Developing Up

Development Interview Situations

Episode Summary

The skillsets you used to land your development job are useful well after the interview is over. Learning how to use them in other development situations will allow you to represent the best of yourself. Show notes for this episode can be found at http://www.developingup.com/14

Episode Notes

The skillsets you used to land your development job are useful well after the interview is over. In this episode we breakdown the lifecycle of an interview and highlight the many different interview type situations you experience as a developer. We explain each phase of the interview lifecycle and how to best prepare for it. Outlining actions to take and mindsets to apply to make sure it is a productive experience. In doing so, you will be able to represent the best of yourself in many other development situations.

Before an interview situation:

• Do your research, learn who you are talking to and their motivations
• Prepare: relevant experiences, questions to ask
• Be prompt and ontime
• Take a big breath, calm your nerves

During an interview situation:

• Types of questions you will be asked: specific, problem solving, open-ended
• Don’t answer questions until you have an answer. (pause and take a breath)
• Answer honestly.
• Always ask your own questions.

After an interview situation:

• Always follow up and say thank you for the time.
• Keep the conversation going with actionable next steps
• No matter what, it is just the beginning of a relationship

How to answer interview type questions

• Do not answer until you have an answer
• Ask questions until you understand what is being asked
• Be honest with your answer. If you don’t know, say you don’t know.
• Say only what you need to, avoid filler.

Links from this episode

• Being Geek: The Software Developer's Career Handbook *

Previous episodes mentioned

• The three key phrases you need to know to be a great developer

Listener Challenges

• Tell us how do you represent the best of yourself in an interview situation as a developer?
• Share with us any relationships that have grown from an interview, share your stories.
• We want to know: what is a crazy interview question you’ve been asked?

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.