Tell me about a time you broke production

medium~30 min#behavioral#failure#ownership#star

Tell me about a time something you shipped caused a serious problem.

The most common way to fail this question is to choose a story where the failure was someone else's, or so trivial that nothing was at stake. The interviewer is assessing ownership, how you behave under pressure, and whether the fix was systemic or merely a patch.

Write it as STAR in the story bank, then get it reviewed.

Solution

This one has no written solution — the answer is your own story or your own submission.

The follow-up they will ask

What would have caught this before it shipped, and why was that not in place?