February 12, 2021 • Beyond • 2 min read
War Child: Peace Band
Peace Band Campaign At the start of the year, we announced our special partnership with War Child as our…
Following an invitation to take part in the University of Reading’s Science and Health week we’ve pulled together a piece with the aim of helping students embarking on their tech journey. With upskilling at the core of our values as a consultancy, we’ve drawn on our internal expertise and personal experience from associates, to provide top tips in what we look for in candidates. I hope the below helps you in landing your dream role and surviving technical interviews.
There’s no avoiding it, interviewing, in general, can be difficult. We all know it and despite how much you prep for an interview sometimes, the odds are just not in your favour that day. Whether you get a difficult interviewer, or your mind goes blank on the processes you revised so hard for in advance, below are a few tips on how to survive a technical interview.
Technical interviews allow prospective employers to assess candidates’ technical, problem-solving and critical thinking skills. They usually involve some kind of timed brain teaser or technical assessment problem like whiteboarding or, more commonly, pair programming. Not only does this sort of task give the interviewer an idea of how you would approach a problem, but it also gives them insight into your wider understanding of the discipline context, your soft skills, and what it would be like to work with you. It used to be very typical for companies to conduct these interviews face-to-face, but with the current climate (the dreaded COVID-19) the likelihood is your interview will be virtual, which brings with it both benefits and challenges.
Companies, like ours, tend to use technical interviews to assess the way in which a candidate approaches the problem at hand. It is less about arriving at the correct answer but more about the methodology used. That’s right, the wrong conclusion doesn’t mean all is lost! A typical interview process looks something like this:
So now you know what one is and when it is used, how do you ace your technical interview? There are several different techniques and things we look for here at Tecknuovo which can help you.
“As an interviewer, technical interviews are a fantastic opportunity to understand the personality of the applicant. You learn a lot more from watching them tackle a problem than you do from talking to them about their experience or reading their CV. My advice to students approaching their first interview is not to panic! Ask for clarification if you need it and remember that we’re not here to intentionally trip you up, we want to see how you would fit in with the rest of the team.”
Rifaht Sarwar, Senior Business Analyst, Tecknuovo
Calvin Dickinson, Head of Talent Acquisition
I always welcome feedback on what we’re doing, if you’d like to know more please contact me below, I’d love to hear your experience and opinion!
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