Interview Do's
- Dress appropriately (may mean suit and tie, may not). Don't "go casual" simply because it's a small company.
- Be prepared to talk about your resume, your jobs, what you did, etc.
- Be prepared to talk about your skills: language specifics, tools used, etc. Some companies may even put you in front of a computer and give you an "assignment"
- Be prepared to talk about your likes/dislikes with languages, tools, previous jobs
- Be prepared to talk about why you're leaving your current job (if you have one)
- Be prepared to talk about your future - where you want to be in a year, 2 years, 5 years
- Be yourself
Interview Don'ts
- Don't lie - you *will* get caught
- Don't say you've done something you haven't, you will get caught
- Don't try and talk about a technology or use a buzzword unless you know what it means. If you're going to say you've developed an n-tier architecture you'd better know some specifics
- Don't say you were bitten by a spider and have to go (yes, I had someone tell me that)
- Don't be afraid to say "I don't know" - maybe even a lot. My interview process for people that should be mid to senior level involves some *really* difficult questions. Not everyone has used MSMQ, COM+, Active Directory, etc. but I'm going to ask, just to see if someone knows (especially if they list it)
The bottom line, as you can see from the "don't" section, is that you shouldn't over-exagerate what you know. Stick to what you do know and don't be afraid to say you don't know something. If your resume looks like a junior developers then the interviewer isn't going to expect you to know the three normal forms for a database nor how to set up DCOM security for using COM+ across a VPN.
I could make a monster sized list of the stupid things people say during an interview. I could make an even bigger list of the people that say they are experts at something yet can't answer the simplest question. Here's a sample of things that I swear I've heard in interviews, starting with "spider man":
After asked to clarify something that just didn't sound right, an interviewee asked to end the phone interview as he had "been bit by a spider earlier ans wasn't feeling up to continuing".
Three years later, give or take, the SAME man interviewed again (I was at a different company but still doing interviews for developers) only this time, about 30 minutes in his kids started screaming in the background (he was calling in from home). After hearing him yell quite loud and meanly at his kids, he said he had to go. We asked if he wanted to continue later and he made up some other ludicrous answer (I don't remember because I was waving my arms at my friend pointing out that this was the spider guy).
Here are some things that self-titled experts couldn't answer (I swear I'm not making this up):
1. Database expert: Didn't know how to sort records descending
2. Database expert: Didn't know the difference between inner and outer join
3. Database expert: Never heard of normalizing. When told what it was he *argued* against it: "Why not just store the string value, why bother with all those indirect numbers and joins - it slows everything down!". Never argue during an interview...
4. VB6 expert: Had never created a class - UDTs all the way
5. VB6 expert: Didn't know how to write an error handler
6. VB6 expert: Didn't know the difference between ByRef and ByVal
7. VB6 expert: Never created a DLL - one guy didn't know you could
8. ADO expert: Couldn't name the two common objects (Connection, Recordset). We usually prompt with one "one is a connection... what's the one you use to get records from a database? - no answer)
9. ASP expert: Doesn't know what Response or Request is used for.
10. COM+ expert: Didn't know how to use transactions
11. COM+ expert: Didn't know how to install a package into COM+ or export one
My second favorite (next to spider man) was Ukelale boy. He said he'd do anything to get his foot in the door, even run around giving us massages, getting us lunch, and playing his Ukelale (quite famous in his native country) - just so he could get some experience. Ah, ukelele boy...
-nerseus
PS Wow, do I ramble when it gets late or what?