9 of the Best IT Interview Questions To Ask Candidates

Asking the right IT interview questions helps you find candidates who can problem-solve, communicate clearly, and truly fit your team and role.

Key Takeaways:

• The best IT interview questions are practical and scenario-based to show how candidates think and solve real problems.

• Interview questions should be tailored to the specific IT role, since support, infrastructure, development, and security all require different skill sets.

• Avoid brainteasers, illegal questions, and simple trivia that don’t predict real job performance.

If you've ever hired someone who looked great on paper but turned out to be a poor fit, you know how costly a bad hire can be. When you're hiring for a tech position, having good IT interview questions to ask candidates is essential for finding the right fit. The questions you pose in an interview reveal not just what a potential hire knows, but how they think, how they work, and how they’ll fit into your team.

Explore what questions to ask candidates, how to adapt your interview for different IT roles, and which common interview questions you should avoid. 

WHAT ARE GOOD IT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO ASK CANDIDATES?

Not all interview questions are created equal. Good questions for IT candidates are designed to reveal how a potential hire tackles problems, communicates, and fits into real-world scenarios, rather than just quizzing their textbook knowledge. Here are some hallmarks of strong IT interview questions.

Practical and scenario-based

Favor questions that put potential hires in a realistic situation over ones that are purely theoretical. For example, you could ask:

• How would you decide whether to use TCP or UDP when building an internal app?
• Describe how you would migrate a legacy system to the cloud while minimizing downtime.
• A critical server goes down at midnight. What steps do you take to restore service and communicate with stakeholders?
• Walk me through a project you led. What decisions mattered most and why?
• How would you handle a user reporting inconsistent network performance across multiple sites?

Problem-solving focus

IT professionals spend much of their time troubleshooting and devising solutions. Great questions invite candidates to walk you through their problem-solving process. Here are some examples:

• Walk me through how you troubleshoot a technical issue you’ve never seen before.
• Tell me about a time you had to solve a technical problem under time pressure. What did you do?
• Describe a situation where you proactively identified a recurring issue and implemented a long-term fix.
• How do you approach debugging when you don’t initially know where the issue lies?
• Explain a time you had to solve a problem with limited documentation or guidance.

These prompts highlight the candidate’s approach to working through unknown problems and how they handle ambiguity in a dynamic environment. Open-ended IT interview questions like this give insight into whether the person is systematic and calm under pressure or easily flustered.

Communication and teamwork

Even in highly technical roles, communication is key. Consider asking some of the following questions:

• Tell me about a time you had to explain a technical concept to someone without a technical background.
• Describe a challenging team conflict in a past project. How did you address it?
• Have you ever onboarded a colleague on a new system or tool? How did you approach it?
• How do you ensure your team stays aligned when working on cross-functional projects?
• When working with remote or hybrid teams, how do you maintain communication and productivity?

A strong candidate should be able to translate tech jargon into plain language for colleagues or clients and work effectively with people of all knowledge levels. These questions often separate a good IT hire from a great one by highlighting their ability to bridge technical knowledge with clear communication. 

Continuous learning

The tech field changes rapidly, so you want people who stay up-to-date. A few questions to test whether candidates are keeping up include:

• How do you keep your skills up to date in such a fast-changing industry?
• What’s a recent technology you taught yourself, and how did you apply it?
• Which technical blogs, podcasts, or communities do you follow and why?
• What’s the most valuable course or certification you’ve completed, and what did you learn?
• Tell me about something new you learned in the past 6 months and how it influenced your work.

Inviting interviewees to share how they learn new technologies or keep abreast of trends (through courses, reading, side projects, etc.) reveals their curiosity and commitment to continuous learning. Candidates who show discipline and enthusiasm for learning new skills are more likely to adapt as your tools and processes evolve.

Prioritization and time management

IT roles often involve juggling multiple urgent issues. A great way to see how candidates manage stress and competing demands is by asking some of these IT interview questions:

• How do you prioritize your workload when everything feels urgent?
• What system or tool do you use to track tasks and deadlines?
• Describe how you balance planned work versus unplanned emergencies.
• Explain a time you had to shift priorities quickly. What changed, and how did you adapt?
• Tell me about a time when you had to decide which non-urgent but important tasks to address first. How did you make that decision?

Look for answers that demonstrate a methodical process, like triaging issues by impact or deadlines. This gives you a sense of a candidate’s work ethic and organizational skills.

HOW DO YOU ADAPT YOUR IT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR DIFFERENT ROLES?

The IT field is broad. “Information Technology” can mean anything from a help-desk technician to a network engineer to a software developer. A one-size-fits-all set of IT interview questions won't work for all candidates because each role requires a different mix of skills. 

Think about it: A brilliant cybersecurity analyst might flop if you grill them with help-desk customer service scenarios, and a software developer’s coding prowess won’t be evident if you only ask about network switches. To hire effectively, adapt your interview approach to focus on the competencies that matter for that particular job.

Help desk & IT support

These frontline roles require a solid blend of technical know-how and people skills. When interviewing a support technician, you’ll want to probe both their troubleshooting ability and their patience and empathy with users. 

Good questions might include scenarios like, “How would you handle a user who is frustrated and can’t clearly explain their issue?” This type of question checks if they can stay calm, listen actively, and guide the user toward a solution, all while under pressure. 

You might also ask, “What’s your process for documenting support issues and resolutions?” Essentially, for support roles, emphasize customer service, clarity in communication, and a methodical approach to problem-solving. Look for candidates who demonstrate they can represent your team well under stress, staying courteous and calm even with difficult users.

Systems administrators

Sysadmins are the backbone of IT infrastructure. They’re responsible for keeping servers, networks, and systems running smoothly with minimal downtime. Interviews for these roles should dive into their depth of experience with system maintenance, security, and crisis management. 

You might ask something like, “Describe a time you had to recover from a major system failure. What happened, and what did you learn?” A strong answer walks through not only the technical fix but also what preventive measures or process improvements they put in place afterward. 

Another good question is, “How do you ensure system security and compliance?” The goal is to gauge their understanding of permissions, audits, or tools like Active Directory. Tailor follow-up questions to the technologies your organization uses (e.g., if you rely on AWS, ask about their experience monitoring cloud systems). You want to see if the candidate thinks about stability, scalability, and security at all times.

Network engineers

Network specialists design and maintain the connectivity that your organization depends on. They need a deep understanding of networking hardware, protocols, and security, plus the ability to troubleshoot quickly when the network has issues. 

For these roles, you could ask, “How do you diagnose and resolve a network bottleneck?” A good network engineer candidate might walk you through using tools like Wireshark or network monitors and explain how they interpret performance metrics. 

Another example is, “Walk me through how you’d set up a secure VPN for a remote workforce.” The answer should cover practical considerations like encryption standards, authentication methods, and scaling for many users. Such questions ensure the interviewee can articulate both the “how” and the “why” behind their network design decisions. 

Software developers

Hiring a developer is not just about verifying they can code; you want to find someone who can think critically, collaborate, and build maintainable software. Tailor your questions to their past projects and engineering mindset. You might say, “Walk me through a project you’re proud of. What was your role, and what challenges did you face?” This invites the candidate to demonstrate ownership, creativity, and problem-solving in context.

Cybersecurity analysts

In security roles, the mindset is as important as the skillset. These professionals are on the front lines of protecting data and systems from ever-evolving threats. Focus your IT interview questions on how vigilant and up-to-date the candidate is. For example, “How do you stay up to date with the latest cybersecurity threats and trends?” The best answers will mention specific practices like following threat intelligence feeds or participating in security forums and training. 

When adapting questions for cybersecurity, you are looking for someone who is proactive, analytical, and always thinking a few steps ahead of attackers. The right candidate will convey a mix of technical expertise and constant vigilance in their answers.

WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON IT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO AVOID ASKING CANDIDATES?

Just as important as knowing what to ask is knowing what not to ask. Certain interview IT questions can derail the conversation, prompt irrelevant information, or even cross legal and ethical lines. 

Unfortunately, some of these problematic questions are still common in interviews. To ensure a fair and effective hiring process, you should steer clear of the following types of questions:

1. Off-the-wall brainteasers and riddles

Questions like “How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?” or “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?” rarely measure job-related skills. While they were once popular for testing creativity by companies like Google, interview statistics show that structured, job-related questions are much better at predicting how well someone will do the job.

These questions can confuse or alienate strong candidates and usually say more about the interviewer than the interviewee. If a question isn’t tied to real work scenarios, technical decision-making, or role-specific thinking, it’s best to skip it.

2. Illegal or personal questions

Any question that touches on protected characteristics should be avoided. This includes questions about age, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, family status, health, disability, or national origin.

Even casual questions like “Where are you originally from?” or “Do you have kids?” can be problematic and expose your organization to legal risk. These topics have no bearing on job performance and can make candidates uncomfortable.

3. Overly simplistic trivia or yes/no questions

Questions that test rote memorization, like “What does SQL stand for?” or “Is cloud computing scalable?”, don’t tell you how a potential hire actually works. These typically produce one-word or right-or-wrong answers and don’t reveal depth of understanding.

Never ask IT candidates interview questions that are easy to prepare for and fake, because their answers are poor differentiators between average and strong talent.

4. Cliché questions with little insight

Classic questions like “What’s your greatest weakness?” or “Where do you see yourself in five years?” often lead to rehearsed, surface-level answers. Most candidates already know what you’re “supposed” to say, which can limit their honesty. These questions rarely give you meaningful insight unless you follow up aggressively.

USING THE RIGHT IT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS IS EASIER WITH EXPERT HIRING SUPPORT

Even when you ask IT candidates interview questions that are insightful, hiring the right tech talent takes time and experience. TSP goes beyond resumes and job boards by proactively sourcing, screening, and delivering high-quality IT professionals who match both your technical needs and company culture. 

Our recruiters understand how to evaluate real-world skills, communication issues, and problem-solving talent before potential hires ever reach your interview stage. With faster time-to-fill, reduced hiring risk, and flexible staffing models, TSP helps you avoid costly mis-hires and focus on growing your business. 

If you want to streamline hiring and build a stronger tech team, explore TSP’s IT recruitment solutions and take the stress out of IT hiring today.