Lessons from My First Mock Technical Interview
Published: 2021-08-16 00:08:25

Interviews are anxiety-inducing even under the best of conditions. Technical interviews, in my humble opinion, are even more-so. So it should come as no surprise that I was dreading the process overall. I’m glad it’s over and while my experience did leave a little something to be desired, I learned a lot- about the technical interview process, what to expect (spoiler alert-literally anything), remain flexible and that you should ALWAYS be over-prepared. 

I interviewed through Skilled Inc. The company pairs you with an experienced engineer, who is not only skilled in their field but also has experience screening potential candidates.

I chose to interview in JavaScript because I thought I had a good enough grasp on the basics and could make my way through some algorithms and data structures. I was knocked down a peg. The instant the pleasantries and introductions were over, my brain emptied out and I could not remember a thing. I was already feeling overwhelmed. 

My interviewer had quite an extensive engineering background and we had a nice chat prior to starting. However, I immediately deflated when they laid out how they like to format interviews. It’s not to say the process was bad but based off others experiences and advice I was given, I expected my interview to be more collaborative, like pairing with a partner, where I could get a nudge in the right direction if absolutely needed. For this one, I was on my own.  

We started out with some verbal questions, and because I was expecting strictly JavaScript, I was a little caught off-guard when I was also asked about React and CSS. After, we moved into the coding portion where I was given all of my problems at once. I was expecting to be given a single problem, some time to work through it and ask any questions as needed and if I reached a time constraint then be given the next problem. This format made me feel a bit rushed, which was re-enforced when my interviewer mentioned I was spending too much time on one of the problems. Again, from others experiences, I was expecting it to be more about my thought process and how I tackled a problem as opposed to simply completing it and completing it correctly. 

Despite not really loving this experience, especially after I had some time to really digest it, I did get some really great, actionable feedback. I need to brush up on the basics, I fumbled a fairly easy question. I need to be overly prepared for anything front-end related. Next time, if I get tossed a question about HTML, CSS or React I want to have the answer at the ready. I need to make sure I fully understand the question and look for any outliers before diving into coding. And while I was not called out here for being more on the silent side, I know I have a tendency to think inwardly and I absolutely need to work on using my voice and explaining my process as I code. 

I hope my missteps help someone else avoid them. I'd highly recommend doing a mock interview with Skilled Inc. for the feedback alone, however, if you're feeling a bit shaky on things maybe try out some free options first to get a little practice before diving in with Skilled.