I’ve conducted hundreds of software development interviews over the last few years, and been interview more times than I can remember as a consultant. My wife is now an HR Manager and a recruitment consultant, so I’ve been spending the last few days contemplating what goes well in an interview, and what goes terribly bad.
This posting is an attempt at helping software developers land that awesome job they deserve! In an upcoming post which I have been working on and editing, I will focus more on the actual technical side to the interviews. However, to be honest, at least 80% of the reason you will get the job, or lose the job, is covered in the tips below. The other 20% is your technical Ability.
The Secret
There is one thing that you have to know, that will improve your interviews instantly! It’s something that some of you know and think everyone knows, but sadly, 90% of you have no idea! What is the secret? It’s simple. The secret is that when you come in to see me for an interview, you already have the Job! I want you to do well! The job is yours to lose! So be confident and strut your stuff.
1. Arrive Early
This is an easy one, but for some reason, some of you insist on letting me weed you out before you even let me start the interview. No amount of excuses is going to save you if you arrive late for an interview. Arrive early, that’s all I’m going to say about that one.
2. Dress Professionally
I’m expecting some flack on this one, but honestly, dress with at least dress pants, dress shirt, and if you want, a tie, or suit jacket if you have one. Now on the flip side, one thing you could do is do your research on the company you want to work for, and see how they normally dress. If you are applying at a Web 2.0 company that has everyone dressing in blue jeans and Abercrombie t-shirts, by all means, dress the part.
All I’m saying is dress it professionally and clean. Clean shaven, nicely cut hair, etc. All these things help. For example, even if it is a casual work environment, for the interview, wear some nice jeans (no rips), a nice casual dress shirt, nice belt, put on a blazer, and wear some dress shoes. Ok, now that I said my peace on the dressing professionally, let the flaming begin lol.
3. Show Your Passion for Software Development
If you read my blog regularly, you know passion is something I’m pretty much obsessed with. If you are one of those developers that stay up all night long thinking about the solution to that insane software development problem at work, I want you to work for me! Do you try and read every blog you can about software development, and stay up to date with everything you possibly can on technology, I want you to work for me! Do you genuinely love software development? Well? I’ll tell you what, if you do love it, it’s going to show through! It’s hard to hide!
Every time you answer an interview question, your face will light up because you know the answer. Every time you talk about a past experience, you voice will speed up, and you will forget you are in an interview for a few minutes. Don’t be afraid of this! Let is shine through! It separates you from the average developer that is in it for the money or the job. And you better believe that YOU are the one I want on my team.
4. Show You Like Them and The Company
During the interview, you should try and say nice things about the interviewer and the company. I’m not asking or suggesting that you "kiss up" to the interviewer and the company, but what I am suggesting is: If you want to work for the company, think it’s an awesome place to work, love their offices, love the personality of the interviewer, and love what you have heard from other people about the company, say so! Honesty will get you far!
5. Avoid Discussing Salary and Compensation
Whatever you do, do not bring up compensation. If it is brought up by the interviewer, ask it quickly, and move on. Do not stumble on this question, or be the one to bring it up. Once you have been offered the job, or just before you are, you will have a chance to talk about the compensation. It should be avoided at all costs in the first interview.
6. Answer Questions From Experience
This goes for the personal and the technical side of the interview. A lot of times I will specifically say "Thinking back on your experiences…", however if the candidate can bring up examples on his own, I usually start getting excited and start leaning towards giving the candidate some points. If I ask a question like "What is Multi-Threading?" or "What is the difference between Finalize() and Dispose()?", don’t just answer the question like you are the human programming dictionary. Instead, impress the interviewer by giving examples! Start your answer with "It’s funny you brought that up, last week I was working on a project where we has to use Multi-Threading! We had a situation where…" and go from there.
Not only are you answering the question, but you are also showing me that you have real world experience in working with the concept or technology! Also (yes, there is more!), you are starting a more human like conversation with me, and we are talking and chatting! You will become more comfortable, and I will also relax and get excited! I will start seeing you on my team!
7. Ask Good Questions
When it comes time for you to ask questions of the company and interviewer, make sure you have some great questions! Although it may seem like a great time to get to know the company, which it is, this is one of those rare golden opportunities that you have to put yourself over the top of probably 95% of every other person the interviewer has interviewed for your position. Ask them about their quality assurance process, what kind of source control they use, if they use continuous integration, what they use for unit testing, etc. In a future posting I will try and focus on just great questions to ask in an interview.
8. Do Not Be Negative
You would think nobody would have a negative attitude when going into an interview. You would be shocked! While you’re in the interview, take extra caution in not being negative. There are a lot of people that fall into this trap. One of the most common questions that gets a lot of potential software developers is "Why are you looking to leave your current employer?". I don’t really want to hear things like "My boss was an *** ****", or "I was never given the promotion I wanted, it really pissed me off." Even though those things could all be true, do not answer this question this way! Be careful. The better way to answer this question is "I’m looking for new challenges, learn new things, and I have learned so much where I am now, I’m ready to push myself further". Saying negative things puts negativity into the air, and it will be there when they think about you later!
9. Constant Eye Contact
So many people have lost me here because they keep looking at their shoes, and not at me. Even worse, sometimes there are a few people in the room and you need to look at everyone! What to do? Look at everyone! Alternate! But whatever you do, do not look at one person, and nobody else. Or even worse, do not ignore one of the people, because you think they are less important. A few times I’ve had interviews where I have a few of my senior developers in the room, and the candidate doesn’t even bother to look at them, just constantly looking at me! While it can be flattering (I joke), you are demonstrating to me that you play sides, and view certain people higher than others.
10. Do Not Appear Overconfident and "Know It All"
I’ve had so many interviews where the candidate was amazing, and I wanted to hire them so badly! But they blew it! How? They were over confident. Every question I asked they answered with some attitude like they were saying "please don’t bother me with these silly questions". Answering the question of "Name a time when you made a mistake or a misjudgement in timeline, and were going to be late on a milestone. How did you handle it?" with "My estimates are always perfect, I have never been late, and I have always met all my milestones." does not impress me at all.