Getting ready to kill it at your next interview?
By now, you've already "wowed" someone into giving you a call. Congrats on looking great on paper, but now it's time to convince your boss that you're somebody that can truly excel as part of their unique team.
The competition is stiff. Companies are looking to hire the cream of the crop.
It’s up to you to convey your talents during the interview. So, here are the most common reasons why great software developers get passed up on, according to seasoned software developers and recruiters:
But it’s crucial to muster up enthusiasm, passion and confidence when you’re interviewing for a software engineer position.
“Most companies are hiring you to be part of a team,” says Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb, a web and mobile product design and development shop.
Man, can't express enough the importance of projecting energy and confidence on phone interviews.— Rich (@IAmRichJones) October 20, 2014
If you can show your boss that you’re genuinely passionate about what you do, you’ve got it made in the shade. “I have yet to meet a developer who is really passionate when talking about programming but can’t actually code,” says Jon Skeet, author of C+ in Depth on Stack Exchange.
To overcome severe introversion, focus on eye contact.
Also, “address the person you're interviewing with by name at least once. Even better if you can do it twice,” says Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb.
Steve Yegge, renowned programmer and blogger, found that candidates who did most of the talking are most likely to fail the in-person interview.
“The screener only asked about stuff on the candidate’s resume, and the candidate was able to talk with passion and enthusiasm about this incredibly cool thing they did, blah blah blah, and the screener was duly impressed,” Yegge says in a blog post.
To prove that you’re going to be a great hire, highlight the versatility of your skillset and approach. Smart hiring managers, like Yegge, will be suspicious of folks who have programmed largely in one language.
“Candidates who have programmed mostly in a single language (e.g. C/C++), platform (e.g. AIX) or framework (e.g. J2EE) usually have major, gaping holes in their skills lineup,” Yegge says in the blog post.
Demonstrating how you can apply varied approaches to a problem can help you score more points.
Pro tip: Ask your recruiter what coding languages the technical interview will cover.
“It’s surprising how many candidates don’t ask about this,” says Rich Jones, a Silicon Valley HR expert. “It could save a lot of time in prep or at least help you target it.”
Most all managers want a team player who can break down the complications of software development into words that a non-techie can understand.
“Often CS majors will just assume that everyone knows what Bates Theorem is or what O(log n) means,” Spolsky says in his article. Spolsky asks his candidates to explain their previous projects in terms that his grandmother would be able to understand for the sake of the exercise.
“At this point, many people will still continue to use jargon and will completely fail to make themselves understood,” Spolsky says. “You don’t want to hire them, basically because they are not smart enough to comprehend what it takes to make other people understand their ideas.”
Spolsky suggests you be able to talk through things like:
“Why did you do it that way?”
“What are the performance characteristics of your algorithm?”
“What did you forget?”
“Where’s your bug?”
Mistakes happen. Make sure you make every attempt to find your mistake.
Read: 5 Interview Questions to Reveal a Poor Company Culture
At the end of the day, are you someone they’ll want to be stuck in an airport after a delayed flight?
Netta Samroengraja of ZocDoc, the billion dollar startup, puts it best when she told us she looks for people who embody “Humbition:” People who are both humble and ambitious.
This covers the intangibles: Personality, motivation and honesty.
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