You’ve Done the Tutorials, You’ve Built Your Own Apps, Now It’s Time to Get Hired

As someone who is responsible for hiring at my company and who is familiar with hiring processes at some of the other top Rails consultancies in the industry, I'd like to share with you what we look for out of great candidates.

We'll go over the skills you need, the types of questions we ask, and what the interview process is like. You'll walk away with a greater understanding of what is expected of you as a candidate and how to get where you need to be to nail that interview.

Transcript

1. You’ve done the tutorials, You’ve built your own apps, Now it’s time to get hired!
2. Desi McAdam @desi desi@thoughtbot.com github: desi linkedIn: desimcadam Developer and Managing Director at thoughtbot I am a hugger
3. I hire people and I have been hired by people.
4. Consulting US Based Experience Ruby and Rails (mostly) iOS/Android
5. Preparations
6. What matters?
15. Make a list of companies
16. People you admire
17. Get out and meet people
18. Learn everything you can about each company
19. Narrow it down based on your “what matters” list
20. Self Assess or better yet get others to assess you
21. Practice
22. No recruiters
23. Interviewing
24. Process
25. thoughtbot • Submit cover letter, code sample or portfolio via our website • Non technical interview (usually phone/ skype/coffee) • Technical interview (usually skype/in person) • Day of Pairing
26. thoughtworks • Resume and Cover letter • Personal essay • Code Sample • Phone interview with HR • In person (tech, assessments, values and culture, pairing (2 hours) and group)
27. hashrocket • Submit resume with github/dribble etc • Non technical interview and technical interview (usually phone/skype) • Week of pairing
28. Different but the Same
29. thoughtbot
30. Cover letter
31. Code Review
32. Cleanliness • Readme • Style
33. Clarity • Method names descriptive • Can I figure out what is happening • Variables are clear
34. Complexity • Low • Use flog - https://github.com/seattlerb/flog • Use flay - http://sadi.st/Flay.html
35. testing • Do they have any tests? • Were the tests written first? • Do they understand BDD and TDD • Do their tests explain the system clearly
36. Come up with some questions
37. Non technical interview
38. Technical interview
39. Pairing
40. Other practices
41. White boarding (coding specifically not problem solving)
42. Assessments
43. Logic tests
44. IQ tests
45. Personality tests
46. General
47. Don’t apply if you are not ready (and they have a 1 time rule)
48. Know your good and bad and prepare for it
49. Confidence
50. Power Poses
51. Posture
52. Body Language
53. Eye Contact
54. Negotiate the process
55. Talk about yourself
56. Ask questions about the people you are talking to
57. What matters changes
58. Establish yourself, do good work and you won’t need to interview
59. Relax and Enjoy yourself
60. Offer negotiation
61. Salary
62. Vacation
63. Start date
64. Working from home
65. Schedule
66. Working remotely
67. Thank You!