geekitarian

Here's a presentation I put together for Duquesne's Math and CS Seminar Series a few weeks ago.

If you’re a computer science / information systems / computer engineering student, or if you’re working as a software engineer / developer / programmer, chances are that sooner or later you’re going to run into a coding interview: you’ll be given a problem and will be expected to solve it, face to face. Even if you can write great code, there are a few things you can do to increase your chances of impressing an interviewer. While different companies use a variety of styles, here’s some advice that should apply generally. Before the Interview Read up on the company and the position before you walk in the door. You don't have to go crazy - a few minutes spent searching the web can give you good results here. Find out about the languages and technologies they use - if you know some of them, leverage your strengths here. If you don't, try to fill the gaps as much as you can before the interview. You might not be able to learn everything you don't know by the interview, b...

The fall semester is a challenge - coming back to school after a summer off, it can be hard to get right back into the swing of things. Vacations, barbecues, parties, trips... there are lots of things to keep you out of the studying mindset for a few months and that can bleed into the fall semester. Unfortunately, lots of companies will have selected their summer interns by the time you've read the syllabus for all of your classes. This means that you've got some work to do to secure your dream job. Here are a few tips to hit the ground running. #1: Figure out what you want. If you're a freshman, you can learn a lot about companies you might like to work for at this point - there are definitely internships out there for after your freshman year, but if you don't feel like you're ready, you can still also collect lots of information. As a sophomore, next summer might seem like a long way away, but it's important to consider if you're going to want an in...

Developers and other technical staff are a hard sell (more so than Hiring Managers and Recruiters) with a resume. This might be because a lot of them (not all of them, but a decent amount) don’t have much experience with reviewing resumes or interviewing. They know what position needs to be filled, but they might not understand how that position translates into a written resume (lots of developers get into computer science because they don’t like reading and writing, right?). There might be a lack of understanding as to the responsibilities of the job, or what’s really required. Developers and other technical staff tend to have more bias as well – preference for certain educational backgrounds, technologies, or skillsets over others. Reviewing resumes and hiring probably aren’t their primary job responsibilities, either. They may look at this as an annoyance or something that keeps them from doing their real job. Knowing this, you’re going to have to work harder to appeal to th...

Softball questions  are questions the interviewer asks to try to find out about your personality, your history, your level of enthusiasm, and your experience.  While technical questions evaluate your skills or your knowledge, softball questions are meant to have you talk about less quantifiable abilities.  An interviewer might ask a dozen or more softball questions to determine what you're like outside of an interview room. The word to remember for interviews, especially the softball questions, is: STORIES .  People who are good storytellers tend to be good interviewees. Technical questions are important - you need the skills to be able to do the job.  However, often interviewers are convinced by your answers to softball questions - then they spend the rest of the interview trying to convince themselves why they should hire you, instead of spending the rest of the interview trying to convince themselves why they shouldn't. A great strategy for prepa...

In the most common case, when a hiring manager looks at your resume, it’s the only time that he’ll (or she, there are a few women in this business, at least three or four) even see your name, or anything else about you, for that matter.  That means that you’ve only got one shot at catching his (or her) attention. The best thing to do when you’re writing your resume for a hiring manager is try to think like somebody who is reviewing resumes – somebody who is trying to identify a good candidate to administer a phone screen or to bring in for an interview.  I’ll give you some points to help you put yourself in this person’s shoes. Either you’re terribly busy because your boss has unrealistic expectations, or you’d just like to get back to watching YouTube and you don’t want to be bothered by reviewing resumes. You’re hoping to hire somebody to help alleviate the load caused by previously mentioned unrealistic expectations (or who you can order around and will do all of th...

What the interviewer is really asking: Can you recognize weakness in yourself?  Can you overcome failures and learn from them? How to answer: I love this so much more than the “What is your biggest weakness?” question because it provides so much more insight.  The interviewer is getting the same information, but they are asking the question in a way that people can give an honest response without bashing themselves.  It also is universal.  Everybody has failed at something. Be careful when you’re answering this question, because you don’t want to look like the sole reason for the failure; however, even if you are, highlight how you learned something from the experience.  You want to make it sound like you are able to take failures and stop the same thing from happening again.  Tell a story.  Interviews are a great place for stories.  Emphasize what you learned from the experience and talk about how you'd prevent the same failur...

What the interviewer is really asking: It's equally likely that the interviewer is asking you, "Can you see weakness in yourself?" as it is that the interviewer is asking you, "Will you outwardly bash yourself and convince me not to hire you?" How to answer this question: Jokingly say "I'm an obsessive perfectionist," and try to laugh.  It will open everybody up. Honestly, this is probably the biggest BS question that people ask.  I understand what the interviewer is trying to find out by asking it, but there are MANY better questions that also get the same results, and can get the same results with a more honest response. Regardless, almost everybody asks it, so have something prepared that sounds vaguely like a weakness but really is a thinly veiled strength.  Something like, “If I have time, I really have a hard time letting go of a difficult problem,” can sound almost like a weakness but really isn’t. Another strategy for this...

What the interviewer is really asking: Can you figure out the computational complexity of a situation, algorithm, or process? How to answer: It might seem like a great idea to just memorize the Big O notation of every algorithm or process you've ever heard of, but this is going to be a lot of memorization and isn't going to be as impressive as reasoning your way through a problem. Big O notation is simply a way to quickly describe how efficient some computing code is.  O(n) means that the process runs in time proportional to the amount of information processed; O(n 2 ) means that the process runs in time proportional to the amount of information processed, squared.  So, for instance, if a O(n) process is processing 10,000 pieces of data, this process might take 10,000 milliseconds (or 10 seconds) assuming that each datum requires 1 millisecond of processing; a comparable O(n 2 ) process would take over a day to process the same set of information. An algorithm th...

Technical interviewers are notorious for asking a question with dozens of potential right answers, but wanting to hear only one of these answers for a completely arbitrary reason.  If the interviewer asks you a question, and you give an answer (that you know to be right), and they’re still pushing for a response, look for any hints they might be giving you to lead you into a certain answer.   If you're confused on the question, it's totally understandable.  You've already answered the question, and in a way that any sane person would find acceptable and correct - but these aren't normal, sane people, they're geeks.  Try to think through the problem from the beginning, and don't be afraid to ask if there's a direction you should be moving in.  Unfortunately, the typical interviewer in this situation is the kind of person who is going to answer every question with a question (when asked, "Am I missing something?" they will respond with, "I ...

The first rule I like to lay down about resumes is, “Be Brief.”  But, if there’s a second rule, it’s, “Be Honest.”  Lots of people will tell you that embellishing on your resume is common practice, but I don’t think those people are trying to get a job programming C++.  You should state what you have done and what you can do realistically.  Lying on your resume will only get you into trouble later.  It might get you a phone screen or an interview, but it will set the expectations for those to a much higher (and probably unrealistic) standard.  Interviewers ask gurus different questions than they ask entry-level programmers. Some people like to put lots of technologies that they’re only vaguely familiar with on their resumes.  This may or may not be a good idea. Early in my career, somebody once gave me some interesting interview advice.  This person told me, “If an interviewer asks you if you can do something or if you know a certain te...

What the interviewer is really asking: What motivates you?  What interests you?  Are you really a geek, or are you just pretending and going to tell me something like 18th century English literature? How to answer: For this question, it's much less important which class you say; what's most important is how you justify it.  The interviewer is trying to find out what gets you excited.  Be enthusiastic.  Talk about what you learned.  You can go an extra mile and make it memorable with a quirky story about a project you did for the class. Whatever you do, don't justify your choice with, "Because it was easy." Surprisingly enough, most employers aren't looking for employees who don't like to work hard.

What the interviewer is really asking: When people ask this question, generally, they’re not interested in you reading your resume back to them.  They have it in front of them, so either they didn’t read it (a real possibility, especially if they’re very busy), or have forgotten.  This is sometimes used as a stall tactic.  However, it might be that what the interviewer really wants to hear is what YOU think is worth mentioning. How to answer: Be prepared to talk about what you've done and what you've worked on.  Don't talk forever, but spend a minute or two on each of the points that you consider important and relevant.  Typically an interviewer will ask for clarification or more information on areas that spark interest. Personally, nothing drives me crazier than when I ask this question and somebody just reads their resume back to me.   DO NOT read your resume or discuss every single bullet point on it.  Not only is this boring, but it makes y...