Everyone gets criticised at work. This question is about how you react: do you get defensive, or do you listen, improve and come back better?
Why interviewers ask this
Managers spend a lot of time giving feedback. They want people who can hear it without taking it personally, ask questions to understand it and change their work as a result.
How to answer
- Choose a real, specific example — not a disguised boast like “they said I work too hard”.
- Describe the criticism briefly and how you felt honestly, then focus on what you did next.
- Show the change you made and the result.
- End with what you do differently today because of it.
Sample answers
Student / intern
During my internship my mentor reviewed my first pull request and left almost twenty comments — naming, missing error handling, no tests. Honestly, I was embarrassed at first. I went through every comment, asked him about the ones I did not understand, and made myself a checklist from them. My next pull requests had very few comments, and by the end of the internship he asked me to review a newer intern’s code.
Professional
My manager once told me that my status reports were too long and did not highlight risks clearly. I asked her to show me a report she found useful, and I changed my format to three short sections: done, next and blockers. It took me less time to write, and the client mentioned in the next review that our updates had become much easier to follow.
Mistakes to avoid
- Saying you have never been criticised.
- Explaining why the criticism was wrong.
- Choosing a serious mistake that makes the interviewer doubt your basic competence.
Final tip
The best answers end with you giving feedback to someone else — it shows the lesson stuck.
Practise it out loud
Answering in your head is not the same as saying it. Take 30 seconds to plan, then speak for up to 90 seconds as if the interviewer is in front of you.
Ready when you are