Interview Questions Flashcards
(3 cards)
Given that this is an agency role where you’ll face different challenges daily, how do you approach unfamiliar technology or problems?
When approaching unfamiliar technologies or challenges, I rely on a few strategies. First, I break the problem down into manageable parts to understand its core components. Then, I research the problem by reading documentation, forums, and looking at similar projects.
I find that working through problems in small chunks allows me to get a better grasp of the solution. If I hit a roadblock, I often ask for help—either by reaching out to colleagues or looking for open-source solutions. I find that the development community is very collaborative, and many challenges have already been addressed in some way.
For example, if I had to work with a new API I’ve never used before, I would start by reading through the API documentation thoroughly, exploring sample code, and then experimenting in a local environment to see how it behaves with the specific requirements of the project. I also use tools like Postman to test API endpoints before integrating them into the code.
I think it’s important to remain adaptable and stay open to learning, especially in an agency environment where new technologies and challenges are part of the daily grind.
Can you give us an example of a time when your initial technical solution didn’t work out, and you had to pivot?
ah, definitely. On the travel app, one of the early features I implemented was itinerary autosave using localStorage. The idea was to let users build quick, anonymous itineraries without logging in — which worked well at first.
But once I added more dynamic data like geolocation, weather forecasts, and image uploads, things started breaking. localStorage wasn’t enough — data size limits, poor serialization, and issues with restoring complex states like nested arrays and dates.
So I pivoted to a hybrid approach:
- For short-term anonymous sessions, I switched to IndexedDB using a lightweight wrapper to store richer JSON structures.
- For logged-in users, I moved the save/load logic to the backend with versioning.
This gave me more control, better reliability, and let me sync anonymous sessions to a user account later if they chose to sign up.
It was a classic example of building something fast, seeing where it broke, and redesigning it in a way that scaled better.
Can you talk about how you collaborate with others on technical problems, even if the project is your own?
Absolutely. Even though this travel planning app is something I’m building solo, I approach it like I would in a team — with structure, documentation, and regular feedback.
For example, when I was working on the cost-splitting feature, I hit a point where I wasn’t sure how to model group expenses in a way that could scale across multiple users and days. Instead of just going down a rabbit hole, I treated it like a real-world problem — I did a bit of research into how tools like Splitwise structure their data, read through a few open-source repos, and then posted my initial schema to a couple of developer forums for feedback.
I got some solid responses, rethought how I was linking users to transactions, and revised the structure to make it easier to query and update. It was a great example of how I try to avoid building in a vacuum — even if it’s a solo project, I actively seek out ways to get other perspectives and build something maintainable.
In my day job, it’s the same — whether I’m working with security analysts or another developer, I always try to think about how to make my work easy for the next person to jump into. Clean commit messages, clear function names, and documentation go a long way.
