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How to Pass the Technical Interview
Congratulations!
You completed your education
You built a well-designed portfolio
You submitted a job application, and
You passed the technical recruiter screen
Now you’re in a position where the rubber meets the road — you must prove that you can actually do the work. This is called the Technical Interview.
The technical interview can take a variety of formats, so to be successful your first step is to ask the recruiter what type of interview to expect as your approach will be different for each.
What Are the Different Technical Interview Types?
1. The Quiz
Do you like trivia games? How about one where your future is on the line? 😅
This style of interview is typically driven by a series of in-depth questions about the primary programming language you’re expected to know. For example,
- Node.js? How does the Event Loop work?
- React.js? What is the difference between Flux and Redux?
- Unity? What is a Vertex Shader vs a Pixel Shader?
How to Win
If you’re self-taught or bootcamp-educated, most likely your education is practical, with little focus on the theory behind it all. Even the official documentation is typically very surface level, so coding experience alone will not get you far here.
There are two approaches to counter this:
The Best Way: Read a book
The internet is great for many things, but it is not great for gaining an in-depth understanding of how a system operates. Ask your instructors, your network, and Google for recommended treatise on your chosen language and develop a habit of reading a few pages every day. Here are a few great books to start with, regardless of your programming language.
The Easy Way: Google the Answers
Remember, the hiring manager is not dedicated to this job search! They have a full-time job managing a team and putting out fires all day. They are exhausted. So many of them, prior to your interview, will…
