Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a teammate

💼 Question: “Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a teammate”

Common variants:

• “Describe a disagreement you had with a coworker”
• “How do you handle technical disagreements?”
• “Tell me about a time you had to work with a difficult person”

What they’re really asking:

• Can you handle conflict professionally?
• Do you collaborate well with others?
• Are you defensive or open to feedback?
• How do you resolve disagreements?

🎯 STAR Method Framework

Use STAR to structure your answer:

• Situation: Set the context
• Task: What needed to be done?
• Action: What did YOU do?
• Result: What was the outcome?

✅ Example Answer (From My Snap Experience)

Situation

“During the Matcha architecture refactor at Snap - a multi-quarter project involving 200,000 lines of code across 10 engineers - I had a significant technical disagreement with another senior engineer on my team.

We were deciding on the dependency injection pattern for 100+ libraries. I advocated for a constructor injection approach, while he strongly preferred property injection. This was a critical decision that would affect the entire codebase and couldn’t easily be changed later.”

Task

“As the tech lead for the project, I needed to make a decision that:

• Wouldn’t alienate my teammate
• Was technically sound for our scale
• Could be explained to and supported by the broader team
• Wouldn’t block our timeline”

Action

“Instead of pushing my solution, I suggested we:

1. Document both approaches - We each wrote up pros/cons with code examples

2. Set evaluation criteria - We agreed on what mattered:

• Testability
• Compile-time safety
• Migration complexity
• Team learning curve

3. Build prototypes - We spent one sprint implementing both approaches in a sample library

4. Get broader input - We presented both to the team and collected feedback

5. Data-driven decision - We looked at what similar companies used (Instagram used constructor injection at their scale)

After this process, we discovered his approach actually had merit for our dynamically-loaded libraries, while mine worked better for core dependencies. So we used both - constructor injection for core services, property injection for feature modules.”

Result

“This collaborative approach led to a better solution than either of us proposed initially. More importantly:

• ✅ My teammate felt heard and became a champion of the final design
• ✅ The team bought in because they participated in the decision
• ✅ We documented clear guidelines for when to use each pattern
• ✅ The architecture review board approved it unanimously
• ✅ Six months later, the pattern was adopted by other teams

The refactor shipped on time, won the Technical Excellence Award, and I was promoted to company-level architect.

Looking back, the ‘conflict’ was actually one of the best things that happened to the project - it forced us to think more deeply and arrive at a more nuanced, better solution.”

💡 Why This Answer Works

What Interviewers Like:

✅ Specific Details - Real project (Matcha), real numbers (200K lines, 10 engineers)

✅ Collaborative Approach - Didn’t just override, sought input

✅ Data-Driven - Used prototypes and criteria, not just opinions

✅ Win-Win Outcome - Found a hybrid solution that used best of both

✅ Business Impact - Project shipped, won award, got promoted

✅ Growth Mindset - Framed conflict as opportunity to improve

✅ Leadership - Showed how to make decisions as a tech lead

Red Flags to Avoid:

❌ “I was right and they were wrong”

❌ “We just went with my approach because I’m more senior”

❌ “We never resolved it and the project suffered”

❌ “I went to the manager to decide”

❌ Blaming the other person or being defensive

🎯 Template for Your Own Answer

Use this structure:

1. Situation (30 seconds)

• Set context: project, team, stakes
• Introduce the conflict naturally
• Make it technical, not personal

2. Task (15 seconds)

• What needed to be resolved?
• Why did it matter?

3. Action (60 seconds) - MOST IMPORTANT

• What YOU specifically did (use “I”)
• Show collaboration and respect
• Demonstrate problem-solving approach
• Explain your reasoning

4. Result (30 seconds)

• Concrete outcomes
• Quantify if possible
• Show mutual benefit
• End positively

Total: ~2-3 minutes

🏢 Company-Specific Variations

Meta Style:

• Emphasize “Be Open” and “Move Fast” values
• Show data-driven decision making
• Highlight cross-functional impact

Snap Style:

• Emphasize creativity and innovation
• Show how conflict led to better product
• Highlight team dynamics

Apple Style:

• Emphasize attention to detail
• Show how disagreement improved quality
• Highlight user impact

📝 More Conflict Scenarios to Prepare

Technical Disagreements:

• Architecture pattern choice
• Technology stack decision
• Code review feedback
• Performance vs maintainability trade-offs

Process Conflicts:

• Timeline disagreements
• Testing strategy
• Release process
• Sprint planning priorities

Interpersonal:

• Communication style differences
• Work pace mismatch
• Credit for work
• Different work philosophies

For each, prepare a STAR response!

🎯 Key Takeaways

1. Frame positively - Conflict led to better outcome
2. Show respect - Never badmouth the other person
3. Be specific - Real project, real details
4. Focus on YOUR actions - What YOU did to resolve it
5. End with results - Concrete outcomes, quantified if possible
6. Show growth - What you learned

💡 Pro Tip: Have 3-4 conflict stories ready covering different types (technical, process, interpersonal). Interviewers often ask follow-up: “Tell me about a DIFFERENT time…”

📚 Related: Check out Leadership & Mentoring Questions and Project Failure Scenarios for more behavioral prep!