Are you changing your career path or are you in the early stage of your journey? Does it make you nervous? Well, I need to be honest. It is not easy to keep attached to your dreams while failing in interviews. Some companies may not see your potential. Some others also may be in need of expertise for their short-term goals rather than investing in their futures. However, I would say don’t worry. There are many companies out there that can value your potential. The most important part you need to focus on is how you can express your potential clearly without demonstrating enough experience. Let me share a couple of tips that can help you out in your journey: Communicate your experience level clearly Not having enough experience is not a flaw. Even sometimes it is an advantage when you interview the companies that are shaping up their teams with a sense of passion and energy. Such companies usually have enough experience to steer their business but rather they need new workforce to carry it forward. Be aware of what you don’t know. Do not try to prove yourself in any areas that you don’t feel confident. Your resume should also reflect the same. Show your character What you don’t know should not make you down. You and your interviewer already know that you are not an experienced candidate. And you are still in the interview. Don’t judge yourself on behalf of your interviewer. Be positive. Show your energy, confidence and your urge to learn. Prove how a valuable contributor you would be when you are given a chance. Join IT Society to see all valuable resources for free Don’t be afraid of saying I don’t know Most likely you will receive many questions for which you have limited or else no idea. So, your answer is clear: "I don’t know". However, it is not that simple. You should think about the question and the domain. Ask yourself these questions: What have I done so far in the domain the question is coming from? Have I experienced something similar but in another domain? Does it help me say I don’t know exactly but ... ? Such questions will help you at least provide some insights. These can be sometimes more powerful than the expected answers. They can open up different point of views and make you rise above others. Past & out of domain experience make sense Don’t think of having experience in other domains is useless. Especially, if you have considerable achievements, count them in. You will be accepted as a potential successor. Any past achievements will help you on this track. Never give up during the interview Interviews will be hard, long and weary but you have to show your endeavor even if you have no hope to provide an expected answer. Most of the time, interviewees are evaluated on their characters, and their ability to stay focused and motivated. Even sometimes they are asked unresolvable questions just to evaluate attitudes. You didn’t fail but gained experience Each interview will teach you something. Take your notes, if possible, reach out to the interviewer and request their feedback. Finally, have your retrospective session with someone who has more experience. Join IT Society and get a free mock interview
1. UNDERSTANDthe question The most essential but the mostly missed out step is understanding really what you have been asked. Whether technical or non-technical, this is the most crucial step you should focus on. Pramod Khincha, former director of Engineering at Google highlights this: "I have seen really good candidates failing just because of answering something totally different than I really asked them. Maybe more than a half". Join IT Society to get free Interview mentorship 2. KNOWyour audience It's always a good thing to know who will interview you. Most companies send a complete on-site schedule a day before the interview. Use this list, research the interviewers. Understand their background. An interviewer currently in a managerial position might expect totally different than a deep machine learning engineer. Even sometimes you are able to find their personal GitHub repositories with ton of interview questions 🤞. 3. MANAGEyour time Some candidates just jump in and start to code. On the other hand, some spend 10-15 minutes to clarify the problem. Both are red flags. Spend 5 mins to clarify the problem and some edge cases, but not all. Then begin with even a trivial solution. Keep the interviewer involved. It’s always a good signal to provide a working solution in the first 20-25 minutes. Join IT Society to get free Interview mentorship 4. NEVERgive up Even you cannot solve the question, surprisingly even you cannot write one line of code, do not get down. Always keep up. This is very important for companies to hire people with positive and optimistic attitude.Tyson Turkozwho is a lead software architect in Samsung Electronics emphasizes the positive attitude:“Sometimes it’s OK for a candidate to not completely solve the problem. But what I value is their positiveness and their trustworthy outlook. I need to rely on them. I need to trust”. 5. AVOIDgiving bad signals / red flags Technical interviews are not only technical. Interviewers are looking for someone to spend the whole day together on stressful and complicated problems. Modern problems are technically trivial. The issue begins with culture. Show your best attitude in all sessions. Avoid blaming your previous teammates, getting angry or too nervous, being too opinionated and using buzz words. Join IT Society to get free Interview mentorship Join us today to meet with hundreds of engineers, to get free mock interviews, interview prep sessions, soft skill conversation clubs and book clubs. IT Societyis a non-profit organization that uses its capacity and resources to help members get up to speed in IT domain.