What Skills Or Characteristics Make Someone An Effective Remote Worker
This is an important question to ask given the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote workers must be self-starters who are able to work with little supervision. They need excellent communication abilities as well as self-discipline and stellar time-management skills. Not everyone has those qualities, and not everyone thrives working outside an office. You want to be sure your new hire will be both productive and comfortable if working off-site.
Clearly Separate What Is Expected From What Is Provided
You need to make sure you are clear what you are meant to provide the candidate, and what the candidate is expected to produce in return.
In many problems you’ll need to provide back-story, constraints, requirements, or stub functions and APIs for the candidate to make use of. While sometimes you can get away with asking the candidate e.g. “what functions do you think you’ll need” or “what do you think the requirements would be”, taken too far this just results in a confused/frustrated candidate and a confused/frustrated interviewer unable to make progress.
Conversations like:
Candidate: This solution takes O time per operation
Interviewer: Do you think that’s fast enough?
Candidate: Yeah it seems fast enough for me
Interviewer: Would you be happy deploying this to production?
Candidate: Since you haven’t told me how important production is, sure why not
In real work, there will be external context and limitations on the system, timelines and budgets, and stakeholders who will have requirements that need to be met. In an interview settings, none of that exists, so it is up to the interviewer to provide it.
A candidate trying to propose a solution without being provided the necessary constraints and requirements is like an engineer trying to build a system without knowledge of the system’s requirements or access to stakeholders: a frustrating, useless waste of time that’s sure to end in disaster.
Question : Can A Candidates Choices Be Justified
While many coding assignments suggest the use of certain technologies, I believe a special emphasis should be put on one idea: candidates should use what they know best.
Itâs good to learn new technologies, but would you start a serious project while still learning a language or framework? Yes, it is theoretically possible, at least while thereâs somebody well-experienced in your team, but stepping into a new territory almost always means taking a few steps back . Itâs easy to spot a candidateâs first use of technology X in the coding assignment, which is often justified by:
I just wanted to use the new, shiny thing.
Over time, I learned that robust solutions are achieved with expertise in tools of choice. Switching into the yet unknown often leaves the author overwhelmed with the new architecture, quirks, and specificity of use, especially when the task is time-constrained.
The question to ask here is whether the candidateâs choice regarding the technological stack of the solution can be well justified and âdefendedâ. Did it really make sense to use the bleeding-edge features , or could it be solved in a more traditional, battle-tested way? Maybe thereâs a lot of over-engineering? Are there errors, missing pieces, or other pitfalls that could be avoided if only the programmer didnât have to invest the time into learning a tool previously not known?
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Promotes Quality Of Hires
The assessments given during a technical interview may help hiring managers choose the most qualified and compatible candidate possible, resulting in increased quality of hires. Team managers can tell human resources what skills they need and would like on their team. The testing in the technical interviews can filter candidates to fit these needs. This demonstration of candidates’ skills can save company resources by determining initial compatibility.
Map Out The Structure Of The Interview Before Starting
After introductions, the first thing that you should do is go over the structure of the interview.
One common layout I’ve seen is for 60-minute interview slots is:
- 5 minutes buffer: in case the candidate is late, previous interview runs over time, bathroom breaks, or simply letting the candidate relax and decompress
- 5 minutes of resume discussion
- 45 minutes of coding
- 5 minutes to ask the interview questions
This can obviously vary with the overall length of the interview and personal preference. Regardless of what layout you choose, you should state it explicitly. This helps the candidate:
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Manage expectations: I have gone into interviews not knowing how long the interview is meant to be, and having it take longer or shorter than I expected. Nothing throws you off balance like being told “you thought it was time for lunch, but actually we have another 30 minutes of follow-up tasks for you”
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Budget time: a 15-minute resume discussion looks a lot different from a 5-minute resume discussion, and a 45-minute programming solution looks a lot different from a 20-minute programming solution.
Overall, it helps set them up for success, since the candidate can feel secure and produce their best work, and is definitely worth the 15 seconds or so it takes to deliver to them.
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The Use Of Wrong Keywords
Again I have to distinguish 2 cases:
- the case where I start to speak about a keyword in the candidates resume and he quickly tells me that he used this technology/concept only a bit or a long time ago.
- the case where the candidate doesnt understand a keyword in his resume.
I remember interviewing a guy who had worked on a real-time banking application during multiple years. In my opinion, real-time applications in Java are one of the rare cases when you really need to understand how a JVM works and the underlying garbage collection algorithms. Ive never worked on real-time applications but Im interested by JVM stuff because it uses clever mechanisms . So, I was happy to interview the guy to learn new stuff. It turned out he wasnt working at all on a real-time application and he had no idea how a JVM works. His real-time constrain was to answer a service call in a few seconds I was very disappointed but I kept it to myself.
In this kind of situation, I cant directly blame the candidate because I dont know if its him or his contractor that put the mysterious keyword.
How To Conduct Technical Interview Part : Interview Preparation
Right now the topic about interviews is quite popular. It is easy to find information about how to prepare a CV and how to behave during the interview, how HR should behave during the interview but posts about technical interviewer behavior are rare, usually you can find only some feedback about companies based on the interview they conducted.
I have been working in IT for more than 10years, during this time-period past various interviews with companies and clients and I have been conducting interviews for approximately 8 years. I decided to collect some recommendation, how to behave, prepare and actually present yourself and your company. The topics which will be highlighted in this post
Each company has different internal interview processes, I have tried to generalize recommendations without bindings to companies.
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How Do You Think Further Technology Advances Will Impact Your Job
Advances in technologies continue to change most IT roles. How aware of that is the candidate youre interviewing? Do they know, for example, that automated testing is a major part of DevOps, which allows for faster development cycles and quicker deployment? A candidate may talk about the automation tools they use or the challenges of working with machine learning and big data. They may also discuss AI projects they hope to work on. This question is a good way to start a conversation about trends and advancements in the field, and it will also give you insight into how the candidate perceives their role over the long term.
What Role Do You Play In Quality Assurance
Certain developers have an attitude of “I write code, I don’t do tests,” or an attitude that their responsibility ends when the coding is complete. “To me that is an increasingly antiquated school of thinking,” Hammond said. “On agile teams or cross-functional teams, the willingness to be able to test what you’ve written and write your own test cases is increasingly important.”
“That’s one of those questions that shows me, am I dealing with somebody that’s got an old-school way of thinking when it comes to process?” Hammond said. “Or are they willing to do what it takes and get cross trained to help a small, fast-running team meet its goals?”
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Preparing & Conducting Interviews
Being well prepared and then conducting an interview methodically will help you make the most of this important recruitment tool.
When interviewing job candidates, you want to determine what sort of people they are, how good their interpersonal skills are, how they might react under stress, whether they have the skills for the job, and whether they have been honest in their resumes.
The Alternative: Google Docs
All coding for these types of interviews is usually done in some kind of shared notepad, and in this case, it was Google Docs.
If you dont want to share any code, or dont want your candidate to be helped out by handy editor tricks like autocomplete, then you can choose to use Google Docs for the technical part of the interview. Even Google themselves do this in technical interviews!
You may have the problem outlined at the top, and then the candidate may simply write code in the document to solve the problem below. Because Google Docs is collaborative, you can write notes or comments in real-time if you wish.
Again, make sure to use different problems when hiring for each new position.
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Technical Support Job Description And Person Specification
Technical support specialists and workers are responsible for helping customer and clients to resolve product related issues and problems in a timely manner. Technical support specialists can also be responsible for solving IT issues and problems within larger organisations. The role of a technical support worker requires an ability to communicate effectively with clients and customers and to provide suitable, timely support that enables the organisation to function effectively. As a technical support specialist, you will be required to analyse information and problems with a view to providing solutions that can be quickly implemented based on operational processes and procedures.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Maintain knowledge and technical expertise of applicable products and services relevant to the company.
- Answer telephone calls on a regular basis and provide technical support to customers and clients.
- Submit service requests to technical departments and follow up on these requests to keep the customer or the client informed on progress.
- Maintain accurate call log records relating to progress made during technical support cases.
- Carry out troubleshooting processes to get to the bottom of a product or IT related issue.
- Respond to urgent help requests in a timely manner.
- Provide support to callers in a variety of different situations and scenarios based on product issues and/or computer related problems.
Give Your Interviewees Resources In Advance
The key to conducting better tech interviews is to prepare candidates more efficiently. Candidates should already come prepared and have hopefully spent time practicing questions, but you can take this one step further by offering your own preparation material specific to the job description criteria.
Studies show that giving preparation materials, such as online courses or a list of questions, helps speed up interview processes and prevent anxiety for all parties. By utilizing pre-interview preparation, youre more likely to assess candidates on past performance rather than presentation skills.
Companies can even use preparation material to preselect candidates. Unqualified candidates tend to opt-out of the interview process if extra preparation time is required. Candidates who agree to participate are demonstrating investment in the role.
Technical screening automation tools are also a great option. These help assess coding skills objectively and eliminate unconscious bias.
Similarly, interview prep courses and material can equip potential hires for interviewing success. Hiring managers will be more likely to ask the right questions that get to the heart of the job description.
In fact, at Educative, our FAANG recruiting partners have seen a 13% increase in interview-to-hire rate among candidates whove taken Educative courses before interviewing.
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Common Technical Interview Questions
- Interviewers ask technical questions to learn your skill levels and how you process information.
- Prepare to discuss your approach and explain your reasoning.
- If necessary, ask for a moment to collect your thoughts. Ask clarifying questions if needed.
If you are considering a career in the tech industry, it is important to know that a technical interview is often very different from any other traditional job interview. Technical interviews typically include behavioral questions, situational questions and technical problem-solving questions.
Whether you are just starting out in the technical field or are a seasoned professional, knowing the types of questions to expect during a technical interview can help you prepare your answers carefully to showcase your skills and experience.
In this article, we discuss the most common interview questions asked during a technical interview with tips and example answers for technical questions.
Technical Support Interview Tips How To Pass A Technical Support Specialist Job Interview
The following four tips will help you to prepare fully for your technical support specialist job interview Each of the tips are designed to help you get most out of your pre-interview preparation time. Read the following tips carefully and they will help you to pass your technical support worker interview with flying colours!
TECHNICAL SUPPORT INTERVIEW TIP #1
One of the most important areas to focus on during your preparation for any technical support job interview is your ability to provide outstanding customer service. Questions such as, tell me about a time you went above and beyond for a customer and, what does customer service mean to you are highly likely to come up during your technical support interview.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT INTERVIEW TIP #2
All of the 24 interview questions listed on this page are the ones that have featured the most during all technical support interviews across a variety of sectors. We strongly advise that you prepare answers to all 24 interview questions featured on this page. By doing so, you will significantly increase your chances of success!
TECHNICAL SUPPORT INTERVIEW TIP #3
TECHNICAL SUPPORT INTERVIEW TIP #4
In addition to preparing for technical-related interview questions, it is imperative you prepare answers to the common type of technical support specialist interview questions, including, tell me about yourself, what are our strengths and weaknesses, where do you see yourself in five years and why should we hire you?
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Conducting An Interview In Tech: 7 Simple Steps
To quote Sahat Yalkabov, Senior Frontend Engineer at Bloomberg LP
Interviews shouldnt be one-sided battles where a candidate must prove themselves in order to get hired.
Random questions simply dont cut it anymore, theyre actually detrimental to your business. You should be focused on screening tech skills and having a comfortable conversation with the candidates rather than interrogating them with esoteric coding questions you most likely dont even know the answer to.
Here are the basics of conducting an interview like a PRO.
How Do You Handle Tight Deadlines
IT teams often face daunting time constraints. You need someone who can work efficiently and accurately when under pressure. Ask this interview question of a potential employee and youll at least get a sense of how they deal with stress and whether they can keep up with the pace of projects at your company. You could also follow up by asking if theyve ever missed a deadline and, if so, how they dealt with the situation.
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Consider How Candidates May Work In Your Team
When considering candidates, try to visualize how their technical skills and personality would work with the position and team dynamic. Review each candidate’s abilities to see if they could contribute something new to the team. Determine if their current skill set can allow them to succeed within the role and if they’re willing to learn more to help the company reach its goals.
What Is The Role Of Continuous Integration Systems In The Automated
The interviewer is asking this question to make sure you understand what continuous integration systems are and how they are used in the automated build process. When answering this question, clearly define what continuous integration is and then explain how it is used in the automated build process.
Example:“Continuous integration is a developmental process that requires developers to integrate code into a shared repository several times throughout the day. Each time the code is integrated, it is verified by the automated build. This allows for early detection of defects and problems within the codebase.”
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Take Questions From Your Candidate
Developer candidates will most likely be eager to find out more about the tech stack youre working with, your teams structure, and some extra company details. Sharing these details lets you expand upon vital aspects of your future collaboration.
Remember to use your interview rubric to track the skills the candidate demonstrated in the interview. Also make notes of the questions the candidate asks. You can use these to improve your process in the future.
S To Giving A Successful Technical Interview
Principal / Co-Founder at TTI Club
All companies need to hire people from time to time. However, how a candidate is interviewed is often an afterthought. To hire the best people, you need an Interviewing Strategy.
Interviewing done right is hard work. For the last 12 years, Craftlogic has been doing deep technical interviews when hiring people for our projects and for our clients’ projects. Our focus is on the interview.
An Interviewing Strategy must consider the following:
Timeliness
There’s nothing more frustrating than having a great candidate and then losing him because the client doesn’t put a priority on getting the interview completed. If hiring someone is important to you, then get the interview scheduled for the earliest possible time.
Remember, your company is not the only opportunity available to the candidate. Just this week we had a client cancel an interview and reschedule it. Then, on the day the rescheduled interview was to happen, the client was a no-show. Now, the candidate says he has no desire to reschedule and is no longer considering the position.
The message they sent to the candidate is, “You are not important to me.” We fired the client.
Know what you want
None of this was necessary. Know what you want before you waste a lot of people’s time and make yourself look bad.
Don’t have a checklist
Take a look at a previous post “Are You Trying to Hire a Robot or a Human?“
Prepare for your interview
Train your interviewers
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