Help! Pretty Please!

I finally had my first (programming) interview or screening on the phone today. I have an in house interview on thrusday. Anybody got any advice for me...other than "don't suck!"???

Congratulations to getting past the first hurdle - that's always a good start.

My feeling is that you should be honest - most employers prefer someone who says they don't know from someone that pretends to know and four questions later show that they do not at all know it.

There was a similar thread recently on the subject of interview technique - try a forum search, as there was lots of good suggestions.

Mine are:
- Look up the company web-site, understand the product of the company. If you come across as interested in the type of products the company produces, then that's always better than some similarly knowledgable candidate that doesn't care about the company.

- Show an interest to learn when you don't know something, e.g. if they say "Have you used xyz?", instead of saying "No", say something like "I haven't, but I'd be very interested in learning how it works".

I hope this helps.

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Mats

I definitly agree with what matsp said. I do in-house recruitment as well and candidates who claim to know C on their CV and then can't explain what a pointer is, are rejected immediatly.
In the end it all boils down to knowing the basics and being good at learning the rest; if you can demonstrate that, I don't see any reason why you should fail the technical part of the interview.

Oh and companies love to hear why they are the best. So when they ask you: "Why do you want to work for us?" tell them all the fantastic things that you know about them. :)

QuantumPete

Also, relax. Be confident in your own abilities, both those you already have, and the ability to learn new skills.