Weekly Digest #11: On technical Interviews

Technical interviews are not a walk in the park! There are a lot of steps, challenges and pressure in a super competitive market.

On the other hand, you should not be scared of the process, just learn to navigate through it and practice!!! A year ago I found myself interviewing and in this digest I hope to share some learnings, resources and tips!

Here is a list of the resources that can help you prepare for interviews:

• An ex co-worker and friend (Juan Vimberg) did the same process, some months before me and shared his learnings in this How to Prepare for the Silicon Valley Interview series. He does a great job to explain how the overall process works, what are the steps and how you can prepare for each. It was my go to reference and helped me to organize my effort.
• On a similar note check this Technical Interview Preparation Checklist. More than a checklist is a detailed breakdown of the interview process. What I found valuable on this article is the amount of resources linked to it. Also having a second source is a good way to create your own mental model of the process.
• The last one you should check is the Tech Interview Handbook. I would use this handbook as a reference.
• If you feel like reading a book, then Cracking the coding Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell is a classic. I bought this book and read most of it, but be aware that it is looong (more than 600 pages).
• The other important part is to practice coding challenges. There are a lot of recommendations in the previous articles and also a lot of exercises in the book. Personally I used mostly Hacker Rank. You can choose your language, there are different levels and it is well organized.
• I also found this CS Fundamentals Github repository that focuses on data structures and has more links to explore.

Here are some personal tips that hope help you:

• Make a list of places you will love to work but accept any interview and practice.
• Keep your Linkedin and resume up to date!
• Consider making some notes on your professional pitch. I created one that I used to rehearse before the first interviews and eventually I memorize it.
• While it looks that you need a giant amount of time to prepare, don’t be afraid to start early.
• Take notes and iterate. You will always learn something from an interview, use that in your advantage for the next one!

Enjoy!!

If you are looking for interview tips on Frontend or React I am planning to post 2 more articles in the coming weeks!!