Technically speaking

Technical interviews: the scourge of up and coming software engineers, the great assessor. Technical interviews can be scary and after my first I figured I'd lay out some tips for your next nail-biting experience. The goal of technical interviews is to test your prowess at coding and to get a sense of how you code. Are you naming your functions in a concise way? Do you write your code using the necessary layout? Are you pseudo-coding and commenting and how much?? Something to keep in mind is your personality while coding as well. These people want someone who they are comfortable with and who knows their stuff, so be friendly, communicative and an active listener. A huge take away from my own recent interview is **read the directions and read the DOCS!** I know it sounds like a given, but I signed off on my interview realizing I didn't take the time to educate myself about the challenge and my performance suffered because of it. Next, locate and define the key components of the code you are looking at. Are you working with an array? An object? Do you need to use bracket notation or dot notation? Where are the functions and what are they doing? Take 15 minutes and read the whole code over so you have a clear picture of where you are and where you need to go. Finally, keep testing. Coding in my experience is about 70% research and testing and 30% actually typing. If you want to see something work, keep running that code and watch your changes. At the end of the day, you'll want to talk about what you want to happen, giving you a chance to speak in code and give the interviewers the chance to see you in action. Take heart in yourself and your abilities. These interviews are intimidating, and sometimes very tough. Even if it doesn't go well, you can walk away with a good idea of what you need to work on and how to improve your practice. Good luck, and happy coding!