Interview advice for Technologists – Giving yourself the best shot

Often throughout interviews technologists are quizzed with very specific technical questions that, more often than not, they’re unable to answer 100% correctly. These questions are commonly asked not just to get the accurate answer but instead to see how the individual acts under pressure, or how they will deal with that particular situation. It tends to be what they will do next that gets the attention of the interviewers and reading below you will see a number of instances that have happened recently that have allowed our technologists to be successful even when they did not know that specific answer.

1. Most commonly even when someone does not know the answer to a question, if they are able to explain where they have used something similar or how they have handled a comparable problem successfully, they will still be considered successful in the interview.
2. Commonly, simply being truthful that you do not know the answer and why you have not come across this particular technology or skill set, accompanied by explaining a passion to learn it, can get you through this stage. Providing an example of when you may have had to learn something new in the past and what you do with that learned skill now can help to build the interviewers confidence in your ability.
3. The third most interesting of the top three things you can do to help you get past the tricky technical question in interview is actually having left the interview itself going home and researching the answer. Having done so, it is important that you get back in touch with your recruiter or that manager to explain the research that you’ve done and how it was imperative to you to find that solution so that you could be continually learning and improving yourself within your technology sector.

These scenarios have happened time and time again over the recent months and have allowed people who would normally have failed at interview stage to succeed purely because they were honest, passionate or just wanting to continually learn their craft.
The more successful technologists are going into interviews knowing they will never have 100% of the technology answers correct, but instead feeling confident they will always be able to learn and be better equipped to get to the right solution.