In the last several years I've had the great privilege of being the final technical interviewer for a large number of candidates. This article is an inside scoop on how I perform these interviews with tips on how you can shine as a candidate.
Why My Opinion Matters
I come from a background of 25+ years of experience across a wide range of technical areas with a large number of certifications under my belt. I often joke that I got into this industry almost 30 years ago with the goal of knowing all there is yet here feeling like I know less than ever.
Sadly, unless the interview is a direct hire for my own team there is a strong chance we will never actually work with one another. But that is OK, I still get the benefit of having deep technical discussions with a wide range of geeks across all walks of life and technical specialties. I just happen to be the one that has been chosen to vet candidates that are fibbing on their abilities from those that are not. This must be done in under an hour with little more than your resume in most cases.
The Basics
Obviously, not all technical positions are made the same. A Sr. DevOps role will demand entirely different skills than a Cloud Architect. But there are common elements of all technical roles that will surface in any high level technical interview with me. Regardless of your skill set I'd be prepared to talk on one or preferably all of these topics;
Software development life-cycle (SDLC) - This includes varying degrees of knowledge about git and CICD and how to deliver artifacts to production. This may feel strange to list first but it is part of most roles currently in some form or another.
Automation - Ansible, Terraform, or some declarative infrastructure as code is a huge plus in any technical role. If you have none of this then the next section is your friend.
Scripting - Pick a language of your choice and know something about it. PowerShell, Bash, JavaScript, or Python are easy ones but any form of scripting knowledge is a sign you are not just an average mouse clicker. If you come from a development background then even better (unless that language is something like FoxPro or QuickBasic)!
AI - Yes, I expect you to be able to explain some ways you have used it to make your life easier and your job more productive. It shows you are sticking with the times as well.
Your Specialty
This is the reason why we are talking, your moment to shine as it were. Here are my general tips for how to handle me during this most essential portion of our discussion.
Know It - Simple tip but worth putting out there first. I promise you cannot fake it with me very easily. I've done hundreds of interviews across many technical specialties and have a very high success rate for weeding out fakers. Your resume should reflect what we will be talking about on the very first page somewhere and be recent enough for you to go into depth on projects you have worked on that exhibit that knowledge. I will dig as deep as I can and then keep digging until you cannot answer my questions in most cases.
Teach Me - Adding to the prior tip, I gain supreme satisfaction learning something new. If you can teach me about something in our industry I never knew before I'm going to be not only impressed but also more grateful for our time together.
Be an Expert in Something - This is a bit more nuanced but I find that in most interviews I end up asking the candidates what they feel they are best at. This is intentional because then I know you should have answers in that topic and I should be able to dig and learn from you. This is one way I'll litmus test your brain on things. For example, if you are an expert in Ansible be ready to know what template language playbooks are written in (Jinja2 and YAML), how you can automate them, and the protocol it runs over.
Be Curious - No one likes a know it all. Curiosity is how we grow ourselves in this industry and push our knowledge boundaries to new levels. I'm going to want to know where you would like to expand on your current skills and grow yourself further in your journey.
Be A Problem Solver - Have at least one recent experience you can talk about in great detail that exhibits that you were in the trenches and getting things done in a self-directed manner. It should be something that you are proud of and can speak towards. This should easily be found on the first or second page of your resume.
Some Other Tips
While each discussion I have is bound to be somewhat different there are some common elements that will come up. Often I'll even start my discussion with these tips because, believe it or not, I'm rooting for you to do well!
Focus on Yourself - If you got this far in your career then I already know you must work somewhat well with others and so I don't really care about what you have done 'as a team'. I'm only interested in your personal accomplishments and solutions as that is how I can further assess your actual knowledge.
Be Honest - If you don't know, just say so and we will pivot to something else. I will never hold honesty against you. But I will hold it against you if you waste our limited time spitting out totally wrong answers just because.
Be Passionate - No one wants to have a dull conversation. You will stick out if you are into what you do far more than if you drone on about technology and your accomplishments. Passion for this industry is why I am part of it, ideally you reflect that insatiable desire to learn and grow in our industry of endless possibilities as well.
Be Visible - If you don't show your face it severely lessens your chances of being selected among a list of candidates that do. Additionally I will rely on this to better read how flustered you get and how well you handle things when I start digging deep into your brain for what you know.
Be patient - Specifically with me. Obviously I don't know everything and sometimes I may ask questions because I selfishly want to walk away learning something new. I also might make hard pivots on purpose to keep things going and to see how well you handle it. Its not personal it is by design.
Final Notes
This was a rather non-technical article but one that felt right to put out there given the climate of uncertainty within out industry. I genuinely hope you take this information and do well in your technical interviews. Maybe, if we are both lucky, you and I will do one of these together and you can shine brightly like the incredible geek that you are!
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