Tech Interviews..

Tech Interviews..

I have been asked by several of my friends to share interview information. So, I decided to make this as a separate blog , which can be used for future reference(s) etc..

These days the pattern(s), which I see is Panel interviews, where a panel of members would be interviewing. I am briefly writing here about prep / protocol for such interviews.

1. Coding Exercise (with Paired Programming).
2. DB Exercise
3. Culture / General Interview
4. Panel Interview

Especially for FTE roles, most of the local companies prefer as full day or half a day interview schedule with all of the above loops / steps.

1. Coding Exercise / Panel Interview

Here's my observation(s) on the Coding exercise.

1. Always keep watching the core logic of the code (try to observe the Unit Tests if there are nay).
2. TDD - that's the key everywhere.
3. Dont try to get disturbed - feel very calm.
4. Even though there will be two or three others watching / questioning you while you try to code / figure out the logic , work with them and try to look into their eyes to see their expressions and follow them (instead of going on a silo mode and trying to do something by yourself).
5. On purpose the logic / requirements will be very confusing / complicated - just take a deep breath and work it out very patiently.


2. Culture / General Interview

In general show your interest to work with people, as a team etc.. You dont have to open your heart and "bitch" about the bad things in previous work place etc.. - but in a nice manner express what are the striations, you will be more productive etc..

In general all developers tend to be territorial - for reasons of job-security, possessiveness etc.. Everyone understands that. But we can be team players as much as possible. - We can always have a good balance between Silo vs Team culture.


Points to be noted:

1. Each Interview gives us a chance to learn more stuff - technical, negotiation, etc..
2. If one learns good stuff and get better after an interview , that makes one a better developer for that job or next job.
3. Getting the job / not getting the job shouldn't matter as each interview acts as a free mentoring / training session .
4. As long as one feels that, one has done a decent job that's the ultimate goal. Getting selected  or not is all secondary.