 Hi guys, good evening everyone Can I have a show of hands who doesn't like interviews and who likes interviews So these are the people are those people who you need to go to if you have problem with interviews those who like So who am I? Okay, this is me when I attended my first junior deaf meet-up So I started out as an Android developer in Singapore three years ago and I transitioned into a full-stack role in my second company, which is a FinTech startup called BornLink and Two months ago, I decided I need another career change for better opportunities. So I Worked really hard like studying for coding interviews. I tried like different competitive programming Problem-solving on like hacker rank and lead code and also in the end I landed a job in Tokyo also in FinTech industry also as a full-stack developer but Yay, different place Yeah, and it's called Alpecker Japan So this is the first thing you see when you enter the office and you see these tiny little Alpecker plushies Okay, so Today, I'll be talking about the mistakes I did in my past interviews so there's a lot of trials and errors in the journey and I'll be sharing what I should really have done instead and proper step-by-step guidelines on how to do better at tech in the real and the conclusion Okay So, okay So let me tell you a story. I think like when I was a fresh graduate. I Like I was very desperate to get a job in Singapore because I was in I was from Malaysia And you know the currency is really different and I hope to land a job here for better money better opportunities, better room to grow and I just mess Summited my resume to many different companies and I didn't even care what they are what they do and And when I get the reply There's this are these HR that told me okay Congratulations, we we decide to proceed to the next stage, which is a casual video call so They say casual video calls, so I didn't take it as serious like I didn't think about it as a formal interview I maybe I like outside thinking okay, maybe it's just a video call to introduce myself as a student and and Like why I'm interested in company and things like that, so I Didn't really do any homework to study about a company and the The role that I was applying to is application developer. I sort of know that okay. I need to Have basic knowledge about Java and Android studio and I had experience doing that. So I was like, okay, you should be fine but the interview the video call came and She asked me a lot of basic questions like introductions and stuffs and I remember she asked me this. Have you Checked have you downloaded our application and write application and I was like shit. I didn't It was quite an established company and I think many of you probably use it, but I didn't and But it makes me really bad if I say no because I went there for interview I applied for the job and and If I say no, it makes me feel like I'm actually not interested in the company and I might not get a job so So I say it yes And she said she asked me What do you think we can improve the app? I was like shit. I don't know anything about that And in the end, I just say nothing so it made me feel really bad about it that the experience is so bad the interview is so bad and Also, I think that My introduction was always too simple Then asked to Introduce myself. I always say I'm a full-state developer back then I say I'm an Android developer But now I say I'm a full-state developer who Who is strong in C++ a JavaScript Java and stuff like that. It's just a simple one-liner and It doesn't really leave a strong impression for the interviewer and I Did this so many times. I didn't realize it until two months ago and my colleague told me no You should you shouldn't say that it's too simple. It shows that you are lacking that Which is no not good at all. This is a big no-no So this is what I should have done instead. So it's very clear that you should do your homework well and You have to be genuine Genuine about learning about the company and working with them before you apply for the job don't waste people's time and You always have to emphasize on the impact the problem you solve the values you bring to the company or to the society or wherever just Good things that you have done just emphasize on good things you have done and Talk about a big picture like the entire application the system architecture Number of clients problem-solve impact before narrowing down to the specific modules that you have worked on For example, like instead of the one-liner. I'm a full-state developer that likes C++ JavaScript You can say I'm a full-state developer who is working in Bond link and we develop a bond trading platform for five clients in three countries and The traders sales people and clients are using our application to trade bonds to communicate with each other so it gives you a Stronger impression if I if I tell you what I do what problems I solve rather than what language I like Of course, you can say what language you like, but leave it to the later part so after you Make a stronger impact in your your interviewers heart You can then maybe talk about your passion why you like coding. Yeah It's what I think so We'll move on to the steps to Do better at tech interview So this is what I find useful for me like after learning from my mistakes and actually improving it I find that I do better at interviews and Have better chance at getting a job So okay first do your homework You should study about a company Know that know what they do what text they use what's the main responsibility of the roles and Also the interview process. It's very important to know the interview process because the interview process differs from company to company and There could be tech interview at first and cultural feed interview and they may be pair programming the view can be anything at all and You should be clear about the interview process before you start to interview going into interview and Next You have to understand what values you can bring to the company Because they are not going to give you money if you do nothing You yeah, so Try to understand what you are lacking try to Find out what you need to learn or what you need to improve to Better deliver the results to the organization Also, okay This part is important for programmers and developers like you guys There are so many things to learn in computer science field and and Many times you May not be able to recall Some simple computer science concept or like terms You might need to revise because you don't actually have to use it in your line of work so It's always important to revise on the fundamental knowledge like data structures the computer science concepts Methodologies algorithms and also those real-world skills, but They might have become rusty because you didn't have to use it, but you might need it in your next job So revise on them Keep brushing up on your skills and read out About your skills your programming language that you like if you say you're an expert in Java you should be you'll be expected to know what's new in the field and If the company like tech giants like Google Facebook, they focus on academic knowledge intensively So you will definitely need to spend a lot of time going to competitive programming websites to keep like solving problems on Like data structures algorithms. You have to keep practicing them. It's good to have a checklist to know like Okay, I've studied a I don't know merge sort but the sort what's next so you need to keep track of what you have studied and what you need to study and These are the resources that I found useful cracking the coding interview book. I guess everyone knows about it. Who doesn't know Who doesn't know this green book? Okay. Okay. Now, you know so goodbye. It's really useful. I think it's really useful even if you want to get into tech giants and Also, these are the websites that you can use to solve problems for free Next so you should be able to predict Common job interview questions easily But I think many people don't do this But it's good to always like predict what they are going to ask prepare a few sets of questions rehearse them because you might have the answer already within you in somewhere in your brain, but Don't forget about like brain freeze. You might get brain freeze in your interview and you might like just forget about Whatever like the project you have done in the past. So it's very important to prepare the answers beforehand and rehearse them and try to memorize a little bit and so you would sound more confident in your Interview when you're answering the questions And also like Common questions are strengths and weaknesses questions regarding your resume and Regarding your work Okay, so now that we have done all the preparation you have to be really confident in your interview. So Don't be like me now Don't be nervous and always smile Watch your body language and Be sincere kind and friendly and if you have Issues with anxiety or stress Nervous you can always try to imagine your interviewer is your colleague or friend Yeah So everyone's my friend now I feel less nervous and Thing I don't know is better than making up answers. You'll make you lose to beat So don't do that. Don't don't make up answers. Don't lie. Just say you don't know when you don't know and Okay, this is a very good tech talk by Amy Coddy. It's called fake it thing. You make it as anybody watched it Show of hands Only you okay. Okay, you guys should really watch this because It's very very useful to It's very useful to Gain confidence from this video like after you watch this video you will feel that oh you're not alone and There are ways to help you boost that confidence level So in conclusion in the viewing is a skill that can be improved with practice and I Encourage everyone to keep practicing so that you can demonstrate your best self comfortably and to do that You have to study about a company well You have to brush up on your skills or your technical knowledge computer science basics and What's at the point what's at the point anyone knows Are you not paying attention Okay, it's very important to predict the questions rehearse the answers and lastly be confident Yeah, that's all and this is an extra slide slide So nowadays developers are Encouraged to know more than what he does like the scope that he usually works on It's very important to know the bigger bigger picture like How to develop a good system how to build a good software so I Find these principles or concepts very important to build a well like a Good application and also CI CD automated testing software development Metatologies like agile XP could practices like code reveal paper. I mean, these are very important to know so if you have time Join junior depth talks because from time to time will share about all these things that we feel developers should know and That's all from me. Thank you