Four Suggestions for Interview Preparation
There is a good chance you will encounter a technical interview or coding challenge if you are applying for a software engineering position. The coding interview is frequently the most terrifying aspect for junior engineers applying for software programming positions.
However, with a few interview preparation tips and things to consider, the technical interview will seem much less intimidating and will hopefully prove to be a valuable learning experience during your job search. Let's break down some helpful advice:
1. develop difficult skills
Develop a habit of completing code challenges on a regular basis. It is a much more effective way to prepare for coding interview questions than trying to cram in a ton of studying the night before.
It is essential to set aside time each day to attempt at least one code challenge. You'll become more adept at resolving them, and you'll also become more adept at outlining and describing your process. The websites LeetCode, Codewars, and AlgoExpert are excellent resources for practicing code challenges of varying degrees of difficulty.
These code challenges aid in the development of the essential hard skills required to perform well technically in a coding interview. As part of your interview preparation if you're applying for a mid-level position as a software engineer, you should be quite comfortable with these types of sample problems. If you're preparing for your first technical interview as an entry-level engineer, you'll need exposure and practice with these.
2. do not disregard soft skills
In preparing for a coding interview, mastery of coding challenges is only half the battle, so don't overlook soft skills. Throughout the entirety of the interview process, including the technical coding interview, interviewers are looking for a variety of qualities in addition to coding ability.
These other skills pertain to your ability to communicate your thought process, collaborate, discuss the issue at hand, your leadership abilities, your desire to learn, and your general affability. Soft skills are frequently neglected by candidates and can be deal breakers in many coding interviews.
A company that is worth applying to will seek candidates with strong soft skills, sometimes more so than hard skills, because they demonstrate a person's ability to grow within the organization and acquire hard skills over time. This is particularly true for junior software developers.
See if you can practice code challenges with a partner and take turns performing a mock interview. Practice discussing the coding problem aloud as you work, asking questions and offering each other occasional hints, and demonstrating your leadership, collaboration, and perseverance throughout the coding exam.
3. recognize many solutions
This is the 'cherry on top' for an interviewer: a candidate who is not only competent enough to solve the problem and has a personality that fits the company culture, but who can also defend their solution and mention alternative approaches. This demonstrates that you are not simply relying on what you were taught or read online, but that you also recognize that there are multiple solutions to the same problem and have considered which is most appropriate in a given context.
As an interviewer administering a coding problem, I would prefer to see the simplest solution rather than the best solution because it will give me more time to speak with the candidate. Now, if the candidate can also suggest alternate approaches and explain why they chose their own, they have an immediate advantage. Bravo!
An example of this would be a challenge that asks you to system design a search function for a video streaming app. During the job interview, you may implement an inefficient algorithm for the sake of speed, but then mention a more suitable algorithm that would be used in the real world. With regard to algorithms...
4. study your algorithms and data structures
This ties in with the hard skills, but deserves its own section. You don't need to be a computer science expert to ace a coding interview, but there are a few standard algorithms and data structures you should feel comfortable referencing, or at least mentioning and discussing. In particular:
How does the bubble sort compare to the merge sort?
What exactly is the difference between a stack and a queue?
What’s a linked list? What about a hash table?
It's likely that you will be asked a question about algorithms during a job interview, so it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with them and be able to discuss them to some extent. Cracking The Code Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell is an excellent book that covers all of the essential algorithms and data structures, as well as how to implement and use them in sample code challenges.
The coding interview is a chance for you to demonstrate not only your abilities as an engineer, but also your teamwork abilities as a data scientist. It is intended to simulate what it would be like to collaborate with you. Therefore, be yourself, study, learn the programming language(s) and practice, take a deep breath, and ace that coding interview!