Junior Developer Job Interview — Questions Which Can Surprise You

Do you want to get a job as a junior developer? Already at the beginning, you need to know that your profession is much wider than you thought and an employer wants you to know more. Why? Let me explain.

During interviews, I used to be surprised many times by questions that didn’t concern my job position. I was wondering why I was asked about something “useless”, e.g. about technologies I’ve never used and which probably I won’t use in the future.

Why I was wrong

For example, as a Junior Android Developer, do I have to know how to implement sorting algorithms or matrices? It’s already created in frameworks and libraries and there is a lot of information on the stack. I can always use helpful services as StackOverflow, tutorials, articles on very dubious websites. I don’t need to keep it in my mind — I thought. I couldn’t be more wrong.

Why? Because it’s very hard to find the right information on the stack, that resolve specifically your problem. Blind copying can fetch serious consequences, so you have to transform the solution to your problem and it takes a lot of time. Time is your employer’s money.

General knowledge which saves money

So an employer can ask you some questions not connected directly to your position because he wants to verify if you have general basic knowledge which can save your (and his) time in the future. He wants you to be able to solve different problems and be prepared for unexpected difficulties.

The time is going and technologies are changing. Today you are writing a calculator, but tomorrow you should know how e-commerce works because a client needs a cool online-shop. The more wide knowledge you have, the faster you can find needed solutions and more profit you bring to your employer.

An employer wants to make a reasonable decision because developer’s work (especially junior developer’s work) is expensive.

The hour of the developer’s work is very expensive

Let’s dive into this thesis using an example of Bob.

Bob is a developer and he gets money for his work because his work brings money to the employer. It’s simple and logical barter. So, the employer looks at Bob rationally — would he make a profit?

It’s naive to assume that the money for Bob’s work is just a salary. For example, let’s take the average number of working hours per year (~2040) and count a real number.

• Bob is sick about two weeks at least (80h)
• Bob has 20–26 days-off (~184h)
• Bob may have emergency situations (24h)
• If Bob lives in Europe, he supposes to have celebrations (Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, etc) (80h)

So, we have 1672 working hours per year, right? And now, tell me honestly, does Bob really work 8 hours per day? Hm, I doubt.

Bob usually has a lunch, from time to time he plays FIFA, or even has a nap in a nap room, because writing a code requires breaks which helps you to clear your mind and stay concentrated.

Also, Bob has different meetings related his project. So, it means, that Bob, in fact, works 5–6 hours per day — writing code, resolving problems, straining the brain eventually. So, we can cut 1/3 of the total time and take the final number.

The Bob’s employer pays for 2040 hours, but Bob works actually 1 150 hours. It’s almost 60%. But it’s not the end.

Junior developer costs the most

But it’s impossible! Each junior developer takes funny money — you could say. Maybe it’s true (although I’ve never seen such offers), but your salary is just a drop in the sea.

A junior developer usually works very slowly and inefficiently at the beginning. He doesn’t know how business works, what commitments he has and how to resolve real commercial problems. It’s very dangerous to throw him straight ahead into a real project.

The most popular solution for this problem can be an internship — preparing for “adulthood”. You get a salary, workspace, gadgets, insurance, sandwiches and other stuff, but you bring minimal profit (maybe don’t bring at all) for your employer throughout months or event a year. In addition, you can leave the job during this time. That’s crazy.

A risky investment

To sum up. As a beginner developer:

• You need a lot of time for searching solutions to issues you meet
• You can cause many problems because of unreflective “copy-paste” attitude
• You work about 60% of your official working time
• You are probably not profitable, but detrimental

I think that an employer should have a very strong reason for making such risky investment and hiring a junior developer. Can you give him this reason?

There is only one reason why your boss can close his eyes to all these dangers:
You have the fire in your eyes!

If you are ready to study constantly if you love what you do and you are opened for knowledge that doesn’t directly concern your job — you are a good investment! All doors are opened for you. Just keep one thing in your mind — there is no limit to perfection and you have to always improve yourself.

Conclusion

So, there is no excess knowledge. You just have never had problems that can be solved by this knowledge. An employer would like to have a guarantee that you will be able to save his ship in a future battle.

So, do you want to be a brave soldier? ;)

Originally published at iOS & Android Mobile App Development Company — Droids On Roids — Poland.