Tag Archives: technical interview

How to find the technical interview questions you will be asked

Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer. (Charles C. Colton)

Passing technical interviews used to be the bane of my company’s existence.  I would send very qualified individuals for programming jobs.  They would come back from their technical interview bleak and hopeless.  They had failed.  They knew it.

Then I bought 3 copies of the book, Ace The Technical Interview.  I lent the book out before the interview.  All of a sudden I had more people getting jobs.

Get an unfair advantage

You don’t need to buy that book.  I have something better.  You can get great questions for review.  You may also be able to get the exact questions you will be asked.

Go to your favorite internet search engine and look up “interview questions forklift”. You will find a list of typical technical questions for forklift operators.  Now replace “forklift” with the technical part of your job you get questions about.  An accountant can put in “audit”.  A programmer can insert “Java” or “J2EE”.

Even if you aren’t technical

Are you in Sales?  Check out “interview questions sales”. Try this technique out in your field.

The final query

Make sure you check out the name of the company you are interviewing with.  Some people have made a habit of collecting interview questions from various companies.  They have put them on the web.  You may be surprised when your interviewer asks you the exact questions you have prepared for.  You’ll love it.

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Something To Do Today

Google: “interview questions programmer Microsoft”. Then try some that apply to you.

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Later:             Resume blasting

Certifications – gold and lead

Recruiter motivation

The technical interview secret they never tell you

I did great in my first interview for my first job as a programmer temp. Then they started asking questions about exactly how a database control statement was written.  I had written the crazy things, but I couldn’t remember exactly how it had to go.  I was forced to admit I just couldn’t remember.

That was the answer they were looking for.

A lot of interviewers start asking picky technical questions, not just to see what you know, but to see if you will admit you don’t know everything.  The most common technique is “drilling down”.  They start on a subject you know, and then they drill down to a level of detail you don’t know.

Any job can have a technical interview: accounting, computers, sales, management, assembly line, or forklift operator.  You need to prepare for the interview by going over some likely technical questions.  You also need to admit at some point that you do not know everything.

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Later:             Technical questions

Resume blasting

Certifications – gold and lead

Recruiter motivation