Pre-Interview Prep

When you receive an interview request through Hired, we suggest doing a bit of research and preparation before you interview. Expect to be quizzed about algorithms, data structures, and even to whiteboard answers to technical questions during onsite interviews.

Here are some of our favorite pre-interview reads:

• David Byttow's ABC: Always Be Coding.

  • Forget about libraries and code from the ground up. No one is going to ask you to code an app on the spot, it's all about them getting comfortable with the way you work and your grasp of key or fundamental concepts.

• Palantir’s How to Rock an Algorithm Interview

  • Palantir is known for their rigorous interview process, and this article gives you a great framework to start thinking about all types of algorithm based interviewing questions.

• William Shields’ Interview Programming Problems Done Right

  • Long before Google blew the lid off of Why Brainteasers Don't Belong in Job Interviews, William wrote this blog post which was very well received on Hacker News.

• Neil Roseman’s The anatomy of the perfect technical interview.

  • If you want to catch a glimpse into how organizations like Amazon or Zynga think about hiring top talent, Neil does surface some universal insights into the other side of the table.

• Paul Tyma's How to Pass a Silicon Valley Software Engineering Interview.

• Cracking the Coding Interview

Here’s a pre-interview prep checklist before every interview:

- Be on time! It’s important to make a good first impression, so be on time if not early for all interview rounds. - Make sure if it's a phone interview that you are some place quiet with good phone reception. Don’t take calls while standing on a busy street or in a loud coffee shop. - Make sure you have clear wifi - Make sure you have a place to charge your computer - Have a pen and paper available - Write down a few pre-formulated questions for the interviewer based on research you’ve done about the company and the team Didn’t put your best foot forward during the technical interview? Here’s how to recover gracefully and get a second shot at the job: http://jobtipsforgeeks.com/2013/02/04/idunno/