Interview Clinic - Interview and CV Tips

Conducted to the undergrads of University of Moratuwa, Faculty of IT on 06th of August 2022.

Transcript

1. Interview Clinic GET HIRED OR DIE TRYING /nishan_cw nishanc.medium.com /nishanchathuranga nishanw@99x.io Nishan Wickramarathna Developer: 99x Pvt. Ltd.
2. Lineup Tools What are the tools available to you 01 Habits What you should change 02 Whatever ..that I might think of at this point.. 04 Facts What you should know 03 Find out more information about this topic Timeline
3. Tools 01 CV and everything else at your disposal
4. This is your typical CV, decorated, which everybody can make using some template from the internet. But still there can be room to improve.
5. First mistake is the lack of a good profile statement Personal Qualities •Self-motivated •Creative •Adaptable •Having an eye for detail Skills •Management skills •Communication skills •Problem-solving skills •Design skills Experience (optional) •5 years experience in.. •Excellent track record of.. •Extensive background in.. I am a hardworking and ambitious individual with a great passion for designing web applications and product engineering. I have strong technical skills as well as excellent interpersonal skills, enabling me to interact with a wide range of clients. I am eager to be challenged in order to grow and further improve my IT skills, currently looking for …..
6. Design Improvements Typography / Fonts Color Contrast Your Photo Alignments
8. As a thumb-rule, high contrast is required between the text and the background colors. However, having contrasting colors for multiple elements can make a design look messy sometimes. Moreover, contrast is not just about using complementary colors but you must also ensure that participating colors in a design don’t strain users’ eyes.
9. Always look at the camera Appropriate lighting
10. Highlight your professionalism, rather than your charm Avoid unnecessary accessories
11. You don’t need to try so hard, just wear something nice, look at the camera and smile and ask your mom to take the photo! Look smart and pro!
14. FAQ 1 • Should I mention my GPA ? • You should. But don’t mention your GPA if you’re uncomfortable mentioning it, because you can prove you’re a good candidate using other qualities.
15. FAQ 2 • I don’t have a good GPA, I don’t have a good technical knowledge as well, no volunteer experience or haven’t participated to any competitions! • Go to YouTube, search for a cash course on something that you like to learn (React, OOP, .NET), create a small project and push it to Github. • In one week, you can learn 7 frameworks. Create a portfolio from the work you do & host it on Github pages. You can use a free API if you hate backends.
16. Me trying to learn JavaScript
17. LEVEL 2 SOFTWARE PROJECT • Frameworks used • Your responsibilities / contribution • High-level architecture • Teamwork • What’s an API • How you handled Authentication and Authorization • Databases used and why? • Problems faced and your solutions • Any design patterns or architectures used? • Exception handling
18. FAQ 3 • I don’t like Software Engineering! • That’s Ok, look for the other opportunities such as UX Engineers, Software Quality Assurance Engineers, Business Analysts, DevOps Engineers, Support Engineers. • But those opportunities are scarce, so you have to keep an eye out for such opportunities and apply. • But this is the internship, you still have time to decide, try for an SE internship.
19. Habits 02 Your thinking patterns, changes you needs to make
20. • Has deep knowledge in at least one area, i.e., programming language, and can be a problem solver in it. • Understands many other areas and their complexities, i.e., storages, front-end, distributed, big data, etc., and knows how to communicate clearly in that area. • Possesses boundary crossing competencies.
21. T-Shaped engineers became popular mostly due to agile principles (focus on self-organizing teams with cross-functional members) since a T-shaped engineer is an ideal candidate to be a cross-functional team member
22. Do your homework, be prepared. This can be learned.
23. Homework? Revisit OOP concepts Overloading, Overriding, Multiple Inheritance SOLID Principles Coding best practices Data Structures & Algorithms Stacks, Queues, FIFO, Big O, Recursion Databases Normalization, SQL Joins Enterprise Applications Development Design Patterns, Cloud
24. I know OOP! • Explain the concept of Constructor? • Can you specify the accessibility modifier for methods inside the interface? • Is it possible for a class to inherit the constructor of its base class? • Why do we need Polymorphism, and how is it used? • What is Compile time Polymorphism and how is it different from Runtime Polymorphism? • What is the meaning of life? • Why are we here? • What is life all about? LOL NO!
25. Find minimum and maximum values in a Java array of primitive types. What is the fastest method? (in terms of time complexity (Big O))
26. Learning is not enough, make it a habit to apply them.
27. Facts 03 What I can tell you as an Interviewer!
28. Matching Skills to Requirements Employer needs Your evidence Communication Presentations/ Competitions Teamwork 2 Group Projects Leadership Class rep, Committee, Team Leader of the Project Initiative Fundraising for charity / Volunteering Work Exp. Level 2 Project, Worked in a bank Commercial & Tech awareness Blog posts / Subject modules
29. 3.41 2.863 3.083.05 3.26 2.7 3.053.06 3.57 3.38 3.25 3.52 2.55 2.94 3.77 3.53 3.27 2.54 2.7 2.46 3.56 3.4 2.44 2.475 2.47 1.92 2.06 2.57 3.27 2.81 3.76 2.25 1.66 2.03 2.72 3.205 2.28 3.01 2.45 2.14 2.68 2.32 3.23 2.16 3 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 GPA
30. Select comfortable, private, quiet place Ask everyone in your house to be quiet Have copy of CV and company information Have pen and paper at hand Prepare for usual interview questions Prepare as thoroughly as for ‘real’ interview Practice on phone Record answers Try standing Smile and use gestures Avoid monotones Phone Interviews
31. FAQ 4 • How to measure the attitudes of an undergraduate ? • Ask to explain a real life problem they have faced and how they overcame it. Especially when they have worked as teams in projects etc. • Give a hypothetical situation like, if they were a lead in a team and faced with a critical deadline requirement, how would they manage the situation. • Test whether they're capable of saying 'No' or they would just keep saying 'Yes' just to secure the job. This is important to analyze how they value themselves. • When asked about their strengths and weaknesses, see if they have a positive attitude even towards their weaknesses, for example if they say they're a procrastinator, they should display that they're working on turning that around.
32. FAQ 4 • Instead of asking a candidate how he would behave in a particular situation, we can ask candidate to describe how he behaved in a past situation. • Yes attitudes influences behavior, but they are not always aligned. There are certain situations where attitudes dictate your behavior like, if you are an absolute expert on a certain subject matter and in that discussion your attitude will influence your behavior, And if you have past personal experience on the matter it will influence your behavior greatly
33. Can-do attitude and willingness to embrace challenges Developer - Intern
34. Do you know what are the testing tools we use and strategies? QA - Intern
37. Think for a second, “would I hire me?”
38. This is you. In couple of years.
39. What do you think is the best impression? “I went to university for 2 years *, please hire me” “I have worked with these technologies and I have proof. I can be trusted to get the work done, I’ll prove it.” * I have 80% attendance
40. Wrap up! Tech Competency (Mandatory) Basics Programing Fundaments (E.g.: Conditions, Loops, Try Catch) OOP Concepts Data Structures and Algorithms Understanding of programming principles (Eg: Solid) Database Concepts (SQL or NO-SQL) Basic understanding of Design Patterns Basic understanding of Version Control Learnability IQ / Problem solving skills Experience Technical Exposure Experience working in a real world project Hackathons and Competitions Open Source Hacker Rank Leadership Experience Extra Curricular Activities (Sports, Club,..) Accepting Challenges Friendliness Dependability (Being responsible / Trustworthiness) Communication skills (Language / Professionalism) Technically up to date Awareness on career path Technical blogging / Actively Participate in Communities Cloud Computing Front-end / Back-End Technologies Frameworks (e.g. EF Core) DevOps You need to know these… Better to have these…. But not mandatory Try to check at least few of these boxes
41. Thanks! You’re Hired Do you have any questions? nishanw@99x.io
42. Appendix A Skills Education Evidence Activities & Interests Evidence Work Experience Evidence Comm. Skills: Written & Oral Time/Project Management Organization, Administrative Teamwork Problem Solving Drive & Initiation Language (Level of fluency) Leadership Commercial Awareness Other
43. A personal SWOT analysis, may be more useful if you focus on a specific goal or problem that you want to address. refer to favorable external factors that could give an organization a competitive advantage. For example, if a country cuts tariffs, a car manufacturer can export its cars into a new market, increasing sales and market share. Opportunities describe what an organization excels at and what separates it from the competition: a strong brand, loyal customer base, a strong balance sheet, unique technology, and so on. For example, a hedge fund may have developed a proprietary trading strategy that returns market-beating results. It must then decide how to use those results to attract new investors. Strengths refer to factors that have the potential to harm an organization. For example, a drought is a threat to a wheat-producing company, as it may destroy or reduce the crop yield. Other common threats include things like rising costs for materials, increasing competition, tight labor supply and so on. Threats stop an organization from performing at its optimum level. They are areas where the business needs to improve to remain competitive: a weak brand, higher-than- average turnover, high levels of debt, an inadequate supply chain, or lack of capital. Weaknesses S W O T Appendix B
44. Appendix C • Dress appropriately • Entrance, introductions & handshake • Smile and make eye contact • Be aware of own movements • Watch body language of interviewer First impression is very powerful Be relaxed, It’s an interview. You are not going to die. (eventually you will, but not today!) If it’s a physical interview
45. Development Software Engineer Senior Software Engineer Senior Technical Lead Technical Lead Associate Technical Lead Associate Technical Architect Technical Architect Senior Technical Architect Manager - Technology Solutions Architect Nishan Chathuranga Wikramarathna Appendix D
46. Quality Assurance QA Engineer Senior QA Engineer Senior QA Lead QA Lead Associate QA Lead Associate QA Architect QA Architect Product Quality Architect Nishan Chathuranga Wikramarathna
47. User Experience UX Engineer Senior UX Engineer Senior UX Lead UX Lead Associate UX Lead Associate UX Architect UX Architect Senior UX Architect HCI Architect Nishan Chathuranga Wikramarathna
48. IT Support and DevOps Infrastructure Engineer Senior Infrastructure Engineer Manager IT Infrastructure Management Specialist Infrastructure management Lead Senior Infrastructure Management Specialist Associate Manager - IT Nishan Chathuranga Wikramarathna
49. Business Analysts Business Analysts Senior Business Analysts Manager Business Consulting Senior Business Consultant Business Consultant Associate Manager – Business Consulting Nishan Chathuranga Wikramarathna
50. Development • Understanding Client requirements with the support of business analysts • Designing and developing software solutions • Support planning and estimation • Carry out developer testing • Preparing development related documents • Helping customers to identify issues and troubleshoot • Fixing bugs and other issues Development • Understanding Client requirements with the support of business analysts Nishan Chathuranga Wikramarathna
51. Quality Assurance • Understanding Client requirements with the support of business analysts • Designing and developing test cases • Support planning and estimation • Executing test cases • Automating manual test cases • Carry out Regression, Performance, and Security testing • Preparing test reports • Ensuring the adherence to processes and standards. Nishan Chathuranga Wikramarathna
52. User Experience • Conducting user surveys • Creating app prototypes and Improving them according to feedback • Creating a user personas • Designing and developing user interfaces • Conduct usability testing • Improve user experience according to the feedback • Understanding user behaviors using tools Nishan Chathuranga Wikramarathna
53. IT Support and DevOps • Provisioning required environments • Installing updates and patches • Deploying and rolling back applications • Handling backup and restore • Handling infrastructure security • Automating provisioning of infrastructure using • IAC (Infrastructure as code ) techniques. Nishan Chathuranga Wikramarathna
54. Business Analysts • Understanding business problems and mapping them to software solutions • Communicating requirements to developers and QAs • Documenting and managing requirements • Facilitate planning and estimations • Facilitating communication between developers and Clients Nishan Chathuranga Wikramarathna
55. A RIVER CUTS THROUGH ROCK NOT BECAUSE OF IT’S POWER, BUT BECAUSE OF IT’S PERSISTENCE.