Brush Up On Technical Basics Before Your Tech Interview

You think you’re as ready as you’re going to be and no last minute preparation could be a substitute for the years that you’ve already spent developing your tech skills. It’s time to get a reality check!

I don’t need any preparation… I have been working in the tech domain for years I hardly need to sit and prepare for an interview. I’m not appearing for a math test, it’s just an interview!!


This is how most people approach technical interviews! Sad but true- whether it is arrogance (“I’m awesome, and don’t need to prepare”), ignorance (“preparing is an option?”) or fatalism (“there’s nothing I can do to prepare”), virtually most techies simply don’t give a damn to stack the odds in their favor during one of the most important inflection points in their career.

The reality, of course, is very different. Remember, you won’t get an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that will keep reminding you of codes and syntaxes whenever required! Plus, you have no reference material, no Google, co-workers, or Stack-Over-Flow - if you need to ask a question!

And guess what, smart interviewers will avoid gotcha questions about obscure language-specific details as well as generic brainteasers! They’ll ask questions that will be impossible for weak candidates and easy for good candidates.

So that’s how it’s going to be at the board room- be all prepared to come up with gung ho ideas resolving situations set up by the interviewers. Problems will be different than those you’re used to, because they’ll have to be simple enough to do in a limited amount of time and interesting enough to prove your smartness to the interview panel. Let’s focus on some practical technical interview tips to help you win the bet:-

1) Reviewing the basics: Basic algorithms and data structures are fav interview question sources. Graphs, sets, hash tables, binary search trees, arrays too never go out of tech fashion! Be ready if the interviewer asks you to code something involving a particular data structure or you are going to be at a disadvantage. Remember that the interviewer has been asking these questions for a while, and they will be intimately familiar with the data structure. They will be disappointed if you don’t understand something “so simple”. Save yourself from such awkwardness and brush up your basic programming skills before appearing for the interview. Take time to read through couple of books on programming. Not only because it will help you in the interview, but because it will make you a better programmer.

2) Special note on hash tables, sets and maps: Know how they work – intimately – and know the difference between Maps and Sets. Understanding tradeoffs, proper and smart usage of Set and Hash Table in relevant places can help initiate an interesting conversation that will impress your interviewer.

3) Practice coding: Browse through the internet to find some interview questions on coding. Practice coding with real code using paper and pen, not pseudo-code. Never be put in the position of having to apologize for not remembering syntax. Practice coding even if you’re applying for a non-coding position. You might think that after five or ten years of management no one would care to ask if you still remember how to sling bits - one ‘simple’ coding question from the interviewer’s end and you’re going to look like a fool if you don’t even know how to get started.

So get going and brush up your tech skills if you are going for a tech job interview!

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