The Interview Process

I did my Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Engineering from a college in Kolkata named Narula Institute of Technology. In the mean time, I was appointed to different internships, the most renowned of them was my CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) internship, which basically directed me to the career path I wanted to be in, that is, to become an overall solution provider to technology and not only in a single domain.

While being on my final year of my graduation, I was forced (kind of) into being a part of a multi-national company as they provided job security and many of my siblings and peers were already a part of it. I trained myself to answer questions that were often asked to candidates who were fresh out of college. My thinking around that time was that those questions were important in order to understand whether the candidate was aware of the overall concept on “programming”. After spending almost 3 years in this field, and being a part of the interview panel as well for the organisation I am working for currently, my entire view of this process has changed.

I had a to make a decision at one point of my life, do I want to learn as much as possible or should I settle for job security that people were so eagerly to grasp. Whether that decision was a good one or not is yet to be decided, but I have fared well in this ocean of knowledge and tackling challenges not to be solved ever before. Sometimes, “we have to learn to run, before we can even walk”

I wanted to list down some of the points I feel should be taken care of while hiring the right candidate for any profile —

1️⃣ Questions asked during interview

I recently saw a post in LinkedIn stating the questions one should prepare for during their interview with a MNC. The post was regarding Python and it mentioned questions like — What is the difference between a tuple and array?, What is join function in Python?

Do we really need to ask candidates these questions? Aren’t the answers to these questions available with a single query in Google for free? Are programmers nothing but tools to remember definitions without even understanding when and where a function needs to be implemented and used? I have seen programmers knowing the definitions of functions by heart yet while coding, they are clueless how to implement it.

I started off my career as a JavaScript programmer and here is a question I want to ask you -

If you define an array as “arr” and set it to arr.length = 0, what will happen?

When you saw the question, what popped up in your mind? This seems to be a good question for an interview. But do we ever use this (ever) while building an application? The simple answer is NO!

While hiring a candidate, ask them questions that they are going to actually use in their day to day life and judge on the approach they are taking. Asking a question like “How do you sort a JSON based on a certain key value?” can fetch you 2 types of answers — few will choose to loop through the entire array and then sort it and some will simply use libraries like “Lodash” to achieve it in a line. Understand the thought process the candidate is having while solving the problem.

2️⃣ The number of programming language grasped over the years

I have been into interviews where they ask me, “Do you know Perl?”, “Do you know GoLang?”, “Do you know React Native?”, “How many years of experience do you have working on each of these languages?”. I have a question in return, how does that matter? Does working with a programming language for more time makes you an expert in it? It’s similar to the concept that a person who has spent more time in the industry has more knowledge than a less experienced one!

All these are programming languages are designed to be compiled or interpreted and run in an environment. How does working in a one over the years makes you an expert in it? Even after working with a programming language for over a decade, I have found candidates having zero understanding about the flow of the language. Learn not only the syntax but how your logic is going to work in any environment.

Codes are supposed to be a reflection of one’s thought process when fed into a computer. The programming language is the translator, however, the logics are the one’s that really get the job done. Work on your logics, think of tackling a problem more efficiently. Build your mindset that when it comes to problems being solved, a switch-case will perform way better than an average if-else condition.

3️⃣ Respecting people’s time in order for them to respect yours

If you’re running late for an interview, have the courtesy to drop a mail or even a message in order to acknowledge that you will be late. When you do so, it shows that you not only value your time but also respect other’s as well.

And it’s completely okay to say no a meeting. We as individuals have our own lives and we like to live uniquely than others. What if the organiser of the meeting is available at one point of their day, and you are not? Feel free to “decline” a meeting invitation. This not only shows that you’re professional, it also shows that you have errands to run yourself.

I have been asked to interview for companies who did send me an invite for 1 pm, but they drop me a call around 2 pm, claiming that the person on the other side was busy. I personally feel that it’s possible to be busy or stuck in another activity, however, having the courtesy to acknowledge to the person awaiting your attention of the same is a gesture irreplaceable.

Elon Musk says, that’s it okay to leave a meeting if one is not providing valuable feedback to it. SpaceX allows people to simply walk off a meeting if they feel they are not required there and be fruitful is solving tasks that they are supposed to.

4️⃣ Programmers are a species in themselves

You must have come across memes where it states that programmers are a species in themselves and not to be disturbed when they are working. Or even, they are machines to convert coffee to code. I quite agree to it.

People who have actually acknowledged this fact have shown remarkable progress in their organisation. Have you seen the movie “The Social Network”? It portrays the exact idea that when a programmer is “wired in”, he is not even viable to accept the changes to his surrounding. What did that lead to? A conglomerate like Facebook!

Why does a programmer required to be tied behind the norms of shirt and trousers when his productivity is almost tripled when he is working in shorts? I do realise that presentation is important when talking to clients, but do we always speak to clients? I remember Steve Jobs giving the demo of his product in “flip-flops”. I remember visiting office in shorts to solve a problem at 3 am at night.

5️⃣ Using your personal time to make yourself better

I have interviewed candidates that are way off the domain of the profile we were looking for, but during the conversation I realised that the person is adaptive enough to fit in any field that they want to work in. These kind of people are the best to work with. They can take in challenges and can work in any domain that they want to. Look within people the attitude of not being comfortable within their shell and want to explore more. People who do not work for the pay but for the sheer passion in their field.

6️⃣ The art of expressing

When you speak to someone, you are trying to explain what you believe in. During interviews, people often feel nervous to present themselves with the ideas within them. It’s an art to present yourself properly in order to help the person on the other side to be at the same frequency as you are. Just like an advertisement is meant to showcase the features of the product being sold, an interview is a platform to showcase the talent within yourself. Speaking, presenting yourself and not being pushed back with the thought how the other person is judging you makes you a leader.

Have the courage to stand, and stand even though you are alone!

Whenever I take an interview, I have a set of questions ready either in a piece of paper in front of me or in my mind. I have interviewed people who haven’t answered any of those questions and yet I have given the feedback that the person is fit enough to work with us. A correct attitude, a capability to explain things precisely is all one need to be in any field to take it to the next level!

The intention was not to criticise any particular organisation or even any work flow. The idea is to grow within organisation the need to go for logic rather than memorising definitions and books. We are the future of innovation and not thumb-drives to store data! The recent changes of the Indian Educational System does define the future we are heading into and it is looking like to be a promising one.

Drop a few claps if you like the article. You can definitely reach out to me if you have any queries!