Por Interview Cake
Imagine two responses to the stock interview question “Tell me about yourself.”
First:
I started programming about two years ago with some personal projects. I eventually got a job at a small tech company in my home town, and I’ve been working there about a year and a half. I like my job, but I’m looking for a new challenge, which I think your company could provide.
Then:
I got started programming because I wanted to build a social network for cats. That didn’t take off, but the prototype helped me get a job at a small tech company in my home town.
Last month, I read an awesome article on Hacker News about the social network your company is building. The scaling challenges you face seem like they’ll help me grow faster and stronger than my current role will.
The second response says a lot more about the candidate.
Why? Because of the specific details. An interviewer won’t remember the tenth person to say “I’m looking for a new challenge.” They will remember the person who tried to build a social network for cats and read about their company on Hacker News.
So don’t skimp on the details. Look out for opportunities to use specifics, especially if they’re at all quirky, funny, surprising, or otherwise memorable.
Take another common question: “Why do you want to work here?”
People tend to just cross-reference their values with those of the company or team they’re interviewing with:
I’m really interested in technical blogging and open source. So I like that your company has some open-source work and contributes back to the community.
That’s a fine response. But to really wow your interviewer, try adding a specific story around those values:
A couple years ago, when I was still new to programming, I was working on this tricky bug. I found a post on a company blog where an engineer explained how her team solved the issue. She included a code snippet she’d open-sourced. I appreciated that she took the time to write about her team’s experience and share their solution. It helped me!
That’s how I first started getting into open source. I really wanna work with more engineers like that—who write about their work and try to help others in the community. So I was excited to see all the stuff your team shares on your blog and on the company’s Github profile.
The second response just sounds more genuine. It shows a personal connection to open source and technical blogging, instead of just telling it.
Anyone can look up a company’s core values and repeat them during an interview. It’s more meaningful to tell a story from your life that shows how those values benefited you or taught you something.
This one’s a neat trick. Consider one more standard behavioral question: “What’s your biggest strength?”