Coding Interviews

🔗 Cracking The Coding Interview 🔗

This is a solid book for both interview prep questions as well as strategizes on how to structure your time in a coding interview. I used this technique myself many times when I’ve been in these types of interviews myself.

 

Behavioral / Experience Interview Strategies

NOTE: This Section is a work in progress.

My strategy involves four steps. We’ll walk through the four steps by example. For this, we’ll assume you found the following job posting:

We are looking for an entry-level iOS developer to join our team and help us create the next generation of mobile apps.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and maintain iOS applications using Swift
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define, design, and ship new features
  • Write clean, efficient, and reusable code
  • Test, optimize, and troubleshoot code to ensure quality
  • Identify potential problems and resolve issues
  • Keep up with the latest iOS development trends and technologies

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field
  • 1+ years of experience with Swift programming language
  • Strong understanding of iOS development best practices
  • Experience with Xcode, Interface Builder, and other iOS development tools
  • Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills
  • Ability to work independently and as part of a team

Four Steps

  1. Identify the attributes you believe are key to succeed in the role you’re applying for.
  2. Reflect on your experience and identify a time(s) that you demonstrated this attribute.
  3. Build up a library of stories using the 🔗 STAR Method 🔗 to structure your narratives.
  4. Practice, practice, practice!

Next, practice, practice, practice. Do it in front of a mirror. The goal is for you to be able to recite these stories from memory. By investing your prep time in these stories, you’ll be calmer in an interview and you’ll be sure to highlight the details that you believe are important. For me, at least, I sometimes forget details or flub a question. By having these anecdotes memorized, the conversation will just flow.