Make Your One Shot Count: A Guide to Getting Ready for Real-life Interviews Before Leaving Bootcamp

The following is written by Careers in Code’s career coach, Laura Thorne.

A coding bootcamp is a great way to start learning programming and take your career in a new direction. If you’re like many of our Careers in Code students, somewhere a little over halfway through the program, you start to gain confidence in your new skills and think to yourself, “Maybe this could actually happen for me.” However, there’s a big confidence-killing obstacle to overcome (besides JavaScript), and one that students tend to procrastinate over: the dreaded job interview. Interviews are intimidating for many people, particularly if it’s their first experience talking about their newly acquired skills. However, practicing — just like you do with code — will help you get the jitters out of the way so you’re ready when the job you really want comes along.

Here are some suggestions on how to do this, listed by intimidation level, with self-interviews being the least terrifying. Don’t forget to try a combination of these suggestions prior to graduating while you still have access to mentors, instructors, and teaching assistants.

Level 1: Self-Interviews

A great way to start preparing is by conducting self-interviews. Begin with the soft side of interviewing, where you address questions about your background, goals, and work history. Once you get these out of the way, you can move on to technical questions in Level 3.

Start with a List of Frequently Asked Questions

Hiring managers from different companies may ask you various questions, but Harvard Business Review has a great blog on the top 10 questions and effective methods to answer them. Harvard Business Review

Record Yourself

Record your answers using a computer or smartphone. Use this to assess your clarity, tone, and body language. Additionally, this will help you become accustomed to speaking to a camera as if it were a real person in case you’re asked to do a pre-recorded interview.

Examine and Enhance

Watch your recordings and note areas where you can improve. Pay attention to your pace, filler words, and the clarity with which you express your ideas. Practice speaking clearly and succinctly. To blur the lines into Level 2, consider asking people for feedback on your recordings. Keep recording and honing your responses until you feel comfortable in front of the camera.

Use ChatGPT

ChatGPT has a voice recording element and can simulate interview scenarios. Practice answering technical and behavioral questions. This AI tool can provide realistic responses and help you prepare for various interview situations. Be sure to ask ChatGPT for feedback on your responses and specify areas you want to work on.

Level 2: Practice with Familiar Faces

Once you’re comfortable with self-interviewing, try simulating real interview conditions with a familiar person. This can be done with your peers in your cohort, friends, family members, or by joining online communities.

Schedule One or More Pretend Sessions

Different interviewers have different styles and levels of intimidation, so try practicing with multiple people.

Simulate Real Interviews

Treat these sessions as real interviews. Dress professionally, set a timer, and ask your friend to take on the role of the interviewer seriously.

Request Detailed Feedback

Instructors can provide detailed feedback on both your technical answers and your soft skills, such as communication and problem-solving approaches. Specify if you want to focus on behavioral or technical questions (not all interviewers have the experience to evaluate your responses to technical questions) or both. This leads us to Level 3.

Level 3: Technical Interviews

Once you’re feeling braver and more confident about your personal and behavioral responses, it’s time to dive into the technical questions. Numerous online tools are available to help you practice and refine your technical interview skills. Here are some great websites to help you become more comfortable with these types of questions:

YouTube

Search for interview examples from reputable channels. Look for videos that explain the thought process behind answers. Pay attention to how candidates structure their answers, handle tough questions, and explain their skills and experiences. Observing different responses will teach you various techniques and strategies to improve your own interview performance. Note body language, tone of voice, and overall confidence displayed by the candidates. Pause the video and practice answering the questions yourself before watching the candidate’s response. Compare your answers and note any differences. This will help you identify areas where you can improve and make adjustments accordingly. Practicing alongside the video will help you feel more confident and prepared when facing similar questions in a real interview setting.

Pramp.com

Pramp offers free mock interviews with peers. You can practice coding interviews, behavioral questions, and receive constructive feedback.

Interviewing.io

This platform allows you to practice technical interviews with engineers from top companies. It provides anonymous feedback to help you improve.

LeetCode.com and HackerRank

While primarily coding practice sites, LeetCode and HackerRank also offer mock interview opportunities, focusing on technical questions you might encounter. Practice coding problems on these platforms to sharpen your skills and increase your confidence. Regularly completing coding challenges will prepare you for interviews.

Big Interview

Big Interview provides a comprehensive suite of tools, including video practice, an interview question database, and detailed feedback. Utilize Big Interview’s resources to improve your interview performance by practicing common questions and receiving personalized feedback. Combining technical practice with mock interviews will better prepare you for any interview scenario.

Study Algorithms and Data Structures

Focus on fundamental algorithms and data structures, as these are common topics in technical interviews. Books like Cracking the Coding Interview can be invaluable resources. Additionally, consider joining online coding communities and participating in coding competitions to enhance your skills and stay updated on industry trends. Practice explaining your thought process and solutions clearly, as communication is key during technical interviews.

Final Thoughts

The last thing you want is to practice talking about how you got into coding, what your future career goals are, or how to take these 4 inputs with these 2 outputs given these 5 constraints and then walk through to the solution in a coherent fashion for the first time with a real hiring manager. Take the time to get the practice in before it counts so you can transform your anxiety into confidence. Start with self-interviews, then ask others to assist. Remember, every interview is an opportunity to learn and improve, so embrace the process and keep pushing forward. Good luck with your interviews — you’ve got this!

Laura Thorne is the Career Coach with Hack Upstate’s Careers in Code program which is a bootcamp for women and minorities. Looking to learn full stack development? You may be interested in our 24-week bootcamp. You can learn more and apply for our waitlist here!