Computer Science New Grad Job Interview

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
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The questions seem decent to me. Certain jobs may ask different questions depending on what the job itself entails.
 

a123456

Senior member
Oct 26, 2006
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Most interviews are a majority of talking about yourself. Anything on your resume is obviously fair game. Be prepared to talk about projects you've done in great detail and any particularly cool things you've done to show passion for CS, etc. How you solved some problem. They just want to know how you think so maybe you have some involved undergrad project/summer internship project/open source project on Github, especially for new grads.

There's usually a general flow to the conversation as they talk about the stuff they're doing. Have a few questions on hand to ask them, as you've hopefully been able to do some research on the company.

Assuming you're talking about software development, for the technical stuff, kind of depends on the level of company you're aiming for as obviously different companies, different standards.

If you're aiming for ~Google-level companies, then be prepared lots of algorithm type questions. I thought this guide was good, even if it's old: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/03/get-that-job-at-google.html

Smaller to mid sized companies are usually less demanding. They usually aren't good at interviewing people, so they may ask dumb things like syntax questions for the technologies they want, which gets really annoying but be prepared for that. A lot of them don't ask abstract questions because that requires lots of knowledge in case the candidate gives some non-orthodox solution that requires the interviewer to know what's going on to analyze the viability of the solution on the fly and that's hard.

Instead, they may ask general type concept questions for the technology they want. For example, if they want SQL, they may ask the difference between inner join and left join. If they want CSS, they may ask about display properties, etc.

Also, for lower-tier type companies, as long as you seem enthusiastic, team chemistry matters a lot more as entry level means lots of learning on the job anyway as long as you have some building blocks.

For software development, a few of them will usually ask you to code something in the language of your choice, on a piece of paper or whiteboard (so you can't Google the solution or rely on a "compiler" to fix all your errors). At the very least, please know how to code FizzBuzz and other very basic stuff (like prime number testing, very basic math stuff, etc.) in the language(s) that you're repping on your resume.

If it's a front-end job, then hopefully you have a portfolio/web site to show your work.

Unless you're a superstar, you probably won't get the first job you try for so just keep doing interviews for the practice until you get better at them eventually.
 
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jaedaliu

Platinum Member
Feb 25, 2005
2,670
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I agree with a123456, study what the company does, and what you think you'll be doing.

Make sure you do your behavioral interview practice with a live person (over the phone is fine, just make sure you articulate answers completely and work with someone that can provide constructive feedback) in case they ask those questions.
 

Jeraden

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,518
1
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I graduated with a comp sci degree way back in 1995. Maybe things have changed since then, but I went on about 20 interviews (my school had recruiters come on campus so it was easy to get interviews with multiple companies) and I'd say only a handful of them asked any technical questions. Most of the interviewers weren't technically oriented. If it got to a 2nd interview, that's when they pulled out the more techical questions. None of them at any point in time asked me to code anything or anything like that.
 

JM Aggie08

Diamond Member
Jan 3, 2006
8,340
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Study the industry that the company is in. Most interviews, even for technical positions (unless it's contract work) are more or a less a character assessment.

If the company you are going to work for has its shit together, they'll train you on whatever you need to perform.
 

hans007

Lifer
Feb 1, 2000
20,212
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a123456 is right. In my experience the top tier companies ask the tough algorithm questions and it mhhhtbtake 5-6 hours..... like how would you sort 25tb of data with 4vb of ram. How would you write an algorithm to copy a data structure .... how would you determine if a line passes through a polygon in fastest time . ....

Smaller places I've had really easy interviews some less than an hour and he offered a job on the spot.

Ive managed to work at a few well known places and it definitely tends to be harder but once you start working not much different.

Google interview I think basically you have to blow them away since its just difficult and you can't just do OK. They will interview tons of people and they have plenty of time to do this until they get the right person. A lot of them don't even interview for a specific job they just interview talent and hire ones they figure they can use and figure it out later . At least that's my theory I've done the in person twice didn't get the job either time and they contact me every few years to give it another shot ( I'm gonna try again soon actually )
 
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jaedaliu

Platinum Member
Feb 25, 2005
2,670
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81
Study the industry that the company is in. Most interviews, even for technical positions (unless it's contract work) are more or a less a character assessment.

If the company you are going to work for has its shit together, they'll train you on whatever you need to perform.

This may be true, depending on the industry and the size of the company. Of my friends, only those in CS or EE had a focus on technical interviews. And that was with the more cut throat fields. like game development or smaller startups; Where your individual relative lack fo contribution could lead to serious schedule delays.

With more details on the company and position you're interviewing for, we can provide more detailed, specific advice.
 

JM Aggie08

Diamond Member
Jan 3, 2006
8,340
943
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This may be true, depending on the industry and the size of the company. Of my friends, only those in CS or EE had a focus on technical interviews. And that was with the more cut throat fields. like game development or smaller startups; Where your individual relative lack fo contribution could lead to serious schedule delays.

With more details on the company and position you're interviewing for, we can provide more detailed, specific advice.

Correct, I should have mentioned this.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,300
673
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It will depend what company and what they are looking for. I've had 2 hour assessments on behavior interviews. This was at the company I am at now for a developer position. For contractors they call you on the phone and ask technical things but it depends who asks you. Sometimes if you are on the phone contractors have told me they ask from basic to very detailed questions.

At other interviews I was given a project to code over the weekend. I was right out of school at the time and didn't understand what they wanted me to do. My friend who worked there would not tell me what I needed to do or help me out with an explanation so I didn't do so well on that.

I've also been asked to code stuff on a white board, annoying. And also asked to solve stupid puzzles. My major is BS in IST and minor in business but I did a lot of development in college with a professor and took development courses plus worked at small development jobs.

Personally I hate the technical parts that are too concentrated. But it's good to google all the basic questions in the languages you list on the resume. If you worked at a big company before and put it on the resume, that could be also enough to get a foot in the door.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,522
6,354
126
be able to explain what polymorphism/inheritance is. that has always came up in my interviews that i've had.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,300
673
126
be able to explain what polymorphism/inheritance is. that has always came up in my interviews that i've had.

Every single time. Especially what is inheritance, what is object oriented design, and what is abstraction, difference between interfaces and classes , basic stuff you can answer for all the main languages.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
Hm I've never heard of that FizzBuzz thing before, but after looking it up, I would feel bad if I met a CS graduate that couldn't handle it.
 

a123456

Senior member
Oct 26, 2006
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Hm I've never heard of that FizzBuzz thing before, but after looking it up, I would feel bad if I met a CS graduate that couldn't handle it.

Lol, the first time I saw it: "Um, is there a trick to this? Why are you giving me 10 minutes to code this?"

Afterwards, them: "I think roughly half our interviews, people can't do it."

Very sad.

And yeah, knowing all the basics of OOP is desired.
 

schneiderguy

Lifer
Jun 26, 2006
10,801
91
91
Lol, the first time I saw it: "Um, is there a trick to this? Why are you giving me 10 minutes to code this?"

Afterwards, them: "I think roughly half our interviews, people can't do it."

Very sad.

And yeah, knowing all the basics of OOP is desired.

I don't understand how you could graduate with a CS degree and not be able to do that o_O
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,300
673
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Yeah I never heard of that fizz buz thing but I didn't do cs. I learned web and dev on my own and in the classes we never did such simple exercises. The problem with classes is they don't teach from examples but theory and it forces students to think much harder than needed sometimes. Once I realized what the question meant and tried it, I couldn't believe how simple it was.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,522
6,354
126
i just googled fizzbuzz, and if people get stumped by that question, they should seriously consider another profession.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
Lol, the first time I saw it: "Um, is there a trick to this? Why are you giving me 10 minutes to code this?"

Afterwards, them: "I think roughly half our interviews, people can't do it."

Very sad.

And yeah, knowing all the basics of OOP is desired.

There was a time when someone asked me about some inner-workings of C++, and when I saw their code, I noticed a somewhat common rookie mistake. I told them, "You should be using double-equals not single." Two people told me, "Oh no, I think that's right." Yeah... it sounds much worse if I say that the time in question was three months ago at work. :p

So, about a month later, I heard the person say that they had to submit a fix because of not using the proper Boolean operator (i.e. == instead of =). I just sighed.
 

ChAoTiCpInOy

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2006
6,442
1
81
It's for an entry level Developer/Analyst position at HP, right out of college. If that makes any difference.
 

Train

Lifer
Jun 22, 2000
13,582
80
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www.bing.com
i just googled fizzbuzz, and if people get stumped by that question, they should seriously consider another profession.

It is unfortunate that jobs for programmers have to screen people for this, but they do. I created generic coding test for coding interviews, and found that applicants will either ace it (10%) or bomb it (the other 90%)

Some people start out as web designers, then dabble in modifying some PHP, got something to work, then think they are a coder, then put all kinds of crap on their resume.

A decent phone screen should detect a lot of fakes, but you'll still get some in an interview.
 

mshan

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2004
7,868
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http://news.yahoo.com/colleges-help-students-scrub-online-footprints-184052483.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-top-mistakes-people-make-in-job-interviews-190143044.html

What_You_Wish_You'd_Known_Before_Your_Job_Interview.png
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,300
673
126
You should be fine as entry level developer. You will learn their ways months in to the job. Study the basic programming questions and brush up on things you forgot.

In school they start you off as web designing and I hated that. So I steered my courses towards asp.net and c#, vb, and so on. I loved setting up the db and writing the sprocs and the calls. I left the design to default or let my team members do it.
 

Blieb

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2000
3,475
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We ask some basic logic questions, nothing crazy. More interested in personality and ability to learn.