"Since your release of the Nova operating system, I've admired your company for being an industry leader. Once I saw the opening programmer analyst position, I knew I had to apply. My specialties are writing code and technical writing, so it excited me that this job requires documenting requirements and writing code using C++."

"I've been working in programming for 10 years now, first as a software developer, then as a software lead, and my most recent position was as a QA manager. I thought my QA experience would be an appropriate fit for this job. The first language I learned was Java, which I taught myself before enrolling in a computer science program at university."

"I always try to create an analogy that the user might understand. I often compare it to baking because coding can be like writing recipes, and every ingredient must be in place for it to work. Showing how changing code affects the user experience always helps, too."

"I would classify my management style as laissez-faire, as I think everyone on the team works effectively on their own. I would make sure everyone on the team has clearly defined roles and that they feel comfortable coming to me with any issues. As the leader, I would determine priorities and delegate based on the skills of each team member, holding status meetings to ensure everyone is on schedule."

"I read over the business requirements twice and am sure to contact the stakeholders for any clarifications as needed. Depending on the scope of the project, I set small goals where I can code and then test so that I don't have to redo the entire project if there is an error early on."

"I earned my bachelor's degree in computer science three years ago, specializing in back-end development. I excelled at coding, debugging, and reprogramming, but one of my favourite classes was front-end development. Learning how to program and design the front end of a site helped me identify how I could improve my back-end coding."

"In my previous job, I programmed and debugged our company's new customer application. We had to transform the existing code from the website into a downloadable application, create new help resources, and create a new mobile-friendly menu that made customers want to install it. It was so successful, we had over 50,000 downloads in the first six months."

"When gathering requirements, I listen to what the business user needs as they describe their process. I would ask clarifying questions to make sure I understand the expected behaviours of the system and its users. Similarly, with research, I would ask for specifications to understand how I might replicate or create a similar product for our company."

"I always make sure I create smaller deadlines for myself throughout a project. If an unexpected issue arises, like a bug that takes longer to fix than expected, I let my manager and any key stakeholders know in case there is any impact to the schedule."

"I find debugging in older software one of the most challenging parts of the job, as it requires you to identify the smallest details in unfamiliar code. Once you identify the problem, it's important to recode to ensure the rest of the code stays intact, and that can be time-consuming."

"I think communication is the most important skill because you need to communicate status updates, translate complex coding issues, and document requirements. For example, when I write new technical documentation, I review everything with the QA team to ensure they understand how everything works."

"I maintain consistent organization through every stage of a project. For example, I create named folders for each project with nested sub-folders for each step, including requirements, writing, editing, QA, and deployment. I like to organize my email inbox in the same way so that all of my projects have organized structures and I can easily find the data and information I need."

"When writing the code for our new HR portal at my last job, the schedule was tight, and we had limited resources. Even though we typically had a full team for each task, on this job, each developer had to write, QA, and document parts of the project to make sure we stayed on schedule. We deployed the website ahead of our deadline, we were under budget, and we received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our colleagues."

"I recently enrolled in a Python basics class to help me refine my desktop application coding since my previous role was HTML and front-end design. I hope this helps me become a more qualified full-stack developer along with my expertise in JavaScript and CSS."

"Once, right before deploying a system update, we found an additional space in code that would prevent users from looking up lost passwords. The code had been through two rounds of QA, but because the error was so minor, nobody noticed. On a final review, we identified an issue. Immediately, I called a meeting and discussed what the impact would be if we had to edit the code once more. We decided that it would be quick to fix and that we could test once more with no effect on the schedule."