-1

I apologize if something like this has been asked, I did try to look for something similar.

I am graduating May 16th, and I applied for a position posted as '.NET Application Developer' requiring 1-2 years experience and a Bachelor's in CIS. I had the phone screen, which went well. They brought me in Friday for an interview with the head managers which consisted of a written 20 question test, and other behavioral like questions and oddball ones such as "How would you make an M&M?"

That seemed to go well too, they took me on a tour of the campus and said they usually will get back to the candidate, if they decide to proceed, in a week or so. Well, that following Monday at 9:00 am sharp they called me back for a third and final 'peer interview'. This is where I am stuck - I have no idea what to expect here? How do I prepare? Is this like the 'Hey let's see if you are culture fit" or "Lets put him through the paces with whiteboard coding" or what?

Any advice would be HIGHLY appreciated. I have been practicing whiteboard coding just in case, and will come in with a humble, "I want to learn from you guys" kind of attitude.

FrustratedWithFormsDesigner
  • 46,105
  • 7
  • 126
  • 176
Jason Renaldo
  • 101
  • 2
  • 1
    It is likely that you posted this to another site first and deleted it and reposted it here. In the future please consider flagging it for migration instead of reposting it. This way the comments are preserved and it doesn't count against you on the original site (a deleted closed question is "bad" while a migrated question is not). Furthermore, if there is a reason for it not to go to the site you are posting it to, it won't get closed there too (many close reasons are universal and some sites may consider specific topics off topic (read the [faq] first)). –  May 02 '13 at 18:42
  • 2
    It could be anything. In general, I don't see the point of "boning up" for these kinds of interviews. Either your the kind of person with the kind of skills they are looking for *today*, or you're not. – Robert Harvey May 02 '13 at 18:43
  • 1
    Consider [What are some interview questions I can expect for a technical evaluation?](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/186372/), [Upcoming Google interview, looking for some preparation advice](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/23810/), and many other [tag:interview] questions. –  May 02 '13 at 18:47
  • @MichaelT apologies, I didn't realize that was the correct procedure. I did indeed post it on stackoverflow first, I will be sure to do this in the future. And by the way, thanks for everyone's input- it is highly appreciated! – Jason Renaldo May 02 '13 at 19:29

1 Answers1

1

If I were interviewing a graduate I'd mainly be looking to see how they think, how they approach problems etc. I wouldn't expect them to actually know a great deal (i.e. in terms of giving them a technical grilling), but I would need to satisfy myself that they could think rationally and learn.

For example, did you do some kind of final year project? I'd ask about this, what problems did you encounter, how did you overcome them, that kind of thing.

Possibly things like how do you think working professionally may be different to college. I'm thinking here stuff like quality, e.g. coding standards, code reviews, source control, testing...... I mean, presumably what you did at college was as a one-man band?

On top of all of this they will of course be asking themselves whether you would fit in. But they would have been asking themselves this from first the moment they met you, and they now want to meet you for a third time - so you must have given off positive vibes to get this far. So I wouldn't worry about this, just be yourself.

Dress smart, don't be late, and good luck!

PeteH
  • 276
  • 1
  • 5
  • Thank you for the positive reinforcement. I was fortunate enough to have implemented a few solutions for the school as a part time programmer, so I think talking about those really helped my cause, i.e. having the experience of implementing real-world solutions. Above all, it seems the best advice is to simply be confident in your abilities, and represent yourself the best you can. Thanks again. – Jason Renaldo May 02 '13 at 19:31
  • Also don't be afraid to say "I don't know". Because (a) they won't be expecting you to know everything, and (b) if you feed them a line of bs they will likely realise – PeteH May 02 '13 at 19:48
  • Sound advice. By the way, they just actually called me and said after the peer interview they would also like to get me in with the VP of development. I'm a green rookie, but hey, that sounds good to me. Again, from a student, it means a lot when people like you take some time to help us noobs out. – Jason Renaldo May 02 '13 at 19:54
  • well let's hope your interviewers look for the same things as I do! – PeteH May 02 '13 at 19:56
  • So random, but I was looking at my old questions on here. I got the job by the way, many thanks again to your advice :-). – Jason Renaldo Oct 19 '13 at 02:27
  • @JayMorgan - how's this for irony...I'm looking for a job myself at the moment! – PeteH Oct 19 '13 at 11:10
  • Ha, well just keep your own advice :-). I'd be remiss if I didn't throw this your way, I owe you one. It's an amazing place to work: http://jobvite.com/m?31B36gww – Jason Renaldo Oct 19 '13 at 13:24
  • @JayMorgan thanks for the tip but I reckon that one's almost 5000 miles from me. One heck of a commute! I'm a Brit and although I did once work in the US, in NYC, that was a long time ago and home is now southern England. – PeteH Oct 19 '13 at 21:28