Shadowing Practice: Cracking the Behavioral Interview for Software Developers - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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what's up guys today we're gonna be doing something a little different
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but I feel like it's gonna be super helpful a lot of engineers can crush it on the technical interview
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but when it comes to the behavioral part that's where a lot of people struggle
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and I know candidates who did great on the technical interview
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but they got a rejection
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because they failed on the behavioral part they weren't able to demonstrate
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that they had proficient communication skills or how well they handle certain situations
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and that's what the behavioral interview gauge is for
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because you can be a technical genius but
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if you can't convey what you're trying to say it's going to be hard to work on a team
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and I'll be the first to admit it I'm not great at just thinking of examples right on the spot
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so usually how I prepare for an interview
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and how well I do on it usually have a direct correlation
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so before going into an interview where I know I'll be ask situational questions I'll usually brainstorm
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and think of about eight to ten examples from my career that can be used to answer different styles of questions.
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Anything from conflict management to a time where I made a good technical suggestion
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because a lot of times you can mold your situations to what the question is asking
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and what I've noticed is that the best answers usually have a story behind it.
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Obviously you don't want to add too much fluff to your answer
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or diverge away too far from what the question is asking
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but if you can kind of paint a picture of the solution to your interviewer
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that usually leads to better results
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so in this video I'm gonna give myself a few prompts
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and answer them as
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if this were a real interview before we get into the video make sure you guys hit the like button
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so I know you guys like this kind of video
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and let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more
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so the first question is gonna be tell me about yourself this is the question
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that most behavioral interviews start with now it's important to mention that even though these are behavioral interviews,
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they will still have some technical aspects to them.
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So let's take a look at how I answered this question.
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Hey, my name is Sam.
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I'm a software engineer and I enjoy solving complex problems.
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I have experience as a full stack web app developer
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and I enjoy working with all layers of the stack and I enjoy building out user -friendly efficient websites.
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My passion for web app development started
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when I was doing my internship at AWS
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and I was given a solo project to work on for the entirety of the internship
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and this really gave me full ownership over everything from the design decisions to the actual coding of it
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and I was also able to gain a lot of experience and exposure to different AWS cloud computing tools.
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After my internship I decided that this is what I wanted to do as a career
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and since then I've gained about three years of experience building
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out dozens of different applications at my current company i'm helping
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out with the modernization of our existing infrastructure this includes building
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out new microservices as well as updating existing ones the technologies i've experienced with include dotnet for building out apis
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and our server side code sql with mysql oracle and sql server as well as experience with different various javascript frameworks,
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including Vue .js and Angular.
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So I believe my experience and my passion would make me a great asset for your company.
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So in my answer, I tried to keep it short and sweet.
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I didn't get into my whole life story, even though it is a tell me about yourself.
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Keep it relevant.
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Don't start talking about your dog or something.
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You guys think I'm joking, but I've actually heard people say that when I've been in group interviews.
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And I would say a sweet spot for this question would be a minute and a half, maybe two minutes.
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Again, that isn't set in stone.
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These are kind of like more like guidelines, right?
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Have you ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean, right?
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These aren't rules.
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They're more like guidelines.
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All right, the next question is going to be, tell me about a time you had to persuade someone at work.
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What did you do?
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Let's take a look at my response.
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At my previous company, our team supported 20 to 30 different web applications.
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And there was really no uniformity in terms of what front -end JavaScript framework we could or should use.
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So what ended up happening is we would have some apps written in Angular, some apps written in React, some written in Vue, it was kind of all over the place.
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And the problem with this was, say you were assigned to write a feature in a certain app and you didn't really know that framework, you would have to at least spend time getting a basic
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understanding of it before you can even start to implement that feature.
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So this potentially increased the development time by a lot.
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So my proposal was to just have all our apps be written in Vue .js
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because it's something that I had experience with.
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I thought it was fairly easy to pick up.
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It's a lightweight app and it's pretty easy to inject into existing applications.
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So what I did was I created a little mini demo presentation
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and I set up a meeting between my team and my manager
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and just demonstrated the pros and cons of using that framework.
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So the result of that was my manager was on board
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and we decided to use Vue .js for all our new development.
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Again, that was about a minute and a half to answer it and it was told like a story.
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I explained what the problem was and what I did to resolve
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that problem and showed how I made a lasting positive impact to the company.
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All right, the last question we're going to look at is tell me about a time you failed at work
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and what did you learn from it?
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So this one time I was assigned the task of implementing a new feature into one of our applications.
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And we used Git as our source control, so as I was working on this feature, I was continuously pushing to our master branch, which isn't good practice
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because you always want to keep your master branch deployable as well as in sync with what's in production.
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Also, if we deployed this app with this feature being partially done, it would break the application.
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But this was an app that barely ever got updated, so I figured I'd be all right
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but of course we had an emergency bug fix
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that had to be made and I was like we actually can't deploy it
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because the app is gonna break luckily with source control you are able to go back
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and we were able to add
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that change to where I started working on the future
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but in the future I learned that in order to you know
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if I wasn't making any changes first create a branch off of master
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and deploy to that branch and then when you're finally done with the future then merge the changes back into master.
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Now a potential issue to this answer is that it assumes that the interviewer knows how Git works.
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Most likely you're gonna be doing one of these interviews with another dev
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so I mean they probably know how Git works but it's possible
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that they don't but I think a really important thing to answering these questions is
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that you don't want to confuse your interviewer by going too into the weeds with a particular technology
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that they might not know.
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So just gauge who you're interviewing with it's it's very easy to get very technical about something
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and totally lose your interviewer and that's not good
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because it means you weren't able to clearly communicate a technical topic
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which is important when you're working with other devs on a team all right
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so the takeaways from this video are keep your answers about
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one to three minutes long the best answers usually tell a story usually there's a problem
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or a situation and you talk about an action
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that you took to help resolve that situation
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and finally don't confuse your interviewer a lot of times your answers might include a very complex technical subject
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that your interviewer isn't going to understand in a two -minute explanation
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so just be aware of that and and even simplify your answer
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if you need to all right guys thank you guys for watching the video
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if you guys would like me to do another one of these uh definitely let me know
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and if you have a specific question
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that you want me to answer in one of these videos let me know in the comments
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and i'll try to include it if if i end up doing another one
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so i will see you guys in the next one.
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And as always, keep on coding.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Cracking the Behavioral Interview for Software Developers”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: answer, interview, app, technical, usually. This video has 119 sentences and 1568 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:52. The speaker talks fast, about 199 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| interviewer noun | /ˈɪntɚvjuɚ/ | One who interviews. |
| behavioral adjective | /bɪˈheɪvjəɹəl/ | Of or relating to behavior. |
| framework noun | /ˈfɹeɪm.wɜːk/ | A support structure comprising joined parts or conglomerated particles and intervening open spaces of similar or larger size. |
| deploy verb | /dɪˈplɔɪ/ | To prepare and arrange (originally military unit or units, i.e., to array troops) for use. |
| internship noun | /ˈɪntɜːnʃɪp/ | A job taken by a student in order to learn a profession or trade. |
| server noun | /ˈsɝvɚ/ | A program that provides services to other programs or devices, either in the same computer or over a computer network. |
| passion noun | /ˈpæʃən/ | A true desire sustained or prolonged. |
| demonstrate verb | /ˈdɛm.ənˌstɹeɪt/ | To show how to use (something). |
| implement verb | /ˈɪmpləmənt/ | To bring about; to put into practice; to carry out. |
| resolve verb | /ɹɪˈzɑlv/ | To find a solution to (a problem). |
| stack noun | /stæk/ | A large pile of hay, grain, straw, or the like, larger at the bottom than the top, sometimes covered with thatch. |
| gauge noun | /ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/ | A measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions, distance, or capacity; a standard |
| confuse verb | /kənˈfjuːz/ | to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand |
| assign verb | /əˈsaɪn/ | To designate or set apart (something) for some purpose. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| build out verb | To develop or expand (a system, structure, project, etc.). | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. | |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. | |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Don't start talking about your dog or something.
- What did you do?
- Let's take a look at my response.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was given · isn't set · were assigned |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've noticed · I've gained · i've experienced |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 46 contractions and reduced forms, such as gonna, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: internship /ˈɪntɜːnʃɪp/, passion /ˈpæʃən/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, exposure /ɪkˈspəʊ.ʒə(ɹ)/, efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/
- Long words — get the stress right: behavioral /bɪˈheɪvjəɹəl/, infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like interviewer, behavioral, framework.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.