PWiC Seattle — Mock Interview Workshop
On October 26, 2019, PWiC Seattle team hosted a Mock Interview Workshop. The event, which took place at the Microsoft Redmond campus, was very well received by the participants and our volunteer interviewers. The event’s purpose was to help attendees practice and refine their technical interviewing skills for positions of SDE, Data Science and Technical PM while paired with experienced interviewers from these disciplines.

Introduction and Interviews
PWiC is a global community of women and allies in various technology fields which is enabling our community to connect, learn and grow together. For the mock interview session, each interviewer was seated at a booth that was equipped with a whiteboard, and dry erase markers. The format of the interview was that the interviewer would ask the interviewee a technical question and then he/she would proceed to answer it on the whiteboard. After the interview, the interviewer gave constructive feedback to the interviewee.







Networking Opportunity
The attendees continued to network with each other over snacks before and after interviews. Many attendees shared their LinkedIn contact information with each other. We even had Vivekanand Kirubanandan from SDE Skills attend the event and shared the following with us:
The event was extremely well organized, and hyper inclusive. I caught up with a few of the interviewees and asked them about their experience and what their take aways were. One of them had nearly a page full of actionable feedback he got from the interviewer. The organizing team, volunteer interviews did a splendid job.










Post-Interviews Discussion
We, at PWiC, strive to learn from our experiences and are always looking for suggestions to improve our events. Hence, after the interviews, Aisha led a discussion session where she solicited feedback from the attendees about their mock interview experience. Several attendees applauded the effort placed by the PWiC team in organizing such a unique event and said that they found the event to be very useful.





Feedback From Interviewers and Interviewees
- One of the attendees mentioned that she was new to the country and felt that coming to this event made her feel welcome and gave her a sense of belonging
- Dillorum, an active participant in several PWiC events expressed appreciation for the fact that she was able to attend the event along with her kids
- Improvement suggestions for future mock interview events: Remind interviewers to do a time check and possibly add more space between interview booths so that the experience is a bit quieter
Interview Tips From Experienced Hiring Managers
SDE Interviews tips
- Practice coding using sites like leetcode and educative
- Always write test cases after you are done writing your code
- Practice in front of friends and treat the interview as a conversation between the interviewer and interviewee where you are both working together to solve a problem
- Don’t ask the interviewer for a hint when you get stuck. Let the interviewer know that you are stuck and explain what part of the problem you are having trouble with
PM Interviews tips
- It is very important to understand the company that you are interviewing with from different angles such as business, customers, market, and competitors
- PM interview is like a conversation, the interviews are intentionally vague. The interviewer is looking to see whether you ask good questions and whether you can keep moving forward. It is also important to exhibit your passion for customer focus/empathy
- It is important to show that whatever feature you delivered ties back to the notion of benefitting your customers
Data Science Interview tips
- Since the data science field is not defined well, every organization is different and has several different roles related to Data Science. Understanding of Data, business problem and how to connect the dots to solve the business problem with data is the key
- Also, try to find out the specific roles and what does the Data Scientist in the team does day-day. It helps understand if it is a great fit for you and prepare for the interview
Notable Interviewing Resources by PWiC
- Dos and Don’ts of technical interviews by Muazma Zahid
- Data Science, the what where and why by Sundas Khalid
Photo and Design Credits
- Photo credits: Clicks by Hira, follow her on Facebook and Instagram
- Design credits: Anushey Nasar, follow her on Instagram
Special Thanks
Special thanks to our interviewers Muazma Zahid, Adeel Siddiqui, Fatima Ijaz, Faria Khalid, Kanzah Qasim, Arif Iqbal, Muhammad Ikramul Haq, Carlos Lugtu, Fahim ul Haq, Ishfaq Ismail, Mehjabeen Abid, and Hamid Mehmood
Organizers for the event
The event team consisted of Aisha Salman, Juwariya Khan, Sarwat Ismail, Farah Khurrum, Sundas Khalid, Anushey Nasar and Muazma Zahid

Join PWiC Seattle Leadership Team
We are actively recruiting for a leader to drive the vision for PWiC Seattle chapter. PWiC Seattle is one of the first chapters launched by Pakistani Women in Computing in 2018 and has led the way globally, setting the foundation for all PWiC chapters that followed it. The chapter has driven led many initiatives in the local community and has won awards for its contribution and positive impact. We are looking for talented and driven people who want to join us in this effort, drive the chapter’s vision, and continue giving back the local Pakistani women in the tech community. We are recruiting for Team Lead, Connect Lead, Growth Lead, and Content and Blog Lead. Learn more about the open roles and apply to join PWiC leadership team.
About the Author
Sarwat Ismail is a Tech enthusiast with 13 years of industry experience. She is currently a Senior Software Developer in Xbox, Microsoft and no, she does not play games all day. Sarwat is very passionate about mentoring fresh talent especially women in technology and takes great interest in coaching them into becoming thriving members of the industry. When she is not writing code, she takes an active role in college recruiting, giving campaigns and hackathons that help improve company culture. She is a mother to three handsome but mischievous boys who keep her at her toes. In her free time, she loves to experiment with new baking recipes and makes and eats way too much banana bread.

