Today I had my first technical mock interview with Skilled Inc and it was a great first time experience.
My chosen topic was React and I prepared for it by going over the react topic on Learn.co software engineering track.
The interview first layered down the structure of the interview and it went as follow:
5-10 min of Getting to Know Each Other
Yes folks, always get your elevator pitch ready. I kind of gave him my background, where I am coming from, stands and going; and he also gave me his background, explained the work environment of a software developer team, at least from the point of view of his team working as the lead Front-End Engineer.
Coding Challenge
This part was plain JS as he wanted to test my knowledge of the pre-requisite JS concept needed to fully understand React. He first started by giving me couple functions and determine what the expected return of the function will be and had me explain how I got to the answer.
Next, he gave me an algorithm problem, which was a simple one depending on how I understood the question. The problem was to identify repeat in an array and return it.
Pretty easy rigth? …
Number one mistake: I jumped directly into coding and failed to first communicate my thought process. I failed to ask for clarification, whether he wanted me to return the first repeat or return all the repeats in the array.
Although I solved the problem, failing to ask for clarification, communicate my thought process, and get his ok for the method to use was detrimental.
Technical Questions
Here I got to answer several questions about react concepts, the downfall and upside of react, ect and expanded my understanding of those concept.
Feedback
I got very constructive feedback and encouragement from my interviewer, the main feedback being to refine and practice my technical communication and clearly explain the thought process of solving a technical challenge I receive. Additionaly, don’t be afraid to leverage your interviewer to clarify any ambiguity in the questions you receive.
The whole interview felt more like a networking and learning process for me, and my interviewer eased the process as well.
Don’t be afraid to schedule that first interview. You have everything to gain …
Happy Coding and Job Hunt!