During my career I have recruited dozens (and interviewed even more) of software developers, architects and junior software developers. To help you get your dream/first job I would like to share some of the things that I am looking for during the interview.
First impression
First impression is important part of social interaction, but it does not define everything. It is perfectly fine to screw up the first impression, but if you do, then you need to catch it up later. To gain great start into interview, think ahead what you want to say during the first 10 seconds and fallback into those words if the situation is a bit awkward or you don’t know what to say. Shake the interviewers hand firmly (well maybe not during Covid, but after we get over this…) and stare into eyes. Greet and say your name out loud. That’s it. That is good first impression.
Social skills
During interviews I try to estimate how good social skills the candidate has. I usually ask for hobbies if they contain social encounters, observe where the candidate is looking at and how natural he or she is during the interview. Sometimes the candidate can be a bit apprehensive and then I try to relax the situation with (bad) joke. Reaction to jokes is also a signal of social behavior. If you don’t even smile to joke, you are in fear lockdown or doesn’t care much about jokes and small talk. This sounds lot of analyzing the personality and that it is. Letting your personality out and showing personal feelings during the interviews is important way to leave good impression. If you are totally cool and don’t react into anything, you won’t be remembered.
Social skills are more and more important in software development. We work in teams, we work directly with clients, we teach each others. You cannot lock into room and write code from specifications anymore. That is history and that history ain’t coming back. If you are not good with social skills, then you need to be really good with some another skills, because you are starting from the back.
Something to show for
In order for me to analyze your skills, you need to have something to show for. GitHub profile, study assignments, pet projects, anything that shows what you can do. Create profile into GitHub and code simple project into it, that shows how good you are at programming. Put link into your resume and present what you have done during the interview. Showing initiative is a good thing. Show that you can start your own projects and that you are interested in coding.
I can learn
The most important part in this industry is the ability to learn new things. If you can show me, that you are excellent learner. You can listen what others have to say and pick the most important parts from their speech, you are hired. Just the ability to learn new things can take you far.
Things that matter less than you think
Students usually like to show their student register with good grades. Sadly the good grades doesn’t matter much, because if you have an A or B in object oriented programming, that doesn’t give me a much information. I don’t know what were the requirements to get an A or B, I don’t know how good the teacher was and how easy it was to get good grades. Of course if you didn’t pass the course it matters, or if all your grades are D it matters. I usually quickly look through the student register and just seek for certain courses like relational databases, algorithms and object oriented programming. If you have grades from them, then you are a valid candidate.
Salary desire can be a double edge sword. If you are totally off the chart, you are rejected. If you go too low you might get lower salary. If the salary desire is not specifically requested, don’t add it. During the interview you can ask for an offer and we will give it to you if you are selected. If you have the limit for minimum wage you want, don’t add that either. You can always reject the offer you get and try to negotiate it higher.
Summary
Getting a new job can be hard. You have to the best or most suitable candidate and that ain’t easy. Don’t be afraid to show off your character, show what you can do and be the awesome yourself. The more you give the more you will gain.