Tell me about a time you disagreed with a senior, professor or manager.
Pick a real disagreement about work, show that you raised it respectfully with facts, listened to their view, and then went with the final decision, whatever it was. The way you disagreed matters more than who was right.
Explain it simply
Companies want people who speak up when something looks wrong, but who can also accept a decision and move on. Your story should show both.
Choose a situation about work, such as an approach or a deadline, not a personal clash. Describe how you prepared your point, how you presented it privately and politely, and what happened next. Even if you turned out to be wrong, that can be a good story if you learned from it.
Example
Situation: During her internship, Aditi's mentor wanted to store dates as plain text in the database.
Task: Raise her concern without being disrespectful.
Action: She prepares a small example showing that sorting text dates gives wrong order, and asks for five minutes after stand-up. She explains it, and also asks why text was chosen. The mentor explains a legacy import constraint. They agree to store proper dates and convert during import.
Result: The bug is avoided, and the mentor later asks her to review other schema changes.
What to say in the interview
"I disagreed with my mentor about X. I prepared a small example, raised it privately, and also asked for their reasoning. We agreed on Y, and I learned Z."
Common mistakes
- Picking a story where you were rude or went over someone's head.
- Saying you have never disagreed with anyone.
- Making it about personalities, not work.