Five Tips to Help You Prepare for Your Dream IT Job Interview

For many young graduates, getting their first developer job is always a challenge. As someone who just got out of college, you don’t have a lot of work experience to show. For people applying for a technical job, getting past the coding interview may be a challenge. How can you best prepare for this technical interview, as well as other HR interviews, so that you can get the job of your dreams? Here are some tips to help you do that.

Look and Act Confident

Recruiters don’t know much about you except what you display in your resume. First impressions matter when it comes to your initial interview. Even though you naturally may feel very nervous, do not let it show when you meet with your interviewer. Remember to dress confidently, and don’t hesitate to invest in a good pair of shoes or a high-quality suit. If you are cost-conscious, do shoe and apparel shopping in a high-street department store that offers competitive prices. When answering the interviewer’s questions, look at him or her in the eye and occasionally smile to maintain a friendly attitude.

Practice with Mock Interviews

If you don’t have experience interviewing before, it’s advisable that you do some mock interviews first, to get a feel of how you would perform in a real situation. Some sites pair you up with other people who are also preparing for interviews, and you two will take turns to be an interviewer and interviewee. If not, ask a friend or your family to do it with you and insist on getting honest feedback from them.

Practice Coding Problems

For people applying for a developer position, technical coding challenges are, most of the time, a must. If you don’t feel confident with your skills, keep on practising as many coding problems as possible. There are many helpful sites such as HackerRank or LeetCode, with hundreds of coding challenges for you. Having a good laptop is also important. If you want, you can find good apple refurbished laptops in the uk which sell for a fraction of the original price.

Highlight Your Passion During the Interview

One way to look good to the recruiter, even though you don’t have prior experience, is to show your enthusiasm and passion for coding. Programming languages can be learned once you know the basics, but a lack of a positive attitude cannot easily be changed. Therefore, recruiters don’t just look for people with a lot of experience and knowledge, they also want someone with the right attitude.

Be Patient, Persistent and Don’t Give Up

Typically, people don’t receive an offer with their very first job interview because they lack interviewing skills. Do not let initial failures frame you. Do not get discouraged. Just keep on applying and improving your interviewing skills until you finally land the job of your dreams. Treat each failed interview as a learning experience and try to find out what you did wrong to avoid committing the same mistake in the future.