Tips To Ace Your Technical Interview
So, you already:-
- Know the role in which you are applying.
- Completed company research.
- Know who you are meeting with and have researched the interviewer. LinkedIn is great for this.
- Planned your journey – Be on time. I recommend you arrive 10 minutes before hand.
- Demonstrate your soft skills Interviewers want to ensure that you can communicate and interact with fellow colleagues and clients so be friendly, smile and show your personality. Remember also be positive and show your enthusiastic side. Show an interest in training programmes to demonstrate that you are keen to develop within a team. Discuss any certificates or additional qualifications you may have which may be relevant to your role. It’s easy if you are nervous to become rigid but remember, they want to meet and learn more about you. Its within their interest and they already think you could be a good match to their position.
2. Be ready for the coding challenge Most interviews with a tech company will want to test your coding ability. This can be done in many forms including Q&A, Pair-programming & Whiteboarding. The more you practice coding before the interview, the better prepared you’ll be. When practising, simulate an interview type environment and set yourself a time limit. If you are asked to code a solution on a whiteboard, be sure to talk through your solutions as this can be just as important as your conclusion.
3. Handling technical discussions You will likely be asked questions on your fundamentals which I guess could be referred to as the tools in your tool box. If you don’t know the answer to a question, then be honest. Its ok to say you don’t know. Discuss how you would go about finding the answer instead. The interviewer is not necessarily looking for the right answer, but its key to show that you are strategically able to break down information in order to problem solve.
4. Be prepared to explain projects you have worked on This is a great opportunity to highlight your best work. Some questions to think about are:- What were your project goals? What was the outcome? What part did you play? What would you have changed looking back? Make sure that during your discussion you touch on your abilities to set deadlines, prioritise and delegating tasks.
5. Discuss your achievements throughout your career Is there anything which can make you stand out against other candidates. Maybe you were promoted within a role? Maybe you developed a certain skill or achieved a high mark in a recent exam. Maybe you participate in Hackathons? When did you last go above and beyond? Try to think back to success where you can tell a story by describing a challenge you faced. Think about how you overcame that challenge and the positives results on the other side.
6. Have questions prepared for your interviewer It’s just as important for you to ask the interviewer questions as it is for them to ask you questions. You need to ensure that this is the best career move for you. Make sure you have several questions written down that you can refer to. The aim here is to have enough information and knowledge about the company and your team to ensure you can leave the interview knowing if you would accept the role or not. A good question to finish your interview is, what’s the next step?
7. Remember to always say thank you
