Worried about failing a technical interview? Read this

There is no doubt: technical interviews are always the most complex and stressful for the candidate because the candidate is subjected to a thorough evaluation of his or her knowledge of the code, and moreover, in front of an audience ready to judge everything in a strict manner.

These elements are already sufficient to generate a climate of great stress. And that is why this type of interview is often thought of as “a test case”.

But here we will explain our experience with them and break down into five points why the prospect of failing a technical interview is not something that should really affect you too much. In addition, we will show you our novel solution with Challenges for Candidates.

All candidates make big mistakes: they are common

Maybe you have made a serious mistake in the resolution of a technical interview and are blaming yourself for it. The truth is that these types of errors, due to the tense situation of the interview itself, are very common.

Most of the time there is a margin for “understanding” them. Nerves can play tricks and no candidate is judged only by a poorly formulated or ridiculous answer.

In fact, in many interviews the candidate is deliberately provoked into making a mistake and then encouraged to find a solution.

So if you fail at something obvious: stay calm, this isn’t going to finish off your chances.

In interviews there are many false negatives

Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect technical interview. And besides, they usually take place in conditions where none of the people involved are relaxed. Many times, it is the interviewers themselves who make it difficult for the technical processes to go well.

Our candidates tell us about interviews in which they were not given adequate materials. Or interviews in which the interviewer was only looking for the mistakes of the interview.

Malpractice dominates on both sides. So just like being good at conducting the interview, we must assess whether those who interview us are also doing well. Because if they are not doing well, we will have reasons not to worry so much if we fail in the selection process.

More experienced candidates also make mistakes

If you are in a selection process that involves other candidates, you may feel that your level is not up to your competitors. You may have been told that there is another candidate for the position who has at least 10 years more experience than you.

A priori, this should not be a reason for fear, or a reason for future failure in your interview. These highly experienced candidates are often unaccustomed to responding in a stressful situation. Or they have not thought about these topics for some time. So, normally, before a job interview the differences between candidates tend to level off.

In an interview you will not be evaluated holistically

Companies are looking for employees who are capable of performing specific tasks in order to reach specific goals. If you fail in an interview you should not think that you are “not worth it”. Most often, a candidate, no matter how much he or she knows about a programming language, does not meet the specific requirements of each offer.

So don’t take a negative view of a rejection: maybe your potential and your talent are in other areas that you were not asked about in the interview.

In addition, discouragement and the psychological aspect associated with failure are often the main reason why you end up failing in an interview. The self-fulfilling prophecy.
That’s why: don’t stress or beat yourself up too much if you fail in an interview. The processes are long and difficult, and sooner or later you will find the ideal one for you.

The interesting solution of Rviewer’s Challenges

From Getwith we work on the realization of challenges for programmers that, then, serve as a letter of introduction in a technical interview. Companies contact us and we create customized challenges for the profiles they are looking for.

This type of process has many advantages for the programmer. First, because the interview is no longer face to face and under pressure: the candidate takes the challenge home and delivers it solved. The level of resolution is valued.

Secondly, these challenges are designed to be fun and quick to solve. No infumable and impossible problems. We try to make the work easier for both the company and the candidate.

And, of course, at the “interview” level, they help us with two things: we manage to detect candidates with better potential, and we make the candidates feel pampered and valued: we give them margin and creative amplitude for the resolution of the technical problem.