6 answers
Andy
Student
2
Questions
Updated
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What are some questions I should potentially prepare myself for in an interview relating to a tech job?
I just want to be wary of what questions that may pop up unexpectedly
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6 answers
Yoav Traeger
Bid Manager
140
Answers
Kiryat Ono, Tel Aviv District
Updated
Yoav’s Answer
In a tech interview, you should definitely be ready to talk about a specific project where you ran into a tough problem and explain exactly how you worked through the logic to fix it, as they really want to see your thought process rather than just a perfect result. You might also get asked how you handle working in a team or what you do when you disagree with a teammate's technical approach, so having a couple of real-life stories ready will help you stay calm and focused. Don't be surprised if they ask you about a time you failed or made a mistake, because showing that you can take responsibility and learn from a setback is actually a huge plus in the tech world. Just remember to be honest about what you know and don't be afraid to say you'd like to look something up if you're stumped, since showing a hunger to learn is often just as important as the skills you already have. Good luck.
Jeff Sloan
Software engineer - firmware Retired
119
Answers
Updated
Jeff’s Answer
Hi Andy
Good question! It's great to be prepared.
Some companies will throw a few truck questions at an interviewee. For example, how mammy gumball can fit in a five gallon jar. It makes no sense! What they are trying to do is see how you solve problems. They don't want our expect a real answer. They want to see how you work through a problem.
Go up to the whiteboard and talk through each step. A gumball is approximately 1 inch in diameter. Since they are round, each one takes up approximately 1 square inch. Write that down! A five gallon jug is 128 ounces per gallon times 5. The shoulders of the jug are rounded so that reduces the usable area slightly. And so on. Make any reasonable assumptions you want but explain why you made those assumptions. They just want to see the process you go through as you work it out.
Go on mock interviews at your college, if they offer them. Go on interviews even for jobs you aren't interested in. Practice helps!
Most importantly, be honest. Don't try to answer a question if you don't know the answer. You can try to work through it but it's perfectly acceptable to say, Great question. I don't have the answer but I would be very happy to research it and get back to you. You're not expected to know everything!
Good luck and relax! If you dint get that job, there will be others!
Good question! It's great to be prepared.
Some companies will throw a few truck questions at an interviewee. For example, how mammy gumball can fit in a five gallon jar. It makes no sense! What they are trying to do is see how you solve problems. They don't want our expect a real answer. They want to see how you work through a problem.
Go up to the whiteboard and talk through each step. A gumball is approximately 1 inch in diameter. Since they are round, each one takes up approximately 1 square inch. Write that down! A five gallon jug is 128 ounces per gallon times 5. The shoulders of the jug are rounded so that reduces the usable area slightly. And so on. Make any reasonable assumptions you want but explain why you made those assumptions. They just want to see the process you go through as you work it out.
Go on mock interviews at your college, if they offer them. Go on interviews even for jobs you aren't interested in. Practice helps!
Most importantly, be honest. Don't try to answer a question if you don't know the answer. You can try to work through it but it's perfectly acceptable to say, Great question. I don't have the answer but I would be very happy to research it and get back to you. You're not expected to know everything!
Good luck and relax! If you dint get that job, there will be others!
Basak Gazioglu
Director, Business Process
13
Answers
Cary, North Carolina
Updated
Basak’s Answer
Hiring managers usually look for a mix of enthusiasm, past tech experience or internships, and your interest in certain tech fields. Knowing AI skills and being ready to answer AI-related questions is becoming really important in today's digital world. Keep going, you're on the right track!
Liam Rielly
Data Center Technician
195
Answers
Manassas, Virginia
Updated
Liam’s Answer
Tech interviews are usually split into a few different sessions.
The first is your technical knowledge in the field you are in. This would be your acronym game, data structures and algorithms, hardware basics, debugging method etc. This does not mean that in the series this will be the first interview you will walk into, but its usually the first or second to find the people that really don't know the field.
The second is behavioral. Are you going to be able to find an issue and act on it quickly? Are you going to define a metric and share the data from that metric? Are you the kind of person that has a history of doing great things at a company? Are you going to complete a project when you are given one? These sound like basic things someone might do on a job but are you prepared to walk into an interview and explain this?
The third is usually related to added value and team fit. What is the value of hiring you at the company? Why would you be better than someone else? What is your personality like? People who are driven are usually extroverted and too much of that in a room might be too much. Would you be willing to give extra to the company if needed? What are you expecting for compensation?
That's about as complete as I can say an interview will be without knowing what the job is, who the company is, or what your expertise is. Usually in an interview they will play with the questions and ask something soliciting a wrong answer or asking something and then asking if you are firm on that answer implying it is wrong. Just be prepared for that. Know what you know, say it with confidence and you'll be good! Also, don't be afraid if there is a question or two you don't know the answer to. It's ok to say "I don't know", but a better reply is to write down the question and ask if you can look it up and give a response later. I saw someone do that on an interview they had little technical knowledge in and they got the job by proving initiative and interest in the position.
One last thing I did recently that proved successful for me was I got a job description, the company ethos and a statement about their hiring, an interview guide for the company, my resume, and uploaded it to an LLM (after removing PII and other info). Then I wrote three sentences about an "on the job story", gave it three similar examples, and then asked the LLM "which is the better story?". After I got a short list of all of the stories it felt matched the company ethos, job, and my experience I wrote out the whole story and asked the LLM to make it into STAR format. This includes the Situation, Task, Action, Result so each story has context, a thrilling middle, and an end. In fact, to test this out easily, Amazon has most of this information on their website and even if you are not applying to them, you can test out this method because all of the resources are readily available. Look for specifically: Leadership Principles (the company ethos), STAR method (you can just keep that document from their source), a job listing (doesn't even have to be your field), and a resume (you don't have to use your resume just to test this, find one on LinkedIn and use that). Upload those to ChatGPT or Gemini or DeepSeek (pick your flavor, doesn't have to be them) and see what this method does.
This is as close as you can get to a mock interview to the point where you can give annoying or wrong answers over and over with no impact or advice on how to better answer the questions. Remember like everything AI, this is only comparing the collection of sources and giving a logical answer based on the sources' context. This is not an expert interviewing tool or method and you still need to shine as you and not be represented by a machine.
Lastly, interview for a job that you don't intend on getting just to practice interviewing. The more comfortable you feel the better you will be at this skill.
The first is your technical knowledge in the field you are in. This would be your acronym game, data structures and algorithms, hardware basics, debugging method etc. This does not mean that in the series this will be the first interview you will walk into, but its usually the first or second to find the people that really don't know the field.
The second is behavioral. Are you going to be able to find an issue and act on it quickly? Are you going to define a metric and share the data from that metric? Are you the kind of person that has a history of doing great things at a company? Are you going to complete a project when you are given one? These sound like basic things someone might do on a job but are you prepared to walk into an interview and explain this?
The third is usually related to added value and team fit. What is the value of hiring you at the company? Why would you be better than someone else? What is your personality like? People who are driven are usually extroverted and too much of that in a room might be too much. Would you be willing to give extra to the company if needed? What are you expecting for compensation?
That's about as complete as I can say an interview will be without knowing what the job is, who the company is, or what your expertise is. Usually in an interview they will play with the questions and ask something soliciting a wrong answer or asking something and then asking if you are firm on that answer implying it is wrong. Just be prepared for that. Know what you know, say it with confidence and you'll be good! Also, don't be afraid if there is a question or two you don't know the answer to. It's ok to say "I don't know", but a better reply is to write down the question and ask if you can look it up and give a response later. I saw someone do that on an interview they had little technical knowledge in and they got the job by proving initiative and interest in the position.
One last thing I did recently that proved successful for me was I got a job description, the company ethos and a statement about their hiring, an interview guide for the company, my resume, and uploaded it to an LLM (after removing PII and other info). Then I wrote three sentences about an "on the job story", gave it three similar examples, and then asked the LLM "which is the better story?". After I got a short list of all of the stories it felt matched the company ethos, job, and my experience I wrote out the whole story and asked the LLM to make it into STAR format. This includes the Situation, Task, Action, Result so each story has context, a thrilling middle, and an end. In fact, to test this out easily, Amazon has most of this information on their website and even if you are not applying to them, you can test out this method because all of the resources are readily available. Look for specifically: Leadership Principles (the company ethos), STAR method (you can just keep that document from their source), a job listing (doesn't even have to be your field), and a resume (you don't have to use your resume just to test this, find one on LinkedIn and use that). Upload those to ChatGPT or Gemini or DeepSeek (pick your flavor, doesn't have to be them) and see what this method does.
This is as close as you can get to a mock interview to the point where you can give annoying or wrong answers over and over with no impact or advice on how to better answer the questions. Remember like everything AI, this is only comparing the collection of sources and giving a logical answer based on the sources' context. This is not an expert interviewing tool or method and you still need to shine as you and not be represented by a machine.
Lastly, interview for a job that you don't intend on getting just to practice interviewing. The more comfortable you feel the better you will be at this skill.
John Easton CEng FIET FBCS CITP
Design large computer systems for companies
60
Answers
Winchester, England, United Kingdom
Updated
John’s Answer
Hi Andy!
Firstly, well done for getting invited for interview. Remember that a lot of other potential candidates didn't make it this far.
Preparation is good, but there is only so much that you can have something "ready to go", for some questions you might just have to figure it out as you go, and that is fine. As Jeff says above, some of these questions are just wanting to see how you think / solve a problem. I would come prepared to talk about yourself (your education, your hobbies and interests). As most jobs involve working in a team I would come prepared with examples of how you have worked in teams and dealt with other people. A lot of tech jobs revolve around solving problems, so have some examples of how you did that. Note that the key word here is "examples". As an interviewer there's nothing worse than a candidate who gives one word / few word answers. Always try to answer a question with some extra details or an example.
Last thought - your profile says that you are a student. Remember that the interviewer IS NOT expecting you to have answers to everything and to have years of experience in a given technology or something. They WILL make allowances for this, and if they don't then I'd suggest you don't want to work for that company!
Last but not least have questions for the interviewer. The more time they are talking, the less time you have to!
Good luck
Firstly, well done for getting invited for interview. Remember that a lot of other potential candidates didn't make it this far.
Preparation is good, but there is only so much that you can have something "ready to go", for some questions you might just have to figure it out as you go, and that is fine. As Jeff says above, some of these questions are just wanting to see how you think / solve a problem. I would come prepared to talk about yourself (your education, your hobbies and interests). As most jobs involve working in a team I would come prepared with examples of how you have worked in teams and dealt with other people. A lot of tech jobs revolve around solving problems, so have some examples of how you did that. Note that the key word here is "examples". As an interviewer there's nothing worse than a candidate who gives one word / few word answers. Always try to answer a question with some extra details or an example.
Last thought - your profile says that you are a student. Remember that the interviewer IS NOT expecting you to have answers to everything and to have years of experience in a given technology or something. They WILL make allowances for this, and if they don't then I'd suggest you don't want to work for that company!
Last but not least have questions for the interviewer. The more time they are talking, the less time you have to!
Good luck
Rebecca Tang
Banking
2631
Answers
Hong Kong
Updated
Rebecca’s Answer
Thank you for your question. Many students have similar questions.
Below are my suggestions :
1. Prepare the response on some popular questions, e.g. Introduce yourself, What is your strength & weaknesses? , etc.
2. Review the Job Description thoroughly and identify the areas you can meet the requirements and what you need to improve, etc. Stress on the areas you can meet the requirement. Prepare the answers how you can improve.
3. Do some research on the company and interviewer
4. Prepare 2-3 questions to ask interviewers to show your interest on the role
5. Prepare the outfit in advance and ensure it is appropriate. Arrive the interview venue punctually.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
May Almighty God bless you!
Below are my suggestions :
1. Prepare the response on some popular questions, e.g. Introduce yourself, What is your strength & weaknesses? , etc.
2. Review the Job Description thoroughly and identify the areas you can meet the requirements and what you need to improve, etc. Stress on the areas you can meet the requirement. Prepare the answers how you can improve.
3. Do some research on the company and interviewer
4. Prepare 2-3 questions to ask interviewers to show your interest on the role
5. Prepare the outfit in advance and ensure it is appropriate. Arrive the interview venue punctually.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
May Almighty God bless you!