CodeFights recently launched Interview Practice Mode, a new mode on its website that enables developers to prepare for job interviews with technical questions asked by top tech companies. Interview Practice Mode marks the latest step in CodeFights’ mission to transform the way companies hire with skill-based recruiting. This feature will help developers from all backgrounds, locations and skill sets better understand their abilities, pursue lucrative job opportunities and land their dream jobs.
For most engineering jobs, companies put candidates through rigorous technical interviews with difficult questions and coding tests. These interviews can be difficult to prepare for, especially for candidates who have never gone through a similar interview process before.
Here are five interview tips to help developers land their dream job.
- Practice using real interview questions. As a great developer you often think, “This is what I do for a living and I am good at it,” so it’s tempting to walk into an interview without much practice. The reality is, interview questions you face at most companies are very far away from your day job, so make sure to do some research and practice using real questions that appear on interviews.
- Make sure to ask lots of questions during the interview. Some engineers think that asking questions is a sign of poor skills or lack of understanding. In reality, it’s the opposite. Most questions during technical interviews are intentionally vague and the goal of the interviewer is to see if you can ask the right questions before diving in. The worst thing you can do during a technical interview is to solve something you weren’t asked to solve. So ask questions until you are absolutely sure you have all the details.
- Use sites such as Glassdoor and your own network to find out the interview process at the company. At some companies, the interview process includes four or five people onsite and they all have to agree on who to hire. At others, the interview process still includes four or five people, but all are from different teams, so as long as one says, “Yes,” then you are in. Knowing what you are dealing with and the process is behind the scenes will drastically improve your chances.
- Apply to as many companies as you can. Some candidates make the mistake of only talking to a select few companies and trying to hit the bull’s-eye from a few shots. That works in theory, but in practice it’s very hard to understand from the outside what a company is like. Interviews are a way for you to interview the company and see if it’s a place you’d like to spend time working at. On top of that, doing more interviews is more practice and, when you get to the offer stage, having several offers helps you negotiate the best compensation package.
- Be mentally prepared for a negative outcome. At the end of the day, interviews are run by human beings and human beings tend to be quite subjective. So no matter how good you are and how much you prepare, most of your interviews are going to have a negative outcome. You have to be mentally prepared for that. Candidates who are used to excellence throughout their lives can take it very personally when a company decides not to hire them. You have to set your expectations right upfront so you don’t set yourself up to be disappointed.
About the Author / Tigran Sloyan
Tigran Sloyan is CEO of CodeFights. Tigran is the co-founder/CEO of CodeFights, a startup aiming to make improving your coding skills and finding your dream job fun and accessible to everyone in the world. Since its launch in September of 2014, CodeFights has attracted half a million users from over 200 countries becoming one of the largest developer communities in the world. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.