Interview help and tips

[MillField]

I recently graduated with a BSc in Computer Science. I have a few interviews coming up, mainly in software development. I was wondering is there any particular tips or general interview preparation tips that anyone here could advise on?

I haven't ever had an interview for a graduate job so any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[carnageX]

Firstly, congrats! I graduated with my BS in CSC last December.

Brush up on your programming terms / basic data structure knowledge.
Depending on the job you're applying for, make sure you're prepared for questions on stuff like databases, source control, etc.
Make sure you emphasize any team projects you worked on and stuff like that, or any large projects you worked on in general. Mention anything that you've worked on outside of classes that you're proud of (stuff that you made just for fun - I mentioned some of this during my interview, and the interviewers seemed sort of impressed, or at least glad to see I was enjoying what I did).

I actually didn't have many "programming" questions during my interview, which was surprising. Of course, a guy I work with at this job said some of his interviews that he had were full of programming questions.

If it's a welll-known company, see if you can find examples of interview questions.

 

[MillField]

Thanks for the reply! Right now I am pretty much just doing online exercises in different languages to get back in the development frame of mind. I have a code test Sunday to complete for another company so I need to get some practice in before then. This interview should be pretty eye opening for what to expect. It's for IBM, so there seems to be some tips online from people ho have interviewed there

 

[carnageX]

Thanks for the reply! Right now I am pretty much just doing online exercises in different languages to get back in the development frame of mind. I have a code test Sunday to complete for another company so I need to get some practice in before then. This interview should be pretty eye opening for what to expect. It's for IBM, so there seems to be some tips online from people ho have interviewed there

I have quite a few friends that work for IBM in development.

Watched one of them take the pre-interview "test" that you have to take. It's a lot of pattern recognization. For the most part that's all it is lol.

 

[Markos4]

awesome, I hope everything goes well, im going for a BS on computer science too. I hope I get a job right after I graduate.

 

[strollin]

I have quite a few friends that work for IBM in development.

Watched one of them take the pre-interview "test" that you have to take. It's a lot of pattern recognization. For the most part that's all it is lol.

I worked at IBM for 20 years, 10 as a programmer. That pre-interview "test" sounds like a test I took at IBM back in 1986. I think it's called PAT - Programmer Aptitude Test or something along those lines. It doesn't ask any programming questions, just tries to assess whether you have the logical thinking skills to be a programmer.

In my almost 30 year software development career, I have only ever been asked a handful of programming questions during job interviews. It's getting that first job that's the big leap, once you have experience listed on your resume then those types of questions become less relevant.

Good luck with your interviews, hope you find your dream job!

 

[MillField]

I worked at IBM for 20 years, 10 as a programmer. That pre-interview "test" sounds like a test I took at IBM back in 1986. I think it's called PAT - Programmer Aptitude Test or something along those lines. It doesn't ask any programming questions, just tries to assess whether you have the logical thinking skills to be a programmer.



In my almost 30 year software development career, I have only ever been asked a handful of programming questions during job interviews. It's getting that first job that's the big leap, once you have experience listed on your resume then those types of questions become less relevant.



Good luck with your interviews, hope you find your dream job!

Thanks, I appreciate the advise. Always interesting to hear from someone with that level of experience

 

[MillField]

awesome, I hope everything goes well, im going for a BS on computer science too. I hope I get a job right after I graduate.

Thanks. I hope you are getting through your degree and enjoy it