Computing & IT Interview Questions & Answers

Having made an online application I was contacted by a member of their graduate recruitment team within about an hour to book a telephone interview within the next few days. That telephone consisted of simply asking why I had applied, what interested me about IT and what I liked about FDM specifically. I was then told that I had passed the telephone interview stage and was asked to book an assessment day. The assessment day consisted of three tests; mathematics, set notation and Venn diagrams and aptitude tests. Also, there were to be three, five minute interviews consisting of four set questions each. On arrival we were given a short introductory presentation as well as the opportunity to ask any questions regarding the positions available. We were also given a tour of the office and encouraged to ask people there questions. Then we had to fill in a form which asked for, amongst other things, any modules that we had failed and any criminal convictions we had that were not yet spent. Then we had the first of the three tests, which lasted an hour, followed by the three interviews. In the interviews it was stressed that the interviewer would ask just the four questions; they would not ask anything to follow up on what you had said or encourage you to answer more fully in any way, so it was up to you to say as much as you could about anything they asked, especially considering the fact that each interview was only five minutes. Then we had the second test, broke for lunch, and then the final test afterwards.

The mathematical test was GCSE standard and not difficult at all; however, having used a calculator for three years of study, suddenly being asked to do mental arithmetic was a bit of a struggle. Also, the aptitude test contained some tricky questions relating to probabilities and coding, but for the most part wasn't too bad.

Practice mental arithmetic if you feel that you might struggle without a calculator and think about how you would answer interview questions in a short space of time, whilst giving as full an answer as possible; the questions themselves are fairly standard, apart from one which was "what does success look like to you", which is just one of those where you have to think on your feet a little bit.

A GCSE-level mathematical test, without a calculator; a GCSE/A level Venn diagram and set notation test; an aptitude test, which included logic problems, questions about defining IT-related terms (such as SQL), coding problems and the sort of problems you might expect on an IQ test.

My initial telephone interview was with a member of their graduate recruitment team which lasted 10 mins. We had an inital chat about my CV and why I applied for the company and the interviewer questioned whether I would like to work in the Asia Pacific area.
After a few hours, I was told I passed the phone interview and was put to the next stage which was the assessment center.

On the day of the assessment center, there were eight of us and we were all waiting in the same area and room. During the time, we were either waiting or having our interviews. Interview consisted of one sype interview with an account in hong kong and the other interview was a face to face interviewer from the UK. The UK interviewer was asking basis questions in regards to your CV whilst the other skyoe interview was based on the job and why I wanted a position there and which role I thought was suitable for myself.

After the two interviews we had our numerical test. This was basis maths such as subtraction and multiplication and factors. (nothing to complicated) After this test we had the HR talk in regards to our contract and what they expected from us an what are the consequences.

We had lunch after that and straight after lunch we had two 1hour exam. One was based on questions about IT and the other was based on Venn diagram.

Finally we had a tour around the office.

I got my reply the next day that I was successful.

Describe was your weakness is and how you overcome it?

stay professional, no slang words invoid. Talk to other candiates. Talk as much as you can and sell yourself. Smile to anyone that passes you. If in doubt ask as many questions you want. Be prepared to sit all day.

individual assessment based on maths, IT and venn diagrams

It was a really relaxed day, they are really friendly, they don't test you but they use the day to see what kind of a person you are and if you will fit in with their company and their values. The one on one was him just trying to know me as a person.
He asked a few questions, not too many, it lasted 10 minutes, My advice is know the company, know their values and know why you want to work there, that is vital.

I wouldn't say any other questions where too difficult but describe yourself in 3 words would be the hardest

Just be yourself, if you fit in you'll know, know the company is a must, don't be over powering but don't be too quiet and just make sure you enjoy the day.
Ask questions, there is no right or wrong answer, make sure you mingle with everyone there and try and be involved with discussion with the current graduates.

A really relaxed day, they give you an introduction, you do a personality test, then individual exercise, then a group exercise then one on one interviews, they are more just seeing how you are as a person though.

I had an initial telephone interview which consisted of questions such as, why would you like to work in IT? Why would you consider a career with FDM? Where do you you see yourself in 5 years time? The phone interview lasted approximately 20 minutes.

After the phone interview I was invited to an assessment day at the FDM offices in London. The day consisted of 3 tests, including an aptitude test, a maths test and a venn diagram and probability test. Each exam lasted an hour apart from the maths test which was 30 minutes. I then had 3 short one on one interviews with members of the senior management team. They asked questions about my degree, why I wanted to work in IT and some questions on my personality.

The questions were mostly quite straight forward, some questions such as 'How would you describe your perfect day at work?' were not as straight forward as they first seemed.

Be confident and have a positive attitude even if you feel the process isn't going as you initially planned. Prepare for the venn diagram test with some revision on probability and standard notation. I practiced all of the test styles before the interview a few times to make sure I didn't get a nasty shock!

3 short interviews, 3 exams. I then took an extra exam for an accelerated training program that focussed on my knowledge of pseudo code and problem solving skills.

My CV was submitted on my behalf by a recruitment company. The face to face interview was the first contact I had with anyone at Lockheed.

The interview was very centered around one's experience and items listed on their CV. Additionally, a presentation of an honors degree project had to be given.

There were two people present, the manager and team leader of the roll specified. The interview was mostly conducted by the manager. The questions were mostly all about what was written on my CV, asking about my experience in software development. Basic questions such as "What is Object Orientation?" came up along with "How do you define inheritance in a Java class?".

After the CV and questions were over, we moved onto a presentation of my honors project. As expected, they both asked questions to do with my project and asked me how I thought it was, did any problems arise, how was time management conducted etc...

There were one or two competency questions, where I had to explain a situation I've been in a group scenario, who was the group leader, how were roles delegated, what role did I perform etc... They also asked general questions such as "How do you stay up to date on news in security?" and "What do you do to improve your knowledge?" And then the last few questions were about hobbies and interests.

As it was mostly based around my CV, I didn't feel any question was particularly difficult. Personally to me as Java wasn't a program language I use, I couldn't answer how to create an inheritance class. Other than that, I felt every question was reasonable to answer.

If you arrive at an interview through submission of a CV, make sure you know every aspect of the CV and have a good answer for everything that appears on it. If you obtained an honors degree, make sure you have a 5-10 minute presentation prepared and can talk about it fluently.

I was given a sheet of paper that was apparently from a client, it was to do with cryptography. On a whiteboard, I was tasked to write a quick pseudo code program to try and decrypt the password shown in hex. I had to explain what I was writing down and talk about how I was expected to arrive at the solution.

First I received a call for a phone interview which was very basic:
Why FDM?
Why you chose your degree?
Where do you see your self in five years?
Why I.T?
Then I was told straight away, I am through to the assessment centre. Was given a tour of the organisation. Then had to introduce ourselves as an icebreaker. Overall it was a comfortable environment.

"Describe a situation where you had to respond to demand?"

Research the company, have examples to relate to, brush up on communicating skills. don't go unprepared otherwise you will trip up, there are 3 5 minute interviews all competency based, they are all very friendly interviewers just relax and say what you got to say in a concise style.

3 tests, first was a maths test very easy nothing to worry about, brush up on GCSE maths. 2nd was an aptitude test, some I.T related stuff on there so maybe just research a little. Third was ven diagram, very confusing if you dont prepare, was challenging.

My first interview was a telephone which was about competency question and one or two technical ( but i consider them as general knowledge).
The questions were around cisco products and services, competency, cloud computing, why should we hire you, where do you see yourself in 5 years time etc. we also went through my CV during the interview. At the end there was enough time for me to ask questions about the role and the company.

Once I was past that level, there was a follow up call to arrange a face to face interview. This interview lasted around 3 hours with various members of the team. Various technical questions on general programming problems and networking expertise with a short programming test. Before each member started to interview me, they all gave me brief introduction about their role in the company and the impact they make to the team which i thought was really helpful as I could use those points in my answers.

Given an opportunity to change todays internet what would you change?

Be prepared to answer generic questions as well as know cisco products and services. These will come up during the interview very often. Also you should sound enthusiastic about the job. Part of the The reason I didn't get the job was because I didn't sound enthusiastic enough to the interviewees. But it may have been because i asked all the questions to the HR during the telephone interview. So It may be worth asking those/any questions once again during your second interview, even though you know the answers to them, just so you look curious.

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When I arrived for the morning assessment day (we had a group of 6, then afternoon had a group of 6), we were given packs detailing what Sogeti do, also a sheet with what the day entails with timing. We had two 15 minute interviews set up, one with HR and one with a supervisor which they described as a technical interview. It was an amazing experience, great people so don't ever feel scared. Make them laugh but not to a point where your jokes are lame, keep it professional and always ask about graduate retention, what clients they have etc. They like answering those.

Why do you want this job? (believe me, your answer should last you a minute)
What do you know about testing? (describe software testing etc)

Be yourself, they like friendly approachable type, but also act professional at all times. Also when you are doing the group exercise, whilst you are jotting down on the big piece of paper, always make sure you are giving input and always discussing and arguing as a panel member will be watching you and reviewing your performance.

Make your interviewee laugh, don't stress over the technical questions as they don't expect everyone to know about testing, they are looking more towards people who are themselves, approachable with great customer service and keen to learn.

After our two 15 minute interviews, we had to sit down for a hour test. This consisted of a scenario where a company requires you to find out errors and list them, whilst also thinking outside the box to overcome those errors. There's an extensive list so attention to detail is a must.

We then had lunch (provided) followed by the afternoon group coming in, joining us for a company presentation. After this, we were split into groups for a group exercise. The group exercise was that we were shipwrecked, and there were 12 items that we can carry and list them in accordance to their importance. Might sound easy but you need to think very hard as when you are doing the presentation in front of a panel with the group, you will be asked as to why this wasn't before that etc.

Overall, brilliant day and a lively bunch of people that work for them.

Applied online and received a callback almost immediately.

Organised a 10 minute phone interview which consisted of very typical questions about why I wanted to work for FDM and what my degree was etc. Received an invitation to an assessment centre a few days after this.

The assessment centre started at 8:45am and finished at around 3pm. It consisted of a logical test, a maths test, a venn diagram test and a set of three 5-minute interviews

Would you compromise the quality of your work in order to meet a deadline?

What does success look like?

Read up on the company beforehand and prepare yourself for a lot of time 'learning without earning'. The 'deal' here is that you receive up to 16 weeks of unpaid (!) training, after which you will be placed with one of FDM's affiliated companies. On the day you start your placement, you enter a two year contract with FDM, during which time you may potentially be relocated anywhere within the UK. You are given a £500 bonus upon the acceptance of your first placement but as far as I can gather you receive no further financial help if you need to relocate again. Cancelling the contract can also incur a fine of up to £20,000 which they claim is the cost of the training. They aren't trying to catch anyone out and are very upfront about these terms, but it still seems like a bit of a rum deal.

Practice your mental maths, make sure you know basic computer-related acronyms (HTTP, HTML, SQL etc).

The three interviews are only five minutes long but consist of scripted questions. This means the interviewers will not ask you for further information about anything you mention, so make sure you embellish! They also won't have read your CV (for fairness, apparently) so make sure to point out anything that was on there that is relevant to the questions.

The assessment centre began with an introduction to the company, followed by a logic test lasting around an hour. The test was for both technical and business streams and so there was a range of questions. Some were flow-chart/pseudocode based, some were definitions, one was an anagram!

The test was followed by the interview stage. There were three separate rooms with three separate interviews, each focused on a different aspect of the job. One was about your education and degree, one was more about FDM and why you wanted to work for them and one was more situation-based, posing hypothetical workplace issues and asking how you'd deal with them. This was followed by a lunch break

After the lunch break, there were two more tests. One was a set notation and venn diagram test and mostly involved shading in the correct region of venn diagrams. There was an instruction booklet that came with this, if needed. There was also a maths test based at GCSE level to be done without a calculator, involving questions on Pythagoras' theorem and simultaneous equations etc.

Applied online, got a call back asking if I was available for Phone interview. they scheduled it. During the Phone Interview - it took 10 minutes and asked me 3 questions - basically things like why choose FDM etc.

Afterwards - they said they will let me know if I progress onto the next stage (which is the assessment day). 2 days later I got a response saying i was successful - and went to join the assessment day.

Overall it was quite relaxed. Quite laid back during the interview process.

Name a time you had to work with someone difficult, and what was the end result?

Learn a bit of A Level math again, it will help you when it comes to the tests. Also - during the interview you have to keep it short, they ask 4 questions in 5 minutes so keep it short and sweet.

Only apply if you are willing to stick to a 2 year commitment - and by the way, you are assigned to campaign which could be anywhere in UK, so you have to be VERY flexible. It could be for 2 months, it could be for 2 years - but when they tell you to move, you pretty much have to just move.

My personal advice is that there is a load of potential in working with FDM, however I'd say this job is really for people with no prior commitments. If you're married - then it's not as ideal as they could relocate you anywhere.

Upon arriving, there were about 12-14 of us. We all went to a room, sat down and they told us about the company and how the process works. Basically - you commit to FDM for 2 years, and they will also provide the training for you. However - FDM explain that if you leave within the 2 year commitment, you will be liable to pay them back for training (which costs around £16-20,000). As well as that, training is unpaid (there was talk of how they give you a joining bonus of £500).

We all introduced ourselves - and then got down to doing tests. Overall during the day, there are 3 tests - 1. Tests IT knowledge, 2. Test on Venn Diagrams, 3 Mathematics test.

The first test asks things like what's HTTP, what is a Mac Address and etc. All multiple choice. There was maybe 5 questions that test programming logic (written in PsuedoCode). It wasn't all programming - one of the questions asked "what is the penultimate question"

Second test - you were given a leaflet on venn diagrams, and then had to shade in the circle according to the logic given.

Third test - basic math, some hard, some not.

After the tests, we were all given an interview. These were 3 separate 5 minute interviews with 3 different groups. They all asked different questions - some were basic ones like why do you want to work here, why did you choose to study your degree... some were questions like would you rush something to get it done knowing that you compromised the quality.