by Shivy Mannengi, an Tech, Data & Engineering intern
Welcome back to the world of career prep through the eyes of a fellow student!
In the previous blog, we talked about finding the right opportunities, reaching out to people, and staying organized. The last part of the recruiting cycle is the interview itself. However, it’s not just about what you say during the interview, but the methods you use to prepare yourself beforehand.
The biggest piece of advice I’ve gotten that’s helped a lot is ensuring your interview isn’t your first conversation of the day. It’s helped me tremendously to get my conversation juices flowing by calling a friend or family member before an interview. It’s important to treat every interview like a conversation (which can be hard as it is an evaluative setting), but even in the most technical context, they are looking for people who would be fun to work with on a team. These days, there are so many students who have the brains for any job but lack soft skills and the ability to treat the interviewer like another human being. Having conversations before your interview will help relax your nerves and help you look at your interviewer as just another human being, not someone who is evaluating or scoring you.
Also, before your interviews, or even if you don’t have any scheduled, I still highly recommend practicing some of the main behaviorals and technicals you’ll see in every interview. I’ve had instances where I’ve had interviews scheduled within 24 hours of the email, making it important to stay sharp. In my own experiences, I found it helpful to set aside 45 minutes to an hour a day during recruiting season to practice interview questions out loud. On occasion, I would also record myself if I felt like I was struggling a lot on a certain type of question. Watching yourself makes it really easy to pinpoint different things you have to change about your response or mannerisms in an interview.
During the actual interview, one of the best tactics that has helped me stand out is thinking out loud as much as possible. In technical interviews, the content can feel so heavy and hard that it’s easy to go silent while you think, but interviewers actually want to hear how you approach the problem. Even if you’re unsure, walking through your reasoning shows that you’re someone they can work with, not just someone trying to get the right answer. Something else that’s helped me is asking clarifying questions early, since it shows that you’re thoughtful and intentional instead of rushing into code. And lastly, even in the toughest moments, remember to keep a calm and curious mindset. Interviewers notice when you’re willing to work through challenges with a good attitude, and that alone can separate you from a lot of people who walk in overly rehearsed or stressed.
To wrap everything up, remember that preparing for technical interviews is really about building habits that make you confident, calm, and sharp when it matters. The more you practice, the more the nerves fade and the more natural the whole process feels. My final piece of advice is to trust the work you’ve put in and just show up as yourself, because that’s ultimately what interviewers remember most!!
