For any SDET or technical TE role, a coding challenge is inevitable. Many candidates prepare by grinding through dozens of LeetCode problems, hoping to memorize a solution that will appear in their interview. While practice is essential, this approach misses what senior interviewers are truly assessing.
The interview is not a test of your memory; it's a test of your problem-solving process. The final code you write is often less important than the way you arrived at it. A candidate who communicates their thought process clearly but has a small bug is often more impressive than a candidate who silently produces a perfect solution.
To succeed, you need to go beyond just coding and adopt a strategic framework. I call it the U PER framework:
- U - Understand: Before writing a single line of code, make sure you understand the problem completely. Ask clarifying questions about inputs, outputs, and edge cases. Restate the problem in your own words to confirm.
- P - Plan: Verbally outline your approach. What data structure will you use? What is your algorithm? Crucially, discuss the time and space complexity (Big O) of your proposed solution. This shows you are thinking about efficiency and trade-offs.
- E - Execute: Now, write your code. As you do, think aloud. Explain what each part of your code is doing. This is your chance to showcase your thought process in real-time.
- R - Review: Once you're done, don't just stop. Act as your own first tester. Walk through your code with an example, and then explicitly mention the edge cases you would want to test.
By following this framework, you transform the coding challenge from a high-pressure test into a collaborative problem-solving session. You demonstrate not just that you can code, but that you are a thoughtful, methodical engineer—and that is the candidate who gets the job.
