
5 Most Common Technical Interview Mistakes - zippzom
https://medium.com/@zacharysabin/5-most-common-technical-interview-mistakes-8d227dc36369
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ergothus
I have a large interest in the interviewing process, have conducted interviews
for 6+ years, and agree with 4 of the 5 items listed. (The 5th, about rambling
to fill dead time, is a valid concern but my experience is that the opposite
problem (uninterpretable silence) remains dramatically more common)

I teach as a side-gig, and the advice I give regarding interviews tends to be:

1) Expect problems - humans havent figured out how to assess other well yet,
and what little we have figured out isnt well known (most of us are
programmers who do interviews, not professional interviewers). We also demand
work experience before considering people, dont offer truly entry level
positions, and then complain that we have a hard time finding people with work
experience.

2) Expect failures in every interview - rare is the interview that isnt
pushing to find your boundaries, or that refuses to accept any one mistake.
Dont get so rattled you flunk the rest of the interview.

3) Practice saying "I dont know". Make it reflexive so that you can turn it
into an advantage and aren't flustered. Take headlines from sites like HN and
imagine being asked about it. Being honest about what you dont know is better
than bluffing poorly, and dropping hints on what you do know that is related
or showing (honest) interest while admitting your ignorance is surprisingly
effective.

4) Communicate. This is the advice the author complained about, but they
agreed on what I'm trying to say - interviewers need to know what you are
thinking at a high level, particularly if you are stuck or going down the
wrong path. The goal is not to babble, but to help them evaluate and guide
you.

5) Listen. (Most) Everyone wants to find a match and wants you to be that
match. They will signal before the interview what the topics will be. Their
job postings will signal the topics that will get higher priority. The
interviewer will steer you towards their desired answers. But you have to give
them the openings to do so and use what you get. That this happens is probably
bad - we optimize for skills that are not the most optimum for the job
(helpful, but not the most important) but we nonetheless do it, so it makes
sense to capitalize.

I may well revise this ever evolving list based on the article. Props to
author for having exactly what the headline promised, in a nice clean
delivery. Particularly nice and sadly uncommon to see interview advice that
isnt delivered in a smug, it-is-obvious-why-are-you-too-dumb-to-see tone.

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zippzom
Thanks. Your points are all great as well! #2 is particularly interesting to
me, and it's very true. If you're doing well interviewers may often make the
questions harder, so struggling to answer questions completely does not
necessarily indicate that you are doing poorly in the interview.

