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Professional English for Developers Module 4

Vocabulary for tech work interview questions

Interview questions on vocabulary for tech work: short warm-ups, then what each harder question tests, the first step of a good answer and its follow-ups.

11 questions: 3 warm-ups and 8 with model answers · Levels: Fresher to staff

Warm-up questions

Short questions with short answers, each answered in full.

Fresher to mid

What does it mean to deprecate an API, and how is it different from removing it?

Answered in the lesson Tech verbs, collocations and phrasal verbs
Fresher to mid

What can "Please revert" mean, and why is it risky in a team of developers?

Answered in the lesson Indian English at work: what global readers miss
Fresher to mid

How do you write a meeting time for colleagues in India, the UK and the US?

Answered in the lesson Numbers, dates and time zones: say and write them

Questions with model answers

What each question tests, the first step of a good answer and the follow-ups to expect.

Mid to senior

A how-to guide your team owns says: "Fire up the console, punch in your token, kick off the job, and if it acts up, roll it back." Rewrite it for readers who use translation tools, and explain each change.
What it tests

Replacing phrasal verbs and idioms with single, exact verbs, keeping the operation names the tool itself uses, and writing steps that a translation tool can carry.

First step

Find each phrasal verb and idiom and write what it means as one verb: fire up means open, punch in means enter, kick off means start. Then check which words name an operation in the tool, such as roll back, and keep those.
Follow-ups
- The tool's own button says Kick off. What do you write?
- How do you split the sentence into steps?
- How would you check the result with a translation tool?
From the lesson Tech verbs, collocations and phrasal verbs
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In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Fresher to senior

Your team will stop supporting the v1 export endpoint. Write the notice that users get today, and explain why each sentence uses the verb it does.
What it tests

Using deprecate in its exact sense, keeping deprecation apart from removal, and giving users the replacement and the timeline they need to act.

First step

Use deprecate for today: v1 still works, and you recommend against it. Then name the replacement and the planned removal, with its release, so users know exactly when calls will start to fail.
Follow-ups
- A user asks whether "sunset" means the same. What do you answer?
- What do you write on the day of the removal?
- How do you reach users who never read notices?
From the lesson Tech verbs, collocations and phrasal verbs
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Fresher to mid

A teammate's first email to a new client in Ohio says: "Dear Sir, kindly do the needful and revert by EOD. PFA the logs." Your lead asks you to fix it before it goes. What do you change, and how do you explain it to your teammate?
What it tests

Recognising Indian English forms and abbreviations a client abroad may not know, replacing each with an exact action or a plain word, and giving feedback that treats the variety with respect.

First step

List what the client needs to act: the exact action, the item and a time with its zone. Then replace each form: do the needful with the action, revert with reply, EOD with a time and zone and PFA with "I have attached", and choose a greeting for this reader.
Follow-ups
- Your teammate says these phrases are polite and normal. How do you answer?
- The client has not signed any email yet. How do you open?
- How would you help the whole team, not only this email?
From the lesson Indian English at work: what global readers miss
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Mid to senior

A colleague abroad ran git revert on a merged fix after a message said "please revert on the PR", which the writer meant as "please reply". The fix was off main for two hours. You are asked to stop this happening again. What do you propose?
What it tests

Seeing a two-meaning word as a team risk rather than one person's mistake, proposing writing habits and a light check, and keeping the review blameless.

First step

Describe what happened without blame: one word had two meanings, both reasonable. Then propose one rule for the team, reply for answers and revert only for undoing a change, and a cheap way to keep it, such as a check in the chat or review tool.
Follow-ups
- Would you add a technical safeguard as well?
- How do you tell the writer without making them feel blamed?
- Which other words in your team could cause the same problem?
From the lesson Indian English at work: what global readers miss
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Senior to staff

Your company is writing one style guide for engineering teams in India and the US. You are asked to write the entry on Indian English forms. What goes into it, and how do you keep it respectful?
What it tests

Framing the entry by audience instead of correctness, choosing forms with a cited source, giving alternatives and examples, and covering the habits of other first languages as well.

First step

Open with the principle: Indian English is a variety, and the entry is about readers who do not share it. Then list only forms with a source, such as Oxford's labels, each with what a reader abroad may hear and what to write instead.
Follow-ups
- A colleague wants to add every form they have heard. What do you do?
- How does the entry treat US forms that Indian readers may not know?
- How would you check that teams use the entry?
From the lesson Indian English at work: what global readers miss
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Mid to senior

Your Pune team runs a daily stand-up at 10:00 India Standard Time with two colleagues in London and one in New York. In March the New York colleague misses two stand-ups in a row. What went wrong, and what do you change?
What it tests

Knowing that US and UK clocks change on different Sundays and India's never, working out the effect on a recurring meeting, and fixing both the invite and the habit around it.

First step

Work out the stand-up's time in New York in the weeks before and after the US clocks go forward, from its time in UTC and New York's offset in each week. Then check how the time reached New York: typed into a message, or set in a calendar invite, and in which zone.
Follow-ups
- The London colleagues were fine in the same weeks. Why?
- Would you move the stand-up to suit New York?
- What do you send before the clocks change in October?
From the lesson Numbers, dates and time zones: say and write them
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Mid to senior

You present figures from an Indian report to a client team in Germany: 2.5 crore requests, up from 1.8 crore, and costs of 3,40,00,000 rupees. How do you prepare the slides, and what do you say?
What it tests

Converting lakh and crore to the international system, stating a change exactly, and writing numbers that a reader used to another decimal separator cannot misread.

First step

Convert each figure before anything else, with one crore as ten million: 2.5 crore is 25 million, 1.8 crore is 18 million, and 3,40,00,000 is 34 million. Then decide how each figure appears on the slides for readers who group digits differently.
Follow-ups
- How do you say the growth from 18 million to 25 million?
- Someone on the call asks for the figure in crore. What do you say?
- How do you write the 34 million rupees for this client?
From the lesson Numbers, dates and time zones: say and write them
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Fresher to mid

On an incident call with London and Ohio, you read out a build ID, B-70318, a version, 4.10.2, an error rate that went from 0.5 % to 2 %, and the time the errors began. How do you say each one so that nobody mishears it?
What it tests

Saying an ID, a version, a change between two percentages and a time so that every listener can repeat each one back exactly.

First step

Decide what each listener must be able to repeat back exactly: the ID, the version, the two percentages and the time. Then say each one so that its punctuation survives the call, and post all of them in the incident chat.
Follow-ups
- A listener repeats the ID as B-70380. What do you do?
- How do you give the time the errors began?
- Should you also post the numbers in the chat?
From the lesson Numbers, dates and time zones: say and write them
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes

All Professional English for Developers interview questions · The Professional English for Developers track

Warm-up questions

What does it mean to deprecate an API, and how is it different from removing it?

What can "Please revert" mean, and why is it risky in a team of developers?

How do you write a meeting time for colleagues in India, the UK and the US?

Questions with model answers

A how-to guide your team owns says: "Fire up the console, punch in your token, kick off the job, and if it acts up, roll it back." Rewrite it for readers who use translation tools, and explain each change.

Your team will stop supporting the v1 export endpoint. Write the notice that users get today, and explain why each sentence uses the verb it does.

A teammate's first email to a new client in Ohio says: "Dear Sir, kindly do the needful and revert by EOD. PFA the logs." Your lead asks you to fix it before it goes. What do you change, and how do you explain it to your teammate?

A colleague abroad ran git revert on a merged fix after a message said "please revert on the PR", which the writer meant as "please reply". The fix was off main for two hours. You are asked to stop this happening again. What do you propose?

Your company is writing one style guide for engineering teams in India and the US. You are asked to write the entry on Indian English forms. What goes into it, and how do you keep it respectful?

Your Pune team runs a daily stand-up at 10:00 India Standard Time with two colleagues in London and one in New York. In March the New York colleague misses two stand-ups in a row. What went wrong, and what do you change?

You present figures from an Indian report to a client team in Germany: 2.5 crore requests, up from 1.8 crore, and costs of 3,40,00,000 rupees. How do you prepare the slides, and what do you say?

On an incident call with London and Ohio, you read out a build ID, B-70318, a version, 4.10.2, an error rate that went from 0.5 % to 2 %, and the time the errors began. How do you say each one so that nobody mishears it?