Java junior at the interview: how to prepare and what to ask

In articles on CodeGym, we strive to regularly touch upon such an important topic, especially for inexperienced or completely novice programmers, as employment. We have already covered how a Java junior can improve skills and gain practical experience, where it is easier to find a job and how to impress an employer , as well as how to make a cool resume and upgrade your LinkedIn profile to maximize your chances of employment. Today we will highlight another side of successful employment for a programmer, namely, we will talk about how to prepare for an interview, what strategy of behavior during the interview should be chosen and what questions to ask interviewers so as not to seem like a fool. And if you're lucky, then also give the impression of a cool pro (or, let's be realists, at least a strong average).

Preliminary preparation. Basic checklist

1. Study the employing company

Despite the fact that the programming process itself does not depend so much on the field of work of the company, for a successful interview it is still very desirable, and often necessary, to know what the company does and what products it develops. To begin with, it makes sense to study general information about the company and what industry it operates in, carefully climb its official website and pages on social networks, and read the blog (if it exists). It would not be superfluous to look at the latest news that mentions the company and its products - this, in particular, will help to understand what problems and challenges this organization faces at the moment, in what direction it is moving and what advantages it has compared to competitors. Understanding what the mission of the company is and what is generally going on in the industry in which it operates will be helpful during the interview. This will help you formulate the right questions for the interviewer (we'll talk about the questions and why they are important below) and choose a smarter strategy in the part of the interview when the candidate needs to talk about his experience and briefly go through the points indicated in the summary.

2. Search the Internet for advice and standard interview questions at this company

Often on the Internet you can find quite detailed information about how interviews work in a particular company, along with advice from those who have already interviewed for similar positions. First of all, this is relevant for large companies, the process of selecting candidates in which is standardized and takes several stages. The most popular sites for information about companies around the world, their approach to hiring and, most importantly, testimonials from current and former employees are Glassdoor and Indeed. This is if we talk about global resources. In the Russian-speaking space, IT specialists most often prefer to leave their “heroes” - reviews about employers on such resources as Ukrainian Dou.ua, Russian Habr Career, Belarusian dev.by (well, and the notorious resource without censorship, which can be googled for “beautiful it” ). In the company reviews section of the above resources, you can very often find quite detailed descriptions of not only the entire interview process, including its duration and approach to conducting the conversation, but also the specific questions that are asked to all candidates.

3. View your Git repository

Those who have experience working on side projects and personal pet projects, while programmers with little experience are strongly recommended to have them, it makes sense to look at your Git repository before the interview: update it if necessary, delete or hide those projects that you don’t really want to show, and vice versa, highlight those that are not a sin and boast. Also, many experienced experts advise to once again review your code to make sure that it is clear even to the author himself, because it is very likely that interviewers, after looking at the code examples, will want to ask a few questions. Like: "what did you learn while working on this project?", "why did you write the code in this way?", "what was the most difficult thing in this project?", "did you have to make any decisions during the work over the project?” etc. Failure to explain your code and talk about the intricacies of working on a particular project can significantly spoil the impression of the candidate. On the other hand, a good Git repository will help you show your greatest strengths, your ability to grow professionally, and your desire to progress.

4. Practice solving programming problems

Technical programming problems are almost always given to candidates at one stage or another of the main interview, so it's a good idea to practice solving them. Moreover, tasks are often given even to very experienced programmers - they serve more to assess logical skills and the ability to find solutions than to directly test skills in programming. And their decision, if you do not have a lot of experience in this, in the conditions of an interview, when time is limited, can cause unexpected difficulties. There are quite a few resources with programming tasks. Among English-language sites, LeetCode , CodinGame and Cracking the Coding Interview and many others are very popular. Well, the best resource withCodeGym is undeniably the task of programming in Java in Russian.

5. Prepare a list of questions and topics for conversation

Preparing a list of questions and potential topics for conversation ahead of time is a wise tactic that often helps to avoid failure not only on the first date, but also during the interview for the position of a programmer. Here, information about the employer company, the study of which is the first item in our checklist, will be very useful. Well-formulated questions to the interviewer will not only make a good impression on employers, but also get more information about the job and the company, the tasks to be worked on and potential difficulties. At the same time, when composing questions, you should not be too zealous, trying to make them complex and ponderous in order to impress the interviewer with the depth of your thought. The main task here is to demonstrate your interest and understanding of the industry,

What questions to ask? Top 10 Interview Questions Checklist

Such a topic as questions that it makes sense for a candidate to ask company representatives during an interview is undeservedly deprived of attention and is considered unimportant, because when planning an interview, everyone tends to prepare in the first place to answer, not ask. We have already discussed why it is important to ask interviewers the right questions. And now we give a small list of questions that will be most relevant and at the same time useful during the interview for the position of a programmer. But first, a couple of quotes with opinions and advice from “experienced.” “The best interview questions are those that require a detailed answer and allow you to get a deeper understanding of the company, the team of people with whom you will work, and the position itself. “There are no universal questions that potential developers should ask employers in an interview. You need to “feel” your interlocutor and ask questions to match him. And of course, you need to consider the background of your interlocutor (whether it is HR or a specialist with technical knowledge) when thinking about what to ask,” advises Cody Swann, CEO of Gunner Technology.

1. Could you tell me about the team members I will be working with?

This is a great question for a manager who will be your immediate supervisor. This question, or rather the answer to it, will allow you to better understand what the team in which you have to work is like and how balanced it is. In addition, according to the manager's response, it will be possible to form an opinion about what management style is typical for the company and how he / she treats these people. This question can also be rephrased as follows: how many years, on average, do programmers tend to stay in a company? According to experts, the answer will help to better understand the corporate culture and how easy it will be to fit into the team.

2. How will my performance be measured?

Or, to paraphrase, we can ask: how do you measure the level of success of an employee in this position? Firstly, experts advise, such wording of the question shows that the candidate is already thinking about this work from the position of high achievements (however, one can argue with this statement). In addition, the interviewer's response will allow a better understanding of the company's expectations, as well as which approach to performance evaluation is more typical for it.

3. Why do you like working here?

Another good question to ask a potential boss. Allows you to better understand the corporate culture and what to expect from work and new colleagues.

4. What are the challenges facing the team right now?

“Questions about the main problems and main competitors demonstrate that the applicant cares about the company's trajectory. It also shows his confidence and willingness to take on challenges and seek answers,” said Kolton Andrus, CEO of Gremlin.

5. What technologies does the company currently use?

“I'm always more impressed by candidates who show a genuine interest in technology. It makes sense to ask about what technologies are being used and whether there will be an opportunity to work on something innovative - great developers are always learning something new,” advises Ian McClarty, President of PhoenixNAP Global IT Services. And a number of questions that experts with experience in hiring coders most often advise asking interviewers during an interview for a programmer position:

• What benefits do customers get from using your product or service?
• Are there opportunities for career growth?
• Do you have any comments about my resume and work experience?
• What development methodologies does your company use?
• Something about the particular company in which the applicant is applying for a job.

Let's end with another good quote. “I've always been most impressed by those candidates who researched our company beforehand and thought about the technical challenges involved in creating such a product. Such people usually ask good questions related to project architecture, technology choice, scaling, etc. It's a good opportunity for the candidate not only to prove themselves, but also to see if the company really knows what it's doing,” said Sean Borman of Obsidian Security.

Epilogue

These tips, along with other CodeGym recruiting material, will help you feel more confident during your interview, improve your chances of a successful result, and maybe, what the hell is not joking, get a more attractive offer. Well, we at CodeGym will continue to work on materials that will help a novice Java coder find a job. However, we help not only with words, but also with deeds: students with a Premium Pro subscription can send us their resume for review - our specialists will study it and give recommendations on what should be corrected or improved in it.