A honest take at technical interviews

As a senior engineer, I had the privilege of giving several technical interviews (in three different companies) for a variety of roles.

Here is my honest take at technical interviews, from a technical interviewer point of view.

I hope it helps you prepare for your future interviews, and gives you some insight into our side of things.

#1 We are rooting for you

Every time we interview a candidate, we hope that they will be a good match.

We hope that you are the person we are looking for. We picture ourselves working with you. We trust the HR screening process to have already eliminated the candidates who were completely off for the role. If you make it to the technical interview, our company already invested a lot of time and resources into you. If there was no chance that you would “make it”, we would not be giving you this interview.

#2 We want you to have a good time

An interview should be a pleasant experience for everyone.

We understand that you are anxious - a lot is at stake for you! This is why we try to make you comfortable. Nobody shows their best selves when they are stressed out. We want you to do well and, if possible, have good memories of the time that we are spending together. We prepare for each and every interview with your CV, and try to ask questions that are both relevant for the role and aligned with your experience. Even if you do not make it this time, we want you to feel comfortable applying for another role in our company in the future.?

#3 It is ok not to have all the answers

If you do not know the answer to a question, it does not mean that you “failed” the interview.

The same goes if we give you an exercise and you do not manage to go through with a solution. Keep going and for as long as the interview goes, do not assume that a mistake is a failure! Sometimes, we deliberately ask questions that are way beyond the expected level. It means that you actually did well in the other questions, and we want to assess the full extent of your talent. Or we just want to know how you admit that you do not know something. We also want to know what type of questions you will ask in order to get to the right solution.

#4 We will never laugh at you

Seriously, we do not make fun of candidates.

Even if you do not “make it”, we will never make fun of you, either during or after the interview. We would rather focus on the positive and just move on. If your performance was poor, we also understand that everyone has bad days. Go to the rest of the interviews (if you are still in the hiring process). Keep doing your best. As long as you are in the loop, there is still a chance, always!

#5 You gave a stellar performance during the interviews, and were not recruited in the end. What happened?

Sometimes, we have very tough choices to make.?

We tend to interview several candidates for the same role. It happens that we have two, or even three, very, very good candidates. Each of them qualifies for the role. We could picture ourselves working with them. But we do not have the budget to hire everyone… So what? We end up making a very difficult decision and selecting one of these candidates. Usually, they are chosen because we think that they bring something that the team needs. It may be because they have experience in a technology we are curious about. It may be because we especially liked their communication style. It may be for any other reason that seems relevant to the interview panel. We understand that you are disappointed because this candidate is not you. But since you almost made it, please consider reapplying for another role in our company in the future. You were maybe not the best fit for that particular role or team, but could be a great asset for another team! If this happens, we will actually be very happy that you made it through the next time. Because, again, we are rooting for you.

#6 Leverage the things you learned

Preparing for interviews is a very intense process.

Been there, done that. We know that you studied and refreshed your skills in order to be in top shape for the interview. We know that going through a whole recruitment process is very stressful and tiring, too. So many unknowns! We picture you reading technical blogs and fine tuning your scripting skills in order to prepare. We know how hard it is to anticipate what type of questions you will be asked. All that seems like wasted effort if you are not selected in the end! But all the things you learned are valuable. You will be better prepared for future interviews. You will perform better at your current job. You will have proven yourself that you could learn something new. You will maybe have discovered a technical blog or a new tech that caught your attention. Consider this as an investment for your career! One day, it will come in handy and you will thank yourself for putting in all this effort.?

#7 Connect with us on LinkedIn

You are very welcome to connect with us on LinkedIn.

Even if you did not get the role this time, please feel free to send us an invite. We will not be able to tell you why you were not selected (beyond the information that HR already gave you). Sorry. But you are still welcome to ask us for career advice. We want you to do better next time. Connecting with us is also a good way to make sure that you are notified when another opportunity arises in our company. If you had an especially good (or bad) time during the interview, it is ok to tell us about that, too. Don’t be a stranger!?