Advice when being interviewed for a job in IT
Posted on January 26, 2016
Applying for a new job is a nerve-wrecking and exciting experience for most people, especially if it’s your first job. Here’s my advice from an interviewer’s standpoint.
At my previous employer, I held my fair share of follow up interviews during my close to five years at the company. At this stage, the interviewee had already had one successful interview with his or hers, perhaps, soon to be boss.
The follow up interview focused more on getting to know the interviewee and usually asking some tech or design questions. If they passed this interview, they went on to negotiate a contract.
I think I held around eleven or twelve of these follow up interviews. Here are my advice to you job seekers out there.
1. Be on time
Yes, this is a no-brainer. For an interview you must be on time. Otherwise, you’ll give a terrible first impression.
If you happen to get stuck in traffic and think you might be late, let the interviewer know. No decent company would hold this against you.
2. Dress how you would want (I honestly don’t care)
I don’t put any emphasis on how an interviewee dresses. In Sweden, everyday is Casual Friday.
However, I suggest you just wear something that you would wear on a regular day and make sure it’s clean. Perhaps put on a dinner jacket, since that will automatically give you +100 in style.
One of the advantages of working in IT is that you can get away with almost anything when it comes to fashion.
“Who the hell trusts a software developer wearing a shirt and tie!?”
– A former boss
3. Take your time to answer questions
Some questions you’ll be asked are easy or at least expected, and you can answer them right away.
However, if you get asked something unexpected and don’t know what to say, just say you’ll get back to it later. Also, don’t be afraid to rephrase an answer.
4. Ask the interviewer questions
Is there something you want to know? Ask! And don’t shy off the tough questions. This makes you appear interested and unafraid. I like it!
5. Be ready to show and discuss your work
If you’re a designer, I want to know about one of your projects that went well. How did the design process look, what obstacles did you run into and how did you solve them.
I’m not that interested in looking at screenshots. I want to hear what the design achieved and how you got there.
If you’re a front end web developer, I want to see your development setup and an example project. How you write, share and store code is interesting.
I’m not that interested in seeing solutions to specific problems, I want to hear your reasoning behind your CSS naming convention, why or why not you use certain frameworks, if you prefer SASS, LESS or CSS, how you achieve good performance and so on.
Any advice I missed or anything you don’t agree with? Let me know in the comment section!
/Alex