How to give good interview.

A talk I gave at Women Who Code, Sydney.

Transcript

1. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Women Who Code How to give a good interview and what kinds of things a company looks for
2. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Hi, I’m G! Technical Recruiter @ Lookahead Search
3. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard What are companies looking for.. • Passion Passion - what do you care about? Where do your interests lie? Passion - Presence - Projects
4. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard What are companies looking for.. • Team fit Team fit - personality, values, Generally assertiveness but not argumentative. Passion So subjective though - if it’s not right for them, perhaps it’s not right for you so be yourself.
5. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard What are companies looking for.. • Technical ability and potential Competency based interviews and exercises we’ll talk about later ‘Level’ From the get go, applying for jobs - avoid self excluding based on one or two things, could not be entirely relevant
6. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard How to give a good interview.. Women - have a tendency to undersell their abilities. If you have trouble thinking about how to sell yourself, before your interview, consider some examples of times where you’ve solved problems using particular technologies or approached, how you worked in a team, and call on them in the interview.
7. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Before the interview Find out as much as you can before the interview When is it
8. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Where are you going? Arrive 10 minutes early - not to interrupt, not to be late in case you get lost
9. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard What to wear: tech interviews typically don’t require a suit. ‘Business casual’ is my go to response. Smart looking outfit, without being too dressed up.
10. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard What does the company do? What will you be doing? - What tech stack are they using? Have they used in the past? - are they headed where you want to head? What kind of interview is it - cultural interview/tech interview? What will they cover? Hiring manager or recruiter will tell you so make the most of them and ask questions.
11. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Cultural interviews What kind of interview? Ice breaker question - nice office or good day? See what’s around you and comment - laptop sticker? Things learned about company will help with cultural interview Sell yourself - mentioned cool technologies you played with, why you became interested in programming, what you bring from past jobs/experience Ask questions - demonstrate interest and rapport.
12. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Behavioural interviews Competency Questions behavioural questions - what would you do if…go through resume http://recruitloop.com/blog/behavioural-interview-questions/ Ability to handle stress Adaptability Analytical skills/problem solving Attention to detail Client focus/customer orientation Communication Creativity Decision Making Goal setting Initiative Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal skills Leadership Planning and organisation/Time management Sales/negotiation Teamwork Tenacity/resilience Answer with an example - what competency are they asking about?
13. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Technical interviews • Technical questions • Whiteboard exercises • Coding exercise Different kinds with pros and cons
14. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Coding exercises First - do you understand the problem. Think through simple examples Plan Choose a language (probably chosen for you)
15. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Coding exercises • Before the interview • During the interview Pairing - think out loud Don’t get caught up on trivials Take hints from your interviewers At the end - explain shortcuts, think about edge cases https://www.palantir.com/2011/10/the-coding-interview/ blog.lookahead.com.au Good readme - tells a reader a lot about your style, how communicate with other devs, what else you’d do if you had more time Beautiful code - code has personality Clean file structure Concise git commits and show your workings Appropriate design principles Test or Behaviour driven development ‘READMEs say a lot. They tell how sympathetic you are to other developers, how comprehensive your general approach to software development is, how well you can communicate design decisions and issues, and generally how mature your development habits are. I guess the point is: IT’S IMPORTANT. Take the time to write a README masterpiece and your project will immediately level up.’ Before an interview - go through your code test again. Think about other approaches to solving that problem, why you went the way you did, what you would do differently if you had time, what would you do next to improve or add features?
16. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Technical questions • Be Dr. Karl Be honest, don’t ramble but sometimes you can work it out Crack the Code Book - http://www.valleytalk.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/CrackCode.pdf Quizzes or brainteasers not unheard of - Might say things like Given x=“hello” explain the difference between x.concat “world” and x += “world” or which of the expressions result in true or false… (sample questions Googling) Discuss algorithms, modelling, testing.. Conversational approach my preference - what you’ve worked on, technologies etc to gauge your understanding as you go. Take hints from the interviewer - want you to be successful.
17. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Whiteboard exercise Just want to see how you think so be Dr. Karl again Talk aloud, show working
18. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard You decide.. Bad interview process doesn’t mean bad company but put
19. Georgina Robilliard @GRobilliard Q&A Thanks!