The two-dimensional or 2D array is the most common type of multidimensional array. It is also known as a matrix or table that has several rows and columns.
3. Explain What is a Linked List Data Structure
It is a popular and commonly asked question in full-stack interviews. To ace this question, you should give a detailed description instead of finishing it in just one or two sentences.
A linked list data structure is a sequence of data objects. Here, the elements are not stored in nearby memory locations. Instead, the elements are linked to form a chain, and each of the elements is a separate object, also known as a node.
The point of entry to a linked list is known as the head. It is generally used in instances where:
An unknown number of objects are being dealt with or the developer does not how many items are present in the list
The developer is working on real-time computing where predicting the time and managing it is of critical importance
Random access to elements is not required
4. What are Some of the Key Benefits of a Linked List Over an Array, and in What Scenarios are Linked Lists and Arrays Used?
The following are the main benefits of using a linked list over an array:
Insertion and deletion
Dynamic data structure
Minimum memory wastage
The following table describes when to use an array and when to use a linked list:
Linked List over an Array | Array over a Linked List |
When the upper limit on the number of elements is known in advance | When the developer needs to index or randomly access the elements |
When several large add or remove operations are to be carried out | When the number of elements in the array is known, helping allocate the correct amount of memory |
When there is no to very little random access to elements | When the developer needs to speed up the iterating process through all the elements |
5. How is a Heap more Beneficial than a Stack?
In answering this interview question for full-stack developers, you can talk about the following advantages of heap over stack:
There is more flexibility in a heap as compared to a stack. The memory in a heap can be allocated and de-allocated dynamically
The heap memory helps store objects in Java, while stack memory stores local variables and function calls
All threads can view the objects created in a heap, but the variables stored in a stack are visible only to the owner
System Design
For full Stack roles at Tier 1 companies, there will usually either be a frontend or backend system design round. Recruiters ask general scalable architecture system design questions, which typically include designing a scalable backend service with cloud architecture. You may also be asked to develop certain features from scratch. So, here, a good understanding of frameworks will help you sail through.
6. Explain the Differences Between Horizontal and Vertical Scaling
This is another technical interview question for full-stack developers that helps hiring managers understand your skills and knowledge about the field.
Horizontal scaling is the process of adding more computing machines and resources to the network sharing the processing and memory workload. These resources are then distributed across a network of devices.
To define it simply, you can say that it is the process of adding more servers to the existing pool of servers to distribute the load of traffic.
On the other hand, vertical scaling is the process of upgrading the resource capacity. It includes the likes of increasing the RAM, adding more efficient processors, etc.
The following table represents the differences between the two.
Category | Horizontal Scaling | Vertical Scaling |
Load balancing | Load balancing helps distribute traffic across several machines | No load balancing is required since there is only one machine involved |
Resistant to failures | It is more resilient to failures, because of the presence and use of several servers | It is more vulnerable to failures because only one machine is handling all the load |
Consistency in data | Data inconsistencies are possible because different machines handle different requests, resulting in data being out of sync | There are very less chances of any data inconsistency because only one machine is involved in the process |
Also read: Must-Have Skills to Become a Full-Stack Developer
7. Describe What you Understand by Latency, Throughput, and Availability.
In answering this interview question for full-stack developers you can say that one of the most important factors in system design is performance. This helps in making the services fast and reliable.
To measure this performance, the following metrics can be used:
Latency: It is the time taken to deliver a single message. It is calculated in milliseconds.
Throughput: It is described as the amount of data successfully transmitted in a system in a given period. It is calculated in bits per second.
Availability: It is the number of times a system responds to requests. It is computed by dividing the system uptime/(system uptime + system downtime).
8. Design YouTube
This is another popular and commonly asked interview question for full-stack developers. In this question, the interviewer wants to assess your technical capabilities.
The following steps can be used to design a service similar to YouTube:
Understand the problem and establish the design scope: There is a lot more that users can do on YouTube apart from watching videos. A user can comment, like, or share a video, they can subscribe to a channel they like, or even create their own playlist. To design a service like YouTube, one must understand the required features, types, and number of daily users, if encryption is required, etc.
Propose a high-level design and get a buy-in: In the next step, it is important to understand and propose a high-level design with three key features - the client, CDN, and API servers.
Design deep dive: Once the high-level design step has been completed, the entire system can be broken down into two - video uploading flow and video streaming flow. Here, attention can be paid to aspects such as video transcoding, directed acrylic graph (DAG) model, video transcending architecture, DAG scheduler, and more.
Wrap-Up: This is the last stage, and the developer can pay attention to areas such as scaling the API tier & the database, live streaming, video takedowns, etc.
9. Define What is Scalability?
In answering this interview question for full-stack developers, you can say that scalability is expanding by adding more resources to a system so that it can handle a growing amount of load.
It can be done in two ways:
10. Explain Some of the Key Benefits of REST Web Services
The following are some of the major benefits of using REST web services:
The learning curve is simple and easy because it runs on the HTTP protocol
It has support for several new technologies like text, xml, json, etc. for transferring data
It is a lightweight and easy-to-use protocol
Full Stack Domain
This includes questions specific to full stack development. Recruiters will ask questions on databases based on various use cases. Like, how to handle social media platforms – search, user connections, user feeds, ads, payments, and more.
Hiring managers may ask to design a database solution for various tasks like scraping product and pricing information from an e-commerce website.
You may also ask to explore cloud database monitoring tools. You may also be asked about case studies on moderation tools – when to use each authentication method and types of authorization.
11. Explain the Differences Between Responsive and Adaptive Design
In this interview question, the interviewer wants to check and assess full-stack developer skills and know-how.
You can begin your answer by stating that both designs are used in website creation or development and that they work smoothly across different devices.
In the responsive design technique, an adjustable website layout is used so that it can easily adjust to different screen sizes. This helps the website or the web application to function on any device. Fluid grids help the responsive design technique to resize and rearrange the layout as per the percentage values.
On the other hand, the adaptive design is an approach where a website is designed to have several layouts. Each layout is developed and optimized for a specific screen or device. The design detects the type of device and screen when a user visits the website, and adjusts the screen accordingly.
Also read: 7 Important Skills to Become a Successful Front-End Engineer
12. What is a Model-View-Controller (MVC) Design Pattern?
This question will test your technical understanding and skills. You can begin your answer by stating that the MCV is a popular software architecture design pattern in web development. With the MCV, a full-stack developer can segregate the development process into three components:
Model: It is the data and business logic side of the application. It helps in managing the data, carrying out calculations, and responding to requests from the controller.
View: It represents the user interface side of the application. It displays the results or the data to the users from the model and provides them with a platform through which they can interact with the application.
Controller: It handles both the model and view, and manages the application’s flow including the data.
13. Explain the duties and responsibilities of a Full-Stack Programmer.
With this interview question for full-stack developers, the interviewer wants to check if you understand the job description. They want to test if you possess the right knowledge to perform in such a valuable profile for the company.
You can state that the following are some of the key responsibilities of a full-stack developer:
Designing and developing the user interface (UI)
Write the application’s server-side code
Interlink the front and back-end components by using APIs and other integration techniques
Test the application to see if it meets all the requirements
Troubleshoot issues and debug codes
Collaborate with cross-functional teams
14. Explain the differences between GraphQL and Representational State Transfer (REST).
The following are the key differences between GraphQL and REST:
GraphQL | REST |
It is a query language used by APIs to fetch declarative data to give control to the clients over the data. | It is an API design architectural style providing a set of constraints to create the web services. |
It is known for its high predictability improving its usability and applications significantly. | It depends on HTTP and URI methods. |
GraphQL ensures API security by assisting in integrating data validity. | REST uses different methods to ensure API security and implements several authentication methods like HTTP authentication. |
A single API request provides the users with all the information they need. | REST provides specific data whenever accessed. Users might have to make multiple requests to retrieve the information they need. |
15. Describe the Box Model in CSS
In this interview question for full-stack developers, you can say that the box model is a fundamental CSS concept. It describes how the elements are displayed on a webpage. It has four main components - content, padding, border, and margin.
The content part is that section in CSS that holds the text and images, while the padding is described as the space between the content and the border of the element. The border is the line that goes through the entire padding and the margin is the space between the border and the outside area of the element.
Also read: Full Stack Developer Interview Questions
Behavioral Questions
FAANG+ companies want to asses your readiness here and how you handle real-world situations. The behavioral questions typically revolved around past experiences, reflecting their potential workplace behavior.
They also assess how good you’re at doing conflict resolution if a situation arises. Companies like Google or Amazon often ask candidates to describe situations where they overcame obstacles. Here, the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is commonly recommended for structuring responses.
16. How do you Handle Disagreement with a Coworker?
Disagreements are common when working with people. However, in a professional setting, it is important to understand the situation and manage it so that the team environment is maintained. With this interview question for full-stack developers, the hiring manager wants to see how you manage conflict and disagreement with others.
You can use the Situation, Task, Action, and Outcome (STAR) approach to answer the question. Here you will talk about a past disagreement situation, the tasks you carried out, the actions you performed, and the outcome of those actions.
For instance, you can give the following example to answer this question.
“Last year, when working on a project, a team member suggested using a coding style which I thought was not aligned with the team’s processes. To resolve this disagreement, I met with the colleague face-to-face to discuss the project ideas and the coding approach followed by the team.
We found our talk to be positive and it led to further brainstorming sessions to enhance the team’s productivity. We gave room to each other so we could express our thoughts and ideas freely. This also helped us in reaching a positive conclusion and resolve the disagreement as a result.”
17. Describe a situation where you had to Juggle Between Multiple Tasks and how you Handled the Situation.
As a full-stack developer, sometimes you might have to undertake several tasks and responsibilities at once. The purpose behind asking this question is that the interviewer wants to see how you handle pressure situations.
In this behavioral interview question for full-stack developers, you can display your time management, prioritization, and communication skills. You can even use the STAR approach to build an answer to this question.
You can talk about how intimidated and overwhelmed you were while juggling between the tasks. However, prioritizing the tasks and communicating with the relevant stakeholders helped you handle all these tasks at the same time.
Here, you can also state how dividing the time between each task according to their priority levels helped considerably.
18. Which is your Favorite Programming Language and Briefly Describe Why?
This is a commonly asked and very popular FAANG+ interview question for full-stack developers. Here, the interviewer wants to check your knowledge and understanding of the different programming languages and why a particular one is your favorite.
Often, full-stack developers find it difficult to choose one favorite from among several coding languages. However, as they gain more and more experience in the field, they tend to select a few of them as their favorites.
Your answer to this question will depend on how much experience you have in the industry and the extent to which you are engaged in the domain. The more experience you have and the more engaged you are, the more knowledge you will have about different programming languages and their nuances.
In answering this interview question you can talk about your past experience of using different programming languages. Here you can highlight the challenges you faced as well as your positive experiences.
This way you will be able to display your knowledge of your programming language.
Also read: Is Full Stack Developer a Good Career Choice?
19. Why did you decide to Get into Full-Stack Development and not Front or Back-End?
Through this question, the interviewer wants to understand your inclination to become a full-stack developer when a front or back-end developer. Professionals with such expertise are considered to be experts in their field with specialized knowledge about the domain.
In answering this question, you can say you became a full-stack developer because it helps you look at the bigger picture and identify the issue in the website or the web application.
You can further add to the answer and state that full-stack developers add significant value to the development team. This is mainly because they can discuss and address both different aspects of the development process. In addition, they are also skilled at bridging any gaps and ensuring the application or the website works smoothly.
Here, you can talk about your past projects and experiences to highlight how your contributions, as a full-stack developer, helped the team achieve its goals.
20. Assume that you found an Inefficiency in Someone else’s Code. What would you do in this Situation?
The objective of this question is to check your coding knowledge and understanding of the quality parameters.
You can answer the question by stating that quality assurance and quality checks are an important part of the development process. Here, you can highlight your team management and communication skills along with technical knowledge.
In this question, you can talk about how you communicated with a team member whose code you found to be inefficient. You can make your point by saying that you reached out to the concerned individual and explained the situation to them.
Further, you booked their calendar on a mutually agreed date to discuss the issue and the steps that can be taken to resolve it as well as to ensure it does not happen in the future.
You will have to give a detailed answer to the question and explain to the hiring managers how you resolved the issue while maintaining the team’s productivity.
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FAQs: Interview Questions for Full-Stack Developers
1. What Programming Languages Should a Full-Stack Developer Know?
A full-stack developer should be familiar with a variety of programming languages, including but not limited to:
Front-end: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript
Back-end: Java, Python, Ruby, PHP, Node.js
Databases: SQL, NoSQL databases like MongoDB
2. What Frameworks and Libraries are Essential for a Full-Stack Developer?
Essential frameworks and libraries for full-stack developers include:
Front-end: React, Angular, Vue.js
Back-end: Express.js (Node.js), Django (Python), Ruby on Rails (Ruby)
Other tools: Redux (for state management), Bootstrap (for CSS), GraphQL (for APIs)
3. How Important is Version Control for Full-Stack Developers?
Version control is crucial for full-stack developers as it allows them to manage and track changes in their codebase. Tools like Git and platforms like GitHub or GitLab are essential for collaboration, code review, and maintaining a history of changes.
4. What is the Importance of Soft Skills for a Full-Stack Developer?
Soft skills are crucial for full-stack developers as they often need to collaborate with various team members, including designers, project managers, and other developers. Effective communication, problem-solving, time management, and teamwork are essential for ensuring smooth project execution and achieving common goals.
5. How do I Demonstrate my Full-Stack Skills in an Interview?
To demonstrate your full-stack skills:
Showcase your portfolio with projects that highlight your proficiency in both front-end and back-end development.
Discuss specific challenges you faced in your projects and how you overcame them.
Explain your thought process and decision-making during system design interviews.
Provide examples of how you’ve collaborated with cross-functional teams and contributed to successful project deliveries.
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