Typically, companies hiring Linux and other IT professionals are resorting to a standard interview process. The whole operation is hacked together like Frankenstein\u2019s monster. It\u2019s complicated and stressful for all involved \u2013 and it\u2019s what you\u2019ve got to suffer through if you want a job in IT.<\/p>\n
This article will help you get ready to master your next technical interview and keep your cool in the process. It\u2019s kind of disappointing that an industry known for innovation is still mired in old-school, haphazard hiring practices, but it\u2019s what we\u2019re stuck with for now. So read on to learn how to prepare yourself mentally so you can show up as your best self, wow the hiring manager, and keep stress at bay \u2013 not just at the interview, but during the entire hiring process.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re jumping into this assuming that you\u2019re at the beginning stages, but you\u2019ve been in touch with the hiring manager at the company. You\u2019ve sent in your resume, and now we\u2019re moving on to your first direct interaction.<\/p>\n
Once the company receives your resume and sees that you meet the minimum qualifications, they\u2019re likely going to request a phone screening. This isn\u2019t a technical interview. Instead, they just want to make sure you\u2019re not crazy. It\u2019ll last about 15 to 20 minutes, and the questions will be along the lines of:<\/p>\n
Seriously, all they\u2019re doing is seeing if you can speak without sounding like a psycho. Don\u2019t ask stupid questions like \u201cDo you have free beer on Fridays?\u201d Don\u2019t go super-deep, either. Just answer their questions in a coherent manner and you should be just fine.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a chance they may ask you a few tech-oriented questions, but it\u2019s going to be more along the lines of, \u201cI see you\u2019ve worked with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Tell me about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Really, they\u2019re just weeding people out at this stage, so this is not where you have to super-wow anyone. Prove that you\u2019re not totally crazy, prove that you\u2019re more or less capable of talking to people and holding a job, and you\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n
If you want to prepare, just make sure you have good answers to the questions above, why you\u2019re looking for a new job, and what you\u2019ve been up to.<\/p>\n
After the phone interview, you might have a technical phone interview, or be assigned a take-home project to check your technical chops.<\/p>\n
The goal for the hiring manager is to get the number of interviews down to a reasonable level. After reading through everyone\u2019s resumes and doing the first phone interview, they\u2019ve gotten rid of about 90 percent of the clunkers, but there are still too many candidates to bring in for an interview. The tech screen will usually be pretty straightforward and simple questions to see whether or not you know what you said you know on your resume.<\/p>\n
Typically, they\u2019ll say, \u201cI see on your resume you worked at X, Y, and Z.\u201d Then you can say, \u201cYes, that\u2019s where I did such-and-such and was in charge of this-and-that, and I did such-and-such as well.\u201d Just give a basic overview. Don\u2019t get too technical unless they ask for more detail.<\/p>\n
If they do ask more questions, that\u2019s a great sign. The deeper questions they ask, the better. At this point, it can be good to clarify the technical knowledge of the person you\u2019re speaking to so you know if you\u2019re talking to an actual technical person, or a receptionist who is just going down a checklist.<\/p>\n
But be careful \u2013 it can be touchy. Do NOT assume that just because you\u2019re talking to a woman, she isn\u2019t technical. More than once, applicants have totally sunk their chances of getting hired because they were a total sexist jerk by assuming the person they were speaking to was a receptionist or administrative assistant, and not the platform engineer.<\/p>\n
So if they don\u2019t say, \u201cHey, this is Emily, I\u2019m a senior platform engineer,\u201d you can ask by phrasing it like, \u201cI didn\u2019t catch your position\u2026 what is your role?\u201d Determine who you are talking to, no matter what they look or sound like. Be polite and you\u2019ll be okay.<\/p>\n
A take-home tech project will usually be a small programming project where you\u2019ll need to do some scripting, or you\u2019ll use some general purpose programming language of your choice to solve some problem. You might have to do some log analysis, for instance, and then you submit your code. (If you need help with shell scripting, check out my course on it here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n To really show your best side, comment on your code and also provide a README, even if it\u2019s just a couple of paragraphs long. It doesn\u2019t have to be extensive or complicated. Just say something like, \u201cThis function does X. It takes this type of input and produces this type of output.\u201d<\/p>\n If your project is timed and you don\u2019t have time to write test cases or handle people putting in bad input, you can tell them how it will fail. You can say, \u201cI didn\u2019t have time to do this, but if your input is a string it\u2019s going to fail this way.\u201d Make sure to tell them what you weren\u2019t able to test, otherwise they\u2019re just going to assume that you didn\u2019t know that you needed to test.<\/p>\n You can do the minimum, or you can use these projects to show that you\u2019re a professional and you care about the quality of what you\u2019re working on. (Hint: Don\u2019t do the bare minimum.)<\/p>\n Whatever you hand in, be ready to talk through it afterwards. Don\u2019t just copy the answer off the Internet. Be prepared to explain why you approached it the way you did. If you just copy the answer, you\u2019re just going to look like a bigger jerk later when you get caught. Even if it\u2019s too hard, just do your best and be upfront about it. The biggest thing is to be honest and act like a professional. You never know when you are going to run into someone again, so you don\u2019t want to burn any bridges by lying yourself into a job.<\/p>\n After you make it past the first tech review, you\u2019ll be invited in to meet people face-to-face. This is make-or-break time, and you need to be prepared. But don\u2019t try to learn a totally new programming language or cram for your in-person meetings. You just aren\u2019t going to be able to do it. You might think you\u2019re pulling it off, but people who know are experienced in that area will know immediately that your knowledge is about an inch deep.<\/p>\n But while you don\u2019t want to cram, you still can review things that you should know because of your previous roles.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you\u2019ve been using Puppet for configuration management for a couple years or you\u2019ve done worked on Puppet at home, but you know they use Ansible for configuration management in the role you are applying for. I would definitely read over some Ansible documentation and look at a few examples, but your wheelhouse should be Puppet, so you better know Puppet. If they asked you to write an Ansible playbook, you can say, \u201cI don\u2019t really know how I would do it in Ansible, but I can show you how I do it in Puppet\u2026\u201d The main thing is to know what you SHOULD know and sound confident that you can learn what you need to learn for the new role.<\/p>\n Confidence is really key. It\u2019s easy to stress out and get anxious. But remind yourself it\u2019s not black or white. It\u2019s rarely a case where you will totally pass or totally fail. If you don\u2019t know something, just talk through it. You can be totally upfront and say, \u201cI\u2019m kind of stressed and I\u2019m drawing a blank,\u201d and then start breaking down the issue. Like, \u201cOK, I don\u2019t know how that config works, but I know that this has to happen so the request can go from A to B, and I know it\u2019s going to talk to these three servers\u2026\u201d Then you\u2019re giving them information and you\u2019re showing them that even under duress you have a high level understanding and you\u2019ve clearly worked with it before and you\u2019re comfortable with it. That can be just as important is having gotten the answer \u201cright.\u201d And it can be even more important to show them your thought process.<\/p>\n Even the more technical aspects like whiteboarding or live coding are still just as much about seeing your thought process as they are seeing your familiarity with the tools of the language and your ability to get the right answer in a reasonable amount of time. After all, standing up in front of three or four people and working through a problem in real time on a whiteboard with a marker that probably doesn\u2019t work\u2026 that\u2019s not really a natural situation to put an engineer in. But even so, chances are you\u2019re going to be in that situation, so be ready. And remember to talk through it and keep communicating.<\/p>\n It\u2019s better to get it slightly wrong and be communicating about your thought process the whole time than it is to stand there silently for five minutes and then arrive at the right answer. After all, they\u2019re not hiring you to solve that one specific problem on the board; they\u2019re hiring you to solve a whole general class of problems that may or may not be like that. They want to know how you think, and the only way they\u2019re going to know that is if you tell them what you\u2019re thinking as you work through it.<\/p>\n At some point during your in-person interviews, you\u2019re going to get a break or two. You might think, \u201cThey\u2019re so nice, they\u2019re letting me have some downtime,\u201d or \u201cAwesome, free lunch.\u201d Don\u2019t get fooled! You are STILL being evaluated during this time, often for personality or behavior.<\/p>\n There are plenty of ways for the interview to go wrong even when you\u2019re not standing at the whiteboard. For instance, if you\u2019re offered something to eat or drink, be polite about it. Say, \u201cNo thanks,\u201d or \u201cYes please.\u201d But don\u2019t insult the company complaining about their drink choices or grumbling because they only have Diet Coke when you would much prefer Cherry Coke Zero.<\/p>\n As soon as you step out of your car and into the front door of the company, you\u2019re being judged. You\u2019re on stage, and you\u2019re on until you walk out the door. If you\u2019re sitting in the waiting room, don\u2019t be doing anything out of the ordinary. People will notice if you stick your gum under your chair or eat all the good chocolates out of the bowl on the reception desk and leave the wrappers on the floor.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t give them any excuse to think you\u2019re anything but awesome. (Because you ARE awesome, right!)<\/p>\n Depending on how big the company is, you\u2019ll likely meet with a director, VP, or even the COO, CEO, or CTO. This is the high level interview where you\u2019re going to show them that you understand what the company does. If you don\u2019t know before you get the interview, make sure you at least have a basic understanding of the company\u2019s purpose before you start interviewing.<\/p>\n This is also a great way to show your interest in them. You can say, \u201cI read that you do XYZ. Can you tell me how that works?\u201d That gives you a chance to interview them a little bit, too.<\/p>\n Now that you know what to expect during the process, here are some additional tips to make sure you\u2019re the most prepared and successful you can be:<\/p>\n Don\u2019t be afraid to ask about the process. Sure, this article has given you a great outline, but it will vary a bit from company to company. Asking how the individual company does things will help you be better prepared. You can also ask when you can expect to hear back at each stage. It shows you\u2019re interested in moving forward.<\/p>\n At least a quarter of the interview process should be you interviewing the company. Don\u2019t be afraid to ask questions like:<\/p>\n If something\u2019s important to you ask!<\/p>\n Word of warning: You don\u2019t want to start out your first interview by asking how many vacation days you get, or if it\u2019s okay that you come in at noon three times a week. But at some point in the process, this will become a negotiation, and you want answers to the questions that are important to you.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t fall for the ping-pong table. Having a cool office is nice and all, but getting unlimited Monster drinks and access to bean bag chairs doesn\u2019t make up for getting paid $10K under market.<\/p>\n Make sure you meet your boss. And by \u201cboss,\u201d that means the person who\u2019s going to determine how much you\u2019re going to get paid. If you don\u2019t meet that person at some point in the interview process, that\u2019s a warning sign. It doesn\u2019t mean you should jump ship, but it is something worth asking about. Sometimes it can indicate that they\u2019re in so much turmoil they don\u2019t know who you\u2019re going to report to. Sometimes it means things are in such flux that the org chart changes from one day to the next. And sometimes it just means it\u2019s an oversight. But it\u2019s worth asking about.<\/p>\n Prepare your questions for the interviewer. The worst thing you can do when someone asks you if you have any questions is to say, \u201cNo.\u201d Instead, create a written list of questions about the company. Even if you have five or six interviews in a day, you can ask similar versions of the same question to each of your interviewers. Contrary to what you might think, asking questions actually shows your intelligence level.<\/p>\n \u2022 How much technical debt is there? Now that you know what to expect, hopefully you\u2019ll remember that the most important part of the interview process is confidence. Knowing the \u201cright\u201d answer to any question is great, but it\u2019s even more important to show that you\u2019re an incredible, intelligent person who would be awesome to work with.<\/p>\nThe First In-Person Interview<\/h2>\n
Taking Breaks During the Interview<\/h2>\n
Being Interviewed by an Executive<\/h2>\n
Technical Interviewing Tips<\/h2>\n
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\n\u2022 How much freedom do you have to choose the solutions you implement?
\n\u2022 What\u2019s the worst part of your job? (You probably won\u2019t get a 100 percent truthful answer, but you\u2019ll get a glimpse!)<\/p>\nConfidently Tackle Your Next IT Interview!<\/h2>\n