Bombed Tech Interview

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doge_f@reddit

I bombed one today. We should have a support group or something

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OwnPhilosopher4180@reddit

Bombed 2 days ago. Let's do it gng 😭🥀

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SeizeDAmoment@reddit

support group would be nice in these times brethren

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Grouchy-Law-7207@reddit (OP)

Yeah i feel ya, it really sucks. The bad thing is I did a ton of preparation and don't feel as if I am actually getting any better.

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dawalballs@reddit

What kinds of things did you do to prepare?

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System design, coding challenges, spring boot and java. Pretty much everything you have to know in an interview. The thing is a lot of the stuff i prepped for i was asked. I just did horrible. I was noticeably nervous.

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WorstPapaGamer@reddit

I’d try to work on soft skills to work through that nervousness.

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hondashadowguy2000@reddit

"Just work on soft skills to be less nervous" as if it's that simple lol.

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WorstPapaGamer@reddit

lol it’s definitely not easy. I was the shy kid that barely spoke in class aside from friends etc. when I graduated with a degree in accounting during the financial crisis I couldn’t find a job (similar to how cs grads are now).

I ended up working at a front desk of a hotel and that forced me to work on soft skills.

When I went back to school for CS I found it much easier to build repertoire with interviewers and that helped ease the interview process a little.

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ObeseBumblebee@reddit

Or speak to a doctor. There are medicines that you can take situationally like when you're in a high pressure situation to deal with anxiety.

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sinkwiththeship@reddit

Beta blockers work wonders

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garnished_fatburgers@reddit

If you struggle with social anxiety, start going out in public and cold approaching people.

It doesn’t even have to be a cold approach, if you are in the checkout line at the grocery or something, start talking to someone next to you. Try to make jokes, ask questions, anything like that-the more it makes you cringe inside the better. It’s like exposure therapy for talking to people.

If you can become comfortable in any social situation with complete strangers, you will have no problem feeling confident in interviews. This is something I have done myself and my friends always ask me how I became so outgoing and confident (if not very charismatic lol) and that’s really all I did.

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The137@reddit

you know that theres a large portion of us that do the exact same thing in anything that resembles a social situation , so interviewers in this field are used to it. Just try not to let it compound and get in your head where it turns into a spiral.

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flamingspew@reddit

Tale Beta blockers.

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theleftkneeofthebee@reddit

Surprised this isn’t the top comment. Propranolol is what you’re looking for OP. If you don’t believe me look up propranolol anxiety posts on Reddit. It’s a god send.

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RolandMT32@reddit

I feel the same way. I'm confident in my skills, but for a long time, I've disliked code exercises during interviews (especially whiteboard coding exercises). I feel like they aren't a good representation of real-world performance, because the candidate is on the spot and has to think very quickly. I can often come up with something if it's a simple task, but I've often found that when thinking quickly on the spot like that, they usually point out another way I could have done it that may be considered a bit better. That just happened to me in an interview last week; although the interview overall seemed to actually go very well, I haven't heard back on a decision yet, and I'm nervous they may have chosen someone else.

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setq-default@reddit

One of the questions was about when & why you'd want to use encapsulation vs. inheritance

What was the "right" answer here? It seems like a silly question to me. I don't see how you can compare and contrast encapsulation and inheritance because they are completely different concepts. You use inheritance to pass along features of class A along to class B, but you can't "use encapsulation" to give the computer an instruction. When I write a class that inherits from some other class, it's because I want to re-use and/or implement functionality from the parent. In an OOP context, encapsulation is about creating barriers between different pieces of code, e.g. hiding internal state (public/private) or organizing responsibility ("all the file-handling code goes in the File class"). I don't think I've ever been in a situation where both encapsulation and inheritance would solve the same problem.

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RolandMT32@reddit

From what I recall, during this interview, they weren't telling me the right answers or the answers they were expecting. Also, from what I recall, they had another question about how I go about debugging code, and for each step/answer I was giving, they kept asking "And how do you do that?" on and on

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Good_Skirt2459@reddit

I did the same thing in an interview still wound up getting a job. Take it as a learning experience 😄

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GuzDex@reddit

Says the guy with the job lmaooo I’m kidding but for real all you can do it to keep at it

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SeizeDAmoment@reddit

im struggling bad and im 30 😔

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Grouchy-Law-7207@reddit (OP)

I'm in my 40's with 10 years experience. 4 of that as a Senior. I feel like i know nothing.

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SeizeDAmoment@reddit

I know I was laid off and don’t even have a specific tech stack i’m confident with did a little bit of so many things. I was a systems engineer. Now I feel so lost in what direction to go ,what roles to go for, currently looking along the lines solutions architect roles in data and trying to python and advanced sql.

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marrsd@reddit

Try to care less. Be honest and don't blag. Pay attention to the questions asked and to the reaction to your answers (interviewers often aren't good at articulating their intent). Identify weaknesses in your knowledge or ability and practice for next time.

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airhart28@reddit

I bomb like 80% of the interviews I do and I've got 8 years of experience and work for a top company

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griggsy92@reddit

I had an interview where I bombed so hard, that when the interviewer asked what my greatest strength was I jokingly said "clearly my composure", at which he burst out laughing because it was so clearly not.

Instead of this being a story where I somehow salvaged my image a bit by making a witty joke, I then made the same joke about 1 minute later. He didn't laugh that time. I still cringe about it today.

It happens, keep at it though, interviewing is a skill, and it's all just practice.

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Major_Fang@reddit

keep grinding it out. You'll hit eventually keep working

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high_throughput@reddit

I have 15+ yoe and have hosted 100+ tech interviews, but a couple of years ago I still bombed a screen so badly I still cringe about it at night lmao

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Immereally@reddit

Same boat here👻 not today so it’s mellowed down a little but ya it sucks

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amazing_rando@reddit

I’m a 20 year industry vet and I definitely bombed a few interviews when I was applying for jobs last year. Especially if something throws you off at the beginning, it can be hard to think on your feet while being evaluated. I find it stressful even on the other side of it, as the person conducting the interview.

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FurkinLurkin@reddit

This is why i am still at my toxic job right now. Ive got 10 years experience and every time she interview i bomb for a couple months worth

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Grouchy-Law-7207@reddit (OP)

I would have never have left my last job for this specific reason. Unfortunately I got laid off as part of head count cut.