9 Tips to Ace your Next Coding Interview
by Cody Peltz Compile Your SkillsInterviews can be a daunting experience, especially when it is your
dream job. You are being put under a microscope where every comment of yours is
getting observed. Of course, you are bound to feel nervous. Wondering how to
solve this problem? Let us look at nine coding interview tips to ace your next
coding interview.
1) Revise the basics
You may be a proficient coder and have reached a good height in your
career. But before appearing for a coding interview, it is crucial to revise
the basics that you learn in your college days. You don’t want to be sitting in
your interview and trying to recall what your professor taught. An important
tip is to just brush through the basic concepts and try to put them across in
your interview. You can read up your academic book or read some coding articles on Live online coding platforms like FavTutor, and be ready with everything before
the interview.
2) Come up with
a game plan
Most interviewers will ask you to write a code. Before you start writing
a code, it is crucial to spend some time understanding the problem. You should
come up with a game plan that can help support you with your solution. You can
draw a diagram, highlight the problem statement, and figure out the code you
might need. When you think of a game plan, your interviewer gets a sense of
your thinking ability and how you address a situation. Further, he can also
correct if you are going wrong somewhere and reduce your chances of making a
mistake.
3) Communicate
Communication is the key to ace your interview. Nobody knows what is
going on inside your head, and hence, it is important to communicate your
thoughts. The interviewer will be evaluating your speaking and communication
skills and how you express yourself. There may be times when you do not know
how to answer, but it is important that you still try. Communicate about
everything you are thinking- when you discuss your game plan when you want to
talk about your experience when you are writing your code and validating your
points. In short, communicate with every work that you do.
4) Talk about
your achievements
In line with the importance of communication, you must talk about your
achievements. You should not boast about your achievements but mention them
subtly in the interview. The interviewer should know what you have achieved and
what you are capable of. It will help him understand your potential for the
job. Further, when you talk about your achievements, you can take the interview
in your direction and talk about what you already know.
5) Be proactive
The interview is your time to be proactive. Think about it this way, if
you are an interviewer, will you like it if the candidate is quiet and speaking
only when spoken to? Hell, no. That is why you need to be a proactive
candidate. The interviewer should like you and feel like asking you questions
because the more questions you get, the better you can describe and prove
yourself. Further, interviewers also judge the candidate on his soft skills and
how easily he will be able to adapt to the working environment.
6) Show and prove your work
After a considerable time, you would have spoken about your
achievements. It is time now to prove yourself practically. You need to show
your worth by showing off your skills. It is time to get down to business now
by showing how effective your codes are. You need to understand the problem at
hand, figure out the best way to resolve them, and then ace it with your codes.
This is going to be the ‘make-or-mar’ moment for you because the interviewer is
going to judge your skills and if you could be a perfect fit for the job.
7) Test your
code
It’s a rewarding feeling once you have completed your code. You consider
it an achievement that you have successfully written the code even under the
interview pressure. In all the excitement, you should never forget to test your
code. If the interviewer catches any bugs in the code, the chances are that
your interview stands null. Hence, do a double check before handing over your
code and think of edge cases before running the code; testing your codes before
the final submission can help you win some brownie points from the interviewer.
8) Time
yourself
It is often said that you should take your own time and write your codes
effectively. But what most people forget is that the interviewer does not like
to sit for so long, and hence it is important to time yourself. Candidates are
expected to solve or answer questions within a certain time limit. When you are
preparing for your next coding interview, you should practice timing yourself
and be able to solve coding problems quickly.
9) Ask for
feedback
When you have reached the end of the interview, it is vital that you ask
for some feedback for your candidature. During this time, the interviewer will
tell you what he thinks about you, the chances of your selection, and if there
is any scope of improvement. He might also tell you about your code and offer
some useful suggestions on that. These feedback points can come in very handy
when you are preparing for your next interview. Further, they will help you learn
and improve your work and increase the chances of landing your next job.
Takeaways
It is essential to note these interview tips and tricks because they can
go a long way in helping you land your dream job. Take some time to learn about
the company, what niche they are looking at, and how you can help them achieve
better. With these answers in mind, you will be able to prepare better for the
interview and increase your chances of conversion.
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Created on Jul 9th 2021 07:13. Viewed 216 times.