How I prepared for my first Solidity Developer Interview (1 YOE, Ethereum Testnet)

From my experience, junior Solidity interviews aren’t just about remembering keywords — they test how you think under uncertainty. You’ll likely face a mix of coding + reasoning.

Expect small exercises like fixing a gas inefficiency in a function, or explaining why a certain state variable should be immutable. Interviewers love when you validate assumptions instead of rushing to code. I once got bonus points for explaining the CEI pattern before implementing it.

If you’ve done hackathons, talk about how you debugged state changes or handled reentrancy — that narrative proves you understand real-world contract behavior.

Also, mention how you review your own code. A simple line like “I log every external call to validate control flow” tells them you think like an auditor. Juniors who can connect syntax to security reasoning stand out every time.

When I interview junior smart contract developers, I divide the process into three parts:

1. Technical Evaluation:
   I’ll ask you to audit a small Solidity snippet. I’m not checking if you memorize syntax — I’m checking if you spot logic errors, reentrancy gaps, or CEI violations. Sometimes, I’ll ask you to reason about gas costs in two similar implementations.

2. Project Deep Dive:
   If you mention a DeFi project, I’ll ask how you handled testing and verification. Did you use Hardhat or Foundry? What kind of bugs surfaced during audits? Even your naming conventions and event structure say a lot about your discipline.

3. Collaboration & Communication:
   Blockchain teams thrive on clarity. If you can walk me through a PR review or explain how you handled conflicting feedback, it shows maturity.

Honestly, I don’t expect a junior to be a security expert  but I do expect curiosity and a structured approach to unknowns. That mindset scales fast in production teams.

The biggest mistake I see juniors make is trying to appear flawless. In reality, we look for self-awareness — someone who can say, “Here’s what I missed, and how I fixed it.”

Before every interview, review your GitHub as if you’re performing a mini-audit. Add short READMEs explaining your design logic and known limitations. This helps interviewers see how you think, even if your code isn’t perfect.

Also, don’t skip testing discussions. Be ready to explain how you isolate a bug — do you use console.log, revert tracing, or snapshot states before debugging? These small details reflect a developer’s maturity level.

And finally, learn to narrate your process. For example: “I followed CEI to avoid reentrancy, then validated with test coverage for fallback scenarios.” That one sentence can shift how they perceive your readiness