What I Learned from 5 Experienced-Hire Interviews (Including the Rejections)
While preparing to change jobs, I interviewed with 5 companies from application to final round, got rejected by 3 and passed 2. I learned more from the process than from the results, so I'm writing it up.
1. About 80% of technical questions were predictable
Ultimately, they dig into the experience you put on your resume, so if you prepare an answer to "why did you do it that way?" for every sentence you wrote, you can cover most of them.
2. Describe projects as Situation-Action-Result
At first, I just rambled on about the tech and got rejected. Later, when I switched to the order of what the problem was, what choice I made, and how it turned out, the reactions changed.
3. It's better to admit what you don't know
If you fudge it, follow-up questions keep coming and you do worse. It was much better to say, "I didn't know that part, so at the time I looked it up like this."
4. Questions to the interviewer matter more than you'd think
Asking what the team is struggling with, rather than salary or benefits, makes you look like someone who's genuinely interested.
5. A rejection might not be about your skills
From what I heard later, there were cases where the position disappeared because of organizational circumstances. You don't necessarily need to blame yourself for being rejected.
Good luck to everyone preparing to change jobs.
10 answers
Agreed, especially #3. I once tried to be vague and got hit with five follow-up questions in a row—I completely lost it lol.
Well, I'd say #1 is a bit case-by-case. The predictable 80% just means you got lucky and ended up in a domain you're familiar with; if you go into a field you've never seen before, that 80% all disappears. If you're an experienced hire, you often get deeper, probing questions instead, so just preparing resume bullet points alone won't cover it.
I also interviewed at seven places last year and went 2–5. But what I really relate to is the last sentence. For the one where I made it to the final round and got rejected, I later heard through someone I know that the headcount had just been closed. After finding that out, the time I spent beating myself up dropped dramatically. Now I'm at a better place, and getting rejected back then actually turned out to be a case where the timing worked in my favor.
Any source?
This is so true lol If you half-ass a question back, it's immediately obvious you're not interested.
The notion that failing an interview might not be a matter of skill feels a bit like a consolation line. Whether it's organizational circumstances or whatever else, ultimately it means there was a better candidate for the same position, so from an interview-prep standpoint, there's no need to blame yourself, but you should analyze the causes. If you just chalk it up to 'luck,' you'll fail the same way next time.
I’m curious what exactly you asked as your reverse question. I always end up stopping at “What’s the biggest challenge your team is facing right now,” and I find it hard to keep the follow-up questions going from there. If you have examples of how you came up with follow-up questions after hearing the answer, please share.
Admitting when you don't know something is easier said than done, but once you're actually in the interview room, it really doesn't happen ㅠㅠ You end up pretending to know anyway.
Same here. The situation-action-result structure in #2 really does seem effective. I remember at first I led with the result and got asked, "So what did you actually do?"
I've interviewed 5 times and passed 2, but saying '80% of it is predictable' feels like a bit of an overgeneralization, no? lol Sure, that may be true based on your own experience, but if you frame it as a tip, new grads might get the wrong idea. Technical interviews vary wildly in difficulty from case to case.