As the conclusion of the program draws near students are growing excited and a little bit anxious about the prospect of putting their skills to the test. The first step of course is the interview process to eventually land that dream job. The process is not nearly as daunting however if you practice, plan and execute. If the bootcamp experience taught anything it is the importance of taking one step at a time, staying in the moment and not looking to far down the road.

Chris provided some valuable insight and anecdotes and how to attack the job hunting process. There are a few things to consider such as determining what the company does to ensure it fits with your goals and passion. Believing in the product and mission of the company is important. Second is working to understand the culture or environment of the company. Do you share the company’s values and if you don’t that could cause internal conflict that will eventually manifest externally in your behavior on the job. Third is to work to understand what your specific role would be in the company and to ask the right questions to have a clear understanding. You are now a developer and likely want to apply and grow those skills so if you end up in a job that does not allow you to develop that it may get old pretty quickly. Finally is there room for growth at the company to advance your skills and your career. A large part of that advancement simply comes from the company itself growing so do your homework and don’t hesitate to respectfully ask about the performance of the company.

Once that interview has been scheduled how do you prepare? Chris described some tips. For instance, anticipate what questions maybe asked. Once you have compiled a list of question practice writing your answers. This really helps to solidify your thoughts and massage how best to answer. In addition, it is critically important to anticipate what follow up questions maybe asked based on your answer. Also, memorize some language specific trivia and details. In other words do your homework on what languages and stack the company utilizes. Finally, ensure that you are well prepared for the typical interview questions both tech and soft skills. In addition to practicing on your own, at LearningFuze sample interview questions are provided as well as the opportunity to practice those questions in mock interview scenarios to best be prepared for anything that may come your way in the interview.

There are certainly some general principles to keep in mind that Chris shared to provide the best chance of acing the actual interview:

• Listen and ensure a clear understanding of the question before answering
• Engage/collaborate with the interviewer if there is a white board component to the interview
• Project confidence. You have earned the right to compete for the job!
• Anticipate follow up questions on the fly
• Call out edge cases/scenarios which again is important during a white board interview to show that you understand the problem or question
• Test your answers to problems posed during the white board interview

We want to thank Chris for his time and for sharing his experience in landing a job as a developer. Chris is certainly a testament to what it means to be a successful developer not only in landing a dream position but also the importance of constantly improving your skills to increase you value and enhance the experience of being a developer. Let’s code!