Software Engineer Interview 101 — Understand the Interview Process

Interviews test your abilities. Before stepping in, understanding the big picture and familiarizing yourself with the details will help you prepare more effectively and be well-informed.

If you have attended many interviews, think about it:

• Do you really understand the entire recruitment process?
• Behind the stages you know, do you know who is in charge, what their purpose is, what to pay attention to, what to do and not do, and what risks are involved?

Understand Recruitment Process

Different types of companies may have significantly different recruitment processes. You might have heard of Google having five rounds of highly challenging interviews, but perhaps around the corner, you might find a small company urgently hiring, where a half-hour chat could lead to starting the next day.

Even within the same company, different teams might have different interview processes. Today, we will look at a typical, complete recruitment process: from identifying the hiring need to fulfilling that need, which generally includes the following stages: identifying the job vacancy, collecting and screening resumes, interviewing, signing the offer, and transitioning from probation to permanent…