Top 5 Interview Questions to Ask Software Developers

Top 5 Interview Questions to Ask Software Developers As a Technical Recruiter, my bread-and-butter roles were Software Development positions. I came into the Recruitment world with a background dominated by ‘soft skills’ and a BA in English Literature and as a result, I had a very steep learning curve with a huge amount of technical information to understand quickly, so that I wouldn’t sound like too much of an idiot when speaking to candidates! Luckily I am a bit of a geek at heart and enjoyed learning about all this cool new technology. I started asking the following questions as a way of homing in on the strongest candidates by giving me a more holistic view of how they approach their work. 1. What projects are you working on at home? Why to ask this: Great Developers are passionate about what they do. Talking about their professional work is fine, but that’s what they get paid to do whether they enjoy it or not. The best Developers, in my experience, always have their own side-projects. They needn’t be big or overly ambitious, and are an excellent way to hone their craft, try out new techniques and learn new skills. Side projects demonstrate enthusiasm and desire to learn, and if a Developer doesn’t have any, I want to know why. 2. What beta toys are you playing with? Why to ask this: This relates to the first question â€" technology constantly evolves with new products and versions released frequently. If you wait to learn a technology once it becomes mainstream, you are waiting too long and will eventually get left behind. For example, iOS 6 was released this September, but there was a Developer preview available from June. iOS Developers should have been playing with iOS 6’s preview to learn its new features and see how it affects their development. At the very least, if a Developer isn’t using the most up-to-date tools at work, he should be playing with them at home, or risk getting left behind. Playing with beta tools and latest technologies again shows that vital desire to learn, as knowledge becomes defunct rapidly in the tech world. At the same time, a tech recruiter should be aware of these trends and new techs in order to ask about them. 3. What source control do you use? Why to ask this: Source control is software that manages code during its build; logging what changes are made (and by whom) and saving previous versions so if a Developer breaks something badly, they roll back to a stable version. Source control isn’t essential to get a project done, but it’s universally agreed that anyone working in a team, jumping in and out of one another’s code, will benefit from using source control. Source control is even the subject of the first of 12 questions on the Joel Test; a well-known and oft-used test to determine a development team’s quality by asking yes/no questions on 12 development best practices â€" ideally a team should do at least 11 out of the 12 (see link for full list). Good use of source control shows the ability to work as a member of a team efficiently, and demonstrates an organised approach to coding. 4. How do you approach your documentation? Why to ask this: Documentation is essentially the Technical Guide to a project, explaining how to use it, providing technical specifications, guides to algorithms and APIs etc. Good documentation is key to successful projects; ask any developer and they will list hundreds of examples of spaghetti code they can’t make heads or tails of, with no documentation to explain what the heck is going on. Developers construct vast technical architecture in their heads and write hundreds of lines of code daily. They might remember what they wrote yesterday, but last month, or last year, and thousands of lines of code ago? Unlikely. Documentation isn’t fun or sexy, and is often ignored in favour of other more pressing concerns. However, when the excrement hits the rotating air circulation device, good documentation can save the day. A good Developer will create thorough documentation for his projects, and this shows a quality-focused approach to their work. 5. Give me an example of a project that completely failed? Why to ask this: I got this one from a client who gave notoriously tough interviews â€" all his questions concerned project failures and screw-ups. He reasoned that all your successes are listed on your CV, so you get a far better view of a person from what they leave off! This isn’t a variant of the “what is one of your weaknesses” questions, where you give an answer that is actually a veiled positive. Keep probing until you get a real disaster. How they responded will give you a far better idea of what they are like in the workplace, and what their key weaknesses are â€" which you can then help prep them on for an interview. Asking these questions helps identify passionate, driven and quality-focused developers who will be a boon to any client, although this is list is far from exhaustive. What questions do you ask to find the best talent, and how do they help? Related: How to Recruit Technology Talent in 5 Easy Steps.

Cool Career Girl Technology Eye-Fi

Cool Career Girl Technology Eye-Fi How annoying is it when you are super excited to upload your pictures from the weekend, and then you cant find your stupid cord ANYWHERE?   I hate it.   I also hate the times when I avoid uploading pictures for weeks at a time and then have to deal with organizing them and waiting for everything to load. Well fret no more!   Technology just keeps getting cooler and cooler.   Check out the eye-fi:  a new way to wirelessly upload pictures and videos to your computer (Mac or PC) or favorite photo sharing community (like Flickr, Picasaand over 25 others) as long as you are within range of a wi-fi network.   The Eye-fi share is $59.99-79.99. No worries, the whole world wont see your pics.   You can easily change your privacy settings to your liking. To make this product even cooler- and perhaps creepier- the Eye-fi Explore ($99) is also capable of   geo-tagging your photos.   In other words, it can tell you WHERE you took the pictures!   No, its not equipped with a GPS system the size of a tiny memory card.   Instead it uses WPS technology- which is Wi-fi positioning.   It locates you based on the wireless networks surrounding you. Awesome! You can cut the cord for as low as $49.99 with the Eye-fi Home (uploads photos only to your home computer). And for you iphone people, there is a free iphone app when you own the Eye-fi too.   (I mean what ISNTthere an iphone app for, right?!) Has anyone tried this yet?   Im tempted to get it!

Time Investment How to Achieve More Success With Less Stress

Time Investment How to Achieve More Success With Less Stress Last week, members in the  Get Ahead Club  had the opportunity to listen to my interview with Elizabeth Saunders. Elizabeth is an internationally recognized expert time coach with clients in North America, South America, Asia and Europe. Her experience as a full-time entrepreneur and her training in coaching and leadership development lead to McGraw Hill publishing her first book The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: How to Achieve More Success With Less Stress. Here are a few things I learned from the interview with Elizabeth: -Front load your week. If something needs to get done this week, do it at the beginning of your week!  If an emergency or something urgent comes up, your tasks will be done and you can take care of the emergency. -Work life brilliance is when time is aligned with your priorities and you feel good with how you spend your time. -Time is limited.   Because it’s a finite resource, the only way to achieve more success with less stress is to invest it in what really matters most to you, your priorities. -Effective time investment is the most important factor in experiencing the life that you deserve. “The rich invest in time and the poor invest in money. -Warren Buffet -The way you decide to invest your time can have a dramatic life or death impact.   A University College London professor did research that found that those who pulled long hours had 67% of the heart attacks of the entire study.   Even if you don’t foresee an early demise by overwork, you should know that effective time investment is the single most important factor in releasing your potential and experiencing the life that you deserve. Want to get the rest of the interview and start taking action to get ahead in your career this year? You can join the Get Ahead Club today and listen to the recordings from all the interviews, get the action plan worksheet, the Cliff Notes and interact with Anna Runyan and the rest of the Get Ahead Club community right now!  Click here to learn more.

Procrastinating on your career planning

Procrastinating on your career planning Are you guilty of putting off your career planning? I have some sympathy. Ive been meaning to write this particular blog post for over two weeks now, but each time Ive sat down to write it, Ive somehow found something else to do. There are  key reasons why we may put off doing things. In the case of my blog post,  its the fear of the post not being good enough and that no one will read it. The longer I leave it, the greater the self-doubt becomes and with it the greater the temptation to do something else instead.  I could invest my time in something where I am  likely to get guaranteed payback read an interesting article ,  or  get involved in a diversionary activity, such  as on-line shopping. Why do we procrastinate? 1. Self-doubt As with the example above. Perhaps that as Im not a  proper writer, why would anyone take me seriously? So if I dont try, I wont fail. In the case of job applications, perhaps you might feel that you dont have exactly the right experience. Do you know others that you consider more capable than you,  who have applied for the same opportunity and not succeeded  why bother to apply? So this becomes your justification for not bothering and a self-fulfilling prophesy. As Erica Jong puts it, We are so scared of being judged that we look for every excuse to procrastinate. The solution? Well- here I am, being brave enough to have a go at writing this post and letting go of my insecurities in order to share something that I hope at least a few people may find helpful. Its only by trying, getting feedback and trying again that we learn. Remember- there is no such thing as failure- only feedback. Seek help and support from careers staff to help you get unstuck. Once you make a start the task itself becomes less daunting.  Watch our film clips on how to develop your self-confidence. 2. Perfectionism If I had a pound for every student I have seen who was waiting until they were sure that they were applying for the right opportunity, Id be a wealthy woman. Perhaps here  too,  its the feeling you may be judged by others if you get it wrong. However what if you are offered the perfect job and soon after discover that its not all youd hoped it would be? The solution? The best any of us can hope for is that what we start with  feels OK and that we navigate from there once weve gained some experience. Experience- whether good or bad is a great way to start to focus on what might be a better fit. No experience is ever wasted. Many Warwick alumni who come back to campus to meet current students dont tell you they got it right first time. Many will have found  themselves in jobs they had no idea even existed when they were at Uni. Perhaps they started something and it didnt work out, so they applied for something else and changed direction- and that turned out to be a good thing. Many graduates will have changed employers within a couple of years after they leave Warwick. So get some work experience, try jobs out and move towards your best fit as you increase your understanding of who you are and whats important to you. Read my post Fix me up with my perfect job 3. Feeling overwhelmed The whole process of applying for graduate jobs can be overwhelming. Its time-consuming and if you arent quite sure why youre applying then recruiters are likely to pick up on this. Thats likely to mean your dont get short- listed, a dispiriting experience, leading to self-doubt (see point 1 above) and then, unsurprisingly, to inertia. If you feel that you need to have a career idea before getting started, this may mean you dont feel able to take action. The solution? Ironically it is a commonly held assumption that you should have a career idea before you meet with a careers consultant, when in fact the opposite is true. You dont need a career idea to see one of us. You simply need to be willing and or anxious- either is fine-to come and start the conversation. Just say: Id like to get started on career planning but Im finding it overwhelming.  Im not sure where to start. Thats good enough to explore how we can help you get started. By taking small steps we can discuss whats important to you, taking into account your interests, values and motivations. Small steps are manageable and more easily achieved and youll be more motivated to take them. Career success is whatever you want it to be. We dont judge you; whats important is that you are happy with the choices you make and that as you progress through your career, you feel able to change your direction and  your priorities. Just take that first small step! 4.  Fear of change Sometimes students will put off the inevitable fact that university will one day come to an end.  Some students apply for a Masters course to procrastinate and to put off career decision making for a further year. If youre studying something youe passionate about, or where you need a Post Graduate qualification to progress into a specific career this may be reason enough. However if its simply to buy more time, then this could be a very expensive way to spend both your time and energy- especially if you dont know whether you will need your qualification! Many recruiters dont differentiate between a degree and masters qualification for graduate scheme entry. Theyll be more interested in your work experience and relevant skills, so dont make assumptions that  extra study  will automatically be advantageous. The solution? That means taking responsibility for researching into  possible courses and finding out where former students have gone afterwards. You might contact universities to find this out before deciding whether to sign up. If  youre simply putting off the inevitable it may be helpful to see a Careers Consultant (see 3, above). Finally, for those  Warwick students  about to embark on your Finals, we offer you free careers support once youve graduated as well as while youre still on campus. There really is no excuse!  If you havent managed to sort out your career whilst you are at University, and the thought of juggling applications and your exams is sending you into meltdown, then theres still time and support even once youve graduated. Remember: Everybody has to start somewhere. You have your whole future ahead of you. Perfection doesnt happen overnight.  Haruki Murakami

Find Professional and Executive Resume Writing Services

Find Professional and Executive Resume Writing ServicesHow do you find professional and executive resume writing services? We could go through each company with a fine tooth comb, if we had to, but how about focusing on only the ones that are legitimate and helpful? If you have done your homework and have done some comparison shopping, you probably know which services you should avoid.The first thing you want to do is find a service that will give you honest reviews and help you in finding the most cost effective way to do so. You don't want to pay the most amount of money and end up getting the lowest quality. Not only is this going to be a waste of your time, but it will also cost you more money in the long run.Many companies will charge you for not only a full resume review, but to get an initial evaluation of you as a professional. With all of the different positions that require professional and executive resume writing services, many of these services will offer you a free eval uation. This will allow you to see what you will be getting from the company.As you do your comparison shopping, you want to make sure that they only provide you with your best choices. Even if you have already seen the resume, if the company didn't make the resume for you, it is not good. Make sure that they provide you with two or three things that fit your needs.Many people are looking for professional and executive resume writing services that provide them with feedback. If they do not offer feedback, then they are not worth your time. A resume is only as good as the writer that wrote it. By having a written evaluation, you can get an idea of how good or bad the resume is.Many people choose not to get recommendations on what they should do in regards to writing an executive resume. This is completely understandable. After all, you are not expecting anyone to come and help you with writing it for you.It is just as easy as tracking down your resume today and deciding how you want to get it written. Having the right information is key. In order to get a professional and executive resume writing service to help you write your resume, make sure that you have all of the information before hand and take the time to compare and contrast all of the services available.Your resume is one of the first things potential employers look at when they are reviewing your resume. It is essential that you get the best out of the services that you do have. With the right information, you can find professional and executive resume writing services that can really help you out.

Summary Sunday...No More Excuses

Summary Sunday...No More Excuses Anger, frustration, lack of knowledge, stupidity or just plain ignorancethese are the things that get in the way of a successful job search.   Dont you owe it to yourself or the ones you love to get information that will move your job search forward? Cant We Do More For the Unemployed than Job Fairs? I saw a piece on the news last week that made me scream.   Reporters in Atlanta, GA were covering a story about a job fair.   Hundreds of people were waiting outside in extreme temperatures waiting to get into the job fair. (Here is a writeup about the job fair) Wait, it gets better.   A politician was interviewed and declared the event a great success and proudly proclaimed his intent to organize more of these across the county. When job seekers were interviewed, they, less enthusiastically, shared that they were being told by employers there to apply online for any job openings. So, I am wondering.   Of those hundreds of heat-exhausted job seekers, how many were hired on the spot?   Or will ever get a job from this job fair. Were they going to this job fair with the thought they would be hired on the spot?   That just doesnt happen.   I think job fairs can be valuable. But if these job seekers understood how to identify and target employers, would they need to wait in line?   Wouldnt they have been able to apply online and find contacts who work for that company to advocate for them or at least refer them? I know, I am sounding a bit naive.   I understand there are probably reasons why this is not realisticbut until we stop looking for handouts (in the form of jobs, unemployment or other government funded benefits) we are in big trouble.   I am advocating for personal accountability and life long learning.   Job search information is out thereall over the place as a matter of fact.   Why dont people read it? Oh, maybe they are reading it, but they arent doing what it suggests. Change Your Outlook Absolutely Abbys post this week Unemployed or Unemployable looks at the reality of why some people might still be out of work, plus she provides recommendations.   Here is one example of what shes experienced while helping job seekers: I received an e-mail from an Administrative Assistant who had given up on searching for a job because no one would consider her for employment. She was 60 years old and had been unemployed for about 2 years. I took one look at her resume and cover letter and found grammatical errors galore. Being unemployed had nothing to do with why she was not being called for interviews. Are Easy Excuses Making Your Job Search Difficult? is another great post on this from YouTern, a site dedicated to college-age job and intern seekers.   But dont let the name fool you the advice is universal to anyone looking for an opportunity. Even Chris Brogan is writing about attitude.     Take Back Your Strings Brogans personalized style makes an amazing study.   His work is insightful both personally and professionally.   This post addresses his feelings about disappointing people. And finally, to end on a positive noteyou have to watch Guy Kawasaki! Marketer extraordinaire and author of multiple books.   His most recent being Enchanted.   Rita Carey referenced this video on her site, so thank you to Rita!

3 Possible Reasons Your Business Is In Trouble

3 Possible Reasons Your Business Is In Trouble Running a business is eternally fraught with potential troubles, and you need to make sure that you are doing everything you can to keep it in the best possible way at all times if you want it to stay afloat. The truth is that to do that, you need to be able to know how to actually keep your business out of trouble and that means being able to identify the possible reasons that it is in trouble in the first place. In this article, we are going to look at a few possible common options for why your business might be struggling, and this is something which you might want to look into at your earliest convenience if you care about keeping your business going strong. It Is Uninsured One of the biggest problems you can have in business is to find out that you suddenly suffer great financial turmoil, or that you need to protect yourself in future as best as you can. Not having insurance for a range of possible situations could mean that you are in a lot of trouble indeed, and this is one of the first things that you should therefore look into if you want to keep your business out of trouble. Thre are an umber of different kinds of insurance you might want to look into getting for different possible situations, ranging from basic contents insurance to the professional indemnity insurance you can see at https://www.qdoscontractor.com/professional-indemnity-insurance. Make sure you have whatever you think is necessary for your business type it could be all you need to do to keep yourself out of trouble in future. You Don’t Listen To The Customer Another early warning sign is that you have a hard time actually knowing what the customer wants, possibly because you simply don’t listen to them well enough in the first place. Not paying attention to the customer can mean that you end up doing things which lose them in the long run, and you might even find that your business reputation worsens over time as a result of this too. Make sure you are always paying attention to what the customer ha to say. By doing so, you will be able to make the right moves in future and keep your business out of trouble in the long term. It’s Not Original Ultimately, you need to have an original business idea if it is to work as well as possible and that means that you should work on this first and foremost if you want to get it done right. If your business is basically unoriginal, then it will likely mean that you are not going to be able to keep it out of trouble, so make sure you have considered that if you are going to try and keep your business afloat for longer. Having originality will ultimately save you hugely form future turmoil, so this is more important than you might think.