All You Need to Excel in Your Next Tech Interview

Worried about your next interview?

You’re not alone!

Interviewing for a tech role can intimidate even the best and most experienced professionals. It’s a rigorous, multi-round process looking to assess your personality, problem-solving skills, real-world experience and technical skills (e.g Coding, Cloud Migration or Agile Project Management).

Thankfully, your interview can be significantly easier and more successful if you prepare right. Read on and let’s help you scale this terrifying hurdle that stands between you and your dream job.

The tech interview rounds… 

Although the structure varies from one company to the next, tech interviews typically have three rounds.

• The first round (Phone screening)
• The second round (Technical interview
• Final round (On-site interview)

The First Interview

Congratulations! Your prospective employer finds your resume interesting and would love to chat. But don’t get too excited, you still have some convincing to do.

In this round, the interviewer wants to understand your background, experiences and desire for the role. This determines whether you move on to the next round.

Phone interviews could be as short as 15 minutes, so you only have so much time to make your mark and earn yourself a spot in round 2 of the interviews.

How do you do this?

Prepare! Have ready answers for common interview questions, and tailor them to the particular role and company you’re applying to. Furthermore, prepare a quick list that showcases your achievements and experiences. Most importantly, display confidence and passion that shows that you want THE job. Not just any other job. 

The Second Interview 

The second phase of the interview focuses on your technical skills, whether you’re aiming for a role in software development, project management, Agile and Scrum, or IT  management. This can feel quite daunting, as preparing for a technical interview isn’t always straightforward.

The nature of the technical interview can vary – it might involve a phone or video call, a problem-solving test, or an in-person assessment. You might even have conversations with multiple interviewers.

To get ready, it’s wise to look into common technical questions related to your role. If you’re given a problem to solve, be sure to articulate your thought process clearly. The interviewer wants insight into how you approach and tackle challenges.

The Final Stage 

Moving on to the final interview stage, typically conducted onsite, this is where the selection process narrows down to a few candidates. By this point, your qualifications are recognized; now the focus is on finding the best fit for the company.

The onsite interview could occur at the company’s location or virtually. Sometimes, it involves multiple meetings with various team members. You might also connect with potential colleagues and gain insights into the company culture through these interactions.

In some instances, the final interview might span several days. Alternatively, it could be a concise meeting with senior leaders to finalize the job offer. It’s essential to research the interview process of the specific company to understand their particular approach.

Top  Tips to Ace Your Tech Interview 

• Research the Company and Interviewer

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to interview questions. Some answers need to be tailored to the company you’re interviewing for as that’s the absolute best way to prove your desire to work for the company in question.

In fact, this simple tips easily puts you ahead of more than 50% of other candidates who will likely provide generic answers.

Wanna drive it up a notch?

If possible, look up the interviewer or LinkedIn, Facebook or GitHub. You may just be able to find something personal that you can mention during the interview and help you connect better with them. This puts you at the top of the interviewers mind and definitely improves the odds.

• Practice the Fundamentals

Certain questions come up in most interviews. These questions range from things about your background, technical skills and career goals. So, instead of rambling through it, why not prepare and practice effective answers to these questions?

For instance, the famous and dreaded “tell me about yourself.” Most people just go off and say too much or too little. Or worse, irrelevant stuff.

You should prepare a focused answer that covers your background, current or most recent role and future goals for your new company. Keep it short, punchy and effective.

• Practice Technical Questions

It goes without saying that these are an essential part of technical interviews… Now that that’s out of the way, how do you effectively practice technical questions?

We like to suggest starting out with practicing common technical questions like:

 

What steps do you take when debugging code?

How do you handle a problem within members of your Scrum Team?

With these questions, interviewers are commonly looking at your approach to problem-solving. So, take it slow and break down your process.

A good way to practice is to ask a friend with a tech background to help with the questions while you attempt the answers to build confidence.

• Prepare Questions for the Interviewer

You need to go into the interview well-prepared with thoughtful questions for the company. Not having questions can give the impression that you didn’t do your homework and are not genuinely interested in the position

As you get ready and do your research, make sure to note down some questions for the interviewer during the interview. If you find it challenging to come up with questions, consider sticking to standard and safe questions like:

What are the company’s short and long term goals?

For this role, what’s a typical day like?

What’s the one thing that, if achieved within 3 months, will mean success in this role?

Or ask about hierarchy and reporting structure. Just ask up to three questions.

• Test Your Video and Audio Before the Interview

Leave nothing to chance. Test out your audio and video for virtual interviews. Make sure you have service for phone interviews. And double-check your attire if the interviewers can see you.

Consider conducting a mock interview in the same format as the real interview. Ask a friend or family member to give feedback on your video background and the connection quality.

Good video and audio quality conveys readiness and creates a seamless interview session which is best for you and your interviewers. It also creates a positive feeling and boosts your chances of getting a positive response.

Conclusion

With these tips, your next interview may lead to a job offer. But if you’re not the best fit, that’s okay. With that bit of practice, you’re one step closer to your dream job.

The best takeaway from any interview is to learn something new that might help in future interviews and throughout your career.