Intro

This Module covers technical preparation for a technical interview. It reviews answering questions, analyzing algorithms, and algorithm strategies. It briefly reviews basic concepts in Data Structures, Trees & Graphs and Recursion, and links to relevant tutorials and challenges on Learneroo. The last two pages review software design and provide additional resources to study.

Types of Interview Questions

Different companies have different styles of technical interviews. Some companies may not even ask any technical questions, though that is usually a red flag. Many companies ask knowledge-based questions about their specific technologies or about skills mentioned on your resume. Review these topics on your own, especially unique aspects of your language which you might not encounter regularly. For example, if you're a ruby on rails developer, you should review important features of Ruby. (See Learn By Example for a quick review of popular languages.)

However, most companies focus on standard "Interview-style" questions. They want to see if you can write short programs to solve simple challenges and demonstrate your knowledge of Algorithms and Data Structures. Fortunately, that is what this module is for!

Preparing for Interviews

The challenges in this module are very similar to online coding screen challenges that some companies use. For in-person interviews, you should also practice thinking out loud and clarifying or discussing the questions with the interviewer. Many companies will ask you to write code on a whiteboard, so it is worth practicing a bit on a whiteboard or paper to get used to interview-style coding. Afterwards, you can copy your code into the computer to see how you did.

Most interviews will also ask "cultural" and "behavioral" questions, so make sure to prepare for that. These are some examples of questions you could be asked:

• Name a time you handled a difficult situation at work.
• What are your top strengths?
• What was your favorite project that you worked on?

Review standard behavioral questions, and be prepared to discuss all your previous experience mentioned on your resume. You can get some practice with the 'interview' below!