What do you do if you want to showcase your expertise with various programming languages in an interview?

Generally, s/w companies are looking more for an engineer who can solve problems than one who can code in a specific language. The expectation is that if your concepts are clear, you can code and design systems well, learning a specific programming language should be the easier skill. This is specially true in case you reached an interview stage by which your resume would have been reviewed sufficiently to be generally fine with the programming language experience you have. In any case, if you want to demonstrate your language skills, you can gently ask the interviewer if they prefer you to code in a specific language and then mention the languages you are comfortable with.

There is no need to showcase your programming prowess by knowing many languages. Instead, focus on explaining why you chose a particular programming language, what problem you were trying to solve, and how the chosen language addressed the issue. Specifically discuss scalability, feasibility, and performance.

Having knowledge and cracking interview (without coding test) are two different things. Even if you are not good in your development experience, you can crack interview. First thing you need to be very confident about your knowledge (whatever it may be). Second you need to ask right questions even if you don't know the answer of question. It shows your curiosity to know the unknown. Second thing you need to showcase your learnability strongly. It should reflect in your resume or attitude during interview. Third thing is your communication. That doesn't mean your command on English. It means to connect with interviewer by listening him carefully. Understand his view point so that he/she will find you interested and connected with him/her.

Rather than Focusing on all programming Languages focus more on those which are relevant to the job. HR's usually know less they know what is needed and will only entertain those. so rather than telling everything it is better to keep it general.

The key is to have confidence in your knowledge, ask relevant questions even if you don't know the answer, demonstrate strong learning ability, and connect with the interviewer by listening attentively and understanding their perspective.

One more thing I usually respect when talking to devs, discussing tech deeply. Answering technical quandaries, clarifying deep concepts and comparing techniques, tools with others even not mentioned in the question, proving pros and cons of each is very helpful and show how much expert you are.

I remember an interview I attended in 2003. During the interview, I was given a small code snippet in a programming language I knew nothing about. I had been working in the software industry for 3 years then and I knew other programming languages but not this specific one. But based on the basic principles of coding, I was able to decipher what the piece of code was doing and was able to answer the questions which followed. In my opinion, once you get a grasp of the basics of programming, then the programming language should not matter. It is just a question of applying the basics in a different syntax.

Even if you had to work on a static set of languages or framework, you should consider working on a side project to learn new languages and frameworks. By writing these side projects you gradually make a versatile portfolio of projects that can be used to show your enthusiasm towards your area of expertise.

Some programming languages are better suited for specific use cases. Pick the programming language that fits that use case and explain why you made that choice. For example, if a problem requires complex concurrency, you can provide an answer in Golang since the language has very powerful concurrency features, like routines and channels (pipelines).

In my experience, you have to demonstrate that you have learned the way to think, how to put structures together without much difficulty, and let your fast learning capabilities shine.

Showcase your experience in applying good programming practices, such as Clean Code and the principles of SOLID, right from the project's inception. Understanding the higher costs associated with making changes to software in the production phase underscores your awareness of the company's financial well-being. Furthermore, demonstrate your understanding of the importance of documenting the project clearly and standardized (from the first commit) and conducting unit tests on all functions and methods that return any type of value. This highlights your commitment to delivering high-quality code.

Be prepared to solve coding challenges or answer technical questions related to the languages you claim expertise in. Walk the interviewer through your thought process, explaining how you approach problem-solving and debugging in each language.

To showcase your expertise with various programming languages in an interview, you can: Highlight relevant projects you've worked on using those languages. Discuss your experience solving specific problems with each language. Provide examples of your code on platforms like GitHub or a personal website. Share any certifications or courses you've completed for each language. Be ready to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each language and why you chose them for specific projects.

Preparing snippets that not only show technical proficiency but also your thought process—for instance, how you optimized a function or tackled a complex problem—provides a solid foundation for discussion. It's also an opportunity to showcase your ability to document and explain your code, a skill that's highly valued in collaborative environments.

I never prepared code snippets in advance but that is a good idea. Usually you have a code test and this is where you could showcase your style, ie the way you resolve the problem. It could be with software design (classes, etc…) or with optimized functions, recursive functions etc…