The STAR method for Software Engineering Interviews
Use STAR to confidently ace your software engineer interview.
The STAR method is used as a tool to structure your answers for scenario-based or behavioural questions such as “give an example of how you handled a difficult stakeholder”.
I was first introduced to the STAR method back in 2018 when I was gearing up for my first senior software engineer interview.
Admittedly, it took me quite a while to really understand how to put it into practice.
In this article, I explore my learnings with the STAR method and how I naturally use it during interviews without even needing to think about it.
⭐ What is STAR and why should you use it?
STAR is an acronym. It stands for:
S - Situation: Here, you’re setting the scene. Briefly describe the context of the problem to help your interviewer understand the challenges you faced
T - Task: You talk about your role and responsibility. What were you tasked with to overcome this challenge?
A - Action: The real meat of the story. What specifically did you do to overcome the challenge? Who did you speak to? Whose buy-in did you get? How did you delegate the work? How did you prioritise the most important thing?
All of these are essential in showing your interviewer your skills outside of just technical talent.
R - Result: Was the outcome successful? If so, what did you learn from it? How did you document this and bring others along with you? What would you do better in the future?
Was it not successful? It’s okay if the outcome was not successful. What process did you put in place to avoid a negative result the next time? What would you do differently next time to ensure success?
These are essential to showing your interviewer that you are a critical thinker and really caps the story overall.
So you can already start to see how using the STAR method gives your interviewer a full picture of any scenario that is asked, and how it starts to bring structure to your answers in a concise manner.
Using the STAR method keeps your eyes on the ball. It prevents you from rambling and losing your interviewer’s interest during the interview by ensuring your answer is:
Clear and concise: Each component keeps your response focused and avoids irrelevant details
Impactful: By highlighting specific actions and results, you showcase your value and impact as a potential team member
Tailored: You can adapt STAR to any behavioural question by demonstrating relevant skills for a specific role
🌠 Putting STAR into action
So now that we’ve got the theory down, let’s explore some practical examples on how we can apply STAR.
Give an example of how you handled a difficult stakeholder
S: A project manager would come to meetings constantly reminding the team of the tight deadline along with negative opinions on the product.
T: As a software engineer on the team, I set up a 1:1 meeting with the project manager in order to understand where the pressure and negative talk was coming from. They explained that the deadline is a legislative one, so it is a hard deadline. And they admitted that while their intention wasn’t to come off as negative - they understood that some of the feedback they have been providing during meetings were not very constructive.
A: I actively listened to their concerns, and I took this back to my team. We then were able to address their concerns by showing our design documents which get written before each project with multiple solutions. These solutions highlighted trade-offs and highlighted the features that were a “must” for the MVP of the project. This showed that we have already given thought to how we are going to achieve the project’s major milestones. We also used JIRA to add priorities to our tickets and used this tool to show that nearly 70% of our “must” tickets have already been completed. Therefore, we were quite comfortable that we were well ahead of time to deliver this project.
R: The project manager became a big advocate for the project and our team. I learned that communication with stakeholders is very key to the success of the project. Despite the fact that we had our basis covered as a team, it was not reflected well outside of our team. I then set up monthly meetings with our key stakeholders in our future projects where we demonstrate our project progress as well as any major blockers towards the projects.
Describe a situation where you had to collaborate effectively
S: My team was given a project that we decided would be best to split into 2 parts. One of the parts involved extending a legacy system that we did not have much experience with, so we collaborated with another scrum team to deliver the project.
T: As a software engineer, I facilitated regular communication between the 2 teams to ensure that the project was running smoothly.
A: I organised meetings like an initial icebreaker meeting so that the teams can get to know each other. I then organised meetings on a monthly cadence such as joint planning and retrospective meetings that ensured shared understanding and alignment towards delivering the project.
R: The project was delivered ahead of time because of the constant communication and collaboration with the other team.
💭 Final thoughts
It took me a really long time to truly understand how to put STAR into action, but when it clicked, it worked like magic for every interview I had.
However, there are a few things you need to watch out for:
Don’t try to map out each stage in your head. Don’t say things like “okay, so the situation was XYZ, and the task I did was ABC”. This comes off as really robotic and doesn’t leave a good impression for your interviewer.
Instead, what you should be doing is using STAR to tell a story. Try to map each letter in the acronym as part of the story of how you overcame a challenge or dealt with a difficult stakeholder.
Practice out loud. Either practice your story out loud or do a mock interview with a friend. This will really help refine your storytelling skills and solidify the STAR method in your mind.
Stay authentic and enthusiastic. Your story comes off as much more receptive when you are being authentic. Your interviewer is human, and subconsciously, we can tell when you’re not being authentic. And trust me, even if you’ve been a software engineer for just a year, you will have some stories to tell.
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