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Technical interview questions template

General information, not legal advice. Last checked October 29, 2026.

By , tech recruiter at GuruLink in Winnipeg. Recruiting tech people since 2018. Updated .

How to use this

General information, not legal advice. Check with an employment lawyer in your province.

Pick 3 or 4 questions per interview, not all 16. Give people time to think. Follow their thinking with "why?" and "what if?"

Ask everyone in the same round the same core questions. Score them against an answer guide you wrote first. The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) recommends both, and says not to ask some people questions you don't ask others (OHRC). Pair this with the interview scorecard.

Read the off-limits list before every interview loop. In Ontario, an oral question that points to a protected ground can infringe the Human Rights Code (s. 23(2)). The OHRC says asking it can be enough to prove discrimination, even if you hire the person (OHRC). Manitoba has the same kind of rule (Manitoba Code s. 14(4)).

Federally regulated employers, like banks, airlines and telecoms, fall under the Canadian Human Rights Act instead (CHRA ss. 3, 8).

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Technical interview questions

General information, not legal advice. Every question below is about the work. Ask the same core questions of everyone in the same round.

Before the interview

Send this with the invite: "If you need any accommodation for the interview or any test, tell [name, email]. We'll work it out with you." (Ontario requires this. Source: O. Reg. 191/11, s. 23, https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/110191.)

Pick 3 or 4 questions. Write what a weak, solid and great answer sounds like before the first interview.

System design

1.1 Design a URL shortener. Walk me through it from requirements to deployment. Listen for: questions about scale, read and write patterns, storage choices and how they handle collisions.

1.2 How would you design a system that sends email, SMS and push notifications? Listen for: events and queues, retries, and the trade-off between delivery guarantees and speed.

1.3 Build a live dashboard for 10,000 users at once. How would you set it up? Listen for: WebSockets versus polling, how they roll up data, caching and browser speed.

1.4 How would you break a monolith into services? Where do you start? Listen for: small steps, clear boundaries, and knowing what should stay in the monolith.

Coding and problem solving

2.1 Given a stream of timestamped events, count the events in any sliding window of N minutes. Listen for: time and memory cost, empty windows, events out of order, and readable code.

2.2 Write a rate limiter that allows N requests per minute per user. How does it work across many servers? Listen for: token bucket or sliding window, shared state, and race conditions.

2.3 A function passes tests but fails now and then in production. How do you debug it? Listen for: reproduce, isolate, form a guess and test it. Concurrency, config and data differences.

2.4 Here is a messy 50-line function that works. What would you change and why? Listen for: what they fix first, clear names, keeping behaviour the same, and knowing when to stop.

Architecture and trade-offs

3.1 When would you pick a SQL database over a NoSQL one? Use a real example from your work. Listen for: consistency versus flexibility, and a real story, not a textbook answer.

3.2 Your API went from 200ms to 2 seconds over a month. How do you find out why? Listen for: profiling, logs and tracing. Common causes like N+1 queries, missing indexes and slow outside services.

3.3 You have 2 weeks to ship something that should take 6. What do you cut? Listen for: finding the core value, cutting scope and not quality, and telling people early.

3.4 Tell me about a technical call you made that you'd make differently now. Listen for: what they got wrong and what they changed after.

How they work with a team

4.1 Tell me about a time you disagreed with a technical decision. What did you do? Listen for: respect, evidence, and committing once the call is made.

4.2 Tell me about a project with unclear requirements. What did you do? Listen for: asking good questions, small steps, and making progress anyway.

4.3 How would you help a newer developer who is stuck? Listen for: patience, showing as well as telling, and starting from what the person already knows.

4.4 What's the most useful code review feedback you've ever gotten? Listen for: openness, and seeing review as teamwork.

Off-limits questions

Don't ask these in an interview, on a form, on a call or over coffee. A question that points to a protected ground can break human rights law even if you meant nothing by it. If the person brings it up, don't follow up, and leave it out of your notes and score.

Don't askProtected groundAsk this instead, only if the job needs itSource
"How old are you?" "When did you graduate?"AgeNothing. On a form you may ask if they are 18 or older.ON Code ss. 5(1), 23(2). MB Code ss. 9(2)(e), 14(4). OHRC forms guide.
"Where are you from?" "Where were you born?"Place of origin, ethnic origin, ancestry (ON). Nationality, national origin, ethnic background (MB)."Are you legally entitled to work in Canada?"ON Code s. 5(1). MB Code s. 9(2)(a) to (c). OHRC forms guide.
"Are you a citizen?" "Are you a permanent resident?"Citizenship (ON)"Are you legally entitled to work in Canada?"ON Code s. 5(1). OHRC forms guide.
"Do you have Canadian experience?"Place of origin and related groundsAsk about the skill, not where they got it.OHRC Canadian experience policy. ESA s. 8.3 for postings and forms.
"Do you have kids?" "Planning a family?" "Who looks after your kids?" "Are you married?" "Will your spouse move?"Family status, marital status, sex including pregnancy"The job needs [6 a.m. starts / travel to X]. Can you meet that?" Ask everyone.ON Code s. 5(1). MB Code s. 9(2)(f), (i). MB Commission hiring guideline.
"Do you have any health problems?" "How many sick days did you take last year?" "Any disabilities?"Disability"Tell me about your experience with [the task]." Talk about accommodation on the job after a conditional offer, unless they raise it.ON Code s. 5(1). MB Code s. 9(2)(l). OHRC interview and sensitive-info guides.
"What church do you go to?" "Can you work Saturdays?" (before an offer)Creed (ON), religion (MB)If the schedule is a real job need, state it and ask if they can meet it. Talk about religious needs after a conditional offer.ON Code s. 5(1). MB Code s. 9(2)(d). OHRC forms guide. MB Commission hiring guideline.
Anything about sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expressionSexual orientation, gender identity, gender expressionNothing.ON Code s. 5(1). MB Code s. 9(2)(g), (g.1), (h).
"Have you ever been arrested?" "Do you have a record?"Record of offences (ON)If the job needs it, make the offer conditional on a record check tied to the duties.ON Code ss. 5(1), 10(1). OHRC forms guide. MB Commission hiring guideline.
"Who did you vote for?" "Are you on social assistance?"Political belief, source of income, social disadvantage (MB)Nothing.MB Code s. 9(2)(j), (k), (m).
"Send a photo." "Send your driver's licence." "What's your SIN?" (before an offer)Can reveal age, race, sex, origin, disabilityAsk for these only after a conditional offer, and only if the job needs them.OHRC forms guide and sensitive-info guide.
"What do you make now?" "What did your last job pay?" (BC)Not a human rights ground. Banned by BC pay law."What are you looking for?"BC Pay Transparency Act, s. 3.
"Do you need to be fluent in English?" (Quebec)Quebec language lawOnly require a language other than French if the duties need it. Say why in the posting.Quebec Charter of the French language, s. 46.

Narrow exceptions. Ontario allows some ground-related questions in an interview when the Code permits the preference, for example a special program or a special-interest organization. Get legal advice before you rely on one. Sources: ON Code ss. 23(3), 24(1).

Federally regulated employers. The Canadian Human Rights Act grounds are race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics, disability and a pardoned conviction or record suspension. Questions that express a limit or preference on those grounds are a discriminatory practice. Sources: CHRA ss. 3(1), 8.

Sources (checked October 29, 2026)

Sources