IT people: what can i expect from technical interview? (job, companies, background)

[BarqCider]

I have a technical interview about my skillset regarding programming, database,etc and my school background.

I was wondering what type of questions can I expect most of my interviews for work I ever had were for retail jobs, so this is finally my BIG boy job type of interview so im clueless

[macroy]

They can be simple questions like what tools have you used, the type of environments you've been in, projects you've worked on, etc. Or, they can be situational where you're given a scenario and ask what your next steps are. Or how would you go about doing A, B or C. I'm not a programmer so I can't provide specific examples. But in the past - as someone who's background is in networking/security, I've been asked how I would go about troubleshooting a specific network issue, or how I would react to an outbreak of malicious code, etc.

I actually detest these questions. Even though they seem very specific, there are so many factors that play into every scenario that it is often impossible to grasp exactly what the interviewer is looking for without first asking a bunch of questions of my own.

[sware2cod]

They are often very detailed technical questions. Maybe they will explain a technical scenerio and ask you how to solve. They want syntax sometimes, or commands, or design methods, or steps of what you would do to solve the issue. They ask about knowledge and experience but they don't take your word for it that you know something. Many companies got burned by fibbers. So nowadays they test you with technical Q and A to check if you really do know a language or a tool or a process.

These can be extremely technical and intense.

I have been in the field many years and have lots of experience. But I still have several pages of study material that I review prior to every interview. Because they want an answer in 1-2 seconds. When I review prior to the interview I find I can answer faster versus thinking about scenerios in my head which can slow down the answer.

They might ask about versions of code you use, volumes of data, operating systems, number of processors in the database possibly, how many users you deal with.

In some ways, a technical interview can be like a final for a college course, but all verbal and you have to answer quickly. But instead of 1 course as the subject , it's much much broader.

Even if you know your stuff, even if you are highly skilled, if you don't properly prepare for a tech interview, you can miss answers on things that you should have answered correctly.

You do that in one or two interviews, you will be kicking yourself in the behind because you answered incorrectly when you really knew the right answer. So then you prepare better so you don't do it again.

[BarqCider]

well I never held a job in IT. this would be my first,including internship. most of the stuff I did in school...a year ago.
my focus wasis network side, but this is for a programming side. I figured id try to go for it, since I do find programming a fun and challenging aspect. just don't think im that good at It given lack of experience.

[usamathman]

Cracking the coding interview...tons of topics and practice questions of all difficulty levels

Focus first on: Object Oriented Design and Data Structures

If the job requires you to use C# then you need to practice

coding in that particular language and know as much about the language strengths and weaknesses as possible

Code as much as you can by hand. Avoid typing.