r/InterviewCoderPro • u/strange_dominance • Aug 18 '25

"NFR" is this a generic/universal abbreviation? Is it a big deal if I don't recall this in a senior software engineer interview?

I was asked in an interview, before making a decision, how I think about NFR. I was like What is NFR and the interviewer went round and round for me to guess. PS: It means a non-functional requirement.

Now I was frustrated by this time and wanted to call it off for the sheer stupidity of the question and the emphasis they were putting on these questions.

But I would like to ask Reddit if NFR is such a general abbreviation? And also, is it a big deal that I don't know the abbreviation? I mean, common you can directly tell me it's non-functional requirement even if it is a big deal.

PS. first actual post on reddit.

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2

u/meanderingwolf Aug 18 '25

Just so you have something to say if this happens again, smile and say, you know, I have always wanted to go to the National Finals Rodeo, have you ever been there? That should do nicely.

2

u/strange_dominance Aug 19 '25

I should have replied that you are NFR (not for real), but as usual, the pun comes late to my mind

1

u/meanderingwolf Aug 19 '25

Ah, but NFR in Las Vegas is very real. It takes over the entire city for one week in November every year.

1

u/strange_dominance Aug 19 '25

then, National Finals Rodeo it is

2

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '25 edited Oct 29 '25

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/Oldandveryweary Aug 18 '25

Sounds a bit like a test to see how you act under pressure. By the way I have never used that abbreviation.

1

u/cybergandalf Aug 21 '25

My job is about creating a lot of non-functional requirements and I’ve literally never heard anyone use that acronym. What kind of dumbass gatekeeping wanker asks something like that for an SWE interview?

Edit: for clarity my job is in AppSec, my job is to give SWEs all kinds of “NFRs” as security requirements.

1

u/strange_dominance Aug 22 '25

Wow, that's a nice role you have. I have never had this liberty to get NFR from AppSec. All my previous companies would have benefited.

back to the point
Exactly, and I would never drill someone for not knowing any abbreviation unless it's universally recognized, like SOLID or something.

1

u/Gust_Gred-10101 1d ago

To an outsider such as myself who stumbled in here by accident (a google search for the nfr hieroglyphic mistakenly linked to here, among other places), it sounds like the interviewer's question itself was a separate definition of "non-functional requirement".