DEV Community

Discussion on: How to fail a programming interview

Collapse
 
storrence88 profile image
Steven Torrence

Not a direct answer to your question, but maybe this can lead to some meaningful conversation.

Before I switched to becoming full time developer, I used to be a musician. One thing I never quite got over from HS was stage fright. After years of dealing with this, I noticed a couple of trends that would trigger my stage fright. Often times I feel like it was brought on or enhanced by a lack of preparedness on my part. Knowing that, I was able to lessen the effects of stage fright but over time I learned, it never really goes away.

The stage fright is always there. The thing is, you get comfortable with being uncomfortable. You learn to sort of work around it. From my experience, the only way you can develop this level of comfortability is by putting yourself in the "spotlight" often.

Practice interviewing with other people. Try to change it up and maybe schedule an interview with someone you're not so familiar with. Give yourself some real stakes. Make it as close a simulation to the real thing as possible. I exposed myself to situations like that often enough that I knew exactly how I was going to feel and how I should counteract it or at least minimize my stage fright.

Collapse
 
dvddpl profile image
Davide de Paolis

The stage fright is always there. The thing is, you get comfortable with being uncomfortable. The only way you can develop this level of comfortability is by putting yourself in the "spotlight" often.

very well said: i guess i will print and frame it :-)

Thread Thread
 
zoeysaurusrex profile image
Zoey M

Not to be contrary, but for some folks with social anxiety, no amount of practice is going to fix that. What I would frame from these responses is the complete lack of empathy that a person could be a badass but have a genuine disorder, which makes them worthy of rejection.

Thread Thread
 
nestedsoftware profile image
Nested Software • Edited

I think even people with severe social anxiety can improve their ability to deal with interviews, although in some cases it may not be a good idea to do it alone. For some, it may be wise to get some professional help from a psychologist who specializes in that area.

Not everyone has to be thoroughly extroverted, but in many professional environments it's important to be able to interact effectively with other people.