Introduction
Hi, I'm Kotaro, an Engineering Manager at BoostDraft.
In this post, as a companion piece to the article by our recruiter Nakajima:
"How Casual Chats and Interviews Work at BoostDraft — and How to Prepare",
I'd like to dive into the “technical interview” — a step unique to engineering positions within our hiring process at BoostDraft.
I hope this article will be helpful not only for those considering BoostDraft as a potential place to work, but also for any software engineers preparing for interviews.
Structure of the Technical Interview
At BoostDraft, the technical interview typically consists of three parts:
- The interview
- Live coding test
- Q&A session
These are conducted in this order, with approximate time allocations of 15–20 minutes, 30–40 minutes, and 5 minutes respectively, totaling about one hour.
Currently, several engineers at BoostDraft conduct technical interviews.
In the past, interviewers had more freedom in how they ran the session, but now we follow a consistent structure and avoid major differences in questions, regardless of the interviewer, to ensure fairness and uniform evaluation.
Let’s take a closer look at each part.
The Interview
This is the typical part of an interview where the applicant and the interviewer have a conversation. It begins with mutual self-introductions, also serving as an icebreaker.
During your self-introduction, we highly encourage you to go beyond what’s written in your resume.
Of course, the interviewer has already read your resume and knows what you’ve done — what we want to hear about is what you learned from those experiences:
- What did you take away from that experience?
- How did it change the way you work?
- What values or beliefs did it lead you to?
These are things that are hard to capture on a resume.
On the flip side, simply repeating the contents of your resume during your self-introduction may leave an impression that there's nothing more beyond what's already written, so be careful with that.
Most of the time, when candidates share deeper stories from their background, interviewers find something personally relatable or intriguing, which leads to a more engaging and in-depth conversation.
Or sometimes we simply ask questions like:
- “What’s your biggest failure so far?”
- “What’s the one thing you’re most proud of in your work?”
The aim of these is the same: to uncover experiences and learnings that go beyond the resume.
We’ll also ask about two perspectives:
- “How do you think your presence would benefit the company if you joined?”
- “What do you expect from the company in return?”
We’d love to hear how you view your strengths, shaped by your background and experiences, and how you plan to apply them. At the same time, please be open about what you hope to gain by joining us — after all, joining a company is a two-way relationship.
The interview is not a one-sided judgment by the interviewer.
It’s a mutual evaluation to determine if the company and the candidate are a good match. We encourage you to approach it not with the mindset of:
“I’m being evaluated by the company,”
but rather:
“We’re working together to determine if this company is the right fit for me.”
The Live Coding Test
This is the part that takes up the most time in the hour-long interview. You’ll be given a coding problem and asked to solve it live.
We use an online collaborative code editor, so as long as you have access to a browser, there's no need to prepare anything in advance.
You can use any programming language, as long as the interviewer can understand the intent of your code.
We don’t require that your code be fully runnable through a compiler, so we don’t penalize small syntax errors. In many cases, if the logic is clear, you can skip over minor implementation details.
We won’t go into the specifics of the problem in this article, but this is not a pass/fail test based on whether you solve it within the time limit.
Naturally, completion time varies depending on the individual and language choice. And to begin with, the time limit is not set with the expectation that everyone will finish the task.
While speed is a factor (all else being equal, faster is better), we value other qualities more highly.
What’s most important is how you approach the problem and how you think through the solution.
After coding — or sometimes earlier if the time is tight — we’ll spend time reviewing the code and discussing it together. The content of this interaction is also an important part of the interview.
We’re especially looking for whether we can have open, constructive conversations — whether we can build that kind of relationship.
Recently, we’re often asked whether candidates can use AI to write the code. In light of the above intentions, we ask that you do not use AI tools during this part of the interview.
Q&A
At the end of the interview, we’ll have a short Q&A session where you’re free to ask anything you like.
Of course, you won’t fail the interview just because you don’t ask any questions.
But since this is a rare opportunity to speak directly with the engineers you might be working with, we encourage you to take full advantage and get a better sense of the team and the company.
Final Thoughts
This has been a brief overview of BoostDraft’s technical interview — its structure, content, and the thinking behind it.
As someone who have interviewed many candidates over the years — both new graduates and experienced professionals — I strongly encourage all applicants to approach the process with this mindset:
“The interview is not a one-sided evaluation by the company, but a mutual process to understand each other and determine if we’re a good fit.”
Think of it this way:
It’s far more unfortunate to join a company only to realize you’re not a good match, your strengths aren’t being utilized, or you’re not getting what you expected — than to not receive an offer in the first place.
That’s why it’s so important not just to learn about the company, but also to allow the interviewer to get a true, unfiltered understanding of you.
If it turns out you’re not a good match, identifying that early allows both sides to avoid a mismatch — and helps you find a company that’s truly right for you.
Job hunting and switching careers can be a long and exhausting journey. I hope this article gives you even a small hint or reassurance as you navigate your own path.
If you're interested in the Software Engineer position at BoostDraft, please apply here: Software Engineer – BoostDraft
法律専門家向け総合文書エディタを開発する「BoostDraft」社のテックブログです. BoostDraftのエンジニア達が, 業務の中で得た知見についてご紹介します.
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