We’ve all been there as entry level software engineers trying to break into the industry for the first time. The dreaded tech interviews can be daunting without the proper preparations and trust me, I’ve been there. Most recently, I was given the oportunity to itnerview for a company that shall not be named and while the team that interviewed me was charismatic and friendly, the questions were very random and oddly specific. Here is a list of questions that have a chance of popping up during your next tech interview.
Questions about Databases
If you have labeled yourself as a fullstack engineer, be prepared to answer questions about databases. From the most basic attributes of a database to relational databases, there are quite a few bases you would be better off covering before diving into your review.
Basic Operators
There are several different built in operators in languages. For example, the Math operators in JavaScript is so widely known, that there are rarely not any questions about it. Loops, iterations, incrementations, reducers, etc. It is important to have a solid familiarity with these topics to take a question confidently in your interview.
Foundational Concepts
While there are different orientational concepts for different languages, it is important to understand the functionality that each concept offers. What do OOP langauges offer? Why would a programmer decide to use an OOP language over another? How can an OOP language compare to the real world? These are the kinds of questions your interviewer will be curious to know.
It would me 10X preferable for you to be able to confidently anwer a question like these and fail a coding challenge rather than not being able to answer this, and ace your coding challenge. Those of us without full tech degrees know what it means to scour the internet for answers and while doing so, some of the information slips through the cracks.
There are times for those slips to happen, but it sucks having that slip happen during an interview. I am generally a nervous person but put me in front of a judge who will undoubtedly see right through my feigned confidence through the answers I give. Know the basics, bits and bytes matter if you’re in DSA, but concepts, functions, operators, and language syntax is what matters when you’re in SE. Don’t give in to the pressure and let your knowledge shine through. Some interviewers won’t help because they won’t remember being in your shoes as a new developer, but others might remember it as if it were yesterday.
Remember this when you are on the other side, interviewing for candidates at your company, because that’s where you’ll be when you break through!