A job interview is a delicate art. And software engineering is a challenging but compromised profession. To combine these two things successfully, you should differentiate your hard and soft skills to be a person people want to recruit for complex projects and work within a team. Сheck yourself with the following points on How to hire a software engineer to find out if you are a person managers want to find.
Reasonable
You will most likely be asked questions about your weaknesses, so give them a weakness. Instead of trying to show you’re a perfect developer, say, e.g., that you find it really hard to strike a healthy work-life balance. Thereby, you reveal a weakness that does not impact your skills and competency but demonstrates you as a reasonable person who admits your own flaws.
Flexible
Being a software engineer means working with both projects and people. It requires listening to others’ opinions and views, as well as integrating their ideas into a developed project. If you behave categorically or interrupt the interviewer, it may alarm your ability to work in a team successfully.
Emotionally Intelligent
Experienced interviewers pay attention to your ability to set a contact. You may need to work with clients, so they must ensure you will not lose the customer and simply ruin the project. Emotional intelligence also includes your ability to understand a person’s desires, emotions, and feelings. It is about empathy and your ability to adjust to the situation.
Goal-Oriented
The interviewer wants to see the direction of a person’s professional development towards the company. When they ask you questions like “who do you see yourself in 5 years?”, do not treat this question as boring but try to be honest. They merely want to juxtapose your career goals with what they can give you and where they go.
Job Interview Tips
1. Use the S.T.A.R. technique.
If you were asked questions regarding work in a team or your accomplishments, you should tell about a specific situation using the S.T.A.R. technique:
- Describe the SITUATION you were in.
- Explain the TASK that needed to be done.
- Detail the ACTION you took to achieve the task.
- Reveal the RESULTS of your actions.
2. Be prepared as much as you can.
Know who you are meeting with. Devote a couple of minutes to google and research about the company’s direction, types of projects, and main clients. Being moderately complimentary gives not only karma points but also an impression of a nice person who recognizes the accomplishments of others.
3. Always go for the win.
Don’t ever abandon an interview halfway through. If you understand that the location is terrible, or people are rude within the first 5 minutes, still go for the offer. At the very least, you will go through the dress rehearsal, so show enthusiasm for this job. If you were hiring someone, you would definitely want to talk to a vivid person, not just technically smart. You always have time to refuse, but it is a good chance to train your soft skills. Responsibilities may appear really exciting, and companies propose remote work now widely.
