How to Ace TechInterviews

Mmmh…Interviews? Everyone fears them right? (Sorry not everyone fears them), lemme speak for myself 😆 - My younger self precisely. In our monthly series of #TwitterSpaces, after handling the Job-Hunting topic, the next monster to deal with was interviews. Well, we invited amazing guests: Diana Waithanji, Harun Wangereka, and Frank Tamre to come and share with us their insights from their industry experience regarding TechInterviews. This was an exciting experience since the guests had Diverse Tech specializations like Cyber Security — Diana and Android world for both Frank and Harun and it was great to note that all the tips they pointed out are common practice.

Key Takeaways.

Here is a compilation of the key takeaways from the guests.

• Be intentional when undertaking interviews.
• Prepare well for the interview.
• Be confident during the interview.
• Be a good communicator.
• Be presentable, in a virtual setup turn on your video if possible.
• Have Internet/electricity backup if you can to curb informalities.
• Never fear an interviewer, always feel free to ask for clarifications for unclear questions.
• If you are not good at something or prefer something, don’t shy away from saying it as it is.
• When taking an interview, imagine it as a job you have always pictured yourself doing so do it diligently.
• An interview is just an opportunity for an organization to know you better, sell yourself well.
• Before an interview, do a lot of simulations or rather dry run interviews with friends, it helps build up the confidence.
• Sometimes an interviewer is not interested in the final solution but rather the logic behind the steps you took to solve the task, so always be ready to explain your solution with confidence.
• When an interviewer asks an uncomfortable question, be open with them and tell them you are not comfortable with the question.
• When an interviewer asks an annoying question, don’t show them that you are annoyed, find appropriate language to respond.
• When asked something that you don’t know eg a new Tech stack, be frank with them and tell them how you feel about the topic and if you are willing to learn it or not.
• To set up the interview mood, you can start with a teaser or random general questions. (This depends on the interviewer as well).
• No one want’s a Boring colleague? This depends because people’s facial expressions differ. You might be smiling but someone thinks you are so serious 😅. Just display the best version of yourself, enthusiastic, energetic, and at least sound jovial.
• When asked about the salary you would like to be paid. Do research before the interview and after determining the range, mention the highest figure out of the range so that you negotiate and reach a middle ground. Remember, you are selling your skills and your value/worth.
• If you can, buy a mirror. (This sounds weird, right? 😆) so that you can keep practicing saying the salary you would like to be paid with confidence.
• Don’t shy away from asking those who have been in the industry for a while about what salary range you should ask for, for the role you are interviewing for.
• If you fail in an interview, never shy away from asking for feedback on how you performed and what you can improve on. This could be a great way to build and improve your skills.
• After getting the job and getting started and you realize that there’s part of the contract that’s getting breached or was not included at all, feel free to raise the issue with your line manager about it.
• When leaving a company, don’t burn the bridges, leave in good spirits. The Tech world is small, who knows, you might meet again with your former colleagues in the next company.

Great Thanks to our guests, to my co-host Okoth and to everyone else who tuned in and participated, I highly appreciate 😍.

We will have a follow-up Twitter Space Chat on Interviews from the Recruiter’s perspective, their expectations, and what disqualifies candidates. Stay tuned🙂.!!

If you have other key recommendations regarding How to Ace Tech Interviews that you would like to add that are not highlighted here, please free to add anything left out in the comment section🙂.

Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ping me on Twitter 🙂!!

Thank you 😍

Good luck with your interviews 🙌.