Thread: My first real interview for a programming (JavaScript) position! Advice? Tips?

Hey guys,

It finally happened. I have a "real" interview with a company for a JavaScript developer position. The interview should be about 2.5 hours so it's pretty thorough.

Does anyone have any good tips or advice?

I've already had a 1 hour timed test and a quick phone interview. I realize one thing that's important is talking about what I'm looking for in a company.

The only thing that I honestly care about is the understanding that a little bit of research goes a long way and so the developers are allowed to actually read things and keep up with current trends.

Aside from that, I'm not sure what sort of fundamentals someone seeking an entry-level position in JavaScript should know.

Originally Posted by Mario F.

Well let me "see"... "JavaScript"... "hmm"... "well", you "should" "know" "how to" "turn a computer on". "That will help". Other than that, "not" "much more". "But", "to not give" the ""impression"" "I\'m" "being" """dismissive""" of the "language", """"I"""" would "say" "you" ""should know"" ""how to ""quack"" "like a duck""". "()"That\'s pretty much it"()".

Oh dear. It's spreading.

Mario... Just... What the ****?

Lol.

I'm starting to take it from your post that you don't very much care for JavaScript O_o

Seriously though, that last part of your post is like the ending to Metal Gear Solid 2 when the Colonel's AI is starting to break down. Oh wait, did I just drop massive spoilers to a 10+ year old game?

Originally Posted by Mario F.

....

Gosh.

Code:

use strict;
use warnings;
sub main() {
    while(my $ln = <>) {
        $ln =~ s/"|\\|\(\)//g;
        print $ln;
    }
}
main();

C:\Users\Josh2\Desktop>perl clean.pl <thing.txt >thing2.txt

Originally Posted by Mario F.

Character is the most important thing I like in the people that I interview. I want people I can trust. If you don't know an answer say so. Let the interviewer know you would still be able to research an answer on the internet or in the language documentation. In fact you can guess how it could work, but you would probably need more time to test it.

Someone that does this, gives enough confidence to an interviewer he won't try to BS his way out of any predicament later on. People who excel at an interview get the job, people that fail on some questions but show character get the job and the trust of his employers.



Good grief! Takes that much to learn JavaScript.



Blablabla. Companies that treat their employees as disposable bags, still expect their employees to come up with all sort of work philosophy BS. Typical of modern employment routines. I'd say with a 90% confidence that the interviewer will be dreaming about his weekend plans while you are spilling your well-intentioned guts on this one.



Word of advice. You don't know the company practices well enough yet. If this is startup, go ahead. But if this is an already established company try to avoid giving them the impression that you like to deviate from the project plan, unless you get a very distinct vibe this is how they like it. You are almost certainly going to be hired for a junior position. Nobody likes smartass junior programmers. Some companies may appreciate invention, many hate it with a passion.



Well let me see... JavaScript... hmm... well, you should know how to turn a computer on. That will help. Other than that, not much more. But, to not give the impression I'm being dismissive of the language, I would say you should know how to quack like a duck. That's pretty much it.

Also MutantJohn, welcome to the woes of employment in the IT world.

Originally Posted by vart

I would also look at most poplar JS libraries out-there... I like to believe nobody nowadays will require to write everything from scratch when JQuery and such are available...

Of course some managers still believe in wheel implementation as the only answer to code security ...

Right, I thought about that. The internet-based test I took had a lot of questions like, "Do this in jQuery..." and I was like, "Lol I don't know nothin' 'bout that fancy jQuery you city folk use but I'd do this in pure JS..."

Seriously though, all those questions were pretty simple even in pure JS.

I don't know if this'll be an issue or not but unless there's a substantial need for jQuery, I'm not really that into it. Is regular JS not quick enough to prototype? Or am I just too used to developing in C/C++ and so even pure JS just seems radically fast to develop in?

I've seen some Angular stuff and it looks trippy.

Originally Posted by laserlight

It so happens that a friend of mine mentioned this recently: How to forget about jQuery and start using native JavaScript APIs

That reminds of my favorite JS framework.

Originally Posted by Yarin

That reminds of my favorite JS framework.

Wait, is that site a joke? It just seems like it's literally using native JS O_o

Originally Posted by vart

Well,... portability... How many browsers will your regular JS code support from the start? Like this https://jquery.com/browser-support/

Oh ****, that's a good point. Internet Explorer is determined to be the bane of the internet... Hmm... Man, I hope this company really only cares about FireFox and Chrome lol.