18 questions
Scoring rubric 1–5

Problem Solving Interview Questions

Strong problem-solving questions ask how someone got to an answer, not whether they got it right. Look for how they framed the problem, what they ruled out, and what data they went to find before deciding.

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Every candidate says they are a problem solver.

The difference between the good ones and the rest shows up in the middle of the story: how they narrowed a vague problem into something workable, and what they did when the obvious answer turned out to be wrong.

18interview questions

4question sets by competency

1–5scoring rubric for every answer

Framing and diagnosis

The first minutes of any real problem are spent deciding what the problem actually is. Candidates who skip this step tend to solve the wrong thing quickly.

Tell me about the hardest problem you solved in the last year. Why was it hard?

What a strong answer shows: The difficulty is in the problem itself (ambiguity, constraints, conflicting data), not in other people being difficult.
Red flag: The hard part is always politics or a bad manager.

Describe a time the obvious solution turned out to be wrong.

What a strong answer shows: They tested the assumption instead of committing, and can name the moment they realised.
Red flag: Has never been wrong about a diagnosis.

How do you approach a problem where you don’t know where to start?

What a strong answer shows: A repeatable method: break it down, find the cheapest test, talk to whoever is closest to it.
Red flag: «I just start working on it» with no structure at all.

Tell me about a recurring problem you fixed at the root rather than patching.

What a strong answer shows: They distinguish symptom from cause, and the fix held.
Red flag: All examples are firefighting; nothing structural ever changed.

Tell me about a problem you solved that turned out to be the wrong problem.

What a strong answer shows: They describe the moment the real issue surfaced and what tipped them off.
Red flag: Every problem in their story was correctly identified from the start.

How do you decide a problem is not worth solving?

What a strong answer shows: A criterion — cost, frequency, who it affects — and a real example of something they left alone.
Red flag: Treats every problem as equally urgent.

Working with data and constraints

What data did you need for that decision, and how did you get it?

What a strong answer shows: They went and found it, even imperfectly, rather than waiting for a perfect dataset.
Red flag: Decisions based purely on intuition, with no attempt to check.

Tell me about a problem you solved with far fewer resources than you wanted.

What a strong answer shows: Creative narrowing of scope: what they deliberately did not do in order to ship something.
Red flag: The answer is that they asked for more budget and got it.

Describe a time you had to choose between two bad options.

What a strong answer shows: A clear criterion for choosing, and honesty about what the chosen option cost.
Red flag: Reframes it as a good option in hindsight.

Walk me through a time the data contradicted what everyone believed.

What a strong answer shows: They can state the prior belief fairly and describe how they convinced people, or failed to.
Red flag: The data always confirmed their own hunch.

Tell me about a decision you made with a deadline you could not move.

What a strong answer shows: What they deliberately left unexamined in order to ship, and whether that cost them later.
Red flag: Claims to have done full analysis under any time pressure.

When the solution fails

Tell me about a solution of yours that didn’t work. What happened next?

What a strong answer shows: They noticed early, said so, and changed course. No hiding.
Red flag: Cannot name a failed solution, or blames the implementation by others.

How do you know when to stop trying to fix something and escalate?

What a strong answer shows: A concrete threshold (time, blast radius, cost) rather than a feeling.
Red flag: Escalates immediately, or never escalates at all.

Describe a problem you handed to someone else. Why?

What a strong answer shows: Good judgement about their own limits and who was better placed.
Red flag: Frames delegating as losing.

Describe a fix that worked at first and broke later.

What a strong answer shows: They understand the difference between a patch and a cause, and say which one they applied and why.
Red flag: No awareness that the first fix was temporary.

Tell me about a problem you escalated. When did you decide to?

What a strong answer shows: A clear threshold for escalating, and evidence they had already tried something themselves.
Red flag: Escalates immediately, or never — both are the same missing judgement.

Role-specific variations

The same competency looks different depending on the job. Adjust the question, not the standard.

What is a process you inherited that made no sense? What did you do?

What a strong answer shows: They found out why it existed before removing it. Chesterton’s fence, applied.
Red flag: Removed it without asking, or complained without acting.

How do you approach a problem in an area you know nothing about?

What a strong answer shows: A repeatable first move: who they ask, what they read, what they try first.
Red flag: Waits to be told, or pretends prior knowledge they do not have.

Engineering

Ask insteadWalk me through debugging your worst production incident

What you’re testingSystematic isolation under pressure

Sales

Ask insteadTell me about a deal that stalled and how you diagnosed why

What you’re testingReading a situation with incomplete signals

Operations

Ask insteadDescribe a process that kept breaking. What did you change?

What you’re testingRoot-cause thinking over patching

Customer support

Ask insteadTell me about a case nobody could resolve

What you’re testingPersistence plus knowing when to escalate

Analyst

Ask insteadDescribe an analysis that contradicted what stakeholders expected

What you’re testingIntellectual honesty with data

How to score the answers

1
No method
Jumps straight to a solution with no reasoning
2
Basic
Describes what they did but not why
3
Solid
Clear diagnosis, options considered, decision explained
4
Strong
Above, plus what they ruled out and the data they sought
5
Exceptional
Above, plus a structural fix and a lesson they now apply by default

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What are good problem solving interview questions?

Questions that make the candidate reconstruct their reasoning: the hardest problem of the last year, a time the obvious answer was wrong, a choice between two bad options. Brain teasers predict almost nothing about job performance.

Should I use puzzles or brain teasers?

No. They mostly measure exposure to puzzles and add stress that hides the skill you want to see. A real problem from the candidate’s own experience, probed with follow-ups, is far more predictive.

How do I assess problem solving in a junior candidate?

Use problems from outside work: a project at university, something they organised, a bug they chased in a side project. What matters is the structure of their thinking, not the stakes involved.

What is the difference between problem solving and critical thinking in an interview?

Problem solving is about reaching a workable outcome under constraints; critical thinking is about questioning the framing and the evidence before you start. The questions above test both: the diagnosis questions probe critical thinking, the constraint questions probe problem solving.