Web Developer Internship Interview Questions

Interviewer: Hello, thank you for joining us today. Can you tell us a little about your background and experiences in web development?

Candidate: Sure, I recently completed my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science with a focus on web development. I have worked on several projects using various programming languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.

Interviewer: Great! What are your favorite web development tools and why?

Candidate: I prefer using Sublime Text for coding because it’s lightweight and has lots of useful plugins. For version control, I use Git and GitHub to manage and track changes in my code.

Interviewer: Can you tell us about a project that you have worked on in the past that you are most proud of?

Candidate: One of my proudest projects was a web-based hospital management system that I worked on for an internship in my senior year. The project involved working with a team of three developers to create a web application that can manage patient records, appointments, and billing.

Interviewer: How comfortable are you with front-end frameworks like Angular or React?

Candidate: I have worked with both Angular and React before, but I am more comfortable with Angular.

Interviewer: How familiar are you with database management systems like MySQL or PostgreSQL?

Candidate: Yes, I have worked with both MySQL and PostgreSQL in the past, and I am comfortable with designing, building, and optimizing databases.

Interviewer: How have you kept up-to-date with the latest web development trends and technologies?

Candidate: I stay informed about new web development trends and technologies by attending conferences, following industry experts on social media, and reading technology blogs and journals like CSS Tricks, Smashing Magazine, and A List Apart.

Interviewer: Can you give an example of how you have used responsive design to ensure a website works across different screen sizes?

Candidate: Responsive design is essential in ensuring websites work well across different screen sizes. In a recent project, I used CSS media queries to adapt the layout and font sizes of a webpage, depending on the device screen resolution.

Interviewer: How do you ensure that your websites are accessible to people with disabilities?

Candidate: I consider accessibility as a key factor during the development process. For example, I make sure that images have ALT tags, provide text descriptions for videos and make links descriptive.

Interviewer: How do you typically handle cross-browser compatibility issues?

Candidate: I thoroughly test my websites across multiple browsers and devices, and I use CSS tools like Normalize.css to ensure that the styles are consistent across different browsers.

Interviewer: Can you walk us through your workflow for deploying a website to a production server?

Candidate: Sure, I typically use Git to version control my code, and I use a continuous integration tool like Jenkins to automate the deployment process by building the code, running tests, and deploying the application to a production server.

Interviewer: Can you describe a situation where you had to troubleshoot a particularly difficult bug and what steps you took to resolve it?

Candidate: In one project, I encountered a bug whereby an AJAX call was failing intermittently. I narrowed down the cause to a network latency issue and implemented a retry mechanism using JavaScript to solve the issue.

Interviewer: Can you give an example of how you have optimized website performance in a previous project?

Candidate: One method I use to optimize website performance is by reducing the size of images used in the site by compressing them as much as possible without compromising their quality. I also use browser caching and optimize client-side scripts for faster loading times.

Interviewer: Can you tell us about a time when you had to work with someone who had a different approach or style than you, and how you managed to collaborate effectively?

Candidate: In one project, I worked with a team member who had a different approach to problem-solving. I learned to listen to their ideas, understand their point of view and accommodate their suggestions. I also communicated regularly with the team member to ensure that we were working together to achieve the project's goals.

Interviewer: Finally, what are you looking to gain from this internship experience, and how do you think it will help you with your career aspirations?

Candidate: I am hoping to gain more experience working in a web development team, learn new development technologies, and improve my coding skills. I believe that the internship will provide me with the opportunity to work on real-world web development projects and prepare me for a successful career in the industry.

Scenario Questions

1. Scenario: You have been hired to develop a website for a local restaurant. The owner wants to display their menu online with prices and allow customers to place orders. How would you go about implementing this feature and ensure the security of the customer's personal and financial information?

Candidate Answer: To implement this feature, I would first assess the restaurant's current system for online orders, if any. I'll use a secure payment gateway like Paypal or Stripe to ensure that customer's financial data is protected during transactions. I'll also implement HTTPS and SSL to encrypt customer data and ensure overall security.

2. Scenario: A client wants a website with a high level of interactivity with users, featuring social media integration and real-time updates. What tools would you use to achieve this?

Candidate Answer: To achieve high user interactivity, I would use JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX. I would also implement social media APIs to integrate social media platforms. Finally, I would implement a WebSocket to enable real-time updates.

3. Scenario: You are tasked with optimizing the loading time of a website. How would you go about this task?

Candidate Answer: To optimize loading time, I would analyze the website's HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files and compress them if possible. I would also implement Gzip compression to minimize data transfer. Moreover, I'll optimize images by reducing their size and enable cache to reduce load time on repeated or visiting pages by the user.

4. Scenario: One of the website features takes longer to load than others. How would you go about pinpointing the cause of the delay?

Candidate Answer: Firstly, I will verify if the issue is due to error in scripting by looking into browser console which will carry out the real-time diagnosis of the problem. I will then identify whether it is a server-side, network, or client-side issue with the help of various tools like Chrome Dev Tools or other available web tools available. Once the cause of the delay is identified, I'll look for different optimization techniques which can resolve the issue.

5. Scenario: A client asks that you build a responsive website that can handle a large audience. How would you ensure that the website performs optimally across different devices and platforms?

Candidate Answer: To ensure the website performs optimally on different devices and platforms, I would implement a responsive design using Bootstrap, CSS grid, or other frameworks that the client prefers. I'll then test the website's performance on different screen sizes and adjust the layout accordingly. I'll carry out extensive testing on the website such as cross-browser testing, load testing, and accessibility testing. Finally, I'll implement a Content Delivery Network to distribute the website's content across servers to minimize load time.
Sample Numeric Data:
Area of interest:
Number of days customers visited the website in the last 30 days:
0, 5, 8, 5, 9, 20, 22, 18, 17, 30, 28, 24, 17, 10, 3, 1, 0, 2, 7, 6, 4, 4, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18, 23, 26
Question Specifications:
1. Write a function to find the total number of visitors for the last 30 days.
2. What is the average number of website visitors per day?
3. What is the median number of website visitors per day?
4. What is the maximum and minimum number of website visitors per day?
5. What was the trend of website visitors in the last 30 days?
1. Candidate Answer:
function getTotalVisitors(arr) {
var total = 0;
for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
total += arr[i];
}
return total;
}
console.log(getTotalVisitors(areaOfInterest)); // 264
2. Candidate Answer:
function getAvgVisitors(arr) {
var total = getTotalVisitors(arr);
return total/arr.length;
}
console.log(getAvgVisitors(areaOfInterest)); // 8.8
3. Candidate Answer:
function getMedianVisitors(arr) {
var half = Math.floor(arr.length/2);
arr.sort(function(a, b) { return a - b; });
if(arr.length % 2)
return arr[half];
else
return (arr[half-1] + arr[half]) / 2.0;
}
console.log(getMedianVisitors(areaOfInterest)); //8
4. Candidate Answer:
console.log("Maximum Visitors per Day: " + Math.max(...areaOfInterest)); // 30
console.log("Minimum Visitors per Day: " + Math.min(...areaOfInterest)); // 0
5. Candidate Answer:
The trend of website visitors in the last 30 days shows that the number of visitors increased and decreased at different points in the month. From the statistics shown above, the highest number of visitors was 30 while the lowest number of visitors was 0, which indicates that the number of visitors varied widely over the month.