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Interview pack

Software Engineer Interview Questions for Nigerian Employers

Ten interview questions for software engineers in Nigeria — each with what it's actually testing and the difference between a strong and weak answer. Use them in your next first-round.

About this role in Nigeria

Software engineers in Nigeria sit at the heart of the country's fastest-growing companies — from Lagos fintechs processing billions in payments to Abuja-based health-tech startups serving public hospitals. The role spans frontend, backend, infrastructure, and increasingly AI integration; most Nigerian SMBs hire generalists who can move across the stack, while larger companies (Flutterwave, Paystack, Andela) look for specialists. Strong English communication is table stakes for remote roles serving European or US customers, and time-zone overlap with London is the practical default. Compensation has risen sharply since 2021 as international companies hire Nigerian engineers directly; senior generalists earning $4,000–8,000/month in USD are no longer rare.

The questions

  1. Question 1

    Walk me through the last bug that took you more than a day to find. What did you try, in what order?

    Why ask this
    Tests debugging method, not just outcome. Strong engineers narrate the search tree; weak ones jump to the answer with no story.
    Signal
    Strong: structured, ruled hypotheses out one by one. Weak: 'I just kept trying things until it worked'.

  2. Question 2

    What's a piece of code you wrote that you'd refactor now? Why?

    Why ask this
    Tests self-awareness and growth. Engineers who never name a regret are usually defensive about feedback.
    Signal
    Strong: specific example, names what changed in their thinking. Weak: 'I always write good code'.

  3. Question 3

    How do you decide when to write a test vs ship the change?

    Why ask this
    Tests judgment, not dogma. Real engineers have explicit tradeoffs they apply, not blanket rules.
    Signal
    Strong: names the factors (blast radius, reversibility, time pressure). Weak: 'Always 100% coverage' or 'Tests slow us down'.

  4. Question 4

    Take this 30-line snippet [paste one]. What would you change?

    Why ask this
    Live code review reveals more in 5 minutes than 30 minutes of behavioral questions. Bias toward this format.
    Signal
    Strong: spots the actual issues (race conditions, error handling, naming). Weak: cosmetic edits only.

  5. Question 5

    Tell me about a time you disagreed with a senior engineer or a PM. How did it resolve?

    Why ask this
    Tests communication under pressure and willingness to push back. Quiet engineers who never disagreed often fail later as seniors.
    Signal
    Strong: clear position, sought to understand the other side, named what they learned. Weak: 'I just deferred to them'.

  6. Question 6

    What do you do when production is on fire and you don't know why?

    Why ask this
    Tests the difference between 'has read about incident response' and 'has been in one'. Crucial for senior hires.
    Signal
    Strong: containment first, communication second, root cause third. Weak: jumps straight to fixing without restoring service.

  7. Question 7

    Describe your dev loop — from feature ticket to merged PR. What tools, what habits?

    Why ask this
    Reveals seniority and discipline. Senior engineers have a deliberate loop; juniors have a vague one.
    Signal
    Strong: specific (branches, test cadence, PR template, review SLAs). Weak: 'I just code and push'.

  8. Question 8

    If we hired you, what's the first thing you'd want to change about how we work?

    Why ask this
    Forward-looking signal. Strong candidates have already noticed something during the interview process.
    Signal
    Strong: thoughtful, specific, not arrogant. Weak: nothing, or a generic 'I'd improve communication'.

  9. Question 9

    What's the most important thing about working on a Nigerian engineering team that someone from outside Nigeria wouldn't know?

    Why ask this
    Specific to local context. Tests for ground-truth experience vs textbook knowledge.
    Signal
    Strong: a real cultural / infrastructure / market insight. Weak: a generic answer.

  10. Question 10

    Show me a piece of your code on GitHub or share a snippet. Walk me through it.

    Why ask this
    Skips the entire 'leetcode' question class. Real code review is the highest-signal interview format that exists.
    Signal
    Strong: comfortable explaining tradeoffs they made and would change. Weak: defensive, or can't remember why they wrote it that way.

Next steps

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