As noted in a study by the HeadHunter resource, in 2020 the demand for IT specialists in Russia, with the exception of the first months of self-isolation, was higher than ever. It will be like this in 2021. The situation is similar in Ukraine: every year the demand for IT specialists grows by 30%, according to a study of the IT labor market by GlobalLogic. Companies manage to attract only 18% of engineers. We are talking, among other things, about junior level developers. “The deficit will continue in 2021. The demand for specialists will be very active,” noted GlobalLogic. As you can see, now is not the worst time to look for a developer job. In this text, we have collected a summary of tips on how to prepare for and pass your first interviews: how to write a resume and motivation letter, what to ask at an interview and how to show your interest. Bonus - a selection of the most useful materials on JavaRush on this topic, including questions for a technical interview.
Step 1. How to create a resume
Write the most authentic information about your professional experience, knowledge, and work history. Describe your skills clearly. If you are comfortable working with, for example, Spring Boot, Maven and Docker, please indicate this at the beginning of your resume. Knowledge of Java Core, OOP, and understanding of the properties of REST architecture are also suitable.
It is better to create several different versions of your resume, in which you focus on certain skills , and send the most suitable version to different vacancies.
The resume should be clear and readable , preferably written in the same language as the vacancy. This will show your interest and understanding of the position you are applying for.
Write 2-4 abstracts for each project and important previous work experience. When talking about what you did, it is best to use this formula: Action verb | technical details | to... | achieve a certain target / solve a problem.
It is important to provide real information about yourself, including your first and last name , otherwise you may confuse the recruiter. Some applicants write only their nickname. For example, Alex, but it could be either Alexander or Alexey. To avoid awkwardness during communication, it is better to indicate your full name.
Provide information about your place of residence. If the job description states that the company is not looking for a relocation employee, and you are located in another city, this information is really important for the recruiter.
You can add a little personal information (interesting facts, hobbies), but without unnecessary details. In this case, it is better to say less than more.
Step 2. How to write a motivation letter
If you realize that you do not meet all the criteria in the job description, it is best to indicate this in your cover letter and explain why you want the job .
In the first paragraph of your motivation letter, write about what attracted you to the company, what specifically interested you in the team , project and position. Show enthusiasm for the work you have to do.
Also write about your skills that meet specific requirements from the company. Show that you can be truly valuable to the project.
In the third paragraph , summarize why you should be invited to an interview . Write as specifically and directly as possible.
Find out more about the company you are interviewing for.
Almost always, when selecting candidates, they prefer people who consciously state why they are interested in the vacancy and the company, all other things being equal. You can explain why the company and position are interesting to you not only in the context of the tasks you will be involved in, but also in a more global sense, for example, in the social mission of the enterprise. You can also research information about the company and connect your motivation for looking for a job with what the company is striving for.
Practice solving programming problems.
Technical problems are often given even to very experienced programmers - they serve more to assess logical skills and the ability to find solutions than to test direct programming skills. And their solution, if you do not have much experience in this, in an interview when time is limited, can cause unexpected difficulties.
Prepare a list of questions and topics for conversation.
Well-formulated questions to the interviewer will not only allow you to make a good impression on employers, but also to obtain more information about the job and the company, the tasks to be worked on, and potential difficulties.
View your Git repository.
For those who have experience working on third-party projects and personal pet projects, and it is recommended for programmers with little work experience to have them , it makes sense to review your Git repository before the interview: update it, if necessary, delete or hide those projects that should be shown I don’t really want, and vice versa, to highlight the best ones.
Prepare a monologue “about yourself.”
Often at interviews the very first question is like “tell us about yourself” (and interviews with programmers are no exception), so it makes sense to immediately prepare an answer to it - a short monologue: about you, how you came to this profession, about past experiences and expectations. Just remember that the monologue should be laconic: there is no need to retell your biography to the HR person in detail.
Conduct a test interview.
You can ask someone to conduct a mock interview to practice answering questions and overcome interview fears. They may ask general questions regarding the first stage of the interview with HR. It's also a good idea to find an experienced developer to test your technical knowledge. The more experience a person has with answering difficult questions, the more confident he will feel in an interview.
Step 4. How to prove yourself at the first interview?
Show your motivation.
A candidate may have a great resume, he may be suitable for hard and soft skills, but he does not show motivation to work in the company, or his motivation does not coincide with the company’s goal. Before you voice your motivation, figure out what you would like to hear if you were your interlocutor. If you say, “I need a job to make my first million,” and it’s a startup or a mid-level company, the company won’t be able to offer that to you. Most likely, such motivation can work against the applicant. In this case, it is better to talk about the fact that you have an interest in developing and launching projects from scratch.
Show professional activity.
During the interview, tell us that you are actively studying new technologies. For example, a story can be structured like this: you have learned Java, are mastering frameworks, and are now learning additional technologies that will help you develop more complex and interesting projects in the future. This will show that you see your future in this area and will willingly develop in it. It is important to show any experience you have, even in a non-profit project. You can talk about free projects, internships, and completed trainings.
Be sincere.
If you have completed the course and have never worked anywhere before, and want to appear cool and experienced, this will not work. Your experience will be revealed during the technical interview and during further work. You're doing yourself a disservice by talking about skills you don't have. On the contrary, sincere people endear you to themselves. If you understand that knowledge is not enough, it is better to focus not on this, but on how you are ready to learn and develop for the sake of a new job.
Ask questions.
An interview is the stage when you can form the most detailed picture for yourself about the company you are interviewing for. As practice shows, after an interview the candidate has many questions, but it seems like it’s not the right place to ask them.
Specify the deadline for making a decision.
If the recruiter or team lead didn’t mention the deadline, you should find out what it is. If you have been given a certain deadline, then try not to ask for the result ahead of time. If a company is delaying feedback, you have every right to write or call and ask if you can get feedback. If not, clarify why and how long you need to wait.
Step 5. What topics should I learn for a technical interview?
We at JavaRush have repeatedly written about what topics you should learn for a technical interview. In this section, we will recall the most common ones that are discussed during technical interviews with juniors.
Java Core.
The term Java Core is quite broad. This name refers to both the elementary syntax of the language and such a complex topic as multithreading. Actually, the JavaRush course is mainly devoted to Core.
Algorithms and data structures.
Algorithms are a kind of litmus test of a programmer’s skills and a person’s understanding of what programming is in principle. It’s better to understand data structures; people also like to ask about them in interviews.
Unit testing.
Learning JUnit will not take much time, but the benefits of knowing it are enormous. You will be able to cover your own and other people's code with tests. Very often, newbies are tasked with writing unit tests for colleagues, so this can be useful directly in their new job. 57.5% of respondents said they used JUnit before their first successful Java interview, and over 83% had already used unit testing in their first year.
Utility libraries, GUI and useful components.
Servlets, JDBC, log4j - all these and other tools are very useful and often used in work, and it is better not to neglect them when preparing for an interview. This is especially true for Jackson, which, according to our survey, was encountered by 72.7% of applicants for the position of Java programmer; JDBC - this library was tried by more than 78% of respondents.
Frameworks.
Previously, no one expected Java Junior to know Spring or Hibernate. But times change, and today this is sometimes expected even from Trainee. Before a successful interview, a third of respondents were familiar with Spring at a good level, and 45.5% had an average understanding of it. The situation with Spring boot is somewhat worse (36.4% did not know it at all), and almost 44% of JavaRush graduates surveyed said they had good knowledge of Hibernate. Follow the link to read a detailed text about what is required of a potential Java developer.
During interviews, it is especially important to show knowledge of Spring, Hibernate, and SQL. The set is small, but without understanding enough, you can start grinding nonsense. So if you don’t know, it’s better to answer something like this: “I don’t know exactly this, but I know this and that in Spring,” and so on. This way, your knowledge, however small, will be noticed.
Before the interview, study up and down the information on the company you want to work for. During an interview, you don’t have to fall into a stupor and say: “I don’t know.” Even if you don’t know something, but you start thinking, your ability to think will be assessed at the interview.
You can prepare for interview questions; there are many of them on the Internet. There are employers who like to ask something tricky in order to test the general erudition of the applicant. You also need to be able to answer such questions and be prepared.
After you fail your first interview, praise yourself. It is a great achievement to master a certain layer of knowledge and pass an interview. The big mistake here would be to give up. Of course, it is unpleasant to receive refusals. But everything goes according to plan, and you are much closer to your work. Your next goal is to fail another interview. And then another, and then another... And after each interview, draw conclusions. Take a look at your gaps and tighten them up. There's no hurry. The main thing is regularity and non-violence towards yourself. You are doing everything right. One day you will receive an offer. This is what you were going for. Your well-deserved offer. You are well done! If you still have questions about how to prepare for an interview, we are waiting for them in the comments ;)
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