Brandon Patel’s Post

🚀 Day 406 of #500DaysOfCode 🔑 Coding Interview Checklist: Whether you’re preparing for a phone screen or a virtual onsite interview, having a solid checklist in place is crucial. Here’s a coding interview checklist based on my experience that will help you stay on top of things and perform at your best. 1️⃣ Phone Screen Interview: - Be ready for initial questions that are short but challenging. - Expect topics like data structures, algorithms, or basic system design. - Make sure your phone or laptop is ready with proper internet connectivity. - Practice explaining your thought process clearly while solving problems out loud. 2️⃣ Virtual Onsite Interview: - Be prepared for multiple rounds involving coding, system design, and behavioral questions. - Set up a quiet, comfortable environment with minimal distractions. - Have a pen and paper handy for sketching out ideas during system design questions. - Familiarize yourself with the interview platform and tools like a shared code editor. 3️⃣ During the Coding Interview: - Read the problem thoroughly and ask clarifying questions. - Discuss your thought process as you go through the problem to showcase your problem-solving skills. - Break the problem into manageable parts and handle edge cases. - Optimize your solution where possible, and remember to test your code. 4️⃣ After the Interview: - Follow up with a thank-you email expressing gratitude for the opportunity and reaffirming your interest in the role. - Reflect on the interview to identify areas of improvement. - Continue practicing based on the feedback you receive from the interviewers. 📝 Tip for Success: Interviews can be nerve-wracking, but with practice and the right approach, you can turn them into learning experiences. Preparation is the key, so keep practicing and refining your strategies. I hope this helps you ace your next coding interview! Best of luck to my LinkedIn family. #day406 #learningoftheday #500daysofcodingchallenge #javascript #react #nextjs #webdevelopment #frontenddevelopment #codingtips #codingchallenge #codingcommunity #InterviewPrep #CodingInterview #TechInterviews #FrontendDeveloper #SoftwareEngineer #Career #Learning #TechJobs

I don’t think I will ever quite understand the software developer interviewing process where the goal is less about discovering the personality, culture fit, and skillset but more about how many coding challenges a candidate can memorize. Add on top of that the pressure of live coding sessions working through fictional, non real-world problems most will never encounter in their career with 3+ people watching for anything you slip on and you’ve got quite the stressful interview sure to scare people away. Instead, paid take-home assignments or assessments working a tech problem in your stack that was previously solved at the company or simply chatting about past experience can shed a lot of light on the skillset. Group that with a get-to-know-you session for a better feel of their personality and you have more info to work with than any extreme coding challenge can provide. I didn’t get a degree but I work hard and I’m intelligent. I probably can’t bust out 10 extreme coding challenges in a live session but I can build a beautiful and functional UI and deliver any work expected of me on time. I may have knowledge gaps, but I’m curious and adventurous enough to fill them. My point is that following a checklist of surface-level skills will most-likely find you surface level skills. Dig deeper and find people with the brains and the grind who fit your team culture and you’ll have a better shot at landing with a winning team.

Being a good programmer isn't enough. Chatting with John Vandivier always results in some very interesting perspectives! And according to John: Being good at code just won't cut it. That doesn't mean you should stop practicing! You SHOULD be keeping that up. In fact, we'll see that there's even more you should be practicing. This will shock you though: The best programmers (technically) barely have over a 50% full-loop interview pass rate. John says in our interview that even engineers at Big Tech will tell you if they were interviewed on the spot they'd fail the technical interview. And I've been programming for over two decades and I can tell you that I'm in the exact same boat. The technical skill sets you need for your interview rounds, especially at most big tech companies, are NOT the same as what you'll be using on the job. So you should be practicing building stuff still. You should be spending time coding. But if you're looking to interview... you should be practicing for that specifically, too. 👇Check it out!👇 https://lnkd.in/gtQ7S2dA ---- 🎬 Check out Dev Leader on YouTube for multiple full-length videos weekly! 🗣️ Share with your network! #SoftwareEngineer #SoftwareEngineers #SoftwareEngineering

🔥 Mastering coding interviews with the Google Developers Group will provide you with invaluable insights and problem-solving techniques. It’s an ultimate chance to refine your skills and network with experts in the field. 🔥 #CodingInterviews #GoogleDevelopersGroup #ProblemSolving #Networking #SkillsRefinement

How Can I Quickly Reignite Coding Skills for My Upcoming Interview? Answers: https://lnkd.in/gASfSteM #JobInterview #TechnicalTeamLead #CodingPrep Hey everyone, I’m reaching out because I’m in a bit of a situation. I’ve spent 20 years as a senior developer, and for the last 5 years, I've been leading a development team. While it’s been a rewarding journey, my hands-on coding time has really taken a back seat. Nowadays, I’m diving into code only about 10% of the time, mostly to debug some tricky issues. My day usually consists of meetings, planning projects, and liaising with customers. Now, I’ve got a technical interview coming up in just 4 days for a role as a Technical Team Lead. This position promises a lot more hands-on work, which I'm excited about, but I’m feeling a bit rusty! 😅 **Here’s what I’m wondering:** How should I prepare? What websites do you recommend for brushing up on time/space complexity questions? Any tips on tackling "how would you design system X" questions? I'm all ears for your suggestions! Have any of you been in a similar situation? I’d love to hear how you prepped for a hands-on role after a break from coding. Any...

The Power of Pair Programming 🚀 This collaborative approach allows candidates to showcase their coding skills and teamwork in real-time, providing insights that traditional methods often miss. 💡 Why Pair Programming? - Immediate insights into candidates' thought processes and problem-solving strategies. - Assessment of communication and collaboration, essential for today's workplaces. - Fosters knowledge sharing and improvement among both junior and senior developers. 👉 At Selleo Labs, we provide expert assistance in evaluating technical candidates through rigorous interviews and collaborative pair programming sessions. Our experienced interviewers assess skills, problem-solving abilities, and cultural fit to ensure alignment with your team and project needs. We also offer pair programming workshops to upskill your existing development team, enhancing coding practices and fostering collaboration. Transform your hiring process and team development with our pair programming solutions! Read more: https://lnkd.in/eNBn83jM #TechInterviews #PairProgramming #SoftwareDevelopment #TeamWork #Hiring #ContinuousImprovement #YourCompanyName

Would you like to get services from a plumber who can instantly recall a scientific formula for water flow rate but doesn't know how to use a pipe wrench ??? Same is the case with companies who hire purely based on leetcode type of questions. Those rounds are more of you seeing / solving the same or similar question which you have seen earlier and not much of your problem solving capabilities (Except for companies who frame their own questions every single time). Although I believe problem solving should be a part of interviews as they help a lot in assessing critical thinking of the opposite one but it shouldn't be those leetcode problems which everyone solves/ mugs up. Companies should stop using those leetcode inspired questions and come up with their own problem statements which they face in real life and let the candidate think of how to solve them. This would give more clarity on how will they perform in real work. Got this though will reading a blog on a similar topic ( link in comments) #softwaredeveloper #coding #interview #leetcode #hiring

When you are interviewed for a software engineering position and part of the interview process is a coding test or pair programming session, then I have advice for you. It is certain that you will not be able of providing a flawless solution to the challenge within a timeframe of one hour. The exercise is likely designed in a way that you can only solve some parts of the problem, and the interviewees are aware of that. Therefore, do not start writing code immediately. Instead, ask a couple of questions to understand what the interviewees are looking for. Questions like: How important is it having a working solution at the end? Do you want me to follow TDD (test driven development), or is it okay to focus on solving the scenario first and then adding test later? Are you looking for a simple solution, a well-designed solution, or a production ready solution? Such questions will help you to understand the hidden expectations of the interviewees, on which they will evaluate you. And it boils down to: Speed vs. quality. And don't be surprised when you are told that you can decide how to move forward. Then make a decision you are comfortable with and explain why you prefer that way. And speak a lot while coding. The interviewees need to be able to follow your train of thoughts. What you aim for, what your next steps, what you plan to do next. Because in the end, those live coding sessions are not primarily about writing code. They are about: how you communicate, what decision you make, how you approach an unknown problem. #softwareengineering #hiring #interviewpreparation #interviewing #codingchallenge

Top Tips for a Tech Test! ❗❗❗ Last week I had some interesting conversations with my network about technical tests during the interview process, whether that may be a live paired programming exercise, or a take-home tech test. A live coding paired programming exercise can naturally be a nerve-wracking experience, so I wanted to share some tips to bear in mind that the interviewers will be assessing and looking out for: 👩🏼💻 Technical abilities – the cleanliness and quality of your code 🧠 Problem solving abilities – breaking down the question at the start and tackling it from a logical perspective. Don’t jump straight in – instead, explain what you understand and what you will do first, then in the middle, and how you will bring everything together at the end 🗣 Communication skills – it’s really important that you constantly talk throughout the code live as it is a pair programming task. Explain what you are doing, why you are doing it and what you want the results to be. And finally, I know it's easier said than done, but try not to be too nervous. Just imagine you're pair-programming with a colleague! Leave a comment of any other important tips you'd recommend to help other engineers currently interviewing! #interviewingtips #newjob #techtest #pairedprogramming #hiring

🚨 New Blog Post Alert! Debunking Coding Interview 💻🤔 The tech world is full of myths, especially when it comes to coding interviews. In my latest post, I explore coding puzzles and what we should be evaluating instead. Let's discuss your experiences and best practices! 🔗 Read the full post: https://lnkd.in/eR6DB7_Q #TechCareers #CodingInterviews #CareerGrowth #SoftwareEngineering