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Avoid These 10 Blunders In Your Next Coding Interview

Void⚡ on February 21, 2023

In my software engineering career I have taken 200+ coding interviews. In this article, sharing top 10 most common blunders interviewees make i...
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Jon Randy 🎖️ • Edited

Never once needed or been asked about big 'O' in 27 years of professional development

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ezzahirtaha profile image
EZZAHIR Taha

Hello Jon! You seem to have a lot of experience with interviews and coding in general. Could you give me any tips or advice for my upcoming interview with Laravel? P.S: This is my first interview.

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Jon Randy 🎖️ • Edited

Relax and be yourself is the best advice I can give. Be confident in your abilities and DO NOT do last minute cramming and practice - you'll only stress yourself out and make yourself more nervous.

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Void⚡

Thanks Jon. Appreciate you helping out.

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Void⚡

😲 Not even in DSA interviews?

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Jon Randy 🎖️ • Edited

Never had one, and I never quiz candidates about those things. In my opinion, it's a bizarre thing to ask them about.

If they can write good code to solve given problems - that's what I'm looking for. Interrogating them about things that they probably use all the time anyway and may or may not know the 'correct' name for is not really of any use. I've found that a lot of self-taught developers (myself included) have often internalised many concepts without having any idea that they have formal names. You may be unwittingly turning down very talented coders just because they cannot behave like a search engine for computer science terms.

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codewithvoid profile image
Void⚡

Gotcha!

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ezzahirtaha profile image
EZZAHIR Taha

Hey everyone, I have an interview/test coming up for a Laravel internship and I'm feeling a little nervous because i have only one week dealing with laravel . Do any of you have experience with Laravel or any tips for preparing for interviews/tests? Any advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

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cubiclesocial profile image
cubiclesocial

As long as you know PHP like the back of your hand, anything written in PHP will be relatively straightforward to pick up, including Laravel.

Regardless of actual experience, I think before the interview you should write a test application in Laravel that does something non-trivial. The app doesn't have to be anything fancy but should involve a database, some backend logic, and a frontend form. That way you gain some experience. My classic goto is an address book app - it's complex enough to demonstrate all the major concepts of app design and can be written by one person in a single sitting while also having some potential real world utility. You should also probably get familiar with git if you aren't already.

A software development internship program implies prerequisite knowledge of how to write software to some degree but also carries the implication that you'll receive some sort of on the job training. They probably won't hand hold you through the basics (if-then, loops, integers, strings, arrays, objects, etc.) but beyond that it depends on what they are looking for. At the very least, writing a small app in Laravel will tell you if you even like Laravel.

As far as being nervous for an interview/coding test? Well, everyone gets jitters in unfamiliar situations/environments. Remember that interviewing is a two way street. You are interviewing them to see if you want to work for them as much as they are interviewing you to decide if you'll be a good addition to the team.

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Void⚡

Thanks cubicle for helping out.

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Palak Sarker

I've started applying as a front-end web developer. Especially JavaScript and React. Do you have any suggestions for me? Please let me know of some markets where I have the greatest chance of receiving calls for interviews in this area as well.
Btw, thanks a lot for sharing this awesome tips.

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Void⚡ • Edited

The experience i shared was mostly for DSA interviews but apart from big o notation i think other steps are relevant for any coding interview.

Regarding getting calls it largely depends on the company you are interviewing for so you will need to do company specific research on what they ask. But generally, having a portfolio of projects and updated GitHub profile should help with screening. Also you can try requesting referrals on LinkedIn.

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kruez profile image
kruez

Determine starting and ending points for solving the problem.

Curious if you can expand on this point with an example.

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Void⚡

Sure. In other words, before coming up with an algorithm - clearly define its inputs and outputs.

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Ramo Mujagic

Nice summary 👌

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Void⚡

Glad you liked it Ramo :))

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Devarshi Shimpi

Up to the point as always!!

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Void⚡

Thank you for reading Devarshi 😀

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Syahiruddin Daud

Thanks for the tips

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Void⚡

Thank you for reading :)

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Supriya Rudroju

Very Helpful!

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Void⚡

Thanks for reading Supriya 😀