4 Tips for Your First Junior Developer Interview

It’s very natural to be excited, anxious or even afraid when we are about to do a job interview. No matter how many years of experience you have or how many interviews you have already done, the goosebumps always are there when we are face to face with an interviewer from your dream company.

Thinking about these feelings and considering my experience in the development world and previous interviews. I brought you four tips that can be useful to you when you are preparing yourself for your first interviews.

1. You do NOT need to know everything!

One of the main fears of the first interview is that the interviewer asks you something that you don’t know (yet). It’s pretty normal not knowing several things when we are trying to get on a trainee or junior role. If you already knew everything so you would no longer be a rookie developer 😉

One of the most important things in this situation is the way that you react when you don’t know the answer to some question. To be honest and tell the truth is the way to leave this situation smoothly. We will talk a little more about it in section 3.

Assuming you don’t know a certain subject but showing interest in knowing more about it is the best way out in this type of situation as it demonstrates honesty and shows the interviewer that you are eager to learn.

2. Dedicate yourself more to the language than to frameworks

When you are a beginner, dedicating yourself to learning the programming language ends up being much more important than dedicating yourself to a specific framework of this language.

A person who knows javascript well can learn React, Vue or even Angular more easily than a person who knows a lot of Vue but doesn’t know very well the basics of the language. In other words “It is easier to write in various textual genres when you master standard English”.

In addition, many companies look to novice developers to provide training on the technology that will be used later. In other words, not necessarily knowing a framework is decisive for getting your first job.

3. Don’t lie about your experiences and knowledge

During the interview, it is extremely important to build a trusting relationship between the candidate and the interviewer. If the interviewer asks something and you don’t know, the most correct attitude would be to say that you don’t know yet and that you will study the subject later. Otherwise, this can lead to embarrassing situations for you in the future (or even in the same interview).

If the interviewer asks you to talk a little bit about the subject you said you knew, you will likely stutter while trying to come up with something generic enough to fool him.

The person interviewing you has been doing this for a long time every day. She will know you are lying. The only thing you’re going to get out of this is to destroy all the trust the interviewer has built up in you.

4. Show yourself (and really be) interested in the technologies presented by the company

Good companies are looking for a junior or an intern developer because they see potential in them. Show them how much potential you have, how interested you are in learning new technologies and understanding how their business works.

It’s also worth asking about the company in the interview, which stack they use, how the work is organized, how the development team’s day-to-day work is. This demonstrates that in addition to the code, you also care about the team as a whole. People like thinking minds, not just a “code writer” without a thinking mind.

I hope I managed to get across a little bit of my point of view on this subject that scares so many people early in their careers as a developer. I hope I also managed to help you out a little on your next interview.

See you soon!