{"id":63,"date":"2020-01-20T08:35:53","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T08:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/uncategorized\/how-to-successfully-pass-an-interview-at-a-software-product-company\/"},"modified":"2025-04-07T11:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T11:52:05","slug":"how-to-successfully-pass-an-interview-at-a-software-product-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/working-abroad\/how-to-successfully-pass-an-interview-at-a-software-product-company\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Successfully Pass An Interview At A Software Product Company?"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Whether you are a Software Engineer<\/a>, an Android Developer<\/a>, or a QA Tester<\/a>, there are always plenty of exciting projects<\/a> to join that will help you grow professionally.<\/p>\n

The interview process \u2014 central to securing these opportunities \u2014 depends on the level and type of position, of course, and varies from company to company. However, there are a few factors all employers pay attention to when interviewing that we will cover below.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This Makes\u00a0Sense<\/span><\/h2>\n

The times when one could land a job by solely being equipped with the right set of technical skills are long gone. More and more often, being actively involved in the recruiting field, we see refusals occur because of a lack of \u201csoft skills.\u201d A lot of developers fail here, but there are ways to improve your abilities in this area.<\/p>\n

Here are a few tips from our Relocate.me<\/a> team on how to \u201csell yourself\u201d on a (remote) job interview:<\/p>\n

First, always do your homework<\/strong> well before the interview. Peruse info about the company (e.g. CrunchBase<\/a>, TechCrunch<\/a>, VentureBeat<\/a>) and its team, look through the company blog, and make sure you have complete knowledge about the role.<\/p>\n

Another good idea is to search for \u201ctypical\u201d interview questions <\/strong>your target company might ask and practice answering as many as possible. Also, try to glean information from any contacts you might have that are currently working for this particular company. It could be a great opportunity to learn more about the company\u2019s interview process, its focuses, and that kind of questions you should be prepared for.<\/p>\n

Try to positively impress an interviewer at the beginning of your conversation<\/strong>. Talk about the weather or something abstract. You can also mention that you\u2019re going to visit the city where the team is based (you may be invited for an on-site interview) or that you know a few developers from the team, etc.<\/p>\n

Treat your interviewer as if he\/she was sitting across from you<\/strong>. Don\u2019t forget about eye contact.<\/p>\n

Another important factor is finding a quiet space <\/strong>where you won\u2019t be disturbed during your call (no cats walking across your Mac, noise in the background, etc.). If, during the interview, the internet connection becomes weak, ask your interviewer to recall a few minutes later so that you can fix the problem or switch to Skype.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re considering job relocation and English is expected to be your working language, spare no effort in improving it. Mastery of the language is essential for getting hired by prestigious product companies abroad.<\/p>\n

Talk about the business component of your product<\/strong> (at least in a few sentences), point out what problems it solves and what your audience is.<\/p>\n

Try to secure an interview at a few world\u2019s top technology companies<\/strong> such as Facebook, Skype, Amazon. You will gain invaluable interviewing experience and boost your confidence.<\/p>\n

Prepare interesting questions<\/strong> to ask about the company. For instance:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Are you an Agile-based company?<\/li>\n
  2. What problems has your team encountered while integrating Agile?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n
      \n
    1. Do you plan to build an Android app?<\/li>\n
    2. How many clients visit your website using a mobile app? What is your strategy for mobile development?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
        \n
      1. Do you write Unit Tests?<\/li>\n
      2. What restrictions does your business put on the code creation process? How are your Unit Tests going?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n

        Practice giving a brief summary of the jobs you\u2019ve held<\/strong>. Tell only about relevant experience that you gained at each. You should also be able to describe your weaknesses (acknowledge them beforehand).<\/p>\n

        It\u2019s paramount to be prepared for varied interview questions<\/strong>. Here are 7 most common ones you should be ready for:<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Tell us about yourself. (It\u2019s a good idea to start from the beginning and tell interviewers how you fell for programming, what University you graduated from, where you worked first, what technologies you\u2019ve learned and practiced, and what you liked most about your job. However, don\u2019t go deep into details on any one facet \u2014 keep it simple).<\/em><\/li>\n
        2. What interesting tasks have you worked on at previous jobs?<\/li>\n
        3. What problems have you encountered on your past projects?<\/li>\n
        4. How did you solve these problems?<\/li>\n
        5. Tell us about your dream company.<\/li>\n
        6. What do you do to grow professionally?<\/li>\n
        7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of your main programming language?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          And last, but not the least, avoid political, religious and any other delicate topics<\/strong> during the interview.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

          \n

          \u00a0<\/p>\n

          Passion For Programming<\/span><\/h2>\n

          Companies are looking for \u201cpassionate\u201d candidates to join their teams. Thankfully, proving your credentials as a passionate programming enthusiast is relatively easy nowadays, and I\u2019d single out several markers that will show you\u2019re on the level:<\/p>\n

            \n
          • An active GitHub profile either with your own project or contributions to open-source projects.<\/li>\n
          • A StackOverflow account with questions asked and answers provided.<\/li>\n
          • Home projects that somehow facilitate people\u2019s lives or show off new technologies that haven\u2019t been introduced yet.<\/li>\n
          • Participation in local\/global communities (e.g. Python Geeks, Rails Girls, JS Enthusiasts).<\/li>\n
          • Taking online courses (Coursera, Standford online courses, Codeschool.com, etc.).<\/li>\n
          • Your own technical blog (preferably in English).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            These indicators show recruiters and hiring managers that you\u2019re truly keen on programming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

            \n

            \u00a0<\/p>\n

            Be Yourself<\/span><\/h2>\n

            Very often, good candidates are refused for the following reasons: \u201ctoo reserved\u201d, \u201cdidn\u2019t reveal himself\/herself\u201d, etc. You\u2019ve probably come across company descriptions like \u201cinformal culture\u201d or \u201cwe don\u2019t wear jackets, we boldly share our opinions and focus more on \u2018personality\u2019 rather than qualification.\u201d<\/p>\n

            Don\u2019t be intimidated by such descriptions. Just be yourself \u2014 this is the best recommendation to successfully pass an interview at any company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

            \n

            \u00a0<\/p>\n

            Passion For\u00a0Product<\/span><\/h2>\n

            You\u2019ll never get hired by Google if you say nothing about their product and don\u2019t offer your own ideas for its enhancement. For some reason, most potential hires neglect this recommendation. Naturally, it is only fair that leading companies hire those candidates who have taken the time to learn about their products and proven to be experienced specialists.<\/p>\n

            You don\u2019t have to be delighted with the product, but, there are still a few steps you should never neglect:<\/p>\n

              \n
            • Download their app(s), and install them on your phone\/tablet.<\/li>\n
            • Read an engineering blog.<\/li>\n
            • Offer a few technical improvements.<\/li>\n
            • Share your thoughts in regards to modifying the product\u2019s UI\/UX.<\/li>\n
            • Understand the monetization mechanism of product in question.<\/li>\n
            • Analyze the competition and ask your interviewers what makes their company different from the rest. On the flip side, you should be ready for an employer to ask you that very same question.<\/li>\n
            • Tell your interviewers that you\u2019d like to gain new experience and work exactly with this product, collaborate with their entire development team, and make the product better (it\u2019s important to say it all sincerely).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
              \n

              \u00a0<\/p>\n

              General Programming<\/span><\/h2>\n

              A lot of product companies actively use the tasks on General Programming \u2014 algorithms, data structure, etc. And yet, most candidates don\u2019t expect to get a task with algorithms. After the interview, they often regret that they lack even a day or two to get properly prepared. However, what\u2019s done is done, and the time to get ready has come and gone.<\/p>\n

              That\u2019s why it\u2019s always best to ask about all technical tasks beforehand \u2014 ask your recruiters, visit Glassdoor, etc. Get as much information as you can beforehand!<\/p>\n

              In addition, there are thousands of books available that are exceedingly helpful (Cracking the Coding Interview<\/em>, for example).<\/p>\n

              \u00a0<\/p>\n

              Thanks for reading this far. You\u2019re welcome to share your thoughts on this topic in the comments.<\/p>\n

              Good luck!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Reading Time: <\/span> 5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>Whether you are a Ruby Developer, DevOps Engineer, or Tester, there are always plenty of exciting projects to join that will help you grow professionally. The interview process \u2014 central to securing these opportunities \u2014 depends on the level and type of position, of course, and varies from company to company. However, there are a few factors all employers pay attention to when interviewing that we will cover below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":82,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[11,13,15,17,18],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-working-abroad","tag-tech","tag-job-hunting","tag-job-search","tag-interview","tag-tips"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3408,"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions\/3408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocate.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}