Tips on How to face an Interview!

PART- 1

1. Golden Rule: Speak 1) Loudly
                                   2) Clearly
                                   3) Slowly

2. You need to make sure that you arrive and are ready to take the phone call about 15 minutes
before the scheduled interview time. Please make sure the phone is not busy (or engaged) about
10 minutes before the scheduled interview time.

3. Have a pen and paper ready to take notes during the interview with your resume and verify the
resume experience.

4. Be calm and composed before and during the interview.

5. Be enthusiastic during the interview. Smile. They can definitely hear it in your voice. Discuss
hot buttons for client.

6. Provide direct and complete answers to all questions that are asked of you. Always research
the client’s website before the interview to get an idea of the client’s business.

7. If this is an international call, there may be delay across the phone line. Wait for the
interviewer to finish talking and then respond to the question.

8. The interviewer begins the conversation with “How are you doing?” You need to respond back
with “Fine. How about you?”

9. You need to end the interview with. “Thanks for your time. It was nice talking to you and I look
forward to being a part of your project”.

10. Always call the interviewers by their first name only. For example, if the interviewer’s name
is John Smith, make sure you call him John. Do not call him Mr. John or Sir. Make sure that you
write down the names of the interviewers so that you remember to address them by their name
during the interview.

11. Find out from the sales representative and recruiter about the requirements of the project for
which you are being interviewed prior to the interview. Tailor your answers to best suit the details
of the project for which you are being interviewed. For example, if the project is an accounting
system, make sure that you highlight any experience that you have with any accounting systems
that you have worked in the past. Also, for example, if the project requires Sybase as the backend
database, make sure that you highlight your Sybase experience, if any.

12. Anticipate what the interviewer is looking for and provide intelligent answers to satisfy the
interviewer’s questions. If you have not worked on a particular software or version, do not answer
saying “No”. Say that you have worked on a similar product or that you are a quick learner and
some of the other things you would bring to the table.

13. Never use the words “involved in”. This implies that someone else did the work and that you
were assisting them. Either say “I was responsible for”, if you were in charge of the work, or “I
carried out” if you were part of the team carrying out the work.

14. Never use the words “we”. Always say “I”. This clearly indicates that you did the work.

15. If the line is bad or you can’t hear, never keep saying “Hello”. Simply say “I’m sorry, the line
is bad, I cannot hear you. Would you please repeat the question?” Or simply “Would you please
repeat your question?”

16. If you do not work for X but for the subcontractor, make sure that you never mention that you
work for the subcontractor instead of X. Always indicate that you work for X directly, unless
instructed otherwise by the recruiter/ sales representative. Never discuss rates or salary with the
client.

17. Make sure that you check with the recruiter/sales representative as to what the interviewer’s
expectations are and make sure that you provide a suitable start date.

18. Highlight any special training or certifications you have.

19. Never discuss personal issues with the client.

Interview Questions

Q1. Describe your current project?
A1. Provide the following information in order: name/title of the project, the client name and
location, a functional overview of the project, the environment (hardware and software) of the
project, your specific role and responsibilities and technical features of the software that were
used by you. However, if your most recent project does not fit the requirements of the project for
which you are being interviewed for, and then provide a summary of your experience and
highlight the project which best fits the requirements of the project for which you are being
interviewed.

Q2. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) or 1 to 5 (5 being the best) on each
area of expertise. Example: Rate yourself in PowerBuilder and Sybase.
A2. Typically, you should rate yourself between 8 and 10.

Q3. If you rated yourself less than a 10, what will it take for you to become a 10?
A3. One possible answer is “more experience in a wide range of applications and systems”.

Q4. Describe which part of software lifecycle you were a part of?
A4. The main phases in the software lifecycle are specification, design, coding, testing, and
implementation. You need to indicate which areas you have worked in. For a programmer
analyst, it is essential to have experience in design, coding and testing. It is always nice to tell
the interviewer that you at least have some experience in specification (interacting with users)
and implementation (installation at the client site).

Q5. What percentage of the time do you spend in analysis/design, coding and testing?
A5. The industry average is 35% in analysis/design, 35% in coding and 30% in testing. Make sure
that your answer does not grossly violate the industry standard.

Q6. How do you estimate time durations for your tasks?
A6. You should break down your tasks into smaller pieces, which help you accurately estimate
the tasks. You should use your experience to estimate the durations for the individual pieces as
well as any integration time for joining these pieces. If necessary, you should ask your
supervisors and peers to review your estimates. Typically, programming tasks need to have time
assigned for design, coding, unit testing and if appropriate, system testing (or integrated testing).

Q7. Did you have to prepare the spec or did you program from the spec?
A7. It is a plus if you have prepared a spec (or specification) but if you are a junior programmer, it
is acceptable to have programmed from a spec.

Q8. Did you interact with the end users?
A8. It is a plus if you have interacted extensively with the end users of the software. It may be
acceptable to state that you have interacted occasionally as the need arose.

Q9. Explain any debugging tools that you have used?
A9. Make sure that you are familiar with the debugging tools in your area of expertise. You
should be able to view values of variable, set breakpoint, change variable values in the debugger.
Debugging using print statements to the screens is not acceptable method of debugging and
should never be mentioned in the normal cases.

Q10. Explain any CASE tools that you have used?
A10. If you are not familiar with any CASE tools, make sure that you at least read up or find out
about any suitable CASE tools in your area of expertise. ERWIN SQL is a popular data-modeling
CASE tool on the PC.

Q11. Explain any version control tools that you have used?
A11. Any significant software project will have version control tools to allow concurrent
development and so to provide a development trail. Popular version control tools are PVCS on
PC and sccs on Unix. It is not acceptable to indicate that you have not used any version control
tools. Make sure that you are familiar with version control tools in your environment prior to the
interview.

Q12. What are the differences between versions of the software in your area of expertise?
A12. Make sure that you find out about the differences between the software versions. This is
most important when the software changes from character mode to GUI mode (such as Oracle
Forms 3.0 to Oracle Developer 2000) or from mainframe to client server (such as SAP R2 to SAP
R3) between versions.

Q13. What do you do when you are running late on your assignments?
A13. You should keep the project manager or supervisor informed about your progress at all
times. When your tasks are running late, you should work longer hours to try to catch up. If
appropriate, you should ask your supervisors and peers for their advice and help

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Q14. How do you handle problems with peers?
A14. First, you should talk to your peer and see if you can resolve the problem between the two
of you. If not, then you should talk to your manager about the situation.

Q15. Do you work long hours?
A15. Definitely, say yes. You should state that you will do what it takes to get the job done
successfully on time and within budget.

Q16. When are you available to start?
A16. Make sure that you check with the recruiter/sales representative as to what the
interviewer’s expectations are and make sure that you provide a suitable start date. Typically, a
start date can be a week or two from the interview date.

Q17. What is your visa status?
A17. If your visa has already been approved and you have a valid work visa for GTRAS, Inc.,
then state the visa details. If you do not know about the exact status of your visa, check with
recruiter/sales representatives as to the status of your visa so that you can appropriately answer
this question.

Q18. How long can you stay in the United States?
A18. Typically, the H-1B visa is valid for 3 years and can be extended for 3 more years. In most
cases, GTRAS, Inc. will sponsor your permanent residency for the United States, in which case
you can work indefinitely in the United States

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General Questions (prepare on your own)

Q1. What is the team size of your project?
Q2. What lifecycle methodology tools do you use?
Q3. How do you handle problems with your manager?
Q4. What do you do when the user/manager is wrong and you are right?
Q5. Have you done anything to enhance your performance? What?
Q6. Describe the most challenging person you’ve had to work with?
Q7. Describe the most difficult person you’ve had to work with?
Q8. What is the most challenging project you’ve had to work on?
Q9. What was the most difficult technical problem you’ve had to solve?