How to take an interview

... and achieve your dream job

A few weeks ago I quitted my job, a job I loved but for some reasons I chose to leave it behind and face new challenges like sharing my experience, help junior developers to grow, things like that.

But the kind of positions where I get to do that is not as easy to find as a developer-only role.

I had to prepare and this is what I learnt from this process.

Finding the right job

That might sound stupid but take your time choosing the right job in the right company for you.

I will not lie, it is highly possible that you first job will suck.

Why ?

You may read a lot of stuff, hear a lot of stuff but before YOU do it yourself you know nothing.

Let me give you an example, after graduation I took a web development job at a company that I supposed was great after googling it.

It turned out that I sat at my desk all day long, looking at my screen, producing code like a robot.

Not that it was a bad thing in itself, some people love just coding like there is no tomorrow and that is alright, I was hired to do just that in the first place.

But to me this was hell on earth, even worse than watching the whole Twilight saga.

This was not what I wanted to do

Before taking this job, I thought that coding for the sake of coding would suit me. Just looking at my screen, not having to sit down around a table for an hour to take decision with ten other people. A care-free life.

Instead I found that I loved contributing to the product I am developing, giving technical advice to the product team, guiding junior developers.

I did not take the time to ask myself what I wanted to do and it took me almost a year figuring it out.

I highly recommend you to take that time. It is worth it on the long run.

Once you know where you are heading, send a bunch of resumes, then you are up to face the first challenge.

The HR interview

Usually this is the first interview you take when applying for a job.

A lot of people make the mistake to overlook this step but it is as crucial as the technical interview.

To prepare for this, this is what you should do.

Know the company

It is kind of obvious to most but some people do not even look up the company on Google or LinkedIn.

If you are in the mobile industry, download their app, you are going to work on it eventually, might as well be familiar with it right now.

Find any question you may have for the interviewer. The more questions the better.

It is always a good sign for an employer to see that the candidate is interested in the company and the product.

Also if your questions are specific it will show the interviewer you know what you are talking about.

There is only one crucial point, do it genuinely.

If you fake your interest it will backfire on you.

Know the interviewer

This can also apply to technical interview but knowing who you are taking to can be the difference between failure and success.

I am not asking you to stalk the Instagram account of the person, let's not be creepy here, but at the very least his/her LinkedIn account to see if you have any shared interests, contact, school, anything.

The goal behind this is to be able to connect with the other person and not just be another candidate.

Once again, authenticity is the key, speak about any common points only if it seems natural in the conversation.

The technical interview

The long-awaited trial.

If you made it this far congrats, you passed the first stage.

How to prepare for a technical interview could (and will) be the subject of a whole other article but in short :

Know your basics

There are questions you are sure to be asked no matter your experience, for example in Swift it could be the difference between a Struct and a Class.

You have to master the basics of your field, if not you are sure to be disqualified from the get-go.

There are a lot of materials you can find on the Internet to train yourself on this.

Be prepared for anything

There are as many technical interviews as there are interviewers.

Some will only discuss things with you, others will simply follow a MCQ. In between you will find algorithms exercises or even live coding.

If you know the process you can prepare specifically for the kind you will take but if you don't, be prepared to tackle any test.

My advice for this one is to take as many interviews as you can, even when you are not particularly motivated for the job, you will gain experience and that is priceless.

This will allow you to be more confident when you take the technical interview for your dream job.

The next step

Usually if everything went according to plan the next step will be meeting some folks you will working with or even your future boss to talk about money, which is just another battle for you to fight.

This might sound like a quest to you but that is what it is. My last advice : enjoy the process, the more you enjoy it the easier it will be.

I hope it will help you in your journey of finding the job you want.

Cheers.