Technical Interview Questions And Answers

Many different technical interview questions are bound to come up when your job involves some technical content and because that involves so many different subjects, all we can do here is show you HOW to deal with technical interview questions.

If you really know your technical subject from practical experience, then in any particular area, you should also be able to say what could go wrong in any particular design or process.

Other interview candidates who don't have your experience - or if they had only done a course on the subject - wouldn’t be able to answer a question on what could go wrong. If they had only been slightly exposed to the technical subject then their replies to such technical interview questions would probably be very limited.

But if you had extensive experience of a technical area, then you could probably give a lengthy answer about the possible problems and their solutions.

One thing that many technical people could be guilty of is thinking that your expertise or even your qualifications speak for you. They do not. You must take the time to sell your self and expand upon your technical abilities.

The Interviewer's Perspective

From an interviewer's point of view, someone who knows what can go wrong demonstrates knowledge more effectively than giving someone a technical test. Knowing what can go wrong and the ways of avoiding it is the way to produce a successful outcome to any technical task.

Down the page, I've also added some information about how to prepare your engineering or technical CV, write covering letters and prepare for technical interviews.

So if your interviewer does not ask technical interview questions like that, you should aim to turn the interview round so that you are able to bring out your knowledge of the particular technical area or skill that they need to know about.

Before you go to the interview, think about all the things that may go wrong in this area or when applying this particular skill. Also think about how you have solved these problems to make them right.

So, when you go to the interview, be determined to get this across; that you know what the issues are and how you can solve them. Don't just passively sit there and answer the questions they ask. It should be quite straightforward to bring up the topic of the problems that occur and the solutions you have come up with.

If it doesn't come out readily during the interview, when they ask if you have any questions you should immediately ask them about the main problems that they have had at their site, and then discuss how they are solving them. You can then go on to talk about similar problems that you have had and what you have done to correct them. If they haven’t come across some of these issues yet, they might be very keen to have you on board for when they do.

But even if they have come across the problems, by bringing them up you will show that your understanding of the subject and that you are able to sort out problems in it.

If you are an interview candidate, make sure that you have prepared a list of technical interview questions about what can go wrong and how you would put it right, and go to the interview determined that you are going to make this point.

An Interesting Technical Question

Q. How would you deal with the problem of insufficient time to complete an important project containing multiple modules?

If your options are to complete some of the modules or to start all of the modules without finishing any completely, what strategy would you choose?

A. Its better to show your skills and abilities by completing some of the work required. Naturally you can then demonstrate what you have achieved; explain your problems and ask some more time to complete the project. Clearly you don't leave it until the end of the project life-cycle - talk to your boss at the earliest opportunity so you can prioritise the order of completion. Make sure you have your own answers to technical interview questions like this.

Advantages Of This Approach To Technical Interview Questions

Competence and compatibility are the two key factors in a decision to hire and it's true that companies tend to take on people that they like. If you are able to talk to them as a knowledgeable equal (or superior) in a subject that they know and like talking about, you build the all-important 'rapport' with your interviewer as you talk about common problems you've both met and solved. As the rapport builds, so do your chances of being offered the job!

Also In This Section:

Technical Engineer CV Writing Tips
There is a simple rule of thumb that you can follow, which means that the underlying skills, accountabilities and authority of your job have to be equated to the job role you want, so that there is a clear fit upon which you base your job application.

But many technical people value their technical skills far more than their people skills and so are guilty of ignoring factors which could make them an outstanding candidate; when only the 'hard' skills are presented on their Technical Engineer CV, and any 'soft' skills left out or not given sufficient emphasis, an opportunity to be seen as a great candidate is missed.

Engineer's Covering Letter
Your Engineer Cover Letter must get you to an interview so that you can convince the hiring managerof your suitability for the job in person. The letter can not get you the job, only you can do that.

Your engineer's cover letter does not need to be **salesy** nor does it need to be flowery, but it must be interesting enough to reassure the hiring manager that you will not be a waste of precious time to interview.

Interview Preparation
Although interview preparation is everything it's sad to say but perhaps as many as half of all interviewers you’re going to meet will be unprepared or incompetent. It’s not all their fault, it's just lack of interview preparation time or responsibility; some of them will be co-opted at the last minute to meet you and won’t have had time to prepare.

Best Interview Answers
The best interview answers to interview questions information on this page shows you exactly how you can deal with questions like tell me about yourself, which of course is not really a question, but it's so often used to get you talking at the start of an interview. You can't afford to get this wrong as the whole interview may then turn out to be a waste of time if you haven't prepared for it.

Job Interview Strategies
The eleven job interview strategies I've laid won't take a lot of preparing for because they are mostly just good commonsense, but too many people seem to insist on 'winging it' which is not a very good interview strategy.

Most of all, there is every reason to succeed because the hiring organization has already told you what it wants either in the 'help wanted' ad or in the job description package they send out to applicants.

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