Technical questions are an important part of the interview process. But what exactly are they, and how should you answer them?
When I was applying for jobs back in 2014, one of the most useful things I learned was that there are three types of technical interview questions:
Behavioral questions
Situational questions
Technical problem-solving questions
And I also learned that these question types aren’t just for tech roles. Marketing candidates might be asked situational questions about a hypothetical campaign launch, or finance candidates might be asked behavioral questions about times they had to make a tough decision. And while project management interviews usually ask more behavioral questions, they often also include a technical assignment where you have to show your skills at managing a project.
But why do employers use these kinds of questions? What are they trying to find out? And how should you answer them? This article will explain.
What Are Technical Interview Questions?
The word “technical” is confusing here, because it doesn’t mean “how well can you code”. Rather, technical questions are designed to reveal how well you understand the tools, processes, and techniques relevant to your role.
For example, if you’re being interviewed for a marketing job, a technical question might ask you to describe how you would measure the success of a campaign. If you’re being interviewed for a software engineering position, a technical question might ask you to describe the difference between a REST API and a GraphQL API.
In both cases, the question is testing your knowledge of specific technical concepts relevant to your role. But the goal isn’t simply to see whether you know those concepts — the interviewer wants to see how you think about problems related to those concepts. The question is designed to reveal not only what you know, but how you think and perform.
So when you answer a technical question, don’t just tell the interviewer what you know. Tell them what you think.
Why Interviewers Ask Technical Questions
It’s important to remember that the purpose of technical interview questions is to evaluate your overall skill level, not to test your ability to recall facts. Interviewers don’t ask these questions to check whether you know a particular fact, but rather to get a sense of your general abilities.
They want to know whether you can solve problems, whether you keep your skills current, whether you communicate effectively, and whether you’ll fit on their team. These are all very broad questions, so it makes sense that they’d use a proxy like technical questions to evaluate them.
Yes-or-no questions won’t help with this. Instead, strong candidates build their skills continuously outside of formal responsibilities. They take online courses, contribute to open-source projects, compete in hackathons, work on personal projects, and read tech blogs.
Interviewers may not realize how much time you spend learning new things, so you need to show them. When answering a technical question, talk about what you’ve done to improve your skills. Don’t just say “I’ve been keeping up with industry trends”, say “I recently took an online course on machine learning algorithms and applied what I learned to a real-world project.”
How to Answer Technical Interview Questions
There’s no single correct way to answer a technical interview question, but there is a framework that works well. It has three steps:
Contextualize
Explain
Answer
Step 1 is contextualize. Before answering the question, briefly describe the context in which the question arose. Why were you asked this question? What kind of situation am I dealing with? Sharing some related or adjacent knowledge helps convey your overall skill level, and it can only have a positive impact.
For example, suppose you’re asked a question about data visualization. You could answer by describing different types of charts, their pros and cons, and when each is appropriate. Or you could start by talking about how you used Tableau to visualize a dataset, then go into the details of the charts you used.
You shouldn’t just answer the question; you should answer the question in the context of the broader topic. That means you shouldn’t answer the question as if it’s isolated from everything else you know. Instead, you should frame your answer as a piece of a larger puzzle.
This approach showcases not only your depth of knowledge, but other important qualities like communication and teamwork. You’re showing the interviewer that you’re a well-rounded candidate who can think critically and work well with others.
Mock interviews are a great practice tool for mastering this technique. Try doing a mock interview with someone you trust, and see if you’re able to give answers that clearly show your understanding of the bigger picture.
Calibrating Technical Detail
One challenge with technical questions is figuring out how much detail to include. If you give too little detail, you risk looking unprepared. If you give too much, you risk boring your interviewer.
A good way to calibrate your level of detail is to ask yourself, “At what level of detail does my answer become less useful?” In other words, when does your answer stop helping the interviewer understand what you know?
If your answer becomes less useful after you reach a certain level of detail, then you should stop there. For example, if you’re explaining a technical concept, you should stop once you’ve reached a level of detail that allows the interviewer to understand what you’re saying.
To help you figure out how much detail to give, you can use the following technique:
Describe the concept at a high level.
Ask, “Would you like me to go into the implementation details and technical specs?”
This technique gives the interviewer a chance to orient themselves before you dive into the weeds. It also demonstrates that you’re aware of when to go into technical detail, and that you can adjust your level of detail depending on the interviewer’s needs.
Of course, experienced interviewers may prefer a candidate who cannot stop talking than one they have to drag along. But in most cases, it’s better to be concise and focused than to be verbose and unfocused.
Concise communication is valuable, but insufficient depth is a bigger risk. So when you answer a technical question, aim for a crisp narrative that goes one level more technical than a high-level description. This will help you pick the right details to include.