Re:Ask HN: I need advice getting a junior Rails dev job
by byoung2 on Saturday October 05, 2013 @08:47PM
(#6502633)
My advice for technical interviews as a non-CS major (I am making that assumption) would be:
Don't be afraid to admit what you don't know, but stress that you are a quick learner and that you will constantly be improving.
If they give you a technical question and you are unable to answer, research it later and email them your answer. It shows that you don't give up, and it shows you weren't lying about constantly learning.
If you get a question like implementing a native function without using any native functionality, they are testing your ability to write efficient code. Read up on runtime complexity and even if you can't code it, be able to explain what is inefficient and what you might do to make it better.
Even as a junior dev with little experience if you do those in a technical interview you show potential and you are worth training.
Source: English major working as a software engineer after fumbling through many technical interviews.
Don't be afraid to admit what you don't know, but stress that you are a quick learner and that you will constantly be improving.
If they give you a technical question and you are unable to answer, research it later and email them your answer. It shows that you don't give up, and it shows you weren't lying about constantly learning.
If you get a question like implementing a native function without using any native functionality, they are testing your ability to write efficient code. Read up on runtime complexity and even if you can't code it, be able to explain what is inefficient and what you might do to make it better.
Even as a junior dev with little experience if you do those in a technical interview you show potential and you are worth training.
Source: English major working as a software engineer after fumbling through many technical interviews.