Crushing Your Coding Interview
Hello Developer Circles Nairobi! Welcome back to our Medium Articles and in case you missed this impromptu meet up, well, all is not lost, because we have it in writing!
As a Software Developer, you will almost always have to do a Coding Interview, and you know how it can feel, before, during, and after.
Let me not tell you about that time I was doing an interview to secure myself a job in Silicon Valley and what followed was a breathing competition between myself and the interviewer! You do not want those awkward silences where you are completely tense and yet you know so much!
Okay, let’s get to it! How do you walk out of the interview session a hero! All Heroes combined in fact! Infinity Wars ;) See what I did there?
First, meet our Facebook Engineer who took his precious time to fly all the way to Kenya to share some tricks and tips.
Murtadha Al-Tameemi is a Software Engineer at Facebook Engineering and is Originally from Iraq. Murtadha entered Facebook at 20 and has since performed interviews to prospective Facebook Software Developers and here is what shared with us at our Developer Circles Meet-up in March regarding Coding Interviews.
So What’s The Path To an Offer?
- Write a great Resume
- Get an Interview
- Rock the Interviews
- Post Interview
We are all here for Point 3!
Let’s have a brief look at having a great resume.
On a Resume: You want to:
- Tell your story.
Communicate your past Experience
Summarize your personal Impact
Show your Passion
2. Highlight Accomplishments but be genuine.
INCLUDE:
1. Basic info about yourself
2. Include university, degree, expected grad date
3. Projects:
4. Industry experience (internships, jobs, start-ups)
5. Challenging class & personal projects
6. Website/GitHub links
How to Get an Interview?
- Join Developer Circles Nairobi! :)
2. Get a referral
3. Participate in Hackathons
4. Present at a Conference, Seminar or at Developer Circles Nairobi
5. Submit your resume online
6. Attend career fairs and make an impression with the engineers.
ROCKING THE INTERVIEWS!
Goals of a Coding Interview
They Test:
- How you think & tackle hard problems
- How you consider engineering trade offs (memory vs time)
- How you communicate about code
- Limits of what you know
Tip! — Stay Calm and Think Out Loud!
What is Covered
- Data Structures and Algorithms
Understand, don’t memorize
Discuss complexity (time and time)
Could be re-implementing library functions
- Specific Questions about Interviews are Rare unless you claim to be an expert!
Tip! — Use your Most Comfortable Language.
During The Interview.
- Step 1: Ask a lot Questions!
-Until you fully understand the problem
-Validate or state assumptions
-Be Visual
- Step 2: Focus on getting a working solution
-Test with input ( corner cases )
- Step 3: Iterate
After The Interview:
- Have one or two questions prepared for the Interviewer
- Contact the recruiter with any questions or follow ups
- Pat yourself on the back for a job well-done!
Go yee and rock them Interviews!
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