Surviving the Technical Interview
By Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MCSE etc

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It seems there is no quicker way to strike terror in the heart of an IT professional (or aspiring IT pro) than to speak those ominous words:

"First, you'll need to pass a technical interview."

I've had students who were at the top of their network training classes call or write to me in a panic, asking what to expect. As if a job interview weren't nerve-wracking enough by itself, when you add the word "technical," it becomes a whole different – and even scarier – prospect.   This article will, I hope, help you to overcome your fears and doubts about the process and tame the tech interview beast.

Before I get into the how-to's, though, I have a confession to make. Even though I've sat on the other side of the interview desk on many occasions as the hiring authority, even though I enjoy the chess-like game of strategy of the job interview situation, even though I am – after building a highly successful IT business along with my husband, teaching hundreds of students in computer-related courses, and with eleven IT books published – pretty confident of my skills and knowledge, I still dread the "technical" interview.

But it's a fact of life in this industry, so it's important to learn our ways around the tech interview, anticipate some likely questions (or types of questions) that we'll encounter, and understand what the technical interviewer is really looking for (contrary to what you may feel during the interview, most are not sadists who stay up nights thinking of new ways to torture job applicants with obscure and convoluted interrogatories). 

In the following sections, we'll address various aspects of the tech interview and unravel some of the mystery. Specifically, we'll look at:

• The purpose of the technical interview
• The personality of the technical interviewer
• Types of questions commonly encountered in the tech interview
• Tips and techniques for surviving and succeeding in the technical interview
• Telephone interview vs. in-person interview

The Purpose of the Technical Interview

The purpose of the technical interview is ostensibly to evaluate your level of knowledge or skill in the topic areas relevant to the position for which you're being considered. However, there's more going on in most interviews than that. In reality, as you struggle to explain the differences between DHCP and BOOTP or frantically search your memory for the best definition of "asynchronous," your interviewer is likely to be judging you on any or all of the following:

• First and most obviously, how much you know about the hardware, operating systems, applications, and/or networking technologies with which you would be working.
• How articulate you are, especially for a position in which you may be called upon to write reports or documentation, or give presentations to users or upper management.
• How poised and personable you are, especially in a position like tech support or network administration, where you will have to deal with many people at all levels of the organization.
• How well you handle stress, especially if the position is in a high-pressure, time-sensitive environment.
• How innovative you are; that is, whether you're able to "think outside the box" to come up with new solutions rather than just spout the party line of the moment.
• Whether you've had hands-on experience with the products, or you only know the "factoids" you read in books or learned in a classroom.
• How vendor-centric you are; that is, whether you only know one product line (for example, Microsoft or Novell), or have a broader base of knowledge that is necessary in today's modern "hybrid" network environments.
• How willing you are to take on extra duties or work overtime when necessary; how much pride you take in your work and in doing a good job.
• How well you balance ambition and leadership with the ability to follow the instructions and defer to the wishes of management, even if you disagree.
• How loyal you'll be to the company.
• How honest you are (including whether you're able/willing to say "I don't know" when you don't know the answer to a question).
• Whether you have the wherewithal to find out the answers to those questions and the solutions to those problems that you don't know.

Wow. That's a whole lot of evaluating going on. No wonder technical interviews make us so nervous.

Now that you're aware of some of the underlying purposes of the interview, you should go through the list, and consider how you can tailor your answers to positively impact the interviewer's impressions in each of these areas. Obviously, "knowing your stuff" is mandatory, but that alone is not enough to get you through the interview with flying colors.

Practice your interview skills with a technically-savvy friend or ask yourself questions and then practice your answers in front of a mirror. Videotaping your practice interviews can be an extremely useful aid. Although you may be embarrassed the first time you watch yourself "perform," you may be amazed at the little nervous gestures or speech habits (for instance, a peppering of "you knows" or "I means" or "ummms") you weren't aware of before.

As you review the tape, ask yourself questions like these:

§         How enthusiastic do you seem? Do you project an image of someone who really wants the job?

§         Does your body language send undesirable signals (i.e. slumped posture that indicates laziness or sloppiness, or shifty eyes that might be interpreted as a sign of dishonesty)?

§         Do you respond clearly and confidently when you know the answer to a question?

§         If you don't know the answer, do you say so in a straight forward manner, without being overly apologetic or appearing perplexed – and then tell the interviewer what steps you intend to take to go about finding the answer?

Once you've identified the problems, you can work on correcting them. Make additional tapes so you can see your progress.  As you watch, ask yourself honestly whether you would hire yourself, based on the impression you make in the interview.

Unfortunately, your actions and words and personality are only one part of the equation, and whether they add up to a job offer or rejection may also depend in part on the personality of the person conducting the interview. We'll consider how you can size up the interviewer's personality type and mood, and how this information can be used to "fine tune" your responses, in the next section, "The Personality of the Technical Interviewer."

The Personality of the Technical Interviewer

Technical interviewers come in all flavors: male, female, gregarious, reserved, friendly, rude, smiling and sour-faced. The tactics that work in your favor with one interviewer may do you in with another.

A good example of when it's important to gauge your interviewer's personality type and mood is when you consider using humor in answering questions. Some of us (yes, I'm one of them) have a tendency to want to interject a little humor wherever the opportunity presents itself. If this comes naturally to you (and if it doesn't, don't try to force it), this can be a great technique for disarming the interviewer, and making yourself appear to be confident and easy to get along with. But that's only true if the interviewer: a) appreciates humor, and b) is in the mood for it at the time.

It also goes without saying that any use of humor must be of a type that's non-offensive. Lawyer jokes are popular, but your interviewer's spouse (or mother!) might be an attorney and this could be a pet peeve of his/hers. Microsoft-bashing jokes might build a bond with an interviewer who views Redmond as the seat of the Evil Empire, but may not seem funny at all to one who has made a fortune off Bill Gates' products.

Take your cue from the body language, facial expression and voice tone of the interviewer. The study of kinesthetics has shown us that human communication is more dependent on these non-verbal factors than on words to convey a person's real meaning.  In fact, it's generally accepted that as much as 80% of the message is communicated through gestures and other non-verbals. If your interviewer appears to be solemn or sour, you're probably better off with a brisk, competent "all business" approach. If the interviewer is full of smiles and charm, a lighter demeanor on your part may be more appropriate.

Job search pros – those who have really made an art of it – will research not only the company to which they're applying, but the interviewer too (if possible) before ever setting foot into the interviewer's domain.  You'd be surprised how many IT people have their résumés posted someplace on the web. If you can find out something about your interviewer personally, such as hobbies and interests, where he/she went to college, previous employment, etc., it will help you to make the all-important introductory small talk that sets the tone for the interview. It may also help you avoid making major gaffes such as telling an Aggie joke to a graduate of Texas A&M.

The more you know about your interviewer, the better. Regardless of the interviewer, though, you'll need to be prepared for the types of questions that will be asked.  We will address that in the next section, "Types of Questions Commonly Encountered in the Tech Interview."

Types of Questions Commonly Encountered in the Tech Interview

A technical interview typically goes beyond the usual "tell us about your background and experience" of a regular job interview. It may also include questions that have nothing to do with computer hardware and software, designed to measure your logic, reasoning and general problem-solving skills.  Some of the biggest IT employers are notorious for this tactic, and it's these "brain teaser" questions that often throw the inexperienced interviewee for a loop.

Famous (or infamous) examples include such questions as "why are manhole covers round?" (Because a round cover with a lip cannot fall into the manhole. A square cover could be turned diagonally and dropped into the square hole).

Many of these are more involved, such as the old "fox, chicken and grain" scenario that goes like this: a man has a boat and wants to transport a fox, a chicken and a bag of grain across a river. There can only be one item in the boat with him at a time. He can't leave the fox alone with the chicken, or the chicken will be eaten. He can't leave the chicken alone with the grain or the grain will be eaten. How does he get them all safe and intact to the other side? (We'll provide the answer at the end of this section).

Many technical job candidates come out of interviews mumbling "what in the heck do foxes and chickens have to do with administering an NT/UNIX/NetWare network?" Believe it or not, your ability to analyze a problem such as the one in the scenario, mentally evaluate your options, and come up with a solution has a lot to do with network administration. If you can't think through and apply logic to a simple non-technical fox and chicken problem, how much more difficult will it be to troubleshoot problems that also require extensive technical knowledge?

Luckily, there are numerous books and websites that will provide you with practice for these brainteaser/logic tester type questions. One good place to start is with http://www.brainteasers.net/.

In addition to logic questions, you will probably be grilled quite intensely about specific technical topics.  If you have an IT certification such as MCSE, CNE, or CCNA, your interviewer will probably be looking for answers that show you've done more than the "right answers" for the certification exams. In fact, a savvy interviewer will use his/her knowledge of the exam questions to try to trip you up. For example, if all the "brain dumps" for an NT exam say you should be sure to answer on the test that "callback security doesn't work with PPP multilink," your interviewer might ask you under what circumstances you can use callback security with a multilinked ISDN connection (the answer is when both B channels are assigned the same telephone number, but most "dumpers and crammers" who passed their exams by memorizing answers know this).

The key here is not to try to pass yourself off as having more experience than you really do. In today's tight job market,  people with "paper certs" do get hired – and if they've been honest upfront about their experience level, they can get valuable training and work their ways into excellent, high-paying positions. On the other hands, those who misrepresent themselves often get thrown into situations they can't handle and end up being "let go." Remember that one of the things your interviewer may be evaluating is how honest you are. Nobody is eager to hire a liar.

However, it's not dishonest to do all you can to present yourself in the best light possible. And it's not dishonest to study for your technical interview. Review technologies with which you're less familiar, if you think they may be discussed in the interview.  For example, if you've been working for three years in a pure Microsoft environment, and you expect the technical interview to include some questions about NetWare or UNIX, there's nothing wrong with refreshing your knowledge by reading books about those technologies before the interview. If you can get your hands on a NetWare or UNIX box and do a little hands-on practice, that's even better. The more comfortable you feel with your level of knowledge and skill, the better you'll come across in the interview.

We'll take a look at a few specific tips and tricks that you can use to prepare yourself for your tech interview in the next section, "Tips and Techniques for Surviving and Succeeding in the Technical Interview."

Tips and Techniques for Surviving and Succeeding in the Technical Interview

Although it's fine to review some of the technical facts the night before your interview, staying up all night trying to "cram" is not productive. You should get a good night's sleep so you'll be fresh and awake and your brain will be working properly during the interview. Other do's and don't's include:

Do:

• Be on time for the interview. "On time" means don't be late, and don't be significantly early, either. It's best allow yourself plenty of time to get there, just in case you hit a traffic snag or have to take a detour. If you don't encounter problems and end up arriving far ahead of time (more than fifteen minutes), go find a convenience store and have a cup of coffee, or wait in your car for a while. While tardiness is a pet peeve of interviewers, most are just as put off by the candidate who comes in much earlier than scheduled and sits around in the reception area looking impatient.

• Dress appropriately.  Appropriate dress for an interview is not necessarily the same as appropriate dress for work after you get the job. Just how formally you should dress depends on the company atmosphere and the position and demeanor of the person who's interviewing you. It might be appropriate to dress up more if your interview is with the company president, than if it's with an "in the field" tech manager.  It's better to err in the direction of too conservative than to dress too casually, but if you overdress too much (i.e. you're much more formally dressed than the interviewer), you may come across as stuffy and lose points. If you've researched the company and interviewer beforehand, you'll have an idea of what type of dress is most appropriate. That brings us to the next "do":

• Do your homework. Many, many candidates go into interviews – technical  or otherwise – "flying blind."  If you don't care enough to find out about the company so you can talk intelligently about why you want to work there, why should the interviewer care enough to hire you?

• Follow up after the interview. The end of the interview is not the end of your candidacy (unless you really bombed, and even then a good follow-up can sometimes turn things around). I have been told personally several times in my working life that the reason I got a particular job was because I was the only candidate who sent a follow-up "thank you" note to the interviewer, restating my interest in the position. It takes about five minutes and costs only the price of a postage stamp (and this is one instance where snail mail makes a better impression than email), and can make the difference between coming out on top or getting that "we are sorry that your talents don't fit our needs" form letter.

Don't:

• Overwhelm the interviewer. It's great to be enthusiastic, but don't bubble with enthusiasm – it 's a quiet, professional sort of enthusiasm that you want to convey.

• Ramble. Answer the interviewer's questions thoroughly and in appropriate detail, but don't veer off the topic to attempt to demonstrate everything you know about everything. Make your answers as concise as possible. On the other, don't:

• Answer in monosyllables. For instance, "have you worked with DHCP?" is not, despite appearances, a simple yes/no question. The interviewer expects you to follow your "yes" with examples of how you've deployed DHCP in a routed network, or how many DHCP servers you've configured. If you must answer "no," you should add (if true) that although you haven't had a chance to work directly with DHCP yet, you have studied the topic and know x, y and z about the protocol and when and how to use it.

• Let one mistake cause you to give up on the interview. Everyone makes mistakes, but some candidates will stop trying if they realize they've answered a question incorrectly or incompletely, or didn't know the answer at all.  If the interviewer corrects you, accept it gracefully and tell him/her that you appreciate the opportunity to learn something new. If you realize you've bungled a question but the interviewer doesn't mention it, you may want to bring it up at the end of the interview: "you know, I just realized that when I answered (whatever the question was), I was thinking about something else. A better answer to that would have been …" This lets the interviewer know that you really do know the correct answer, and that you're honest enough to admit it when you make a mistake. Because employees who try to hide, cover up or deny their mistakes can be costly to a company, most interviewers will appreciate this quality.

This article has been based on the premise that your tech interview was of the on-site, in-person variety. However, there is another type of technical interview, conducted over the phone.  Some of the tips we've given will be the same, but in some aspects, the telephone interview is different.  We will discuss those differences in the next section, "Telephone Interview vs. In-person Interview."

Telephone Interview vs. In-person Interview

You might think that having your technical interview over the phone would be easier than doing it in person. After all, you don't have to worry about under- or overdressing.

In some ways, it is easier – but you also lose some of the advantages of the face-to-face interview.  Most crucial is the inability to observe the interviewer's body language for clues to his/her demeanor. Remember how we said up to 80% of what is communicated is based on body language?  It's difficult to gauge the response to your words when you can't see the interviewer. One result is that you must be much more careful about using humor, or deviating from the subject. You won't have the interviewer's physical reaction to signal you that it's time to get back on track.

Another problem with the telephone interview is that it may occur unexpectedly. Many interviewers are courteous and will set up a specific time to call, but some will surprise you, phoning and wanting to do the interview right now, at a time that may not be optimum for you. This can be disorienting and even cause your mind to "go blank."

You may think that if you're interviewed by telephone, it will be easy to "cheat." You can have the books or your computer in front of you, and look up the answers to questions you don't know.  You'll probably find, however, that it's very difficult to do this without the interviewer knowing.  Unless you know ahead of time what the questions will be and have your books and webpages marked and ready, it's going to take too long to look up answers for you to pretend you're not consulting a reference. And of course, if you know the questions ahead of time, you can go ahead and learn the material and not have to look it up during the interview.

Finally, although a telephone interview may seem less formal and less intimidating than an in-person interview, it is just as important that you prepare for it, and that you present yourself well. To hire or not to hire – it's not uncommon for that decision to be made based on a telephone interview. At the very least, the telephone interview will determine whether you advance to the next step, which is usually an in-person interview.  And the first impression that you make on the phone can pave the way to make that next step smoother, or it can be a difficult obstacle to overcome.

I have attempted to give you a very insights into the technical interview process in this article. I'll provide a few resources and suggestions for how you can obtain more information on this very important subject, in the next section, "Summing it Up."

Summing it Up: Survival of the Fittest

Surviving and thriving in the technical interview is both an art and a science. Interviewing is a skill, and as such, the more you do it, the better you'll get.

A few resources to help you along the way include:

Ace the Technical Interview, by Michael Rothstein, published by Osborne/McGraw Hill. Includes updated information about Java, Visual Basic, UNIX, PowerBuilder, Oracle, and other "hot" technologies.

http://www.interviewquest.com/ provides sample questions to help you prepare for technical interviews.

Software Development Online has a list of managers' favorite tech interview questions at http://www.sdmagazine.com/mgrquest.htm

Finally, remember that if you don't get a job offer as a result of this interview, that doesn't mean the time was wasted.  Consider it a learning experience. After all, many people pay good money for "practice exams" that allow them to get familiar with what the experience of taking a certification exam will be like. You got this "practice interview" for free – and if you're smart, you'll analyze it and use it to help you prepare for the next.

Deb Shinder is an MCSE, certified trainer, and networking careers instructor and consultant. She and her husband, Dr. Thomas Shinder, operate their own business and have published numerous computer-related books and articles. Deb also worked for several years as a personnel director for a municipal government, and has participated on many hiring/interview boards and search committees. She has also survived a number of technical interviews herself.