How to Stand Out in Technical Interviews
Tips to showcase Your Behavioral Skills and Experience in a Technical Interview
Hey, Prasad here 👋 I'm the voice behind the weekly newsletter "Behavioural OS for Techies."
Welcome to this week's article, in which I explain how you can stand-out in technical interviews by showcasing your work experience and technical skills.
Also, registration for the next BeSA (Become a Solutions Architect) batch is now open. It starts on Oct-05, will run for 8 weeks, and as always, it’s completely FREE!
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A common question that is asked to me is "How do I stand out in a technical interview?"
In my previous articles, I have talked extensively about how you can showcase your behavioral skills in the behavioral interviews.
But is it possible to showcase your behavioral skills in an technical interview?
The answer is "YES"!
When answering pure technical questions, if possible, extend with one of the following:
Your work experience of when you have tackled that technical scenario
If you do not have direct experience, talk about how you have learned about it or how you would approach it
Put simply, do not stop at just answering the technical question.
Add your authentic experience to stand out.
🙌 Personal Anecdote
In my technical phone screen at AWS in 2019, I was asked, "What is an Idempotent API?"
My response was in 3 steps:
1. Answered the technical question asked upfront
I explained what an Idempotent API is, showcasing my technical knowledge.
2. Shared my previous project where I implemented an idempotent API
I showcased my actual hands-on work experience without the interviewer even asking me.
3. Explained my project experience in STAR format
While explaining my project experience in STAR format, I also explained WHY the idempotent API was required in that scenario. I talked about how the APIs I built were reporting trades worth millions in real-time to regulators and the reason I had to implement them as idempotent.
This is where I showcased my behavioral skills and also demonstrated that I understand the business impact of the technical solutions I build.
The Problem with Pure Technical Answers
Many candidates just show off their technical knowledge during technical interviews.
But here's the thing - everyone does that. Trust me, most candidates get the technical answers right.
Let's say 10 people interview. 7 of them answer the technical questions correctly. You're one of those 7. So why should interviewer pick you?
You need to stand out. How? By sharing your real-world experience and behavioral skills.
While technical answer showcases that you have knowledge, they don't paint a complete picture of your ability to succeed in a role.
Let's look at a couple of common technical questions. I'll show you how to answer them in a way that also shows off your behavioral skills and experience.
Question: "What are microservices, and what are their advantages and disadvantages?"
🚫 Purely Technical Approach
"Microservices are an architectural style where an application is built as a collection of small, independent services. The advantages include scalability, flexibility, and easier maintenance. Disadvantages include increased complexity and potential performance overhead due to network communication."
This is just an example. You’ll have your own version of technical answer with much more depth to it!
✅ Behavioral Skills Showcase Approach
After you provide the technical answer to the question. Add your personal experience to it.
"In fact in one of my previous project when I was consulting for a manufacturing company in 2022, I led a team that modernized our e-commerce platform by transitioning from a monolith to microservices.
We decided to make this shift because our monolithic application was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and scale. For instance, deploying even small changes required testing the entire application, leading to a release cycle of 6 weeks.
To begin the transition, I initiated and facilitated an event storming session with stakeholders from development, operations, and business teams. This collaborative approach helped us identify natural service boundaries and ensured buy-in from all departments.
We started by extracting the product catalog service, as it was relatively self-contained. We faced several challenges, such as increased operational complexity and data consistency issues. I saw these as opportunities for the team to learn and grow. We invested time in upskilling, bringing in external experts for workshops on distributed systems and organizing internal knowledge-sharing sessions.
I’m happy to dive deep more into my experience. I’ve seen firsthand in this project the advantages of microservices and the challenges that come along with it"
💪 Why It's Better:
This response not only demonstrates technical knowledge but also showcases your experience and several behavioral skills:
Leadership: Leading the transition project
Communication: Facilitating sessions with various stakeholders
Problem-solving: Addressing challenges that arose during the transition
Learning mindset and adaptability: Learning and applying new technologies
Now, let’s look into another question.
Question: "What factors would you consider when choosing between SQL and NoSQL databases?"
🚫 Purely Technical Approach:
"When choosing between SQL and NoSQL databases, several factors come into play.
Data structure is a primary consideration, with SQL being ideal for structured, relational data, while NoSQL is better suited for unstructured or semi-structured data.
Scalability needs often favor NoSQL, which typically scales horizontally more easily.
SQL databases generally offer stronger ACID compliance and excel at complex queries involving joins and transactions. However, NoSQL databases provide greater schema flexibility, allowing for more dynamic data models.
Performance requirements are also crucial, as NoSQL can offer faster read/write speeds for certain use cases.
Data consistency needs should be evaluated, with SQL providing immediate consistency and some NoSQL databases offering eventual consistency.
The choice ultimately depends on the specific requirements and constraints of the project at hand."
In all honesty, this is a good answer and will probably make the cut. But as I mentioned, majority of candidates will be able to provide this level of answer. You need to strive for going above and beyond.
✅ Behavioral Skills Showcase Approach:
I understand, you cannot have work experience with every technical question that is asked in interview.
And that is absolutely fine.
Compliment the technical answer above with how would you approach such a scenario.
"To understand the requirements and constraints, I would organize a requirements gathering session with various stakeholders like the development team, product managers, and if possible, end-users. During this session, I would ask key questions such as:
How structured is the data? Do we need a fixed schema or flexibility for evolving structures?
What are our scalability requirements? What are the expected read/write ratios?
Do we need strong consistency for all operations, or is eventual consistency acceptable for some data?
What are our typical query patterns? Do we need complex joins and transactions?
How frequently will our data model change?
Once we have these answers, I would analyze them in the context of ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) properties typically associated with SQL databases, and BASE (Basically Available, Soft state, Eventually consistent) properties often seen in NoSQL systems.
I would also consider the CAP theorem (Consistency, Availability, Partition tolerance) which states that in a distributed system, you can only have two of these three guarantees.
And most modern systems often benefit from a polyglot persistence approach, using different types of databases for different purposes within the same application. For example:
PostgreSQL for user accounts and financial transactions, where ACID properties were crucial
MongoDB for storing product catalogs with varying attributes
Redis for caching and real-time analytics
This decision cannot be made in isolation. As an architect, I would consider trade-offs of each approach, challenge assumptions and provide alternative viewpoints."
💪 Why It's Better:
This response demonstrates several behavioral skills:
Analytical thinking: Systematically considering various factors
Stakeholder management: Involving different teams in the decision-making process
Communication: Organizing and facilitating requirements gathering and review sessions
Decision-making: Weighing pros and cons to arrive at a solution
Adaptability: Showing willingness to use multiple technologies as needed
🎯 Quick Recap
By answering technical questions in a way that showcases both your technical knowledge and behavioral skills, you present yourself as a well-rounded candidate who can not only do the job but also work effectively within a team and contribute to the company culture.
Go Beyond Technical Knowledge: While answering technical questions correctly is important, it's often not enough to stand out among other qualified candidates.
Showcase Real-World Experience: After providing a technical answer, share relevant work experiences or projects where you've applied this knowledge.
Demonstrate Behavioral Skills: Use your answers to highlight important soft skills such as leadership, communication, problem-solving, and adaptability.
Connect Technical Solutions to Business Impact: Show that you understand how your technical decisions and implementations affect the broader business goals.
Approach Hypothetical Scenarios Comprehensively: Even if you lack direct experience, explain how you would approach a problem, considering stakeholders, requirements gathering, and decision-making processes.
Show Depth of Understanding: Discuss trade-offs, alternative approaches, and industry best practices to demonstrate a thorough grasp of the subject matter.
Companies are looking for more than just technical expertise. They want employees who can communicate effectively, work collaboratively, adapt to changing circumstances, and drive innovation.
So, as you prepare for your next technical interview, reflect not just on your technical accomplishments, but also on how you've demonstrated these crucial behavioral skills in your work.
📝 Other articles you might enjoy
You're Doing STAR Format Answers Wrong. Here's How to Do It the Right Way
Behavioral Interview Question Bank Categorized into 8 Themes
How Failing Multiple Interviews Helped Me Create My Elevator Pitch For AWS Interview
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