How to get started for technical Interviews?

As a recently graduated software engineer, you may have applied for the position of a software developer across several MNCs. 

After clearing the written examination for a particular position, you’ll be required to face the technical interview round for the same. 

The technical interview round is considered to be the toughest phase! It involves a series of questions from the hiring manager to test your grasp upon the technical subjects and your problem solving abilities. 

Preparing beforehand for the technical interview round helps to create a good impression on the employer and showcase your ability to handle the responsibilities associated with the job profile. 

So if you are all set to clear your technical interview, we have got you covered. Read on to know how you can crack it on the first attempt. Also, if you dream of applying in big MNCs like Morgan Stanley and Citrix, we have come up with the Morgan Stanley interview preparation, Citrix interview preparation guide.

Let’s get started! 

What is the Purpose of a Technical Interview? 

A technical interview is conducted by a hiring manager of a company to hire a deserving candidate for any technical positions such as software developer in the company. 

The purpose of the technical interview is to test the candidate’s expertise in certain technical arenas such as product testing, software development, and coding. In the technical interview round, the employer also judges the problem solving and critical thinking ability of an individual through hypothetical scenarios. 

The topics asked in the technical interviews and the written test across various companies are mostly the same. The only difference is that you have to elaborate upon such topics in the interview while maintaining a conversational tone. 

A technical interview typically consists of four major tests - a phone screen assessment, a remote coding assessment, and an in-person interview. To get you comfortable with the environment of the interview and pick a conversation, the employer first asked about your personal background and your educational qualifications. 

Therefore, you must ensure that you answer such questions with a clear, precise, crisp introduction about yourself. After the first few minutes of interaction, the employer then moves on to the technical questions. 

Tips to Get Started with Technical Interview Preparation

The technical interview is an excellent opportunity for candidates to showcase their communication skills,  creativity, critical thinking ability, technical subject knowledge, and problem solving skills to the employer.

 So, if you are heading for companies like Morgan Stanley you need to improvise your Morgan Stanley interview preparation strategy. Go through the following tips and tricks carefully! 

1. Understand the Basic Job Requirements 

A fundamental point to note before you start your interview preparation is the basic requirements of the job profile that you are applying for. For example, if you’re applying for the post of a software developer, then you need to work on mastering skills such as programming languages, data structures, algorithms, etc. 

A strong and clear understanding of the job profile helps you to answer the interview questions in a clear manner without faltering. Therefore, before you start working upon your technical skill sets, always note down an outline structure of the job profile and create a preparation strategy accordingly. 

2. Streamline Your Sources of Information 

If you want to create a robust Morgan Stanley interview preparation or Citrix interview preparation strategy, then you must streamline your sources of information. Identify the coding style and programming language that you’re most comfortable with and then choose the books to enhance your knowledge on the same. 

Once you have enough conceptual clarity, you can move on to practice certain numericals from online sources. This will help you master the practical application of your technical subjects and earn a leading edge over your competitors. 

3. Master Data Structures and Algorithms 

The technical interview is conducted to ensure that you can solve real-world problems with excellently performing codes. To do this, you need to have a strong understanding of the data structures and algorithms. 

The most important type of data structure to master is hashtables. Ensure that you have the ability to implement every hash table from scratch. You must also know in great detail about Stacks, Trees, Graphs, and Linked lists. 

While earning about Trees, focus upon node conduction, manipulation of algorithms, subsets, and their implementation. On the other hand, while studying the types of graphs, ensure that you cover the implementations of all types of graphs as well as their pros and cons. 

Once you’ve covered the subject of data structures, move on to the topic of algorithms. In algorithms, find out how you can sort two algorithms, introduce yourself to the topic of binary search, conduct in-depth research on tree traversal algorithms, and study further about advanced algorithms from various online sources. 

4. Be an Expert in Programming Languages 

On the day of the technical interview, the employer will ask you to choose a programming language to write a problem-solving code in. It is important that you choose a language that you know and understand thoroughly. Your technical interview is not a time for you to experiment with new programming languages! 

You can choose any language that you are comfortable with. However, if you are preparing for a back-end role, it is better to be an expert in Python. Whereas, if you are preparing for a front-end job profile, try and be a master of Javascript. 

That said, a programming language is a completely personal choice. Employers will be happy to see flawless code in any programming language. Their main focus is judging your problem solving abilities and grasp on coding algorithms. 

Conclusion 

Apart from the points mentioned in great detail above, you must also pay close attention to Systems Design (vertical scaling, load balancing, concurrency, abstraction, etc.) and OOP Design to complete your Morgan Stanley Interview Preparation. 

Also, before the actual technical interview, we recommend you to take a few mock interviews to simulate the environment of the real interview. Take your own time while answering the questions and ensure that you are confident about your answers!