Conquer the Technical Interview

What’s in this newsletter? 🤔

• Technical Interview: Overview

• Behavioral: STAR

• Interview: Real-World Process

• Preparation: LLMs and courses

• Study: Tools and Languages

• Job Listing: A live example

• Tips: General

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In the world of information technology, you’re fortunate enough to get two types of interviews. 🤣 The first is the behavioral interview. The second, more stressful and the one that will decide if you get the job or not, the technical interview.

Behavioral interviewing is a technique that assesses a candidate’s ability to meet the job requirements based on their previous experience. Using behavioral interviewing techniques, you want to tell a story that highlights your ability to perform essential job functions and be successful in the position. It’s very similar to the traditional interview approach. The traditional interview is less structured.

Most of my recent interviews have been behavioral. These are far less stressful and after a few you’ll have the answers down. The technical interview, not so much. 😨

The technical interview is a part of the interview process where you discuss and describe your technical expertise. You’re selling your technical acumen here. For those in information technology, this is where you get the job or drop the ball.

REAL-WORLD INTERVIEW PROCESS

Let’s step back for a second and high-level the entire interview process in the real-world. This process hasn’t changed in decades and it won't be changing any time soon. Here it is. There are three core steps.

• Phone Screen

• Behavioral/Traditional

• Technical

The phone screen is a sanity check. Are you sane? 👀 Can you communicate effectively? Does your personality fit in with the companies milieu? Now, to be honest, if you have the technical chops and as long as your aren’t Ted Bundy, you’ll get a in-person or behavior interview.

Next is the behavioral or traditional interview, we’ve already discussed that. However, let’s talk about little bit more about STAR.

STAR is an acronym that stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. It's a structured method used to answer behavioral interview questions effectively.

Behavioral interview questions are designed to assess your past experiences and predict your future performance by asking you to provide specific examples of how you've handled various situations.

We could go deep here but this isn’t a post about the STAR process. Let’s just cover a few things so you understand the basics.

Why is the STAR method effective?

• Provides Structure: It gives you a clear framework to organize your thoughts and deliver a comprehensive answer.

• Focuses on Specific Examples: It forces you to provide concrete evidence of your skills and behaviors, making your claims more believable.

• Ensures Completeness: By prompting you to think about each component, it helps you cover all the necessary details.

• Makes Your Answers Memorable: Well-structured STAR answers are easier for the interviewer to follow and remember.

How to prepare using the STAR method:

1. Review the job description: Identify the key skills and qualities the employer is looking for.

2. Brainstorm relevant experiences: Think about past situations where you demonstrated those skills.

3. For each experience, outline the Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Write down specific details.

4. Practice your answers: Rehearse telling your stories using the STAR method so you feel comfortable and confident during the interview.

If you wan to learn more about the STAR approach, use this prompt. 

explain the STAR approach to behavioral interviews

You’ve made it past the phone screen and behavior or traditional interview and now it’s on to the most stressful, the technical interview. 

Why is it so stressful? 😟 Because it’s where you’ll get or lose the job. Also, because every product out there is millions of lines of code with more functionality than you could possibly memorize.

The easiest way to feel comfortable in any technical interview is to know the product inside and out. Now, that’s impossible. So, what you need to do is know the most asked interview questions inside and out.

I’ve been interviewed over 40 times. I’ve been the interviewer over 100 times. The same pool of entry level questions are used everywhere.

Why are the same interview questions used time and time again?

• There are only so many entry level questions you can ask.

• Interviewers don’t know the product. That’s why you are being interviewed.

• Laziness. If someone already has the questions, why reinvent the wheel?

You must study for the technical interview. 📚

How do you start? A great approach is to use an LLM. I’ve tried Gemini and Copilot and both returned fantastic responses to this prompt.

list entry level SQL Server interview questions

Here’s what Gemini responded with. This is very good. I didn’t include “entry level” in this prompt so if you add that, you’ll get more granular results. Copilot was a little better but that’s to be expected, it’s a Microsoft product.

Here’s another approach or an approach to be used in concert with the LLM one. I’m creating a series of courses on learning the very basics of all three of the core products you must learn to get through an entry level data analyst interview. I’m calling the course series, hyperfoucs because it’s solely focused on learning the most basic terms and skills. The first course will be Hyperfocus: SQL Server.

I’ll let all my subscribers know when it’s ready. However, if you wanted to get a head start. The LLM approach is a fantastic tool. 

You’ll need to learn the core technical questions for every technical tool or language the company is using. Now, some companies put a laundry list or dream list for a candidate that doesn’t exist. Ignore these jobs. Only apply to the jobs that fit you and sound logical. Let’s look at a solid job post. 👏

Here’s a great example for a sane job listing, albeit with the wrong damn title. 😠 Notice they list the tool and the Azure Services you’ll be working with. If you’ve taken my Fabric course you know what all these are. The next bullet point lists what you’ll be doing. Ability to build BI Reports and Dashboards. Great. I know what I’ll be doing. Lastly, you’ll also be consuming views, an objects in SQL and the data will be housed in databases.

If I were a data analyst, this is the type of role I’d be applying to.

Now that you understand the importance of the technical interview and what you need to study for, in terms of language and skills, let’s wrap up with some more general tips.

• First Impressions Matter: Be on time (or early for virtual interviews), be polite and professional, and maintain a positive attitude. Turn your damn cell phone off for the interview. 👿 If it rings in the interview, you won’t get hired.

• Answer the Question: This sounds simple. No need for a dissertation, give them what they want. If they want more, they can follow up.

• Listen Carefully to the Questions: Ensure you fully understand the question before you reply to it.

• Think Out Loud: This is crucial in technical interviews. Explain your thought process as you approach the problem, even before you start coding. This allows the interviewer to understand your reasoning and provide guidance if you're on the wrong track.

• Start with a High-Level Approach: Before diving into code, discuss your initial thoughts on how you would solve the problem. Consider different approaches and explain why you chose a particular one.

• Break Down Complex Problems: If the problem seems daunting, break it down into smaller, more manageable subproblems. Solve each part individually and then combine them. This is big. If you can explain it to a fifth grader, you understand that concept, if you can’t do that, you don’t understand it well enough. I’m sure this has a real name, however; I’ve renamed it. 😂 I call it concept reductionism. Reduce everything to its most simple form, the build from there.

• Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Help: If you get stuck, it's better to ask for a hint or clarification than to remain silent and frustrated. This shows your willingness to learn and collaborate. It also shows you know you do not have all the answers.

• No lies: There are plenty of places to embellish, however; this isn’t one of them. If you don’t know, that’s a great answer. Sorry, I’m not sure about that question. TIP: Put your head down when you say, showing you feel ashamed for not knowing it. Now, you don’t but the interviewer will quickly sympathize with you. Additionally, trying to bullshit your way through an interview is a guarantee you won’t be working there.

• Stay Calm and Positive: Technical interviews are stressful, but try to remain calm and composed. A positive attitude can make a significant difference.

You’ve learned a ton about the technical interview. Actually, you’ve learned a lot about the entire interview process. Yes, there’s a lot of moving parts. Take your time, ingest what you can, learn the rest tomorrow.

Getting comfortable in interviews takes time. However, the more you prepare, the better you’ll do.

Thanks for reading and have a great day. 👏

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