As a team leader, I have had multiple opportunities to interview candidates for new developer positions as they come up. I’d like to think I’m a pretty fair interviewer, I don’t pose weird puzzle questions, I don’t relentlessly dig in on questions you couldn’t possibly answer, and I try to make it an enjoyable experience for both of us. That being said, there’s a couple of things that I consistently experience being the interviewer that I think the developers on the other side of the table need to be aware of.
Be interested
You need to at least appear to be interested in our discussion. If all you’re going to do is answer my questions, I’m not going to be interested because it’s obvious that you’re not. Your best chance to make an impression with me would be by treating the interview more like a conversation.
Know what we do
It doesn’t take long, a couple of minutes on our website or a quick Google search should give you enough to put together a quick sentence on what we do. “Make software for companies” is not exactly what I’m looking for however. You should at least have an idea of what industry we’re in, it’s in the first paragraph of the “About Us” page. For bonus points, knowing a couple of the clients from our listing or having found our products being used would be a huge thing (and one that I haven’t seen yet, not once), even though it’s incredibly easy to find.
Have some questions
Nothing shows a general lack of interest or preparation worse than not having a single response when we as “Do you have any questions for us?” Heck, you don’t even need to wait for me to ask, if I say something that catches your attention or that you want more information about, just ask. It’s many times easier to get into a more flowing conversation when both of us are working at it. I’d even be ok with it if in the end we discover that I was wrong about something, then we’ve both gotten something out of it.
Get excited about SOMETHING
I intentionally ask some questions intended to get you excited about work you’ve done in the past. I don’t even care if it’s positive or negative excitement (I ask both sides of the question) the purpose for this is to see if you actually care enough about what you do it make sure I know all about it. I typically start this with the question “What is the most interesting or exciting project that you have worked on?” (I’ll also typically ask for the most difficult or frustrating project as a follow-up) You’d be amazed at how many people will sit there and say “I don’t know…” don’t be this person. If you can’t get excited about the most interesting or terrible projects you’ve ever worked on, it gives me the impression that you just don’t care that much about what you do. I don’t want people that don’t care on my team. Plain and simple.
Geek out, at least a little
All of the good software developers I’ve met have a geeky thread in them somewhere. For many it’s related to software, robots, sci-fi or something else typical, but for others, it’s cooking, coffee, gardening or fishing. I don’t care what it is, but to see that you have something that you are able to focus on so deeply that you know practically everything there is to know about it (or a strong motivation to know everything) makes me feel comfortable that we’ll have something in common. Even if it’s not the same specific thing, but instead more of a mindset.
Don’t be a robot
Screw professionalism, have a personality, have some fun, crack a joke dammit! Nobody’s wants to work with a lifeless trout…