Technical Interviews as the "Technical" part imply, mostly about the technical knowledge and skills of the candidate. There is not much room to talk your way through it. You either know the answers to the questions asked or you don't. But even if do have the technical know how you can still wreck the interview for yourself, if you try hard enough. These 7 tips will help you avoid the fatal mistakes that may ruin your interview.
- Be Social
Although it is a technical interview, the people taking it are still human. Be open, friendly and articulate.
- Versatility
You may have some favorite skills of technologies on which you have good command and which you'll employ most of the time. Don't get overly attached to them. There are many ways of doing things and multiple tools and techniques of doing any one thing. Besides the ones on which you expertise you should also have some knowledge of other technologies and there advantages and disadvantages. In today's changing business environment companies prefer people with versatile and flexible skill set over those who have excellence in some things and are ignorant of other methods and technologies. You should also be willing to learn new methods and technologies.
- Do Not Lie
A good advice in general, this is especially crucial in case of technical interviews. Most of the time the people interviewing you would be more experienced and knowledgeable in concerned field than you and it would be absurdly easy for them to know if you misrepresent your knowledge. Don't sell yourself short, but don't exaggerate your experience or skill either.
- Be Confident
You should be confident in your abilities. It is unlikely that you know everything about a particular technology, very few if any people do. But if you appear confidant and sure of yourself the interviewer is likely to assume that you have good knowledge of the subject and what you don't know you can find out. But this cuts both ways. Don't be overly confident. For example, if you say you know everything about certain programming language, interviewer would most likely assume that you are either lying or just skimmed the surface and has confidence of a beginner or novice.
- Be Specific
Be specific when talking about your skills and experience. When asked about your previous projects describe the projects and your roles in them clearly. It's better to mention the tools or methodologies you have used or has experience with. In a technical interview you either know something or you don't. It's better to be clear about what you know and if asked what you don't know yet.
- Body Language
In a technical interview there is usually not enough time to test all your skills that is needed for you to be fully effective in your job. Also it would be of not much use as new methods and processes keep replacing the older ones. The interviewers will test your technical skills and if you fail you will not be selected. But even if you do not answer all their questions the final selection becomes a judgment call, your confidence and body language factors in this decision. So make sure that you appear confident, eager and enthusiastic.
- Manners
A job interview is a serious affair. If you are selected, more often then the company will not only spend a lot of money but will also offer other resources for you. It is the job of the interviewer to decide whether you are worth all that investment. Seen this way, there is actually more pressure on the interviewer than you, as if you are not selected you'll just look for other jobs and do not lose much, but if interviewer selects a wrong person the company will lose a lot of money and has to spend even more searching for and selecting the right replacement. This is especially critical for small to medium size companies. Therefore you must respect the situation and act accordingly. You should dress conservatively, use correct grammar when talking to the interviewer and never use slang or swear words.
The points mentioned above do not guarantee your success. But ignoring them can easily guarantee your failure. In a technical interview your success will largely depend on your technical knowledge, but if you ever had an interview that went great, you answered all the questions but still got rejected; perhaps you should review these point and see if you did something wrong.
