Full-stack Engineer Interview

Can you describe your experience building products using React and Ruby on Rails?

In my previous company I work as fullstack developer so I work with both React Front end and mobile and Rails Backend, the FE and BE will communicate through API call, we will define the API for the corresponding frontend calls features document the api call if we developed it just incase future use other member want use or coorporate with team mater to get the confirmation about the database response and other information.
We will define test for both FE which use Jest and BE will use Rspec

Your answer touches on important aspects of your experience with React and Ruby on Rails; however, it could be improved to provide a clearer and more structured response.

Evaluation:
1. Clarity and Structure: Your answer would benefit from a clearer structure. Start with a brief overview of your role, followed by specific experiences or projects that highlight your abilities.

2. Technical Details: You mention API communication, which is crucial, but it would help to include specific examples of features you implemented or challenges you overcame. Providing context around a project could showcase your problem-solving skills and depth of experience.

3. Collaboration and Documentation: It's good that you mentioned collaboration with team members and documenting API calls, as these are vital skills. However, expanding on how this collaboration took place or the tools used for documentation would strengthen your answer.

4. Testing Frameworks: Mentioning Jest and RSpec is valuable, but elaborating on how you implemented testing (e.g., types of tests you wrote, how you ensured code quality) would demonstrate a deeper understanding of best practices in software development.

Improvements:
- Start with a brief description of your full-stack experience and significant projects.
- Include specific examples of features or applications you've built.
- Discuss challenges faced and how you overcame them, emphasizing your problem-solving abilities.
- Talk about team collaboration—perhaps mention any particular methodologies (Agile, Scrum) used.
- Provide insights into deployment and maintenance of the applications.

Rating: 3/5

Your answer shows familiarity with React and Ruby on Rails but lacks specificity and depth. With a more structured approach and examples, you could significantly enhance your response.

How do you approach writing well-tested and well-documented code?

For testing I normally follow the BDD approach for example when start a service like create user, I will define the tests case that the service could have such as create successfully, failed validation, trigger third party sync ext, so it would be a document whenever dev want to know about the logic of the service, the test also become the document.
To me the code should comment it seft also with the tests as they will explain their purpose of the code and the behavior should be explained in the test.

Your answer demonstrates a solid understanding of writing tested and documented code, particularly through the use of Behavior Driven Development (BDD). Here’s a breakdown of your response:

1. Clear Strategy: You clearly articulate your approach to testing, mentioning the BDD method, which emphasizes collaboration and clarity. This shows you understand the importance of defining tests that correspond to expected system behaviors.

2. Testing as Documentation: Your idea that tests serve as documentation is valid; tests can communicate functionality effectively. This suggests you value maintainability and clear communication within the codebase.

3. Logical Coverage: Mentioning specific scenarios (successful creation, validation failures, and third-party integrations) indicates a thoughtful approach to identifying edge cases, which is crucial for robust testing.

4. Code Commenting Philosophy: You assert that the code should be self-documenting, with tests serving as behavioral explanations. While this is generally true, relying solely on tests for documentation could be limiting. You might also want to emphasize the importance of in-code comments for complex logic or algorithms.

To improve your answer:

- Include specific tools or frameworks you use for testing (e.g., Jest for JavaScript, RSpec for Ruby, etc.).
- Mention the importance of keeping documentation updated and how you ensure that it remains relevant as code changes.
- Discuss how you incorporate feedback from your team regarding both testing and documentation practices.

Overall, your answer is on the right track but could be enhanced with more detail and specific examples.

Rating: 4/5.

Can you give an example of a technical trade-off you made in a previous project, and what was the outcome?

In my current project, we was using a very old Ruby and Rails version so it would have lot of tech debt and we have to upgrade it, so we have to stop the feature development work so could focus on the upgrade, we create intiatives: tasks and the approaches on every aspect such as deployment, background job, and frontend work, handle the backward comparibilities, at that time as we need to stop all of the development so we got lot of pressure on the manager however we can release on time resolve all of the technical debt, we can apply the modern libraries, the development is speeding up, the code quality significantly improved beside form that we improve the infrastructure usage, optimize responding time and the manager really happy about it

Your answer addresses the question by providing a concrete example of a technical trade-off, which is great. You identified a situation where upgrading an outdated tech stack was essential to reduce technical debt, and you explained the steps your team took to tackle this issue, including stopping feature development and planning for the upgrade.

However, there are a few areas for improvement:

1. Clarity and Structure: Your answer could benefit from clearer structure and more concise language. Break down your response into distinct parts: the problem, the trade-off, the approach taken, and the outcome.

2. Specificity: Be more specific about the outcomes. Mention quantifiable improvements such as reduced bugs, percentage increase in development speed, or specific performance metrics.

3. Team Dynamics: Consider discussing how you communicated the trade-off and its necessity to your team and stakeholders. This shows your understanding of stakeholder management and collaboration.

4. Technical Details: While you touched on aspects like improved libraries and infrastructure, providing one or two concrete examples could enhance your credibility.

In summary, your answer is relevant and demonstrates your experience with technical trade-offs. However, refining the structure, adding specifics, and highlighting communication would strengthen it.

Rating: 3.5/5