Scaling Technical Interviews with Confidence

A technical interview is a type of interview where the interviewer asks you questions about your technical skills and knowledge. The interviewer is trying to assess your ability to do the job and your potential for growth.

The interviewer may ask you to write code on a whiteboard or computer, discuss your portfolio or previous projects, or complete a technical challenge.

Portfolio and Personal Experience

As part of your technical interview, you may be asked questions about your past experience and projects you've built. This is where having a strong portfolio comes in handy. Providing your interviewer with a first-hand look at the projects you’ve created (or are currently working on) gives them insight into your skills, passions, and creative visions.

Before a technical interview, ensure that you have the link to your portfolio accessible so you can share it with your interviewer. You should also be prepared to speak briefly about one or more of your projects. This will come about through a question like: “Walk me through something you’ve built?” or "Explain a project you are proud of."

This question is not a license to ramble about your work in an unstructured manner. It is an opportunity to showcase: the depth of your technical skills, the quality of your verbal communication skills, and your mastery of other important non-technical skills (e.g., collaboration). One of the key parts of any job is presenting your ongoing or completed work to a variety of stakeholders. So this question is a chance for you to showcase that you have the ability to do so well. Many promising technical careers stall because people are unable to communicate their work effectively to others. Don't fall into this trap. And be sure to prepare effectively, so that you can showcase your effective communication skills right from the interview time.

📖 Read this article to learn how to explain a project in an interview.

The main structure presented in the article is:

• Introduce the project: Discuss its purpose, benefits, and user needs.
• Discuss main functionality: what does your project do?
• Explain tools, technologies, and platforms.
• Describe your personal contribution and the project team.

Remember, the goal of talking about a project is to provide the interview with evidence of your technical and non-technical skills and your ability to use those skills to create value and drive impact.