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Type-2: Tell us about a design/project you worked on

Most Common Interview Questions: Type-2: Tell us about a design/project you worked on

Prepare for answering this question in any interview you attend, its kind of inevitable. Usually our resumes will be flooded with some projects. So an interviewer, instead of asking about one of those projects, he simply hits the ball into your court by asking this question. In general, interviewers ask to talk about your best work, it could be a design you made out of your interest or a project or part of a coursework. Irrespective of whether interviewer uses the word best its implied that you are going to talk about your best work! Now the ball is in your court you have to give a smart reply using your skills.

How to answer this question?

Remember that the time you have to answer this is limited. So instead of explaining every aspect of your design in detail, give glimpses of your design. Start taking about the best or challenging part of your design. This is best way of extracting some questions from interview which you can answer with ease. While you are explaining, the interviewer will most probably interrupt you and ask "why did you use this particular method? why not some other method?". In this case you are expected to give advantages of your design choice has, over other strategies. Failing to answer such questions will result in a very bad impression and ultimately rejection.

Example: Why did you use gray encoding for representing your FSM states? why not one-hot encoding? ... Here you have to know about one-hot encoding and the advantages that gray encoding has w.r.t. your design. If you are smart enough you can say that I considered various encoding techniques and chosen the best suited for my design. Don't forget to justify your statement. On the flip side if you say that I don't know one-hot encoding, the interviewer feels that your knowledge is limited and may also think that you have blindly followed your guides' instructions to use gray encoding.

Why is this question very important?

You should realize that you are just going to present something you already DID. In other questions you may require some time to think, solve or understand and you may get little tensed if you don't get a proper idea. But nothing like that in this question. As I said above the ball is in court and you should not make an unforced error!

All you have to do is use this question as your prime weapon to get the job!

You might also want to read the following articles

Type-1: Design a ...

First Things First -- Preparing a Good Resume

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Veera said…
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January 29, 2020 at 12:19 AM
Jessica Brittner said…
This article offers valuable advice on how to effectively answer a common interview question about a design or project you've worked on. It emphasizes the importance of highlighting the best or most challenging aspects of your design, and being prepared to justify your design choices. The example provided illustrates the need for a thorough understanding of your design decisions and their advantages. By presenting your work confidently and demonstrating your expertise, you can impress interviewers and increase your chances of success. Thank you for sharing these insightful tips!
June 4, 2024 at 12:39 AM
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