CV & Interview Prep
Software Engineer
CV rules, GitHub code review tips, and technical interview questions for junior Software Engineers. Covers OOP design patterns, data structures, RESTful API design, relational databases, unit testing, and Git workflows.
United States
$75,000 – $110,000/year
United Kingdom
£38,000 – £62,000/year
Canada
CA$68,000 – CA$98,000/year
Australia
A$80,000 – A$120,000/year
South Africa
R250,000 – R520,000/year
Broad annual benchmarks. Actual pay varies by city, company size, industry, remote status, and experience.
Want the full study plan?
The How to Become a Software Engineer roadmap covers every skill you need to build before the interview.
Key Skills Employers Test
- Programming (Python, C#, Java, or TypeScript)
- Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) & SOLID Principles
- Relational Databases & SQL (PostgreSQL, SQL Server)
- RESTful Web API Architecture & OpenAPI / Swagger Specs
- Automated Unit Testing & Git Version Control
How to Write Your CV
Must Include
- +GitHub profile URL with public repositories showing clean code, Git commit history, and README docs
- +Core Programming Languages: Python, C#, Java, TypeScript, or Go
- +Object-Oriented Programming (OOP): Inheritance, Encapsulation, Polymorphism, SOLID principles
- +Databases & SQL: PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MySQL, ORMs (Prisma, Entity Framework, SQLAlchemy)
- +Software Engineering practices: REST API design, Automated Unit Testing, CI/CD, Git version control
Avoid
- xListing 10 programming languages on your CV without deep mastery of at least one
- xSubmitting a GitHub profile with empty repositories or single-commit code dumps
- xIgnoring automated testing and software documentation
Make your GitHub profile review-ready
Engineering managers inspect GitHub profiles. Ensure your top 2 repositories feature clean folder structures, clear Git commit messages, automated unit tests, and a professional README with architectural diagrams.
Demonstrate backend API development
Highlighting an API project built with JWT authentication, relational database ORM integrations, and input validation immediately proves commercial software readiness.
Ready to put these tips into your CV?
Use our free CV builder to apply every tip above - choose from 3 professional templates and download as PDF in minutes.
Common Interview Questions
Explain the four core principles of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).
Why they ask this
Evaluates core computer science fundamentals and code structure principles.
Sample Answer
The four pillars of OOP are: 1) Encapsulation: bundling data and methods into a class while hiding internal state via access modifiers. 2) Abstraction: exposing simple high-level interfaces while hiding execution complexity. 3) Inheritance: allowing child classes to inherit attributes and methods from a parent class. 4) Polymorphism: enabling objects of different classes to respond to the same interface method in unique ways.
Red flag answer
Reciting definitions without explaining practical application or access modifiers.
What is the difference between a GET and POST request in REST API design?
Why they ask this
Tests HTTP protocol fundamentals and Web API design conventions.
Sample Answer
GET requests are idempotent and safe; they retrieve data without modifying server state, passing parameters in the URL query string. POST requests are non-idempotent; they submit data in the request body to create or process server resources.
Walk me through how you debug an unhandled NullPointer / ReferenceError exception in production.
Why they ask this
Tests practical debugging workflow and software quality assurance habits.
Sample Answer
First, I inspect the server log stack trace to identify the exact line and function where the null dereference occurred. Second, I examine input parameters to see which property was null. Third, I reproduce the bug locally by writing a failing unit test that passes null data. Finally, I add non-null validation guards and confirm that my unit test passes before deploying.
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