Asking for a friend, of course...
But really. I'm not currently interviewing, but I've failed plenty of technical interviews before and I still shudder thinking of my very first one.
I bombed it.
After, I didn't know what to do. I wondered if I should just give up.
Doing poorly in a technical interview meant I wasn't cut out to be a developer. At least, that's what I believed at the time.
Fast forward to today and I know that isn't true. But I often hear aspiring developers talk about how failing technical interviews shook their confidence afterwards and made them question if they could really become devs.
So here's a question that I'd love to hear the answer to from other developers--how do you bounce back after a technical interview? What do you tell yourself? What do you do next?
One thing that's been helpul for me:
Always figure out the answer later. At the end of the interview, it seems like I'll never understand what the solution to the technical problem presented to me was. But later, when I learn as I go over it, I see that I can. That helps rebuild my confidence as I identify the knowledge gap that preventing me from understanding the problem, and I close that gap.
But I wish I would have known this sooner. That's why I created this thread.
In your experience, what should you do after you fail the technical interview to ensure that you'll learn and grow as a developer because of the experience, not in spite of it?
Latest comments (33)
Try not to take it personally.
I failed a technical test even though my solution worked. I took the time to learn some new tech while doing the test. Now I know typescript, GraphQL. So even though I fail there assessment I gain some new skills.
I like what others have said, and some have said this in part: Go write code. Go solve a problem using a language or technology that will expand you beyond your comfort zone. Go do some code katas. Refactor some existing code.
A big part of the satisfaction of being a developer is watching this machine obey your commands, being in control of technology that is important in many people's lives. Remind yourself of that.
One of the Agile principles is "Working software is the primary measure of progress." We don't measure teams here by how quickly they solve FizzBuzz. We measure them by the code they produce. Remind yourself of that.
Right now I failed 2 interviews, one was because they stressed me out and gave me like 30min to solve the problem. The second one got me confused so hard, because I know I did great but still failed.
Usually I ask them why I failed in order for me to understand and go learn to improve my skills, but only few get back to you with an answer.
A personal opinion from my experience:
I really standed out in the interview for my first job. It was not the first interview I've done, so I prepared myself quite well. I knew what to answer every single time. Result? They had too much confidence on my skills, and didn't understand my real profile. After this, I spent six months in the company, getting bad looks everytime I did not grasp something immediately, like I did in the interview. Sometimes it's better to fail, rather than being the perfect candidate.
In my experience there have been different types of technical interviews. But from all those I failed they helped me to discover or deepen themes I didn't know and so it was also a way to improve myself.
There is disappointment, especially if it is a very desired potion, but in the end the goal for a developer must always be to improve day after day because perfection does not exist.
In which country there are this fa**
Interview
Hi Madison,
I have been on a ton of technical interviews. I am not the best interviewer, by far. I am not the most proficient. I have passed and failed whiteboard interviews, Hacker Rank interviews, etc. After I failed the interview, I did a few things.
I tried to look online for a similar problem to the one I was not able to pass and I would work on it. I also send an email to the team who interviewed me (if available) thanking them and ask them for some feedback on what (specifically) I could work on and if they have any book/resource suggestions for me. Most teams don't mind doing this. If you built rapport during the interview process, the team likely saw you as a future colleague and is somewhat bummed not to get you. If that's the case, they may want to help out.
You can also think about some of the more subtle things about how the interview went. I like to measure things like
"Was the interview natural?"
Did conversations feel forced? Was someone trying to show off their intellect? Were there trick questions? Could I really see myself with the interviewers as peers?
"Was the interview a 2 way street?"
Was the interview a power struggle where one side was trying to do all of the talking? Did the interviewers actually show interest in me and my experience?
"Did the interviewers answer my questions sufficiently"
The interview process is definitely one where the candidate feels the they are on the hot seat. But we are interviewing the company and its representatives as well. Make sure to have some pretty thought provoking questions for the team? A question like: "How have you and your team handled a release that didn't go as smoothly as planned? What was the course of action and where did responsibility lie?"
When going over your previous interviews, it's not a time to beat yourself up. It's a time to reflect, review and revisit your approach to interviewing. Hopefully this helps.
Mate, there is no PASS / FAIL, in a interview.
U take an interview as a learning experience.
When u fail it hurts, yes it will defo hurt.
But if u r determined , does it matter ?
There is no quickfire solution to success.
Be grateful, u got the opportunity and were courageous enough to make 'The attempt'.
You wont believe , when i was a fresher i took interview after interview, i used to keep a log of the interview questions,
Interestingly there was a pattern in all the interviews.
For programming jobs, tech test first, your projects or portfolio next, then u clear HR at last.
I had to take 6 interviews and struck gold in my 7th,which was a promising start up.
Sadly, i stayed there for 7 weeks, bcos they didnt know what they were doing.
I moved from the startup, to a Multinational company and there was no looking back from then on
Just keep in ur mind Mate, companies are starved for good developers. 'YOU' can be one of them to help them accomplish business success.
Just keep trying , even if u fail, keep logs , u will crack it sooner than i have done.
Its all business at the the end of the day, if you dont fit in one of them, u will defo find another one.
ALL THE BEST.
Personally it really humbled me and made me understand the gap. At the time I was very proficient with jQuery and could do pretty much anything with it. I lured myself into thinking that I was a kick-ass Javascript developer. So when I saw a great opportunity for a Senior JS position I went for it with the highest rate of confidence (read cocky) imaginable.
That was the first time I've ever heard of a closure, let alone try to explain what it does and give great examples of how to use it.
I really was devastated and just wanted to hide in a corner and cry it out. The next thing that happen though was crazy, I decided to write Javascript for a whole year without the help of any libraries.
I still have failed many others, but the attitude was different now. I will always ask feedback to my interviewers so I could understand and close the gap. I also would not rest until I could find a solution to the challenges that were to be solved.
It's been a wild ride and I'm very happy with my actual professional state, but truth be told that humbling moment on a cool summer afternoon in the Bay Area, was a blessing in disguise.
I’m a dev lead and I fail interviews a lot! Well, I’m busy leading and that limits my coding but it doesn’t matter one bit in an interview, I have to hit the books every time. I agree that every time you fail, find the answers and learn. The more often you fail, the more you will learn and ultimately achieve the goal you were striving for.
That is a twist of life for sure. That just goes to show hiring processes aren't always the best. Thanks for sharing! Also, love this image haha.
nice article.
Thanks for sharing, great advice. And also, awesome article about practicing for whiteboarding interviews. Definitely using some of your tips!
It was always tough to face failure experience frankly, but I have to recognize the gap without being painful. I tried to remember what's the point and core during the interview. If I have a chance to get feedback, I tried to get it. And I feel I'm not alone according to this page. rejected.us/
I love that page, I've never seen it before. Thanks for sharing!
After failing countless of interviews and hit literally rock bottom in my confidence what I did was I asked for helpful advice, feedback and push myself more.
I failed my first tech screen, and the company was unusually forgiving. They gave me homework on a particular topic, and said, “let us know everything you can about X when you come back”, and that showed I could learn the new material quickly. I wish there was a bit more innovation like that, but I’m appreciating everyone’s answers and views from their experiences here.