How to Prepare for Tech Interviews

There are tons of preparation materials online to prepare you for an interview. There seems to be a well defined syllabus and a finite set of interview formats for which, given enough time, one can prepare very well. Of course the mileage may vary based on personal commitment and time availability.

I’m not going to reiterate how to prepare for the most frequently asked questions. Neither I’m going to criticize the tech interview process, it’s there for a reason and there is a lot of variety depending on the company and team. In the end, I think it works really well, for both the candidates and the employers.

I’m going to talk about the questions that one should ask themselves before going into the job hunt. This will give you a lot more clarity while applying for jobs and help you make a decision when you want to abandon an interview process or accept an offer. Before I discuss the question let me clear up one thing that the ‘job’ here is any type of full time employment where you, as an employee, work for an employer, usually forty hours a week as an independent contributor.

Why are you looking for a job ?

The reason has to be clear. Maybe you are a new grad, maybe you are a professional looking for a change or maybe you are changing career and becoming a developer. There has to be a clear need for a new job and you must clearly understand that you are ready to be a fulltime employee in the tech industry.

What kind of company should you work for ?

If you have a specific problem in your mind that you want to solve then just look for companies in that relevant field and don’t think about anything else. If that is not the case then you should think about the size of the company, the stage they are in and the direction they are going towards. For example you could target a multi-billion dollar public company or a high growth startup going from 1 to 10 or an early stage startup who is looking for a founding engineer. Be sure to pick one and exhaust all options before changing your mind.

What kind of team do you want to work with ?

Your role in a team is pretty much already set. If you have relevant experience and you are building on top of it then the role is typically defined by the industry. If you are breaking into a new field then starting as an entry level employee is not a bad thing. Second comes the team and environment. Everyone is different, some want to work in a silo, contributing remotely and some want a lot of collaboration and brainstorming. Think about this honestly and don’t compromise on it. Everything else can be adjusted and tolerated but the team, people and the culture is one thing that you will experience every day and it has to be at least a partial match.

What is your preferred tech stack ?

If you don’t see yourself working on a particular tech stack then probably you shouldn’t apply. It’s not about which stack you are most comfortable or experienced with. It’s about what excites and motivates you the most. This could be one of the things that will make you fall in love with your job. Also, this is the thing where you can have multiple options. So think hard and create a list of preferences.

So, in conclusion you must have this clarity in your mind. About why you are looking for a job, what is the ideal company profile, what kind of environment you like to work in and what exactly you want to work on.