Computer Networking - Surviving The Technical Interview
By Chris Bryant
Ah, the technical interview. Nothing like it. Not only does it cause anxiety,
but it causes anxiety for several different reasons.
How many people will be asking questions? From experience I can tell you there's
nothing like walking into a room and seeing nine people on the other side of the table.
Second, what will you be asked? You'll sometimes hear people say the questions
they were asked in a technical interview were "easy", which translated means
"they asked me stuff I happened to know". Sometimes you'll hear people say the
questions were "hard", which translated means "they asked me stuff I didn't
know", or "they asked me about stuff I've never even heard of".
Having been on both sides of the technical interview table, I'd like to share
some tips for those being interviewed. In doing so, I'll share some of the more
memorable interviews I've been involved in.
No good interviewer expects you to know everything. The problem is, you're not
always going to be interviewed by someone who's good at it.
Sometimes, the person who's giving you a technical interview was asked to do it
about ten minutes before you showed up. Maybe they've never interviewed anyone
before, or maybe they're just in a bad mood. I've heard of technical interviewers
where the interviewer derided an answer, and that's totally unprofessional. I've
had many a job candidate give a bad answer to a question, and my only response
was silence followed by moving on to the next question. If your interviewer mocks
any of your answers, you didn't want to work there anyway.
None of us know everything. If you're asked a question you just don't know the
answer to, don't try to BS your way past it. This is a good opportunity to tell
the interviewer how you would research that particular question. It's not about
knowing everything, it's about being able to find out anything.
If your interviewer acts like he/she already dislikes you, that's because they
do. I once worked with a technician who felt threatened by anyone who applied
for a job there, but especially if the applicant had a professional certification
and then had the nerve to know what they were doing.
This technician participated in a group technical interview where the applicant
was an incredibly bright guy, and had a particular skill that the department
really needed. Problem was, the technician considered himself "the man" when it
came to that skill. Recipe for disaster, right?
The applicant fielded four questions from the rest of us flawlessly, then faced
this particular tech for a question. The threatened tech had a list of questions
for the interview, but decided to ad lib. Big mistake. He asked a convoluted
question that Rube Goldberg would have been proud of. When he was done, the
applicant answered:
"You can't do what you just described."
The tech started defending his question, and it became obvious that he hadn't
been able to follow his own question! The interview went into a bit of a
meltdown from there.
Realize right now that there are some unprofessional people out there giving
technical interviews. Be prepared for it, but remain professional yourself.
Be prepared for a practical technical interview. The best technical interviewers
find a way to get you in front of the technology you'll be working with. A great
way to quickly find out whether you know what you're talking about is to ask you
to actually perform common and perhaps some not-so-common tasks. We can talk
about technology and take all the computer-based exams we want, but it all comes
down to performance. Be prepared to prove you belong on your interview day.
- Be professional. This covers a lot of ground, so let me make a quick list for you.
- Show up 15 minutes early. Nothing makes a technical interviewer more surly than waiting for the applicant.
- Dress for success. The way you look when you walk into a room leads to your interviewer's first impression of you.
- Don't chew gum during the interview.
- Don't be arrogant. Look, there's nothing wrong with having an ego and acting
confident. I do, and you should. But don't come into the interview room acting
like you're too good to be there.
- Finally, relax. Easy to say, hard to do? Not really. Realize that the majority
of interviewers you'll ever meet are going to be professional about the entire
thing. The world's not going to end if you miss a question. If you were not
qualified on paper for the job, you wouldn't be in there.
Do not look upon the interview as something negative. Rather, look at it as an
opportunity to prove you know what you're talking about. With the proper mental
attitude, your technical interview will be a springboard to the next step in
your career!
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free
CCNA and
CCNP tutorials,
The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP
Study Packages. For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, "How To Pass The CCNA"
and "How To Pass The CCNP", visit the website and download your free copies. You
can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the
CCNA exam
with The Bryant Advantage!
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