Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a coworker. How did you resolve it?

On a small bug fix, a teammate and I disagreed about whether to patch the symptom quickly or spend a little more time fixing the underlying validation issue. At first I was pushing for the more complete fix because I was worried we'd see the bug again, but when I talked to them one-on-one, I learned another teammate was blocked waiting for this change and they were trying to unblock that work the same day. We agreed to do a focused check on the risky part first, and when that showed the larger fix would take longer than expected, we shipped the safe patch with a follow-up task already assigned. I documented the edge cases so the temporary solution was clear, and we closed the follow-up the next sprint. That experience taught me to understand what pressure the other person is under before arguing for the technically nicer option. After that, I got better at framing tradeoffs instead of just saying which solution I preferred.

In my first year on the team I had a conflict with a coworker after a code review where they left a blunt comment calling my approach “wrong,” and I took it personally. Instead of replying in the thread, I asked for a 15-minute meeting to talk through the concerns so we could avoid misunderstanding. On the call I learned they were rushed and trying to be efficient rather than attacking my skills, and I explained how the tone felt discouraging; we agreed on a simple feedback format (describe the issue, explain why, and suggest a concrete fix) and that either of us could request a short sync if a review felt confrontational. We also added a quick checklist for PRs so expectations were clearer up front. That change reduced friction in later reviews and taught me to address tone and process early instead of letting resentment build.