How to Prepare for the Technical Interview

The job interview process is a hard road with many pitfalls that can seize job seekers off-guard and cause great opportunity to fall to the pavement. One often over-looked part of the process is the technical interview. Here's how to be ready for it.

Everyone else does to prepare for a job interview such as update and focus your resume as well as work on your communication and presentation skills. However, you also have the technical interview to deal with.

Technical Interviews are, for many companies, used for only the top candidates. This is a time-consuming and expensive task for employers and a stressful addition to the interview process for the candidates. "If we have three finalists for a role, this is where we do a technical interview to see who is the most proficient," says one of the recruiter from reputed recruiting firm.

It's a chance for hiring managers to evaluate how you approach real-world problems, how you problem-solve, and the depth and breadth of your knowledge on the skills you're being hired for. It can consist of word problems, peer discussions, puzzles and brain teasers.

"All of this takes a lot of everybody's time and, although it's expensive, it's still a lot cheaper than having them wash out," says recruiter.

 Most people just want to show up and hope they can make it through the interview. Requiring this ahead of time really cuts down on the amount of spam

If you're really serious about getting the job, however, a little homework isn't going to slow you down. Beginning a job search is like taking on a new job in and of itself. It's not easy and there are many roadblocks, but the payoff is going to a job you love. So let's get started.

Be Articulate and Communicate Clearly:

In a technical interview, or any job interview for that matter, communication is a deal-breaker. Interviewers don't know why they should hire you. That reason is what you need to be able to articulate through your answers to their questions, the stories of your achievements and the questions you ask. "Companies want to see the candidate think in "real time" and while you may be brilliant at what you do, in an interview you have to be able to communicate this brilliance,"

 A good practice is to spend some time going over what you would like to cover and how you want to present yourself.

You are selling you - so know your product and your audience, and have a plan going in. Study the job description, do some research on the people you will be meeting and definitely do some homework on the company beyond just their products. Check out social media places where you can research the company and its people like LinkedIn, Facebook and Glassdoor.

Be Familiar with the Job Listing from company website

The best resource is the job listing itself. Human Resources puts a lot of time, thought and energy into these, and they will give you a deeper insight into the technologies used at the prospective company and how you may best apply your knowledge and skills to the problems they face.

"If it's in the job description, it's important to be able to talk to it and how you may solve the problems they are looking to fix. Make sure you really understand the technical requirements outlined in the job description. They were put there to provide guidance on what the company is looking for to ensure candidates are the right fit,

Refresh on the Core Principles and Basics

Brush up on any aspects of the prospective programming language that may be rusty to you, or perhaps you know only the broad strokes, but could learn more. Expect questions ranging from the fundamentals to some higher-level concepts and anywhere in between.

What you have to be prepared for as a candidate is that you are going to have to demonstrate your programming skills and there isn't a standard process. That said, if you are interviewing for job that calls for PHP developer skills, you will probably want to brush up on those skills, maybe take some online tutorials. "You want to read through and familiarize yourself with formal technical jargon and acronyms around PHP. This is a good idea because many times when you go in and you have the skills and can perform the tasks, what you call something may not match up with the formal terminology, says Reed.

Bring in a Portfolio of Your Work

It's always a good idea to bring in a notebook with your work or a portfolio to show interviewers.It could include proposals you've written or the parts you've contributed. We're looking for writing ability and the ability to communicate technical thoughts and recommendations. In that work product that you bring is also about the tools in your tool bag. We want to know what tools you use and what your mastery of those tools are. What tools do you use to manage your technology and people?"

Prepare Yourself Mentally

We all have bad days, but when getting ready for the technical interview, as with most other interviews, you need to mentally focus and put yourself at ease. The day of your interview you need to get yourself in the right mindset. This is different for different people but there are some things that work for many. For example, you could try working on logic problems, listening to classical music simply poring over your notes.

"Mentally preparing yourself is really important. A lot of it is in the mindset you carry into the interview from a preparation standpoint. If you have a morning interview, are you up early enough? Are you creating a quiet reflective environment where you can really start to get your mind going to prepare for what's coming ahead? Go over your notes and terminology, prepare some mental notes. Think about things you want to say in the interview that demonstrates your expertise and ask yourself how will I say that? Think about what questions the interviewer will ask you. Then think about what you'd say to that," says Reed.

Don't Be Afraid to Ask Questions

If they ask you a technical question, make sure you understand it before diving in and answering. If you don't know the answer, that doesn't mean you're dead in the water.

There are two things to do. First, you may actually know the answer but you're nervous and you forget. "Be honest about it. Just apologize and say something like, 'I just used that in last week, but if I was on the job here is what I would do to find the answer.' That way you're walking them through the problem and showing them you're resourceful," Second,  if it's something you really don't know, you can say something along these lines, "Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to work with this technology however, I have so much experience on other platform that I feel like I can transition easily."

though: "Don't ever fudge it. If you're sure you don't know, don't pretend you do. Try and draw a parallel or make a connection between something relative that you have worked with." You want to absolutely make sure you understand the question and then you want to finish up with a confirming question. Did that answer your question? Did I provide you with the answer you are looking for? Is there any part you'd like me to go into more detail on? "Don't assume, because many times there can be a disconnect, so ask them to confirm or clarify on the front end, answer the question and then confirm it on the backend," says Reed.

Have a Strong Closing

Many interviews end awkwardly or flat. Instead use this time to express your enthusiasm for the role and to let the interviewer know why you are the right person for the job. This is a great time to work in some of the points that you wanted to be sure you expressed to the hiring managers.

After the meeting, jot down any notes, thoughts or feedback you have while the memories are still fresh in your head. You should also write down the interviewers' names, roles and any other relevant information.

Follow-up and Send a Thank You Note

As with any interview, you want the interviewer to remember you for the right reasons and a thank you note with some additional details or thoughts will help do just that. Think about the interview and address any feedback you were given.

Prepare Yourself with Sample Technical Questions

Prepare your own question banks and prepare the questions according to the job description