Help with my first programming interview!?

[DeanMc]

Hi guys,

I've recently decided that know is the time for me to try get a programming job. Penegate has already seen my.. somewhat colourful CV which is now on monster.ie. I was wondering bar the usual questions what sort of programming specific areas are queried? Thanks to all that respond!

[mendhak]

You'll need to be more specific. What area of programming are you applying for?

[DeanMc]

Oops, sorry, well it would be application programming, VB.net, so no web dev for the moment.

[Negative0]

It really depends on the companies you are interviewing with. I know when we interview people for development / engineer roles we are looking more for a way of thinking and a pattern of success rather than specific programming skills. Our thoughts are that if they can think logically and communicate effectively, than the languages they know are pretty irrelevant.

Some companies focus a lot on problem solving an might give you examples such as programming the logic for determining a tic tac toe winner. Others focus solely on coding and may ask you to implement a linked list from scratch.

[Kasracer]

Don't be afraid to say you don't know! My last interview they threw some interesting questions at me such as dynamically figuring out palindromes, binary trees, etc. While I was able to get through most of it; on the spot perfect programmer was not what they were after. They wanted to know my thought process.

If you don't know something, say you don't know but perhaps explain how you could find out.

Be confident! I cannot stress this enough! I went through about 10 interviews or so when I wanted my first programming job. At everyone I was told I'd hear back and I never did (I was once told they wouldn't be making decisions until the next week and they would call me regardless... I got a Dear John post card in the mail two days later...). I wasn't acting confident at all; it was outside of my familiarity [interviewing for development positions]. I finally got fed up, called up one of the companies I interviewed at and explained to them exactly why I was qualified and how I could prove it to them. I was instantly offered a paid internship. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but it gave me the experience I needed. After that lesson I feel I am much more prepared and have sense transitioned to two more development positions.

Be yourself! Don't act like a grammar nazi and speaking 100% correctly if you're not normally like that; it'll be obvious and make you less comfortable and confident.

[DeanMc]

Cool, Good advice! I generally am very comfortable with interviews though. I might take on some small programming tasks listed above just for experience. If anyone has other examples of tasks they may ask to be done, please post, thanks so far guys!

[NeedSomeAnswers]

It been 12 years since i had my first Programmer Job interview, but from what i remember of it (and from subsequent interviews) i can think of two or three things that are always good to know.

Firstly, research the company who are interviewing you, try and get a little idea of the business and what they do. You don't need to know everything, but knowing nothing can look bad, i have known some people i have worked with interview people and have eliminated them straight away for lack of effort in doing any research !!!

Secondly, you will probably be asked some standard questions designed to test you knowledge something like, what are the main feature of object orientated design, explain them ? so brush up a little bit on your theory.

I have very rarely actually been given an actual bit of code to look at, but it can happen and i remember been given a piece of code once and asked what it did, and what was wrong with it, you are more likely to be asked this when you don't have any/much experience though !!


Basically be prepared, act confidant, and be early !!

[dbasnett]

i agree with kas. no BS, none! be confident about what you do know. good luck.

if they are also looking for a disabled work from home person have them give me a call. i miss work.

[DeanMc]

Lol! Thanks guys, Im brushing up on my c# as it seems there are soo many C# jobs compared to VB jobs.