So, I’ve been interviewing candidates lately and well…you’d be surprised about some of the candidates that come in. No, really. Maybe they had an off day, maybe they were super nervous. But, here’s a guideline (more or less) on how to beat that technical interview.
What I’m looking for when I interview is not silly trivia that you can search online. I honestly, hate questions like that. What I am looking for is to see what it would be like to work with you. No trick questions, no need to memorize all available methods in a specific class, et cetera, nothing but seeing your problem solving skills. That being said, practice solving some problems. There are a whole bunch of sites where you can find problems and sometimes their solutions.
So, I like to give small problems that can be finished within an hour. I purposely state the problem with minimal details as possible. Why? Well, I want you to ask questions! So speak up! I like to get to know how you think things through, so ask away! You would be surprised to see how many candidates that would just dive into coding.
Yes, the time is ticking, but that doesn’t mean you need to start rambling on in a jibberish manner. So, if you are anything like me, you end up talking faster and sometimes blurting out things that don’t make sense when you are nervous. Yes, I mentioned that you should speak up so I can know what you’re thinking, but that doesn’t mean I need to know everything that comes out of your mouth. Think about what you want to say and try and speak slowly.
I truly mean study your CV. Do not do a keyword stuffing just so your CV looks good. If it’s listed on your CV, that means it’s fair game to ask you questions about it.
Also, please do research a bit about what company you are interviewing for. It shows the interviewer that you show interest and you’re not just sending out your résumé everywhere looking for a job. I mean after all, you’re going to spend something like 70% of your time at work, you probably want it to be a place you enjoy coming to!
The remainder of the list is a given. I’m sure you knew that you should be studying data structures and algorithms already anyhow!
Cheers and good luck!