I think we often do a great job of flogging the dead horse of whiteboarding problems when giving coding interview advice. Heck, that’s what I’ve dedicated the entirety of Boot.dev to. While the hard skills you’ll need to be able to solve technical interview problems are necessary, it’s also critically important to work on your soft skills.
From a high level, there are two qualities you really want to exhibit in a coding interview:
Let’s talk about why these two qualities are so important.
At the End of the Day, Companies Don’t Hire People. People Hire People.
Companies are a myth. If you don’t believe me, read the “Sapiens” book. Anyhow, the point is that a company doesn’t think for itself. Companies are made up of people, and the people in a company don’t belong to a singular hive-mind.
They don’t do exactly what’s in the company’s best interest at all times. The people in a company are loosely aligned in their mission to make the company money, but each person has their own wants, needs, pains, and incentives.
When you walk in (or sign in) to a job interview, remember that the people interviewing you are people. If they decide to hire you, it’s not just because you’re the candidate that they believe you’re the best option for the company. Instead, it might be because you will:
- Save them time
- Make them look good
- Make their life easier
- Build out their team, giving them more authority and influence
- Deliver the project that will secure their next promotion
- Be fun to work with
- etc
People Want to Hire People Who Make Their Job Easier
This is the first point I’ll make where confidence matters. When you’re in an interview, you’re making a sales pitch. You’re quite literally selling your services to your interviewer. Your interviewer is very interested in your skills because they want to know if hiring you will take some work off of their plate. Your interviewer will be wondering things like:
- Will I have to hold your hand constantly?
- Will you learn the codebase and be able to contribute quickly?
- Do you bring new skills to the team?
- Will you be able to quickly learn the things you need to know but aren’t yet familiar with for this role?
- Will hiring you make me look good?
By coming across as confident and self-assured, you will naturally ease a lot of their concerns regarding your competence. Of course, false confidence won’t help you – you need to actually know your stuff! That said, once you do know your stuff, getting yourself into a positive and confident mindset can help a lot.
I know, I know, it’s easier said than done. That said, like Simon from Gurren Lagann, you can always believe in the me that believes in you:
People Hire People Who Are Enjoyable to Work With
Being “confident” isn’t the same as being a boastful goober. When I say “be confident” I’m saying that you should believe in your abilities, and if you don’t know something, …….
Source: https://hackernoon.com/being-confident-and-humble-will-help-you-do-better-in-coding-interviews