TL;DR
Hong Kong tech companies’ technical interviews are usually divided into three rounds: ①Coding Interview (algorithms/data structures) of about 45–60 minutes, ②System Design of about 45–60 minutes (for mid-level and above positions), and ③Behavioral Round of about 30–45 minutes. The interview standards at the Hong Kong offices of large international tech companies (FAANG/Grab/Crypto.com, etc.) are exactly the same as those at their Silicon Valley/Singapore offices. Local small and medium-sized tech companies have simpler interviews: they usually only test practical coding (for example, building a small app/API) and rarely set LeetCode hard questions. This article sets out the preparation strategies in detail.
1. Coding Interview (Technical Interview)
1.1 Common Question Type Distribution
- Array / String manipulation: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ · Two Sum, Valid Anagram
- Hash Table: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ · Group Anagrams, Top K Frequent
- Binary Search / Two Pointers: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ · Search Rotated Array
- Tree / Graph traversal: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ · BFS, DFS, Lowest Common Ancestor
- Dynamic Programming: ⭐⭐⭐ · Knapsack, Coin Change
- Heap / Priority Queue: ⭐⭐⭐ · Merge K Sorted Lists
- Sliding Window: ⭐⭐⭐ · Longest Substring Without Repeating
- Stack / Queue / Monotonic Stack: ⭐⭐ · Valid Parentheses, Daily Temperatures
- Union Find / Trie: ⭐⭐ · Appear less often
1.2 LeetCode Practice Recommendations
- Local startups/SMEs: ~50–80 questions (mainly Easy + Medium)
- Local large tech companies: ~100–150 questions (mainly Medium + a few Hard)
- FAANG-level international companies: ~150–250 questions (Medium + Hard)
Recommended order: start with Blind 75 (the 75 most classic questions) → then practise by topic → finally do mock interviews.
2. System Design
Positions at mid-level (3 years+) and above usually include a System Design interview.
Common Questions
- Design a URL Shortener (like bit.ly)
- Design a Chat System (like WhatsApp)
- Design a News Feed (like Facebook/Twitter)
- Design a Rate Limiter
- Design a Web Crawler
Preparation Methods
- Understand the basic concepts: Load Balancer, CDN, Database Scaling, Sharding, Caching (Redis/Memcached), Message Queue
- Read classic System Design resources (Grokking the System Design Interview, etc.)
- Practise drawing architecture diagrams and explaining trade-offs
3. Hong Kong vs International Interviews: Differences
- Coding question difficulty: Mainly Easy–Medium · Medium–Hard (same as global standards)
- System Design: Tested less often (not tested at junior–mid level) · Definitely tested from mid-level upwards
- Language requirements: Cantonese + English + Mandarin (at least two) · Mainly English
- Culture fit: Local cultural fit matters · Global culture fit
- Offer process: Faster (2–4 weeks) · Same as the global process (4–8 weeks)
4. Behavioral Round (Behavioral Interview)
Common behavioural interview questions at tech companies (answer using the STAR framework):
- “Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a teammate”
- “Describe a project you’re most proud of”
- “Tell me about a time you failed”
- “How do you handle tight deadlines?”
Hong Kong local companies ask more often: “How do you communicate with non-tech stakeholders?” — because tech teams at Hong Kong companies are usually small and require a great deal of cross-functional communication.
5. FAQ
Q1: Can you become a Software Engineer without a Computer Science degree? A1: Yes. Hong Kong tech companies (especially international companies and startups) increasingly value ability over academic qualifications. However, you need to prove that you can pass the coding interview and have a project portfolio.
Q2: Do Software Engineer interviews in Hong Kong require writing code on a whiteboard? A2: Most companies use a shared online editor (CoderPad/HackerRank, etc.), and only a few use a whiteboard. International companies usually use a video call plus an online editor.
This article’s information is current as of May 2026; interview processes are subject to each company’s latest arrangements.