DEV Community

Cover image for [Junior Dev] Step by step through a coding challenge. (Part 1)
Kelvin
Kelvin

Posted on

[Junior Dev] Step by step through a coding challenge. (Part 1)

About me

My name is Kelvin, a graduate software developer. This is one of my first blogs ever. These are all the things that I learned and I want to share it with everyone who is going to have an interview or just simply want to know about it.

Introduction

A whiteboard challenge in an interview is always a nightmare for beginners like me. I just got my first technical interview ever last week, and I was totally panic when I took a first look at the question and could not do it properly. After that, I decided to study how to manage to solve a whiteboard problem in the right way.

15 Steps to go through a problem

Alt Text
Alt Text

With these 15 steps, I believe you can impress the interviewers with your critical thinking of how you approach and solve a problem.

Some small tips

  • Do not jump straight to into coding.
  • Calm down, do not be panic even though you may not know how to code the answer, just speak out the approach to the problem that first comes to your mind (follow the steps).
  • A thank you email after the interview may give you a bonus.
  • Confidence is a key, I know you can totally get this done.

Conclusion

I hope this little post helps you get an idea of how to prepare and go through a whiteboard challenge. The coding challenge is always a trouble and a nightmare of every junior developer (or at least for me). But be confident and believe in your self, I wish you guys all the best with your coding challenge.

Bonus:

I really like the video demo of the technical interview at Google. It may give you an idea and how they work through a problem. Moreover, try to apply the steps above to the video, it will make more sense when we apply it to a real problem.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKu_SEDAykw&t=1267s

Top comments (2)

Collapse
 
bluiska profile image
bluiska

Hey man. Thanks for advice, I'm finishing my final year and will soon start having interviews. I'll be sure to save your article as reference. Keep it up!

Collapse
 
kelvin0712 profile image
Kelvin

Thank you, I wish you all the best with your job hunting and future career!