Interview tips for Software Engineering interviews

I remember the first time that I came to London and I was looking for a job. I had a little work experience and even less interviewing experience. Therefore, it took some (disappointing) interviews to understand what to say (or avoid to say) to finally land that job offer. Recently, I have become an interviewer myself and I have realised what I expected from a candidate: enthusiasm, confidence supported by skills and a good character.

I am Silvana Donato, Senior Software Engineer at Vodafone UK. I started my career in software development right after my graduation in electronic engineering, first as desktop application developer and then as web developer. That is when I moved to London the first time, when pages were structured with tables and JavaScript was used just for button click events.

Nobody believed that JavaScript would have gone much further, or even thought it would have died out. But it did not. And when I came back to London seven years ago, a new career started for me in what is now called Front End Development — that is another way to say: JavaScript survived and rules.

How I manage to get my first job in England

When I came to England, I believed to have a good, basic knowledge of the English language that allowed me to be understood and to understand others. But this was so far from the truth: the English I knew, the one I had spoken many times with many foreigners, wasn’t the same English British people were speaking. Different sounds, accents, pronunciation — total gibberish to me. Whenever I received a call from a recruiter, I couldn’t understand a word of what they were telling me. And after the odd “Pardon?”, they eventually hung up.

I was so frustrated, and considering there were not many junior roles available at the time, it felt like playing Russian roulette.

At that point, I needed to find another way to get a job, a winning strategy.

Some people suggested that I should sign up for an English course. But that would have been expensive and time consuming; and factoring in the cost of living in London, I would have run out of savings sooner, rather than later. I could have found a temporary job in the meantime; and I actually did try to find one, but that attempt had been mysteriously unsuccessful. I eventually realised it did not work for me.

Then I thought: what I need to understand is a set of words related to my field, not British literature and not even BBC news. Also, I believe it was good to show my commitment to my potential employers.

Finally I came up with an idea: taking a programming course in London, the most cost effective and earliest I could find. So with this in mind, I enrolled in an evening .net class at City University, 10 lessons in total. Would you believe that I got two job offers before the end of the course? It actually happened. I found a way to overcome the barrier that kept me from having an interview and be evaluated on the basis of my technical skills to get the job I actually wanted.

Of course, that was my story and that trick worked for me. Your story is probably different and you will need to find your ways. But the gist of it is that there is always a way to success if you plan things well.

What an interviewer is expecting from you

After I had started one of those roles, I asked my manager what made them choose me; he replied that one of the reasons was my enthusiasm. With this example I’d like to introduce the second part of my article. After I joined Vodafone, I had the chance to be an interviewer and then I started wondering what I expected from a candidate to get thumbs up.

Certainly one thing is enthusiasm.

I would expect to feel that the candidate really wants that job and wants to work with us. It could sound obvious, but I can guarantee you that some people seem like they’ve been there by mistake. There are different ways to show enthusiasm. Firstly comes the attitude: show that you are happy to be there, that you are not there because you have nothing better to do. People are taking time to evaluate you and welcoming you into their lives; so show that you appreciate that.

Secondly, and as equally important, show interest in what your interviewer says, ask questions about the role or the company. It might be helpful to do some research about the company and its business so that you come prepared and you can show a genuine interest.

Another thing that I would expect is confidence supported by skills.

Let’s say that a person with the right skill is already fine. But if they show no confidence, I would think they have learned things by heart or, if developing a demo test on their own, they could have copied it from somewhere. Another example is: when they do not know something (that isn’t basic knowledge), I prefer they say it clearly rather than improvising an answer.

Anyway, the previous scenario is better (and more likely to pass) than people showing confidence, but without actual skills. It is far better to accept areas where you are less knowledgable, than attempt to work around them. I would suggest you go through your CV with a friend and talk about each section, so that you can check that each area is factually accurate.

Last but not the least: Good character.

We look for people who can fit in our teams, who can work well with. For example, a person who is humble and listens to advice; who is friendly and easygoing. The tension that you can experience in an interview could also be a test for us to see how you react under pressure, if you can remain calm and still be nice with your colleagues.

I hope that my suggestions will help you to get the right job. At Vodafone we are always on the lookout for people to join our growing tech team — if you are interested then please reach out: Careers @ Vodafone

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