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Start with the work the role will actually do
Choose exercises and questions that mirror the job’s responsibilities. A product-focused backend role may call for deeper discussion of APIs, data, and authorization; an infrastructure-focused SaaS role may need more attention to deployment and reliability. Set expectations in advance, keep conditions comparable across candidates, and allow different solutions when they are correct and well reasoned.
For example, Microsoft advises interviewers to clarify ambiguities and plan before implementation, while Amazon’s SDE II guidance asks candidates to complete and validate a design through questions. Those are examples of employer guidance, not proof that one interview format or rubric is best for every team.
The eight technical checks
1. Job-relevant coding
Give a small task drawn from the role’s actual work, and let the candidate use a language they know. Observe whether they clarify the goal, choose a workable approach, produce correct and readable code, and explain the decisions they made. Microsoft’s technical-interview guidance focuses on problem-solving and skills needed for the role, and recommends using a familiar language.
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2. Testing and debugging
Ask what the candidate would test, then invite them to exercise edge cases or discuss a failure you introduce. Look for a deliberate strategy that goes beyond showing the happy path: which assumptions need checking, what inputs could break the solution, and how they would isolate a defect. Microsoft expects candidates to test their solutions; Amazon’s guidance calls out well-tested code and validating edge cases.
3. SaaS system design
Offer a bounded design prompt connected to your product. Clarify scale, data needs, and constraints, then ask the candidate to explain tradeoffs and how the design behaves when a component fails. Assess the quality of the reasoning rather than whether the candidate guesses your preferred architecture. Microsoft and Amazon include system design in their engineering evaluation guidance; Amazon’s SDE II page describes four 55-minute interviews and says candidates should expect at least one system-design question. That is Amazon’s example process, not a recommended universal schedule.
4. Security and authorization
Use a concrete scenario involving accounts, roles, and a request to access another customer’s data. Ask where authorization is enforced and how a change would be verified. This makes the discussion about a consequential application boundary rather than security vocabulary alone. OWASP’s Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS) 5.0.0 is a requirements reference for grounding the scenario; an interview prompt is not a substitute for a full application security review.
5. Data and API judgment
Ask the candidate to trace a request from the API through its authorization boundary to persistence. Probe how they would validate input, handle errors, and decide what belongs in logs. These are practical, SaaS-oriented prompts to tailor to your system; there is no single prescribed SaaS interview question in the cited guidance. Use ASVS to anchor application-security expectations rather than treating a particular answer as a universal rule.
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6. Production readiness
For roles that own shipping or operations, ask how the candidate would release, observe, and troubleshoot a change. Include a rollback or incident scenario and listen for a clear account of how they would detect a problem and respond. Calibrate this check to the actual job: not every SaaS developer owns deployment or operations. ASVS concerns application controls; lifecycle, hosting, and operational guidance also matter, but they are distinct responsibilities.
7. Communication and collaboration
Have the candidate talk through an approach, ask clarifying questions, and adapt when you change a requirement. Notice whether they make assumptions visible and explain their reasoning in a way teammates could use. Microsoft’s guidance emphasizes clarification and planning, and OpenAI’s engineering interview guide names communication and collaboration among its evaluation dimensions.
8. Ownership and learning
Ask for a specific example of a technical decision, defect, or change the candidate owned. Probe what they considered, what happened, and what they learned. Keep the discussion tied to work relevant to the role, and use comparable prompts across candidates. Treat this as a practical behavioral check, not as a uniquely predictive criterion established by the cited sources.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Compare assessment formats by what they reveal
Live coding, take-home exercises, code review, and design discussions expose different kinds of evidence. No format is established by the cited employer guidance as best overall. Choose by comparing the format with the work and constraints of the role:
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| Assessment format | What it can make observable | What to weigh |
|---|---|---|
| Live coding | Problem framing, implementation choices, testing, and response to discussion | Whether the task resembles the job, whether the candidate can use a familiar language, and whether the conditions allow comparable scoring |
| Take-home exercise | A candidate’s approach to a bounded task and the resulting implementation | Candidate time burden, relevance to daily work, consistent scoring, and whether follow-up discussion can establish authorship and reasoning |
| Code review | How the candidate reads an existing change, identifies concerns, and explains suggested improvements | Whether the sample reflects the role’s work and gives candidates equivalent context |
| System-design discussion | How the candidate clarifies requirements, considers data and scale, and explains tradeoffs | Whether architectural decisions are part of the role and whether the prompt is bounded enough to support comparable discussion |
Score observable evidence, not a preferred answer
Use a consistent rubric, but weight it according to the role, level, and product risk. Possible evidence categories include problem framing, correctness, testing, security reasoning, tradeoff explanation, and collaboration. Record what the candidate did or explained rather than relying on an overall impression, and allow equivalent good solutions.
Official guidance from Microsoft, Amazon, and OpenAI shows that employers assess multiple dimensions, but it does not validate a single weighting, format, or universal instrument for hiring SaaS developers. Avoid claims that one exercise proves competence or that an interview format reliably predicts job success.
Quick Recap
Sources and scope
- Microsoft Careers: Technical interview guidance
- Amazon Jobs: SDE II interview preparation
- OpenAI: Interview guide
- OWASP: Application Security Verification Standard
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