Congratulations! You’ve just landed an interview at your dream tech company. But now it’s time to make sure you are prepared and can make a great first impression to convince the client that you are the perfect candidate for the role.

Unlike other types of interviews, technical interviews are a more specialised, rigorous process that not only tests your technical skills and problem-solving abilities, but also your personality too.

So if you’re wondering how you can best prepare for your next tech job interview, showcase your skills and leave a lasting impression, this article will walk you through it all.

1. Do your research.

It’s important that you do more than just read the company’s About Us page. In this day and age there’s no excuse not to have a good understanding of the company you are interviewing at.

But that’s not all, you’ll also want to understand the actual role itself, the market and the company’s products or services. Doing this will set you apart from the competition and help you feel more confident with the role and the company before walking into your technical interview.

2. Ask questions in the lead up to your interview

Prior to your interview, it’s likely that you will be in regular contact with either your recruitment consultant or the company’s hiring manager. During your conversations with them, be sure to ask them any questions you have so that you can be better prepared for the interview.

For example, you might ask them what systems and technologies the company uses so you can highlight these in your answers and showcase your skills specific to the role even more!

3. Prepare to answer the technical interview questions

Technical interview questions are designed to test your technical knowledge and determine whether you possess the hard skills required to do the job well. 

Questions will focus on the types of skills you’ll be using on the job. Depending on the role, this could be anything from coding, data structures, algorithms or systems designs. They can range from the core fundamentals to higher-level principles.

Some examples of technical interview questions are:

• Can you provide an example of where you applied your technical knowledge in a practical way?
• When was the last time you downloaded a utility from the internet to make your work more productive, and what was it?
• Describe your production deployment process.
• In databases, what is the difference between a delete statement and a truncate statement?
• What is the role of SNMP?

Be prepared to answer questions like these in your interview by providing concrete examples and including memorable details. If you do get asked a question you aren’t sure about, admit this and explain how you would go about finding the right answer.

In some instances, you might like to structure your answers using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action and Result) to ensure that your answer is informative and clear to understand.

• Describe the situation and set the scene
• Explain the task you undertook in this situation
• Discuss the action that was taken
• Explain the result of the action.

4. Don’t forget your soft skills

Assessing your technical skills and suitability for the role will be the main focus point of the interview, but the employer will also want to learn more about your soft skills. Why? Because there may be times within your role where you do have to work alongside non-technical teams in the organisation. Being able to prove that you have good communication skills and can share your knowledge and expertise with non-technical professionals will complement your hard skills and are needed for success in the workplace. 

So which skills are important for technical jobs and why? Here are some examples of soft skills that the employer may be looking for:

• Excellent verbal and communication skills. 
• A passion and desire to learn new skills.
• The ability to adapt and learn quickly.
• A good cultural fit.
  
  

At the end of the day, know that interviewing is a skill and technical interviews will require you to study, research and plan. But as the saying goes “practice makes perfect” and over time you will learn to master them and gain more confidence. Keep learning, and keep practicing.

We wish you the best of luck in your interview, and your new career!

Thinking of changing jobs or aiming to expand your career then let’s start with a chat. Give us call us today on  +353 1 485 4964 and speak to one of our recruiters or send us an email to [email protected].

The Recruitment Company – Making people enjoy the recruitment experience again

Specialist Dublin Employment Agency within IT infrastructure, Cloud, Devops, Cyber Security, Networking and Systems.