Interview tips please

It's hard to tell without having sat in on your interviews, but my off-the-cuff guess is that you were probably too timid and reactive. It's important in a job interview to come off as spirited, even bold. Volunteer information and opinions, rather than merely responding to direct questions. That increases your perceived competence. Your tone during the interview should be one that emotes "I'm looking forward to working with you", not "please please please hire me".

Sit up straight. Speak loud and clear. Ask questions back, get clarification on anything that needs it. Be confident, sound confident, and play the part of a senior and not junior, regardless what position you EVER interview for.

Simpsons quote:

"oh, oh, oh, DON"T call him a moron."

Quote:

Original post by Sneftel It's hard to tell without having sat in on your interviews, but my off-the-cuff guess is that you were probably too timid and reactive. It's important in a job interview to come off as spirited, even bold. Volunteer information and opinions, rather than merely responding to direct questions. That increases your perceived competence. Your tone during the interview should be one that emotes "I'm looking forward to working with you", not "please please please hire me".

BAM! That's it right there. Awhile back I started putting certain phrases in my emails to employers like "I'm looking forward to discussing this opportunity with you." Me being the opportunity for them.

You just have to walk the fine line between confident and arrogant! [grin]

I don't know about your coding skills, but perhaps the problem was that your code(presuming you had to write some for 'the C++ tests') was technically correct but not very good from a software engineering standpoint..? If you think that may be the case, you should read Code Complete, 2nd Ed.. Really, if you haven't read it already, you should probably read it even if you think you're pretty good at code design simply because the book semiformalizes quite a few good practices. Even if you're exceptionally experienced, I'd bet that you'll find some interesting ideas in the book.

Of course, it is a large book at 1.6 inches thick with a mass of 3.1 pounds, so this is more a "for next time" type of suggestion.

I'm not sure if you are at liberty to tell, but what company are you interviewing for? I assume it's over in the UK and only a handfull of companies come to mind.

I haven't had an interview at a games company, but I've done a few for other jobs.

Be confident, very confident, but not so confident that you become cocky/arrogant. When you meet him be sure to smile and extend your hand for the handshake. Relax. Keep your head up and make eye contact. Interviewers look at body language and tone of voice just as much as what you actually say. If you have an attitude that says "I'm confident and very optimistic" then your chances are so much better.

Quote:

Original post by blueEbola [...]If you have an attitude that says "I'm confident and very optimistic" then your chances are so much better.

And if you get good enough at it, you don't even need to worry about keeping your skills up to date. =-/

Quote:

And if you get good enough at it, you don't even need to worry about keeping your skills up to date. =-/

Nobody said life was fair.

Quote:

Original post by Extrarius I don't know about your coding skills, but perhaps the problem was that your code(presuming you had to write some for 'the C++ tests') was technically correct but not very good from a software engineering standpoint..?

It's quite unlikely. Typical interview questions include: "Write this function" or "correct this one." There are also more general questions about software engineering but are usually targeted as "which of those ways would you choose and why ?" rather than "draw the UML diagram for a renderer and a scene graph." That being said, DO read that book [smile]

Some remarks about game interviews: They seldom send HR people, or at least, they do send programmers with them. The interviewers are usually very down to earth and aren't focussed on stupid details like what you wear (Do look tidy but no need to stress about it.)

As a side note, I had two game programming interviews today and it went very well. [smile] Good luck !


Some sample leaked interview questions from unnamed companies [grin] Quite frankly, there's nothing very scary about them, altough they do ask 'trick' questions sometimes. Keep in mind that those were for an entry-level position:

"Why should you never declare a destructor as virtual ?"
"What'S the difference between the heap and the stack ?"
"What is raytracing, explain a bit."
"Inputs: 0 1 2 3 4 5 ... Outputs: 1 1 2 3 5 8 ... . Write a function that returns the nth element of the serie. What other approach could you have taken and what are the respective advantages ?"
"Describe in your words how to determine wether a point lies in a triangle given the point and the vertex coordinates of the triangle."

Ok, so they key is to ooze confidence but not come across arrogant. Does desperation work? e.g

Quote:

Listen to me, Mr Bigshot! If you're looking for the kind of employee who takes abuse and never sticks up for himself, I'm your man! You can treat me like dirt and I'll still kiss your butt and call it ice-cream. And if you don't like it, I can change!

Nah i'm kidding, wish me luck!

Luke.

Quote:

Original post by Kazade Ok, so they key is to ooze confidence but not come across arrogant. Does desperation work? e.g Quote: Listen to me, Mr Bigshot! If you're looking for the kind of employee who takes abuse and never sticks up for himself, I'm your man! You can treat me like dirt and I'll still kiss your butt and call it ice-cream. And if you don't like it, I can change! Nah i'm kidding, wish me luck! Luke.

The points already mentioned are great. I've been in a hiring interview role so I'll just repeat the main points and add one more:

1> Have the ability, and look like it.
2> Don't beg, do the 'ooze confidence' thing.
3> Be yourself. If we like how you act when we interview but hate you afterword, don't expect to stay long enough to be on the credits.

Also, it helps to think about their fears, too. You aren't the only one who has concerns about the interview.

The do want:
* Somebody who can do the job well
* Somebody who lives up to promises
* Somebody with good social skills, at least, relative to co-workers. [grin]

They don't want:
* Somebody who doesn't do the work assigned to them in a timely manner
* Somebody who does poor work
* Somebody who misbehaves, goofs off too much, is too often late and leaves early, or otherwise takes more than they are giving
* Somebody who is too domoneering, forceful, or egotistical
* Somebody who is indecisive, or begs like the quote you gave.
* Somebody who won't fit in with the rest of the group

We've interviewed a few people who look like they are great, but we had too much concern over that last three points. They might have done perfectly well, but one or two comments were unsettling enough to put them in the "do not hire" stack.


Finally, hearing 'no' is disappointing, but remember that they aren't rejecting you personally. They had a whole stack of applications and only wanted to hire one person. You should be happy that you were one of the best people in the big stack, so much that they even wanted to spend time doing interviews.

Oh, and good luck!

frob.

pee your pants as you shake his hand. it shows how excited you are to be there.

Quote:

Original post by Chokki pee your pants as you shake his hand. it shows how excited you are to be there.

Can't argue with that.

Don't be afraid to think out loud when answering problems, even if it means saying something and then saying "no, no, that's wrong..."

They're more interested in the way you think than whether you get the right answer, because the way you think will tell them whether you'll get the right answer the next 99 times.