As any software engineer knows, technical interviews can be very challenging. It’s like a regular job interview on steroids, with rigorous processes to test your skills, seemingly impossible brain-teasers, and specialized questions that need you to be alert at all times. Intimidating as that sounds, the interview can be pretty easy – if you know what to expect and how to prepare yourself.
That’s why we’ve compiled this brief list of dos and don’ts. By taking them into account, you’ll be able to face any technical interview you come across. It doesn’t matter if you’re applying for a role in a huge enterprise, in an outsourcing services company, or for a small startup. These tips apply for all technical interviews you may have in the future.
Apart from those suggestions, you need to remember one thing: the interviewer doesn’t want to drive you mad with riddles. They are presenting you with real-world scenarios you might encounter when you work in a project. So, the results of a technical interview depend more on your mindset and capabilities rather than on getting the perfect answer from the get-go.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s see the list!
Do Refresh your Theory
While preparation is key for any interview, it’s even more important in a technical interview. That means that you have to take a look at what you already know and refresh some essential concepts. This is especially true if you’re applying for a job that requires knowledge of some language, framework, or tool you have used in the past but haven’t employed for some time.
There are plenty of books out there that can help you here. Cracking the Coding Interview is probably the best, as it works for any level. Keep in mind, though, that books won’t make up for lack of experience. If you don’t know something, you won’t be able to learn it before a technical interview. Focus on your areas of expertise and put yourself in the right mindset.
Don’t Focus on Skills Alone
One thing that recruiters in big companies, startups, and software outsourcing companies like you to know is that a technical interview is more than just a show of skills. Sure, you’ll have to prove that you know all the technical stuff and the different aspects of the work you’re applying for. However, this interview is more than that.
Skills alone aren’t that useful in team environments. You can be the greatest Python developer alive but if you don’t know how the language can work for a particular business, then you’ll come up as a theoretical expert rather than a ready-to-work engineer. Overemphasizing your skills without understanding how they all serve a bigger purpose is something recruiters spot at first glance, so you’d better prepare to show something more.
Do Practice All Kinds of Problems
Reading and refreshing concepts is a great first step but it won’t take you anywhere without proper practice. There are tons of free and paid resources out there for you to hone your coding skills for this interview. What’s more, you can use problems you’ve solved in the past to revisit them and even find new potential solutions.
In this practice, keep in mind the strategy you’ll use to crack any problems. Map out your strategy and start whiteboarding. It’s highly likely you’ll have to do so in the interview, so preparing this part is key to come up as a confident engineer that knows their way around all types of coding issues.
Don’t Underestimate the Importance of your Appearance
A lot of engineers we know tend to value their skills so much that they forget that an interview is a somewhat formal deal. In other words, they are so confident in what they have to offer that they neglect other aspects. One of the most overlooked? Their appearance.
Even if you are applying for a job with a software outsourcing company that will have you working remotely, you’ll still want to look great. Causing a great first impression is as important as knowing everything about the languages and technologies you’ll use on the job. We aren’t saying you should wear a tuxedo for your technical interview, but being neat and well-presented is a must.
Do Talk as Much as Needed
During the technical interviews, it’s easy to get lost in your thoughts when dealing with a problem. Be careful with that. If you spend too much time thinking and doing without explaining what you’re up to, the interviewer might see you as something of a loner. And since developing is a collaborative effort, that can quickly become a problem in itself.
That’s why you need to talk everything out. Whenever you’re deep into your problem-solving method, explain yourself. Take the interviewer in your step-by-step process to show them how you think. A creative approach or an out-of-the-box way of dealing with issues might be more valuable than going for the “right” answer. That’s why it is always best to speak your mind out and say how you are tackling the problems you’re presented during the interview.
Don’t Show a Lack of Interest
If you’re going to a technical interview, it means you want to get the job. That’s why you can’t afford to show yourself detached from the whole process. As contradictory as it may sound, there’s a lot of people that go to an interview only to provide telegraphic answers without worrying about context or bigger pictures. Those are the people that are quickly discarded.
Companies want to work with collaborators that are invested in what they do and that show natural curiosity in the business they work for. That’s why you have to display interest in what the company does, how it does it, and what would be the role you play there. Even when a technical interview is more about specific skills, asking questions about the way the company does things can show you are interested and want to know more about it.
Do Be Ready for Anything
There’s no formula for the technical interview. Though there might be people out there that believe that these instances are all the same, interviewers take different approaches and present different problems. So, the only way to be prepared is to be ready for anything that comes your way.
You might go to the interview to write some code, review the code written by other people, answer some seemingly unrelated riddles, come up with whiteboards, and a whole lot of other tasks. Since there are so many things that the interviewer can ask from you, the best thing you can do is to remember that what matters the most here is how you solve problems, not the details themselves.
Don’t Be Too Casual or Negative
You can follow all of the suggestions above and still fail the interview. How so? Because you might get too comfortable with your interviewer to the point where your talk becomes too casual or negative. Both of those things are deal-breakers and the recruiters will definitely drop you from the process if they notice one of them.
Even if you are unorthodox when solving problems, try to adjust your tone and communication to the formal nature of the technical interview. In the same sense, avoid negative comments or your own frustration from shining through. If you don’t like how the interviewer is asking you questions, or if you don’t like the interview format, try to focus on how to give the best impression instead of putting yourself in a defensive position.
Some Final Words
As we said above, a technical interview is a pretty hard stage that will require you to be in your best shape. However, if you follow this advice, you’ll be better prepared for success. You simply have to have in mind that you’ll need to work on how you’ll present yourself. Don’t believe for a second you’ll be able to show up and nail the interview – you’ll need the practice!
And that practice isn’t just about concepts and tools. It’s about showing yourself as a team player with refined communication skills and the expertise the company is looking to fill a specific role.
