Top Tips for Technical Interviews
Read or listen to the instructions
Give it your best shot
It’s not a test, it’s showing how you solve problems
-
In most cases, asking for help and having creative approaches will be a BENEFIT to you as a candidate! Remember, they’re looking for fundamentals, technical skill, technical potential, and problem-solving skills.
-
Check out this LinkedIn post for the perspective of a hiring manager:
Whenever I run technical interviews, I require that candidates share their screen and I start with this intro: “Imagine you are working with us for real. Everything is at your disposal, even the people on this call. You can treat us like coworkers sitting right next to you. We won’t penalize you for searching things or looking anything up.”
From there, I will give candidates challenges deliberately designed to force them to ask questions, gather requirements, solve ambiguity, engage with my panel, and look things up. Nobody knows everything, and technology is constantly changing. Knowing how to solve problems, how to discuss them with others, and having a dedication to solving them well… that is infinitely more valuable than rote memory recall or coding speed.
The outcome of this approach is that I have found and hired some of the absolute best engineers I’ve ever encountered… high-performing, diverse, inspiring, innovative team-players. And many (if not most) of them would have been overlooked in other interviews due to interview objectives that focus on all the wrong traits and goals.
Good luck to everyone going through job interviews right now! Take some time to prepare, practice, and put your best self forward when you get an opportunity! Kia kaha!
