Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 1.CREATING OBJECTIVES Hire the Best Technical Talent Technical Skills are Critical Technical Skills have to be Current Technical Skills have to be Latest Technical Skills have to be Continuously Upgraded Be Proactive in Picking up Technical Talent.

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 2. DEFINING THE PROCESS The first step of any interview is defining the qualities you are seeking. Some areas include: Programming Language Expertise Operating System Expertise Application Expertise Team Communication Expertise Size-of-project Expertise Project Ship Track Record

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 3. PROBING FOR TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS One of the biggest challenges for managers when conducting a technical interview is assessing someone’s level of skill in a particular technology. How do you judge a person you are interviewing understands, say, object-oriented programming as he or she claims? “Prior to the day of the interview, candidate should be asked to bring a portfolio of her or his best work that should include descriptions of the application, samples of actual delivery made and summary of the end results. The candidate should also be asked to prepare a formal presentation on a technical topic related to current work”

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 3. PROBING FOR TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS (contd…) To make sure the candidate is telling the truth about his or her experience ask for details. “If somebody can’t quote specifics to me about a situation than the experiences weren’t there.” When it comes to specific technology areas, it’s important to understand the technical terms of the new technology before you write your interview questions.

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 4. MAKING YOUR DECISIONS Rate the candidates with respect to their knowledge and skill, building fundamentals, development life cycle or methodology and apply them to the operations & support. Balance these skills against their ability to latest technologies.

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 4. MAKING YOUR DECISIONS (contd…) Hold a post-interview meeting after a candidate’s second interview, everyone who has interviewed the candidate expresses their views independently and the whole group votes on whether or not to hire the person. “This way, they articulate their concerns” “Listening to everybody speaking to the candidate they are looking for helps tremendously in setting the expectations for the team.”

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 4. MAKING YOUR DECISIONS (contd…) Each company will find its own path to an interviewing process that would be setting standards, no matter what: Understand the position you want to fill and then try to fill it; get other people involved in the process; use tests and interviews not just to verify an applicant’s skills, but also to discover how that person show his or her work and how he or she interacts with members of your team. Keep in mind that his well-defined interviewing process not only makes your job easier, it should also show prospective new employees that you care enough about your work to take note of their skills – seriously.

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 5. HIRING SMART Look for the ineffable spark of intelligence Watch for the play of emotion and intellect on the candidate’s face. You have to slow down a bit and analyze things to determine how deep is his or her knowledge and how much potential the person had. Does the candidate challenge you to probe deeply, probe more subtly, assess more rapidly? If the candidate is smart, his or her intelligence will produce an impact on you & on the evolution of the interview itself. If the candidate is able to influence the course of the interview, it is likely that he or she can influence view of other, more complicated events.

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 5. HIRING SMART (contd…) Challenge the Candidate with a puzzle Naturally, you want the candidate to demonstrate that he or she will take positive approaches to solving the problem you pose, but more interesting are the judgements you can make and the inferences you can draw about the candidate’s work. Does the candidate quickly make erroneous assumptions about the problem which makes the candidate go to work on a clarification of the problem, soliciting more information until the problem domain has been clearly defined and how the problem might look has been fully envisioned?

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 5. HIRING SMART (contd…) Try Teaching Assert your expertise, and see what happens. Does the candidate absorb what learnings you have to offer? Ask for more information? Elaborate on your teaching? Does the candidate have a better idea? A candidate’s relationship to authority figures- to you in the interview will be a key determinant of his or her future performance. You want to find how far the candidate can set ego aside in order to solve a problem.

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 5. HIRING SMART (contd…) Take Off the Binders The biggest mistake I see managers make as they hire people for software teams is that they overvalue a particular technical skill. Obviously, continuous learning of a given technology is a wonderful attribute in a candidate, but in the final analysis, it is an extra, not a mandatory.

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 6. FAQ’s Manager’s Favorite Interview Questions 1. How do you see the information systems role with respect to the business. If they don’t know the answer to that question, they’re just a techno jockeys and may not be selected. 2. What steps do you go through before you roll out an application? Do you do any testing? Do you involve users? (This tells me whether or not they’re capable of application development.)

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 6. FAQ’s Manager’s Favorite Interview Questions (contd…) 3. How do you measure your own performance? What do you do at the start of the month or end of the month that helps you do your job better? Do you record all the mistakes you make? (This gives me an idea of how motivated they are.) 4. Do you think projects succeed or fail due to technical issues or user and management issues? (I want the answer to be user and management issues. You can get around technical problems.)

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 6. FAQ’s Manager’s Favorite Interview Questions (contd…) 5. What is the greatest technical achievement that you’re proud to have experienced with? 6. What unique algorithm have you developed or invented? 7. What is your idea of the ideal project? 8. What do you do when someone wants to build a new system? Do you use a new methodology to help you? ( I am looking for things like needs analysis, research design, development, implementation, documentation and so on.)

Technical Interviews CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS 6. FAQ’s Questions for Potential Database Programmers 1. In a sub query, when would you use an IN vs. EXISTS? 2. What’s the difference between DRIP, DELETE & TRUNCATE? 3. What is an outer join? 4. What’s the difference between CHAR & VARCHAR?