The Technical Interview

For both sides of an interview there is an art.The art is at its best when,at the end of an hour,both parties leave an interview feeling they have spent a productive hour.For the interviewer, it is asking a challenging but tractable question and working with the candidate to find an optimal solution.But of course the candidate has more complicated role.

I have got the opportunity to be on both sides of the table .Being the interviewer ,he should make the candidate feel welcome ,valued and excited to be offered an opportunity to work alongside and being comfortable in the decision to give the candidate a hire or no hire decision.The point of the technical interview is for the interviewer to gather as much signal from the candidate as possible in order to answer the question "Does this candidate meet the bar ". The bar refers to the standard for hiring of the company.Every company has similar standards with minor variations.Each interviewer's standards vary as well.But the bottom line is that a candidate will pass the bar if the interviewer wants to work with the candidate.Passing the bar is met with a decision of hire , and the decision of no hire is given otherwise.

Every interviewer has a set of technical questions they prefer.These have been gathered from his or her past interviews ,come from current or past project, or has been cultivated by lunchroom discussions with fellow employees.But every interviewer should remember that he may be knowing the solution beforehand , so he should not judge the candidate on basis of his knowledge on that question.He should always work with candidate to come to the solution,providing hints to candidate at optimum time.I have seen many interviewers which expect a candidate to provide a same solution which they have in mind , and this is the place where it's not candidate fails .

For the interviewee , there is no secret ingredient to ace an interview. Just remember what you are getting into,turn the interview into a conversation.Take turns speaking,ask real questions and overall be honest.Interviewee can gauge his or her success by how long the interviewer allows the conversation to run over.