The technical interview in the software engineering industry is very robust, especially for the entry-level position. The whole interview process not only includes your project experiences and communication skills but also tests your coding skills and problem-solving abilities.

So even before a technical interview, it’s a lot easier when you know what the interviewee expects and wants to see from you.

In this post, I want to give you some advice on the coding interview preparation for each new grad or even student who is looking for an internship.

Before the interview

Since I’m focus on the coding interviews, the preparation is two parts: data structure and algorithm.

During a coding interview, you will be given a problem to solve. We need to use proper data structures and algorithms to tackle with it. For this part, the only suggestion is PRACTICE!!! You can’t count on yourself to solve a first-time-seen problem in 30-45 minutes. There are many platform to practice these knowledge, such as Leetcode. You can practice solving a problem in different approach with better efficiency. After a period, you will be fluent in this area. This will help you a lot during an interview.

Another suggestion is taking mock interviews, especially when you don’t have much interview experience. You don’t want to mess up the formal interviews which are not too many. In this situation, a mock interview will help you get familar with the whole interview process. You can find your cons and the things you are not aware of. Then you have time to adjust or improve yourself before the formal interviews.

During the coding interview

The coding interview normally lasts 45 – 60 minutes. The first 5 – 10 minutes, the interviewee and interviewer will introduce to each other. Then in the next 30-40 mins, you will work on a problem with the interviewee.

• Share your approach to problem solving. Clarifying questions are always welcome, especially if you’d like to better understand the problem/question being asked.
• You’ll likely need to make assumptions during problem solving, share those with your interviewer.
• Your technical interviewers may give you hints and feedback to guide you along
• If you can’t come up with the most refined solution right away, you can work on the brute force solution and improve on it. Let the interviewer to know about your approach
• For your technical interviews, please use full code, not pseudocode. For the solution, you should know the time complexity and space complexity. 
• Check to make sure your code works by running through at least one example for correctness

The communication happens during the whole process. What you usually are thinking in your mind should be verbal. You should tell the interviewee what you are thinking. And even you can ask some suggestions. The whole thinking process can show your problem-solving skill.

In the last 5-10 minutes, you have a chance to ask the interviewee some questions. It’s a good opportunity to have an insight for the company products and cultures.

The technical interview isn’t easy, or even is hard. However, with well preparation and mindsets you know what they are looking for, you can sharpen your skills as much as you can before the actual interviews. Hope these tips can help you get your dreaming jobs.