.Net Developer Interview

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I just got a phonecall from an agency i signed up for the other day. The asked me to jazz up my CV to put more emphasis on my development skills before they passed it through to the client.

The called back just now to say that the client had looked at my CV and wanted to interview me. So i now have an appointment for a Developer position Monday morning. Its with the IT Directory, the MD, and one of the Developers, so i suspect that theres going to be technical questions.

Im Sh*tting it a little here. My CV plays up my experience and doesnt actually indicate when in my current role i started programming properly (november). Im hoping i dont make a complete tit of myself here. I suspect that they're going to ask me how i would achieve certain things, and im going to have to admit ignorance.

 

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As long as you are truthful and don't try and BS them, then you should be ok.

 

Better to admit ignorance than to provide an ignorant answer. Personally, I admire a tech who is truthful about his/her limitations and doesn't resort to BS.

 

A lot of development is down to interpretation of the specs, rather than code itself.

If they give you a scenario to look over before the interview, prepare loads of questions about it. If they 'drop you in it', play dumb.

What you want to do is make it look as if you are trying to break down their scenario (without coming across as argumentative or arrogant).

Ask questions like 'Why should only the admininstrator see that information' or 'is it really necessary to use SQL - surely access would suffice for this?'

In a development role there is a lot of 'brainstorming'. I'm not suggesting that you should try and avoid answering questions, but make it look as if you are trying to find ways around the problems rather than tackling them.

Remember, every question you can ask the interviewer is one less that they can ask you...

 

Excellent tip

 

...or make it look like you totally don't know what you're talking about. Be very careful if you decide to go this route - trying too hard to impress an employer can backfire on you. If you recommended Access over SQL for a complex database application, we'd have a great laugh at your expense... and eliminate you from consideration.

How so? Rarely do interviews take a predetermined amount of time - I've had interviews take 2 or 3 hours before. When I interview, I ask ALL the questions I have for the prospective employee. Every question you ask the interviewer is simply another opportunity to give the interviewer a better (or worse) impression of your knowledge and skills and logic. I certainly recommend asking questions - just be careful to expose your knowledge and not your ignorance.

 

Well, of course you wouldn't recommend access for a complex database solution. Otherwise you would look stupid. I didn't give any specific examples in my post. You have to make your answers sensible, whatever the scenario.

Depends on the quality of the interviewer mate. I've sat on both sides of the table, and nowadays tend to interview - rather than be interviewed. In my last job I also taught interview techniques.
I've found that unless the interviewer is VERY disciplined, it is easy for a candidate to sidetrack them.

IT people generally are are bad at hosting interviews, and HR people generally know sh*t about IT. You have to strike a balance.

Sorry if anyone misunderstood me - I wasn't suggesting that there are cheap con tricks to fool an interviewer (not a good one, anyway) - but there are guidelines that an interview should follow, and if the candidate is aware of these then they can use them to their advantage.

It's what I do - take it or leave it...

 

I didn't think you were... but I didn't want some of the newer IT folks to think that's what you were suggesting. The caution certainly couldn't hurt.

 

I've been a victim of overconfidence in interviews.
Just when you think you're so good at this sort of thing it can come as a real surprise when you find out they thought that you were a t0sser!

One of the first interview techniques courses I did was run by a guy from Oxford (the university - I wasn't just mentioning where he lived )
He started out with a sermon on the do's and dont's - then at the end of the day he interviewed us individually and taped the results.

It was quite funny to watch. We were trying to be conscious of all the things he had told us (I was trying to sit still and make the right amount of eye contact) - I felt that I had done quite well.

Then I saw the tape and realised that I was wriggling like a fish on a hook and, for some reason, staring at my shoes all the time. And some of my answers, well, they weren't answers. Some of them weren't even English.

So yes, what BBM says is true. You've never got the upper hand, but you should always go in prepared!

 

Great Post. My job is as a PA for a web developer but my general day-to-day activities involve writing .NET user controls for Sharepoint 2007, since I am the only one in our section who has worked with .NET (at Uni). The other web developers program in asp. I have been thinking about going for a junior .NET position elsewhere (or my own place if it comes up) and the interview advice on here highlights some pointers for me. Basically use your existing knowledge when asking questions and do not try and bullsh*t the panel. I agree about personnal people being crap at asking the right type of questions.

 

Well, I didnt get the job in the end. I seemed to get positive feedback, and they felt I'd interviewed quite well, but in the end they offered the job to someone with more experience.

 

Fergal,

Sorry to hear that. Good luck on the job hunting

 

Bad luck, don't let them grind you down

 

Sorry to hear that you didn't get the job. Now is the time to polish up your knowledge!

If you do that now you will be better prepared for next time.

Although it's exciting to get an interview, it's never a good idea to get the interviewer's hopes up regarding your skills. As soon as they realise that you don't live up to the image presented by your CV you've lost the job.

If you play up your CV than you have already made a tit of yourself. Be honest and spend the downtime polishing up your skills. If you are honest on your CV and you keep learning you will find that that in itself will provide the confidence boost required to perform well at the interview, and potentially impress the interviewer further by showing extra skills that were not made apparant on your CV.

Forgive my bluntness, but this is not a habit that you want to keep up! ;)

 

Thanks guys.

To be fair with my CV. I've detailed what ive done, gone into more detail with the development aspects and what technologies i used than before, was a little vague with how long ive been doing it exactly, but nothing on the CV is a lie.

 

Cool. On a CV always indicate your level of proficiency, eg:

- Advanced knowledge and use of C++
- Assembly Language use
- Knowledge of SQL

This small snippet represents part of my skills. It tells the interviewer that if they test me on C++ then I should pass that test. For asm I could be tested on basic to intermediate knowledge, and for SQL I should be considered to understand the theory somewhat, but should not be expected to be able to build a large system.

To myself I feel that I have told the interviewer that I can jump onboard a project of my specific area of expertise with very little training/settling in required for one based on C++. For asm, because I have not been using it for a while and it's easy to forget a lot of it, I have played on the side of caution so that it would be unlikely that I will be pressed on the language, but have left myself space to impress the interviewer with knowledge that they didn't expect me to have. For SQL I've indicated that it would not be wise to consider my knowledge strong on the subject, so it should not be pressed.

I've covered my back and given myself the confidence that I can impress, and have somewhat directed the content in an interview that I can expect.

Giving times that you have used a language for, for example, although it should be included, does not indicate the capacity to which you've used that language. I've come across people who have probably picked up a book or few, done a few exercises a month over a long while and call that experience over that period of time. Hardly comparable to a 40 hour/pw grunt for a professional developer! I'm sure you get my drift.

 

My CV profile, at the start of the cv, lists that im proficient with VBscript, VB (VB6 and VB.NET). i think that would likely fall into your guidelines wouldnt it? It indicates im proficient at using it, but doesnt indicate that im an expert.

All other technologies (CSS, Javascript, XML, etc) are mentioned as technologies used in my examples, but are not mentioned at the start, giving, i think, the impression that im aware of the technologies, and i can make use of them, but im not as competent as i am with VB.

 

Yes, that's what I mean.

Did you use and VB in your examples? Play to your strengths.

 

i did yes, and they are listed under the projects too, where it was used.

 

Awesome.