Interview tips I wish I've known.
Tags: career, interview, discuss, motivation
Published: 2023-06-04 13:58:29

## It is okay to be nervous.

Many people struggle with expressing their feelings. One helpful tip is to begin your conversation with something like this: "I'm very interested in working for this company. However, I am a bit nervous, so I hope you understand". This lets the interviewer know you may need a bit more time to focus, and it also earns you extra points for communication skills.

## Explain how you think.

I struggle with thinking quickly on the spot. If you pose an algorithm question and put me on a whiteboard, I won't be able to give you an answer right away. At work, I'm much more used to spending an entire day researching different solutions before I even come up with something. You can say: " I will try my best to answer all your questions quickly, but when I actually work, I would like to take my time thinking and looking at the problem from many different angles." A lot of people can relate to this, and they probably will give you much more time and space to think clearly. You will also get bonus points in many jobs like engineering, having patience and being methodical is a preferred quality.

## When encountering a difficult question, acknowledge it.

Instead of panicking, losing focus, and worrying about making a poor impression, simply say, "This seems like a challenging question to me". This shows your interviewer that you understand the complexity of the question. Many people fail to communicate even this much. Even if you don't have the right solution right away, at least it shows that you are able to see the bigger picture. You can propose to simplify question at first and solve a bit more basic example so you can get a better understanding of the problem, and from there work towards final solution. This will give you points for critical thinking and being able to break down complex problems into a smaller chunks.

## Admit when you don't know an answer. 

If you don't know an answer, admit it, and try to explain a potential solution in general terms. For example, if you're asked about Spring Boot authentication, but you've only worked with ASP.NET, you could suggest a solution based on your existing knowledge: "If Spring authentication is similar to .NET's, I think the answer could be something like this…"

## Ask probing questions.

In a working environment you will often first get a task that won't have all the details necessary for you to go ahead and come up with the solution, so you will be required to ask your co-workers and your superiors further questions about what we are trying to achieve with this particular task and in what way do we approach it by asking your interviewer similar questions. Let your interviewer know you can have a well thought out discussion. You will be surprised how much useful information you’ll find out from your interviewers. Keep in mind that a lot of questions are intentionally given vague, and that the expectation is for you to try and clarify them before you try to answer.

## Talk through your thinking.

Ensure that the interviewer has as much information as possible about how you're approaching a problem. Most of the time, even if you don't have the final solution, interviewers will be satisfied with your overall response. If you couple this with the previous advice about asking clarifying questions, you'll leave a positive impression. At the end of the day, the interviewers are trying to answer one simple question: "Would I want to work with this person?" Regardless of the problem you're working on during the interview, strive to answer that question first.