7 Secrets to Acing an Engineering Interview Shared by a Facebook Developer

There are companies that allow entry level engineers to have ample time and space to showcase their very best skills and make an impact as they serve. This is important since engineering is useful when put into action. Such a company for instance like Facebook Engineering, has branches and numerous employees who not only serve the company and help it grow, but also grow as individuals along with the company. The engineering interview process may begin as a phone interview with the recruiting company. A phone interview focuses on tackling the technical questions of the interview before considering to allow the candidate an opportunity to have a physical interview. The physical interview is mainly known as a coding interview.

Physical interview

During the final stage of the interview, the candidate may be taken for a company tour to familiarize with the facility. The main physical interview for an engineering position is not a question and verbal answer interview like most interviews go, this one has the interviewer offer the candidate a question and supervise the way the candidate tackles the question on a whiteboard. Knowing how to use a whiteboard is another very important part of handling an engineering interview.

It is easier to practice white boarding with a colleague. If one is a student, they would be expected to express code on a whiteboard. For one to make it to the final round of an engineering interview in any given company, the candidate must write code on a white board and do it well.

The final stage of the engineering interview is a complicated and different platform. Unlike when one is learning, the interview process expects one to write the code on a whiteboard without access to code completion features or being able to run the code or refer to any source.

This is why whiteboard practice is important, before the main interview to help the candidate get used to using it. It is possible for an interview candidate to forget content during the main physical interview.

In such a situation, the candidate can freely explain this to their interviewer who either proceeds to tell the candidate the name or allow the candidate to create another name for the library content that the candidate and the interviewer both agree on.

If one lacks a whiteboard to use to practice, they can use a simple text editor and a preamp as a friend if they have no friends to practice with. This is a free platform which creates a video call service between two persons and the two take turns one as an interviewee and interviewer. It is equal to practicing white boarding with a colleague.

The pramp is very useful as it enables the candidate to get actual feedback from a person, have a real interview experience and gives one the chance to experience interviews from an interviewer’s point of view.

All interviews make interview candidates want to prepare well so as to excel

Some interviews may be simpler to handle compared to others. Engineering interviews are complex due to the nature of the work that candidates are expected to deliver.

Candidates awaiting engineering interviews require to prepare very well and ensure good understanding of all content that is relevant to the interview. While taking engineering studies, engineering students learn theory and practical content to enable them deliver and be good engineers after studies.

Engineering interviews mainly aim at bringing out the best in a candidate, with the candidate being required to prove to the interviewer that they are able to work for growth and practice what they know.

Technology has greatly advanced with time and as other sectors grow due to technological advancements, so has the engineering sector.

This makes it easier for candidates to prepare for interviews as they can easily access content and review material online.

The first stage of an engineering interview determines if the candidate can handle the other stages of the interview. With engineering, one must begin to have order at the early stages of the career.

Preparation to deliver is key in engineering, thus the need to have order and a well-planned study plan and review strategy.

Each aspect of engineering is important in every stage, knowledge and practical skills alike. Companies go for candidates who can best apply their knowledge to deliver.

Programming has various languages and it is important for an interview candidate to have very good mastery of one programming language.

The candidate can select a programming language of their choice while in some cases, the candidate is asked by the interviewer to focus on a selected programming language. Engineering interviews for internships and entry level positions require one to mainly feel free to select a programming language of their choice, where programming languages such as Java and Python and okay.

Whichever programming language one selects, the candidate must go through it well. Learning a programming language begins by learning the language basics, which would be easy to either learn online or by enrolling for a course. While reviewing and learning about the programming language, the practical aspect of learning is very important for the candidate as the interviewer will expect to see proof of how the knowledge the candidate has acquired will be put to use.

When studying a programming language, like any other course, there are simple basic topics while others are a bit complex. It is therefore advisable for a candidate to begin by tackling the basic simple topics first and then later advance to the complex ones. Learning basics creates a foundation and better understanding of fundamental points of the programming language.

Programming languages are an important aspect in engineering and it is therefore important for engineering personnel to grasp them well. Engineering interviews are generally complex and hard to handle and manage but with good understanding and practical mastery of basic fundamentals, it is very easy and possible to convince the interviewer that you have a good understanding of what is asked and expected. Another key step in preparing for engineering interviews is learning data structures and algorithms.

These are the core of engineering interviews and it is important that one proves they are very well conversant with this specific topic during the interview. While preparing on this topic, there are points to note that one can easily come across.

One should understand the uses of data structures as well as the complexity of their time of insert, lookup and delete procedure.

For algorithms, it is important to know the time and space complexity for each one of them. Using one’s own language of choice, one should be able to write popular algorithms such as merge sort, binary search and quick sort. The content may seem much to internalize but with more time and even online research, one is able to understand the content deeper and better.

Learning programming concepts

Learning programming concepts during study makes it easy for interview candidates to handle interviews. Studying engineering requires one to have a properly planned study program that involves review of study content as well as adequate time to put into practice what one learns when preparing for an interview. No company will hold an engineering interview and hire someone without practical skills of concepts learnt.

There are sources that many programmers largely refer to when preparing for an interview. Some are books that entail key tips on interview processes, review of concept and questions asked during interview.

Books and other sources offer one a complete summary of key topics. By going through review sources, one is able to recap the knowledge and information learnt during programming basics as well as data structures and algorithms. With the cracking and coding interview for instance, it is advisable to begin by reading the book content to revise and then tackling the questions provided for practice. Unlike in previous times, technology has greatly changed and with that, it is easier to prepare for engineering interviews since there is enough review material online. Engineering like all other sectors has been simplified by technology in a very big way and this makes it possible for candidates to best prepare for engineering interviews.

With the growth in technology, engineering cannot be left behind and for learners, there is more to learn as well. This article reviews key and important steps that can help one to prepare well for an engineering interview. There is also key ways one can use online to be able to get to know what he or she needs to be able to handle an engineering interview. Reading as a way for revision and preparation is a good way to create better mastery of concepts and understanding of given content.

The more one sees something, the harder it gets for one to forget during interview. They are able to handle questions and even in a situation where the interviewer tries to twist basic questions to make them appear complex, the interview candidate is able to relate to all language used and answer the interviewer as expected. While preparing for an examination, revising and reviewing taken notes and commonly tested areas helps one master taught content better.

It is effective and efficient to practice and do it many times other than walking into a software engineering interview without adequate practice. When preparing for software engineering interview, practice is inevitable and a good way to understand and learn.

There are many online sites that offer good practice content and apps and software engineering sites are of key importance for interview candidates.

For intense preparation through practice, sites such as Geeks for Geeks and Leetcode as well as that on Leetcodes provide good preparing content, including questions previously asked during past interview questions in various companies.

The sites offer nice interface thus allowing the reader to code solutions in the many available programming languages, as well as be able to run and test one’s code. One can also resubmit their code for retest against a plethora of test cases to ascertain that the code is well functional and efficient.

Review materials such as books have review questions that are common during interview. One should try and review simpler questions and then the more challenging ones with time as they advance.

During entry level or internship interviews, companies ask simple and medium questions to the candidates, with rare occasions of one or two hard questions. Candidates preparing for internship interviews and entry level job interviews should ensure good understanding of easy and medium problems and questions. There are problem patterns that one should take note of while preparing for an interview. This also helps to get used to tackling the interview questions. One should also avoid the mentality that reviewed questions will be the ones to be asked during interview because that may not be the case.

The reason for practicing is to gain mastery of questions patterns and familiarize with interview questions. Once the interviewer or in some cases engineer presents the question to the candidate, the candidate should have prior prepared to answer the given question. It is advisable to clarify the questions by asking the interviewer questions that help in having a good understanding of what is expected in working out the question/problem.

In a case scenario like where an interview candidate is expected to work on an auto-correct feature and is to ensure they are able to handle common typing errors, there would be need to realize the need to come up with a function or procedure that returns back all irrelevant error words that occur during typing.

This has to happen entirely on a whiteboard and with the supervision of the interviewer so as to go through a physical interview well. It is possible for the interview candidate to have adequate skills and experience to handle such scenarios by ensuring one practices on a whiteboard many times before the interview.

Seek clarity on the question asked

Asking an interviewer to clarify something or to clarify a question is not bad at all. Many have the idea that asking questions to the interviewer during the interview is not good and this is not true. The better one is able to understand a question the better they are able to answer and tackle it.

While preparing for an examination, revising and reviewing study notes and commonly tested areas helps one understand taught content better. It is effective and efficient to practice and do it many times other than walking into a software engineering interview without adequate practice.

When preparing for software engineering interview, practice is inevitable and a good way to understand and learn.

There are many online sites that offer good practice content and apps and software engineering sites are of key importance for interview candidates. For intense preparation through practice, sites such as Geeks for Geeks and Leetcode as well as that on Leetcode provide good preparing content, including questions previously asked during past interview questions in various companies.

Explain verbally how you intend to go about tackling the problem

Before you begin to answer the question in writing, it is good to explain what you understand about the question and how you intend to go about answering it. I helps the interviewer to judge you as a candidate if you can clearly discuss verbally the steps to attaining the response and solution to the question.

Show good understanding of programming language

Follow your verbal explanation by beginning to handle the question using the programming language you best understand and know. Every interviewer looks keenly at each step and how you apply the knowledge you have in each step of handling the question.

Review before submission

When finally done with the actual handling of the posed question during physical interview, it is advisable that the interview candidate keenly checks the answer with an example before finally submitting it to the interviewer. You may be able to discover a slight error or mistake and this is not bad at all. If you as the interview candidate is able to find the error yourself, then this is regarded as a good thing.

Offer alternative solutions

While submitting reviewed response and answer to the interviewer, the interviewee should be in a position to clearly state and explain how the answer would be a functional solution to the company and help the company in achieving set goals and objectives.

The candidate should also clearly outline other alternative solutions to the same problem, other solutions more than the one used to attain the response at that time. This shows that the candidate, if offered the give job would be more resourceful. Software engineering interviews are generally complicated not only during the main interview but also during preparation. For good deliver and success practice and good understanding of the application skills is equally important.

What software engineering interviews are focused on achieving is purely to prove that the candidate being interviewed has good practical skills on software engineering and not just crammed content from reading and learning sessions. There is also good and reliable software engineering content online that would best help an interview candidate while preparing.

Software engineering interviews have various stages and steps and each one of the stages is key and equally important to get the interviewee to the next level of the interview and finally to the last stage. Attending a number of interviews also prepares one to be able to handle software engineering interviews in future as compared to being a first timer.

This is to mean that interviews not only require practice but experience as well to a large extent. Preparing For software engineering interviews is possible when one is keen and focused during study and preparation. During first software engineering interviews, one may not succeed to go through and may receive numerous rejections. In current times, technology has greatly advanced and with that, it is easier to prepare for software engineering interviews today as compared to earlier times, since there is adequate material online.

Software engineering is complex but with proper study and a well-planned study structure, one is able to achieve. This article is very useful most especially for persons preparing for entry level position interviews or software engineering internship interview.

Have a question for your interviewer

After presenting answers to the interviewer, the candidate is advised to have a question or two for the interviewer concerning the company. This shows great interest in working with the company. It is also a show of commitment to the position you hope to have.

Software engineering like all other sectors has been simplified by technology in a very big way and this makes it possible for candidates to best prepare for software engineering interviews. With the growth in technology, software engineering cannot be left behind and for learners, there is more to learn as well. This article reviews key and important steps that can help one to prepare well for a software engineering interview.

There is also key ways one can use online to be able to get to know what he or she needs to be able to handle a software engineering interview. Reading as a way for revision and preparation is a good way to create better mastery of concepts and understanding of given content. The more one sees something, the harder it gets for one to forget during interview.

They are able to handle questions and even in a situation where the interviewer tries to twist basic questions to make them appear complex, the interview candidate is able to relate to all language used and answer the interviewer as expected. Avoiding to ask your interviewer any question can be interpreted as being less interested and just wanting a job for the sake of having one. This may not be viewed as a good show by the interviewer.

In general, engineering is complex and proving oneself worth during an engineering interview can be tough. Compared to other general interviews, engineering interviews are more of practical proof of interest to the interviewer.

Originally published at https://www.howsitlike.com.