How to Describe an Average Day as a Programmer in a Job Interview
Channel: Ryan McBeth
Date: 2021-06-21

This "Describe your average day" interview question can be a landmine for engineers.  

A lot of engineers just can't seem to articulate what they do everyday and that's a problem if you are asked this question... especially if you ramble on or make fun of your current company.

You need to be able to explain what you do every day quickly and accurately so use this strategy:

Split your day up into three distinct functions and assign a percentage to each:
Core Work.
Support Work.
and Administrative Work.

Core work is what you were hired to do.  If you are a programmer, you probably spend most of your time programming.  

Support Work is the stuff you need to do to do your job, like research or architecture.

Administrative Work are all of the meetings you attend and emails you answer.

So come up with something like this:
"As a developer, I spend about 60% of my time coding, 20% of my time doing research and assisting others and 20% of my time on emails and meetings."

It's quick, succinct and you should practice it in the mirror until you can recite it by heart.

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