How to Prepare Your Technical Interview?

Preparation is an essential aspect of doing well during the job interview process, but it's challenging to plan when you don't know what to expect at interviews.

Nowadays, technical interviews are extensive and rigorous. In general, practically all firms' internship/placement processes are divided into two stages: a written round followed by a series of interviews.

To secure a decent internship, one must thoroughly prepare for both portions.

Even experienced interviewees can be intimidated by tech interviews. Many firms interview candidates in multiple rounds, each with its unique focus. This article discusses the preparation strategy that you must follow to crack your tech interview.

Overview of Technical Interview
 

A technical interview is frequently conducted as part of the interview process for tech-heavy professions such as engineering, product development, or design.

Your technical interview may also involve an onsite or remote challenge, such as a whiteboard design challenge or a live coding test.

Technical interviews enable interviewers to evaluate a candidate's critical thinking, problem-solving, and technical skills relevant to the position for which they are applying.

To measure a candidate's ability to solve issues and generate solutions, they may contain brain teasers, technical assessment tasks, numerical reasoning questions, and proficiency quizzes.

Types of Technical Interviews

There are different types of Technical Interviews which are discussed below:

• Re-interview online assessment: Some organizations use an online basic knowledge test or a coding activity to filter down an applicant pool. This could occur before or after the initial phone screen. In general, it is a timed test that must be finished by a specific deadline.
   
• Phone interview: This might be a simple screen with some background questions. You may be requested to put responses into a shared Google Doc or collaborate on a shared editor like Coder Pad for coding opportunities.
   
• On-site Interview: The technical component may entail answering questions about a certain topic, procedure, or product. You may be requested to sketch out a solution to an issue on a whiteboard or to give a team presentation.

How Should You Prepare for Technical Interviews?

Technical interviews can be challenging to prepare for, but you can boost your chances of success with the appropriate strategy and mindset. Here are some ideas to help you get ready:

• Establish Strong Fundamentals: Since technical interviews are designed to assess your comprehension of core concepts, it's important to brush up on the fundamentals of data structures, algorithms, and other technical topics. Make sure you are clear with the ideas and core reasoning of each concept.
   
• Core subjects: You should prepare for CS fundamental topics like DBMS, OOPS, C.N., O.S., etc., apart from Data Structures and algorithms.
   
• Write efficient Code: You should be able to optimize your code. You should know how to write programs that require less memory space and have as little time complexity as possible. To save time, you can use compilers like online C++, java, python, and js for instant coding. 

       Read more about online C++ compiler codes. Check out the online C++ compiler at Coding Ninjas.

• Research about the company: You should be aware of the company's product and technology stack. This will help you understand the kind of challenges the company caters to.
   
• Be confident: You should remain calm and confident. Interviews can be stressful at times, but you should keep your cool. Take deep breaths and be attentive.

How to Practice Before Your Tech Interview?

Many interviewers want to hear you discuss your thought process while solving an issue. This provides them with information about your personality, problem-solving abilities, and ability to operate under pressure.

There are numerous methods to practice this:

• Request that a friend with technological experience serve as your pretend interviewer. Exercising and explaining out loud is an excellent approach to prepare and gain confidence.
   
• Participate in competitive programming and hackathons, as well as make open-source contributions.
   
• Make certain that you are prepared to provide detailed explanations for any technical projects stated in your resume.

Some Important Tips:

• Examine the main topics covered in your courses that are relevant to the position you are looking for. Examine the job description carefully and be prepared to answer inquiries about required abilities.
   
• Examine a few technical projects you've worked on in school or internships/co-ops and be prepared to discuss your role, contributions, a high-level overview of the projects, any issues that arose, and how you dealt with them.
   
• A good understanding of technical tools and skills is the foundation for comfortably answering even the most difficult interview questions. Before you enter the interview room, make a list of the main things you want to review or learn about. This strategic planning ensures that you are prepared to effectively demonstrate your skills, displaying your enthusiasm and genuine passion for the work.
   
• Some firms may require candidates to perform coding challenges to demonstrate their abilities. As a result, begin your preparations in coding and programming languages as soon as possible so that you are ready to tackle any challenges that the organization may provide. Examine prior problems and interviews with previous employers to get a taste of the exam.
   
• Prepare yourself and feel at ease with unusual situations. The interviewer is interested in your comprehension of the nature of the problem, your thought process in formulating solutions, and your communication skills.
   
• During the interview, if you don't know the answer, take a few minutes to think about it. Say you haven't faced a similar scenario before, but you're going to try to solve the problem through an approach. Think out loud and ask for some directions.
   
• Employers not only look for the right answers throughout the technical interview process. They also evaluate your ability to confidently answer the questions, as well as your attitude and comfort in dealing with them.
   
• Do a mock interview before your actual interview as it will help you acquire confidence. Candidates are sometimes requested to answer questions within the specified time during a technical interview, thus it is important to prepare before so that there is no issue during the actual one.
   

Conclusion

Even for freshers, technical interviews are not difficult to crack if you are well-prepared. Make sure you're fluent in the fundamental languages and have practiced enough questions.

To prevent having a negative impact on your performance during the interview, try not to be nervous and keep yourself calm. In this article, we discussed what a technical interview is and all the necessary methods that you must follow for your first tech interview.

FAQs:
 

1. What should I focus on while preparing for a technical interview? 
Focus on mastering core technical concepts relevant to the position, practice coding problems, and familiarize yourself with common interview formats.

2. How can I improve my problem-solving skills for technical interviews? 
Solve a variety of coding problems from platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, or CodeSignal. Analyze solutions, practice regularly, and challenge yourself with increasingly difficult problems.

3. Is it essential to review data structures and algorithms for technical interviews?
Yes, understanding data structures and algorithms is crucial. Review topics such as arrays, linked lists, trees, sorting algorithms, and graph algorithms as they frequently appear in technical interviews.

4. How should I approach practicing coding problems for technical interviews?
Start with basic problems to build your foundation, then gradually progress to more complex ones. Focus on understanding the problem, devising efficient algorithms, and testing your solutions with different inputs.