mediumBehaviouralCase StudyEntryMidSeniorStaff
You are asked to bring a real piece of your own work and talk through it. What do you choose, and what do you have to be ready to admit?
Choose a work sample with real decisions in it that you still understand line by line and are allowed to share. Be ready to admit which parts were other people's or a tool's, what is wrong with it, and what you would change, because the interviewer can open any file and ask why it is there.
5 min readUpdated 2026-10-09
Answer
Short answer
Pick a work sample you are allowed to share, that contains real decisions, and that you still understand line by line. Prepare to admit three things before you are asked: which parts were someone else's, including a reviewer's or a code assistant's; what is wrong with it today; and what you would do differently. The interviewer can open any file and point at any line, so ownership you cannot defend at that level will not survive.
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Likely follow-ups
- Which part of this did someone else, or a code assistant, write, and how did you check it before it shipped?
- What did the reviewer of this change ask you to alter, and did you agree with them?
- Your employer's code is off limits. What did you bring instead, and what does it fail to show about you?
- If this ran tomorrow at ten times its current load, which part gives way first?
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