Tips on React interview as a consultant

Steve Mu
Steve Mu
Nov 5 · 2 min read

My mentor Feizhi and Jay told me some important React interview tips and I would like to share it here.

Don’t jump into coding first, think how you’re going to design it, have an idea how you structure the project or code; as your experience grows, you will get better at detail.

Think and speak how you’re going to organize the code structure, like how you are going to design and separate out the components, given the mockup, maybe. You may have Api layer, organize folder by pages and create reusable components used by many pages in.

Because interviewers want to know that you are doing the way they like. You may not do it that way, but by speaking about it, they may able to guide you to organize it better. And you can show that you know it and aware it although you may not do it that way. I think that otherwise, they may not feel comfortable putting you on the project concerning that you may mess up the codebase.

Finally, redux question fail a lot of people.

To be energized in an interview, think what people are looking for? Can I help them? Will I be able to help them? If everything goes wrong, at least you can tell them you can help them at the end of the interview.

If you have the chance, you should study bigger enterprise projects and see how they are structured, try to understand why they are doing it in that way, so you can use it in other projects.

In general, don’t rush to answer a question, think what is person is asking and what he/she wants to know.

Answering tell me about yourself:

Emphasize your real world experience, as that’s what they’re hiring you for, don’t mention stuff don’t look good on you.

To practice, look at mirror or record yourself. It helps finding out your weakness such as pronunciation etc.

Don’t say you are an expert. Tech people will want to challenge that. Or you may come across as arrogant.

Answering tech questions:

When answering tech question, pause for about 5–10s, think about what you’re going to say, so your answer is structured and you know when to stop.

Give plenty of breaks while you are talking so you are breathe and it is also polite as it gives people to reflect what you have just said.

One tip is lead people to area that you confident about. Say only those stuff that people want to hear, which is to show good side of you and show best of yourself.

It is best if you speak a story about it, that requires you to read up on the history, such as how Virtual DOM has come about, it is both intriguing and it makes a good impression on you.

Don’t give false info.

If you can’t answer a question, ask questions, when you have exhausted all options, you may already have come up with the answer yourself.

Steve Mu

Written by

Steve Mu

Freelance Software Developer | stevemu.com

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