heat transfer, fluid mechanics, mechanics of materials, mechanical design, control systems, automation, materials science, manufacturing processes. 

Key Resources to Prepare 

Key Skills and Topics 

  • Medical Device Design: Design principles, prototyping, testing, research or clinical trials. 
  • Materials Science: Properties, application, and selection criteria of polymers, metals, and ceramics. 
  • Biomechanics: Anatomy and physiology, analysis, and design. 
  • Software Skills: CAD tools, MATLAB, LabVIEW, SolidWorks. 
  • Regulatory and Ethical Knowledge: FDA standards, ISO certifications, ethical considerations, safety and compliance. 

Key Resources to Prepare 

Key Skills and Topics 

  • Fundamental Hardware Knowledge: Core components like CPUs, RAM, storage, and peripheral devices like external drives. 
  • Troubleshooting and Repair: Diagnostic skills, repair techniques. 
  • System Design and Architecture: Building and configuring systems, network configuration. 
  • Technical Proficiency: Software tools for diagnostics and management, various operating systems’ hardware requirements. 

Key Resources to Prepare 

  • Forums: Reddit threads on hardware engineering interviews. 

Key Skills and Topics 

  • Material Properties: Mechanical, thermal, electrical, and optical properties. 
  • Structure-Property Relationships: Atomic or molecular level structure impacts other properties. 
  • Characterization Techniques: Microscopy, spectroscopy. 
  • Processing and Fabrication: Casting, forging, welding, additive manufacturing, phase diagrams and predictions. 
  • Failure Analysis and Testing: Failure mechanisms like fatigue, creep, and corrosion, testing methods like tensile, compression, impact tests, and non-destructive testing. 
  • Software Tools: CAD, MATLAB 

Key Resources to Prepare 

Using Gen AI to prepare for technical interviews

Gen AI constantly evolves based on the data it is trained on and is becoming more and more in demand as people discover the capacity to integrate it into day-to-day activities including writing, research, coding, designing, and more.   

This section provides example prompts to use with Gen AI when preparing for technical interviews. The example prompts provided have been tested using Microsoft Co-Pilot; it is free for Duke users. Before using the prompts provided, or for any purpose, please review the cautions listed below.   


Gen AI Cautions  

  1. Be mindful of the platform(s) you use and its limitations.   
  2. Plagiarism is still possible when duplicating Gen AI’s writing. Make sure you edit and review any Gen AI created writing to make it your own.  
  3. Hallucinations are real with Gen AI. It will make things up, with confidence, if it does not know.  
  4. Ethics is a concern with Gen AI. It is not a replacement for your original words, thinking, information, and writing. If an application asks if you used Gen AI, be honest and share if you did and, if so, what you used it for. If an application requests that you don’t use Gen AI, don’t use it. Transparent communication about the use of Gen AI increases your ethical integrity.  
  5. Use critical thinking when evaluating Gen AI’s writing. Does it make sense? What do you know about the topic to help you determine if the content is accurate and at the level you want it to be? 
  6. Use for both practicing and learning technical interview questions. Ensure you are consulting resources outside of Gen AI, like our Technical Interview Guide, to confirm the integrity of its content.  
  7. The more specific your prompts, the more Gen AI can provide helpful and customized writing. 

  • Each company may have a different number of interview rounds. Each of these interviews may mean that you are meeting with an individual person or group of people.    
  • You can ask questions about the format/structure of an interview in advance if it is not provided to you.    
  • For example: Will this be a one-on-one or group interview? Can you share the names and titles of the people I will be meeting?    
  • You may be asked to provide a sample of your coding/programming/design work and walk a panel of interviewers through it. They will ask you technical questions throughout.    
  • If this is the case, you will know in advance to bring a section of code or a design product with you. If possible, select work that is related to the role/work you are applying for. Practice walking through the code/design by providing…   
    • Situational context/background   
    • Task at hand or what the code/design was meant to achieve   
    • Walk through the work, explaining how and why you did what you did.   
    • This may also involve explaining what a line of code is doing/performing.   
    • Be prepared for technical follow-up questions.    
    • Share the end result of the code/design to note that it did (or did not) achieve the goal.  
  • Some companies may focus on behavioral and technical interviews separately while others may combine these.    
  • To learn more about format, structure, and expectations for technical interviews, visit our Technical Interviewing Guide. 

Example Prompts  

We have provided some example prompts by area of interview preparation. Start with these and fill in the [blanks] with information specific to your needs to quickly begin tech interview prep with Gen AI.

As technical skills change, and your knowledge and comfort with platforms change, you are the expert on the skills you need and want to practice for technical interviews.   

If you are unsure what skills to practice, review the job postings you are applying to carefully. Previously, students have practiced skills in: Python, Java, SQL, R, CAD, MatLAB, Stata, PowerBi, Tableau, Firma, Ruby, and Swift to name a few.   

Skill Prompt #1: Practice a skill  

I would like to practice the following technical skills: [insert list of technical skills] for an upcoming technical interview. Please provide me a list of the most popular practice technical interview questions for these skills and tips for answering them.  

Skill Prompt #2: Practice a skill related to job role and company  

I am interviewing for a [role title] role at [company name]. Please provide practice technical interview questions that cover the skills outlined in the job description [insert job description].   

Interview processes vary by company and job role. Networking with contacts, attending information sessions, and asking recruiters within a company will be helpful in learning more about the interview process.

Tech Assessment Prompt #1: Prep for an auto sent tech assessment 

I recently applied to a(n) [insert title internship/job] and would like to prepare for an initial technical assessment. Please walk me through a series of technical questions, one at a time, that may be found on an application screening assessment for this tech role.    

Tech Assessment Prompt #2: Follow-up with more job detail  

These questions have been helpful. I applied to a [insert job role/title] role at [insert company name]. Please adjust the initial technical screening assessment questions to align with the company’s needs.   

First Round Prompt #1: Prep with job title and company  

I have my first technical interview with [insert company name] for the [insert title internship/job]. Please help me prepare for first round technical questions by asking me a series of questions, allowing me to respond, and providing answers, tips and hints along the way.   

First Round Prompt #2: Follow-up with more specific ask  

Will you adjust your questions to include coding prompts?   

First Round Prompt #3: More specific ask 

I was told that [insert company name] might ask me about [insert skill or other area to practice] as part of the interview for the [insert title of internship/job]. Please create a specific, in-depth series of questions on this area. Ask the question, allow me to respond, and provide feedback as I work through the provided questions. Once complete, please share overall feedback on my performance and any further practice suggestions you might have. 

  Final Round Prompt #1: Prep with higher level tech questions  

I made it to the final round interview for the [insert job title internship/job]. I really need to practice higher level technical questions for [insert job/internship title] roles. Please provide a series of technical questions, including coding prompts, one at a time to help me prepare for this final interview.  

Final Round Prompt #2: Focus on specific area 

I made it to the final round interview for the [insert job title internship/job]. In my last interview, they asked me about [insert skill or experience]. I would like to focus my practice on this skill by completing a series of higher level technical questions. Please provide a series of technical questions, including coding prompts where appropriate, one at a time to help me prepare for this final interview.  Once complete, please share overall feedback on my performance and any further practice suggestions you might have. 

Job Role related prompt(s) follow the same general concepts of writing a good prompt: detailed, specific, concise. Use the prompt templates below to guide job role technical interview preparation.   

  Job Role Prompt #1: Prep for a specific job  

I am preparing for technical interviews as a [insert internship/job title]. Please ask me a series of questions, one at a time, with progressing difficulty, to help me prepare.   

 Job Role Prompt #2: Create a schedule program and include job posting and your resume  

I have a technical interview for [insert internship/job title]. This is the job posting including technical qualifications and requirements [copy job description]. I’m also providing my [copy resume or link to ePortfolio] so you can learn my background and experience. Based on this information, create a preparation program for me to follow over the next [insert amount of time]. The program should include a schedule, questions, feedback, and progressive difficulty. I can spend a total of [insert number of hours] preparing.  

Job Role Prompt #3: Job role with specific skill and performance summary  

I am interviewing for a [insert internship/job title] and want to develop my technical skills in [insert specific area]. Give me a series of questions, one at a time, to answer and provide me with feedback. Once the series of questions is complete, provide me a summary of my areas of success and my areas of growth. Include helpful texts, articles, or online resources to help me with my growth areas.