Four Tips to Help Crush It in Your Tech Interview

I get a ton of questions from candidates asking for interview tips. How should I dress? What do I talk about? Well here are some easy-to-follow tips for your upcoming in-person interview to help you land that sweet gig.

1) Lose the suit dude! Only tech workers from the 1990's wear formal clothing. In fact, not only are jeans an absolute must but preferably a T-shirt and black-rimmed glasses, like this guy. He's definitely sick at software development.

Notice the bike? Yeah, you should be biking to work like him but if you're not I guess that's still OK if you can make up for it with a cool snarky T-shirt or some neatly-trimmed stubble. 

2) Be sure to make snide comments about Trump to break the ice. Everyone likes a good laugh!

3) Casually drop in a reference about craft beer. Minimally you should be touring lots of craft breweries, and ideally brewing your own beer at this point. It's 2016 for Pete's sake. 

4) Cut off the interviewer at some point mid-question and bust out your Mac. (You do have a Mac...right?). Make sure it is adorned with stickers from all the craft breweries you have toured recently. Open it up and just let the code rip. 

Deciding Whether to Accept

So now that you've got the job, you're asking yourself, "how do I know if this is a place I want to work?" 

Here are some tips to help guide you make this life-altering decision

• Ask if they allow pets in the office. If not, the company is definitely not forward-thinking. DEAL BREAKER.
• How is the office space? Are there hardwood floors? How about light fixtures? If there aren't cool light fixtures tell them thanks but no thanks. And if they don't have an open concept floor plan, then run, don't walk in the other direction. Offices with doors are for the uncollaborative.

• What do their whiteboards look like? The tech team may have shown you their whiteboard with fancy tech diagrams and such as seen here:
  

But just having a whiteboard isn't enough, so don't be fooled. Is it surrounded by glass so people can see it from the hallways? (Sorry, not hallway, that's an outdated concept. Adjacent space is a less offensive term. Sorry guys! I mean guys and girls. Sorry again!) Are there also sticky notes? Cause if there aren't it's a sure sign that the team isn't disruptive enough. A real whiteboard should also look like this:

So there you have it, your complete guide to how to nail the interview and what to do with that job offer. You're welcome. 

Four Tips to Help Crush It in Your Tech Interview

1) Lose the suit dude! Only tech workers from the 1990's wear formal clothing. In fact, not only are jeans an absolute must but preferably a T-shirt and black-rimmed glasses, like this guy. He's definitely sick at software development.

Notice the bike? Yeah, you should be biking to work like him but if you're not I guess that's still OK if you can make up for it with a cool snarky T-shirt or some neatly-trimmed stubble. 

2) Be sure to make snide comments about Trump to break the ice. Everyone likes a good laugh!

3) Casually drop in a reference about craft beer. Minimally you should be touring lots of craft breweries, and ideally brewing your own beer at this point. It's 2016 for Pete's sake. 

4) Cut off the interviewer at some point mid-question and bust out your Mac. (You do have a Mac...right?). Make sure it is adorned with stickers from all the craft breweries you have toured recently. Open it up and just let the code rip. 

Deciding Whether to Accept

So now that you've got the job, you're asking yourself, "how do I know if this is a place I want to work?" 

Here are some tips to help guide you make this life-altering decision

• Ask if they allow pets in the office. If not, the company is definitely not forward-thinking. DEAL BREAKER.
• How is the office space? Are there hardwood floors? How about light fixtures? If there aren't cool light fixtures tell them thanks but no thanks. And if they don't have an open concept floor plan, then run, don't walk in the other direction. Offices with doors are for the uncollaborative.

• What do their whiteboards look like? The tech team may have shown you their whiteboard with fancy tech diagrams and such as seen here:
  

But just having a whiteboard isn't enough, so don't be fooled. Is it surrounded by glass so people can see it from the hallways? (Sorry, not hallway, that's an outdated concept. Adjacent space is a less offensive term. Sorry guys! I mean guys and girls. Sorry again!) Are there also sticky notes? Cause if there aren't it's a sure sign that the team isn't disruptive enough. A real whiteboard should also look like this:

So there you have it, your complete guide to how to nail the interview and what to do with that job offer. You're welcome.