Review of Interviews at 5 Companies as a Second-Year Backend Developer
I started preparing to switch jobs last month, interviewed at 5 companies, and ultimately received offers from 2. I'm writing this down before my memory fades.
The question that came up most often in interviews was ultimately "How did you respond when an incident occurred?" Except for 2 companies, coding tests were replaced with take-home assignments. Don't half-ass the take-home assignment. Even if it's small, having test code definitely makes it stand out.
- Company A: Infrastructure-focused questions. They asked deeply about networking
- Company B: 30 minutes of practical scenarios, followed by a fit interview
- Company C: I passed, but negotiations broke down over salary
I wonder if I should start by asking for about 2 million won more from the beginning. I'm curious how everyone else negotiates.
9 answers
I'm curious about Company B's scenario interview. For a 30-minute practical scenario, what kind of questions did they ask?
Honestly, I'm skeptical. For someone with two years of experience, the claim "I led incident response" is a red flag right away. At that level, most people are only watching others handle incidents—aren't they just dressing it up for the interview? You didn't even mention the company size, so there's no baseline for what it means that Company A asked in-depth networking questions. As a review, it's a bit disappointing.
You’re supposed to start by asking for around 200 right off the bat...? Isn’t that outdated? These days, a lot of companies disclose their salary bands, so the standard is to look at that and align with it. If you just throw out a number arbitrarily, the offer gets rescinded.
I'm only in my second year too, but questions about incident response come up a lot lol. If you don't have one, you need to have an answer ready—even if you have to make one up.
I had no idea—take-home assignments are now the trend instead of coding tests.
For me, it's the opposite—I've often kept asking the people around me when I like someone. This isn't some old story; it's just reading the room. I don't know what the right answer is, but sometimes people just throw out a high number.
Agreed—test code for take-home assignments really matters. Interviewers actually look at all of it more than you'd think.
Is there a source? Getting into 2 out of 5 is top-tier—isn't this just a brag post?
Asking for 2 million won more in salary? I'm not so sure... If you ignore the market rate and just throw out a number, you only lose credibility at the negotiation table. I did that once and things got chilly. Better to pull the top pay band for the same role on Wanted or Remember before you switch jobs and ask, "Can you match this?" That's much better. Bringing evidence with you completely changes your negotiating power. The breakdown with Company C was probably because you just pushed numbers, no?