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Ask HN: Afraid of interviewing

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Re: Ask HN: Afraid of interviewing

#11
Everybody is afraid of interviewing.

I've been rattled by every job interview I've had. That includes interviews for roles that I'd been courted for. It includes interviews for jobs I didn't even want, where I was interviewing mostly because a friend had asked me to. One of those interviews was for a company I actively disliked and would under no circumstance work for. I didn't sleep the night before! I did a multicast streaming media company in the late 90s and owned the router; later, I interviewed at a friend's company, got asked how to implement Towers of Hanoi without recursion, and for the rest of the day forgot everything I knew about routing protocols --- despite having spent the preceding two years doing nothing but implementing them.

Job interviews suck. They're hostile processes that involve complete strangers not just sitting in judgement of you, but also working under the delusion that their job is to break you so they can avoid hiring "B players".

I basically interview people for a living now and pay pretty close attention to this, and have come to the following conclusion: there is zero correlation between how people comport themselves in job interviews and their ability to do a job.

My best advice is, know the stuff you know. If you want to bone up on algorithms and data structures, don't cram. Implement them in your most comfortable language and watch them work, and go to the interview knowing not that you can recite them from memory, but that push-to-shove you can in fact throw down and get them working. Then just answer questions honestly.

The hardest interviews you take might be for the worst, most dysfunctional teams; a mean (or even just wicked) streak in interviewing candidates is a sign of broken teams, not weak candidates.

Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Afraid of interviewing

#12
post #11

Everybody is afraid of interviewing. I've been rattled by every job interview I've had. That includes interviews for roles that I'd been courted for. It includes interviews for jobs I didn't even want , where I was interviewing mostly because a friend had asked me to. One of those interviews was for a company I actively disliked and would under no circumstance work for. I didn't sleep the night before! I did a multic…

Everybody is afraid of interviewing.

This is a generalization that doesn't always ring true.

As I've gained experience, I've come to enjoy interviewing at times. Especially when I'm going into an interview where I feel quite comfortable discussing that particular domain.

If you're someone who doesn't mind social interaction and who doesn't lack confidence (for better or for worse), interviewing can be an enjoyable experience.

I doubt that I'm the only one who feels this way.

Re: Ask HN: Afraid of interviewing

#13
post #12
post #11

Everybody is afraid of interviewing. I've been rattled by every job interview I've had. That includes interviews for roles that I'd been courted for. It includes interviews for jobs I didn't even want , where I was interviewing mostly because a friend had asked me to. One of those interviews was for a company I actively disliked and would under no circumstance work for. I didn't sleep the night before! I did a multic…

Everybody is afraid of interviewing. This is a generalization that doesn't always ring true. As I've gained experience, I've come to enjoy interviewing at times. Especially when I'm going into an interview where I feel quite comfortable discussing that particular domain. If you're someone who doesn't mind social interaction and who doesn't lack confidence (for better or for worse), interviewing can be an enjoyable ex…

Maybe not. It hasn't worked that way for me. Also: no correlation between how strong I feel in the problem domain and how well I'll interview for it. And I'm just fine getting up in front of a room full of clients and selling consulting services, or getting in the face of a lead developer and telling them what they're doing wrong.

It's something about the "set and setting" of a job interview.

I'm unsurprised if there's a lucky cohort of people who just don't have this problem. Enjoy! For my part, I'm looking forward to spending more and more of my career beating the tech job interview to death with my bare hands, because I loathe it --- from both sides, as a candidate and now a hiring manager.

Death to interviews!

Re: Ask HN: Afraid of interviewing

#14
Just keep interviewing, keep trying. You're going to have to interview with a lot of people who are clueless or rude before you find someone you want to work with (and who wants to work with you).

If you get stumped by a question, look it up when you get home.

Re: Ask HN: Afraid of interviewing

#15
post #8
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, that makes me feel better. I've met developers like that and was even asked a trick question over MySQL and stored procedures years ago. I will continue to learn for the sake of learning which I've always done - not so much for interviews but to learn how to solve problems in different ways.

Also, in my personal experience, "I don't know" is a valid answer to those types of questions, as long as it is followed by an explanation of what your methodology would be to fill that gap.

I'm not afraid of not knowing an answer. If I don't know the answer its just an opportunity to learn. Each interview I've been in has produced topics or technologies I do not know. I research each and every one after the interview.

Re: Ask HN: Afraid of interviewing

#16
post #9

The only solution I've found for intense fear of something is to keep doing it over and over. For job interviews I've liked Larry David's concept of 'flipping it', start interviewing them for the right to hire you. Of course there a tactful way to do it, but getting myself into that mindset has helped with the nervousness.

Good suggestion - it's easy to focus on the interview being one way when in fact its is also for the candidate to vet the company.

Re: Ask HN: Afraid of interviewing

#17
post #12
post #11

Everybody is afraid of interviewing. I've been rattled by every job interview I've had. That includes interviews for roles that I'd been courted for. It includes interviews for jobs I didn't even want , where I was interviewing mostly because a friend had asked me to. One of those interviews was for a company I actively disliked and would under no circumstance work for. I didn't sleep the night before! I did a multic…

Everybody is afraid of interviewing. This is a generalization that doesn't always ring true. As I've gained experience, I've come to enjoy interviewing at times. Especially when I'm going into an interview where I feel quite comfortable discussing that particular domain. If you're someone who doesn't mind social interaction and who doesn't lack confidence (for better or for worse), interviewing can be an enjoyable ex…

I actually quite like tech interviews as well, but having been on the other side of the table many times I've come to realize that I am in a huge minority and you should start from the point of view that the interviewee is most likely uncomfortable.

Re: Ask HN: Afraid of interviewing

#20
Pick a few different positions that are in your field but you aren't very interested in. Try to get interviews for them. If you do poorly, think about where things went wrong and how to do better in your next interview. If you do well it should improve your confidence. Once you're more confident start applying for the positions that you really want.
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