Questions that have appeared at capital-one for a Software Engineer (Technical) interview.

1. Data Structures and Algorithms

Question: Can you explain the difference between a stack and a queue? Provide a real-world example of when each might be used.

Question: Can you explain the concept of time complexity and how it is used to evaluate the efficiency of an algorithm?

Question: What is the difference between breadth-first search and depth-first search in graph traversal? When would you use one over the other?

2. Software Development Lifecycle

Question: Can you describe the different phases of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and the key activities in each phase?

Question: How do you ensure quality in each phase of the software development life cycle?

Question: Can you describe a time when you had to make a trade-off between scope, time, and cost in a project? How did you handle it?

3. System Design

Question: How would you design a scalable, high-availability system for a high-traffic application?

Question: Can you explain how data is secured during transmission and storage in a system?

Question: Describe how you would approach the design of a microservices architecture for a large, complex application.

4. Database Systems

Question: Can you explain the difference between SQL and NoSQL databases? Give examples of use cases that are better suited for each.

Question: How would you design a database schema for an e-commerce application?

Question: What is database normalization and why is it important?

5. Testing

Question: Can you explain the difference between unit testing, integration testing, and functional testing?

Question: How would you manage testing in a continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) environment?

Question: Can you describe a situation where you had to write custom test cases to validate a complex feature or functionality?