what kind of questions should I expect in a web developer Interview

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6 comments, last by SimonForsman 9 years, 3 months ago

I have an interview for this position http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/sof/4833700652.html

and i'm fairly entry level

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Just some long shots:
- what have you delivered in the past that you're most proud of
- what would you improve on our website (always be honest)
- where do you want to be in 3 years?
- why our company?

Crealysm game & engine development: http://www.crealysm.com

Looking for a passionate, disciplined and structured producer? PM me

Adding to cozzie's...

Off the top of my head, as a web developer who has interviewed a handful of people,

-What technologies are you most proficient in ?

-What technologies are you lacking skills in? <-- Be honest, nobody knows everything

-What technologies would you like to learn ?

-Do you like programming the front end flashy, or the back end data ?

Code makes the man

There are so many common questions that can destroy your interview.

Remember that the interview process is NOT so they will hire you. The interview process is so they can eliminate you from the pool.

Practice giving good statements for all of these:

Tell me about yourself.

Explain your resume/CV.

Tell me about projects you have done on your own.

Tell me about tradeoffs you have made in software.

Tell me about your favorite project?

Tell me about your least favorite project?

What are your strengths?

What are your weaknesses?

What makes you uncomfortable?

What are some areas you would like to improve?

Tell me about a time you made a mistake.

Tell me how you handled a difficult situation.

Tell me about a time you disagreed with your boss.

Why did you leave your past job?

Why do you want this job? (protip: "I need money" may seem funny to you, but is not.)

Describe what you know about this company. (protip: "not much" is a terrible answer.)

Describe what you know about our products.

For game studios: Which of our games have you played?

Describe what you know of our competitors.

Why do you want to work with us?

Why should we hire you?

Are you a leader or a follower?

What are some books you have recently read for fun?

How do you feel about overtime?

When can you start working?

What questions do you have for me? (protip: have some.)

The most important one you may be asked: What are your pay requirements? Be completely prepared for this one.

Hit up career web sites and you'll find many more like this.

These causal questions trip up more job candidates than the technical questions. If you have some weaknesses in solving specific problems I can work with that. If I feel like your personality won't fit in well, or that you are not interested in the job, or that you are not excited to be there, I'll dump you from the pool. There are other candidates who are at least acting as though the work is important to them. If you get in there and express no excitement, express no passion, express no backbone, I don't want to work with them and they'll be moved to the "no hire" pile.

You might get a technical question or two. When i last interviewed for Web developers i asked them to identify the issues with some short source snippets, e.g. Usage of register_globals and an sql injection vulnerability in two short php scripts.

As an entry level role you shouldn't expect anything too mind boggling...

Good luck in your interview!

Most interviews are broken into non-technical and technical sections (typically in that order).

The non-technical section is there to learn about you as a person; how you work, will you fit in with the team, attitude... that kinda thing: see cozzie, NiteLordz and especially frobs replies for that.

The technical section varies. Some companies will assume you're good enough from looking at your experience. Others will do anything from a few simple questions to giving you a machine and asking you to implement something. No matter what happens here: don't be afraid to ask questions. Show your thought process. If you're asked about specific technologies (js frameworks, etc), be honest if you're not familiar with them, but try to compare them to something similar you do know.

If you're given a code sample.... read it several times before answering.

if you think programming is like sex, you probably haven't done much of either.-------------- - capn_midnight


The most important one you may be asked: What are your pay requirements? Be completely prepared for this one.

Always start higher than you actually want to have, because usually the point of this question in my experience is the start of a bartering process where they want the lowest price and you want what's best for you. Someone on here once said whoever goes first often comes off worst so if possible politely get them to make the first offer.

When it comes to payment:

Recruiting is very expensive, an interview process tends to consume a considerable number of manhours, hiring the wrong person is a very costly mistake and your salary is not the only cost your employer will have for you. they also need to have office space for you, hardware, software licenses, insurances, etc, a hundred dollars more or less each month on your salary will most likely not make much of a difference if they think you are the right person for the job so it isn't worth underselling yourself, knowing your worth and convincing others of it may be tricky if it is your first job though.

You should also remember that the interview is for both parties, you should use the interview to find out if you actually want to work there, their current websites are ancient(titleconnect.com is fixed width 750px, table based with a classic asp/vbscript backend, most likely built in the late 90s) and are in desperate need of a complete rewrite (a job that could be both fun and challenging if their plans for the future in that area are ambitious enough or a boring way to kill or stall your career if they prefer to update and maintain the junk they have or just replace the frontends with something friendlier to modern devices).

[size="1"]I don't suffer from insanity, I'm enjoying every minute of it.
The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

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