Of course, you always have JoelOnSoftware’s guide to interviewing that should point you in the right direction: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html
But I want to go one step beyond that. For the record, I interned with Microsoft, Google and (this coming summer) Facebook. So any experience I share applies to Software Developer positions, but should be useful for any job.
First off, think about your employer. Imagine you own that company. Read about it to get a feeling, understand their statement and market position and then imagine you are in charge of the department where you are applying. What kind of people do you want to have working for you? Even without reading a company’s statement (which you should), it should be clear that everyone wants to hire the best people that they can, for that job. It is important to realize that “best” means here “best fit” for the job. If I hire a programmer, I want her to be the best programmer out there. Not the best manager. Not the best clown. It’s great if she also has those skills, but I have to run a company and people pay for my product, not for how funny my employees are. Clearly in showbiz they pay for how funny your employees are but I’m digressing. Now, say you are an OK developer and really want to get a job. How do you distinguish yourself? Again, think like someone from that company. Who would you hire? Of two people of similar skills, what do you look at to distinguish? I would say passion is very important. I want someone who will work at a problem hard. People that do things on the side (develop software in their spare time, contribute to open-source projects) are a a great pick. GPA is important but too high a GPA might actually be worrying (unless it is backed up with other interesting things): it usually means that that person does everything school tells them to. Great, but I want people to also rebel a little bit, to come up with new ideas, disagree etc. If they rebel too much (GPA = 2.0 or so) this is also a worrying sign. Again, other activities might make up for it.
There is more to it, but it would be no fun if I just spelled it out. Read this as well and then keep imagining you are in charge of hiring. Look at your resume. Would you hire yourself for that position? If not, what would it take?
That’s it. Next time more on passion and how to get it.
Tags: internships, marketing, passion, technology
