IT Technical Interview over Skype

[robgmun]

It really is luck of the draw isn't it? Some people are rubbish at giving interviews and with those ones you can walk them, then there's the sadistic types that want to see you squirm.

Anyway, i'm leaving nothing to chance, i bet the final interview they're going to spring some questions on me so i'm going to continue to revise

 

[Scougar]

Our company first gives a technical programming challenge (lasting 1 to 3 days depending on the role). If the candidate does very well then we tend to give a quick skype interview to check their submission is their own and they are as smart as they appear to be, but mainly that they are not a psychopath. They are then given a tentative job offer and are flown over to chat with us and we basically try to persuade them to work for us. People that did well at the programming challenge likely can walk into any job and will have multiple job offers.

On rare occasions someone who was borderline on the programming challenge will be skyped to see if it is worth flying them over for interview but it is normally safer just to reject.


A majority of people who succeed at the programming challenge are flown in, although only around 40% of people pass the programming test.

Be interested in seeing examples of challenge. Any java (ish) related?

Well done thus far OP.

 

[D.P.]

Be interested in seeing examples of challenge. Any java (ish) related?

Well done thus far OP.

The problems are language agnostic but speed matters so C++ does best, but we are mainly interested in data structures, algorithms, code style and commenting.

Here is one such problem:

Given a 3D array of size 5x5x5 with each element containing a single character from a particular set, and a large lexicon of valid character sequences, find the arrangement of characters in the 3D array that maximizes the score under the following rules. Sequences are formed by connecting neighboring elements, including diagonals, but each element can only be used one. The sequence must exist in the lexicon. The score for that sequence is the square of the length of the sequence. Only sequences of 3 characters or longer are valid.

 

[jamief]

Why confused, a company who branch out to remote offices in other places in the world is not going to have 10's-100's employees.. more likely 1000's, and with that comes large infrastructure, which will have a lot of servers.

OP, who many employees does this company have?

I worked for a startup with 15 employees and we had a satellite office in New York state.

 

[dowie]

Well that went better then expected and he didn't even ask any real questions! Just basically asked what i would do in certain situations. I thought it was going to be way more technical then that!

Sensible interviewer IMO... I mean its a desktop support role they really just need to know that you're technical-ish and not a complete muppet... Its a two way process and the last thing a company needs is some gimp on an ego trip trying to humiliate candidates etc... Giving you some realistic scenarios and asking what you would do is a reasonable approach IMO.

Ok, i passed this round and now have been invited to the office along with 4 others. I have the feeling that the last two rounds has been foreplay and the final interview will be the big bruiser

Maybe, though I'd be a bit put off if it was... usually by the time you get to a final interview they've already decided that you're suitable/competent for the role and are more likely to be interested in meeting you and assessing whether you (personality wise) would fit in with the team/company.

 

[Pestilence]

Given a 3D array of size 5x5x5 with each element containing a single character from a particular set, and a large lexicon of valid character sequences, find the arrangement of characters in the 3D array that maximizes the score under the following rules. Sequences are formed by connecting neighboring elements, including diagonals, but each element can only be used one. The sequence must exist in the lexicon. The score for that sequence is the square of the length of the sequence. Only sequences of 3 characters or longer are valid.

The answer is... Potato.

 

[Xire]

It really is luck of the draw isn't it? Some people are rubbish at giving interviews and with those ones you can walk them, then there's the sadistic types that want to see you squirm.

Anyway, i'm leaving nothing to chance, i bet the final interview they're going to spring some questions on me so i'm going to continue to revise

TCP/IP
DHCP
DNS

If they are going to ask you questions I guarantee they will be based on some of these or all of them. Understand the basics of these 3, but to be honest It wont be as technical as you think, I have had so many interviews for similar roles, they mainly focus on "what if scenarios" etc.

 

[robgmun]

*****BUMP*****

I got the Job!

After the 3rd face-to-face interview they sprung a 4th Skype interview with the IT Director which went very well and then they wanted to check my references before offering anything!
I start a new job in a couple of weeks with a good bump in salary

coupled with a very healthy redundancy i felt i really landed on my feet

I have to admit i was hardly trying as i needed the time off for stress and a random job i was applying for to show the Job Centre i was trying somehow paid off. It was a US company so a bit of grueling recruiting process with 4 interviews and a background check including checking references up front before an offer would be made but it was well worth it in the end.

 

[Digital]

Congrats!

 

[Irish_Tom]

Nice one Rob, well done.

 

[benjo]

Nice one