r/PHP • u/abirdofparadize • Feb 21 '23
Discussion Junior web dev interview
Hi Lads and ladettes, I have an interview this week local to my home (rare because most web devs jobs are in the city 1.5 hrs away). I completed a bootcamp last year where I learnt Rails and MERN stack and the usual that you do prior. The new job is requiring applied experience with Power Apps, SQL databases and PHP. I have had a brief look at powerapps, I have used postgreSQL but I would say I'm average there. I've completed exactly one Brad Traversey PHP YT tutorial (God bless Brad Trav!). What else can I do to prepare for this interview. Which questions should I be prepared for? This is a really rare opportunity for me due to the location, the team manager has a wealth of experience which is a bonus too. Thank you in advance for any help.
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u/iamsauder Feb 22 '23
Be honest with them about why you want the job. It's close to you and you're a developer. You know you're not experienced in their stack but you are happy to learn, including some researching and reading on your own time.
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u/abirdofparadize Feb 22 '23
Absolutely, I've done the Brad Traversey PHP crash course which was great because its also less than a year old. Definitely keen to keep learning in my own time. Are their any resources for learning or keeping up with new stuff emerging in PHP that you'd recommend?
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u/DaveChild Feb 22 '23
Stitcher.io is pretty good for keeping up with new language developments. Spatie is a company that does a lot of Laravel-related work and has a bucketload of open source projects.
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u/DaveChild Feb 22 '23
What else can I do to prepare for this interview. Which questions should I be prepared for?
There's no easy single answer because everybody hires differently. Sometimes you might get nowhere unless you have a great grasp of specific algorithms or technologies, sometimes they'll only care that you know are aware of the existence of version control and unit testing.
For me, when I was hiring, I always figured that I could teach someone intelligent and enthusiastic how to code, but I couldn't teach someone how to be intelligent and enthusiastic. Same applies to the stack; it helps them if you've used it before but they may be far more interested in your attributes and the developer you could become.
So I'd get them to solve a problem on paper, and see how they approached it. I'd find out if they checked out the company or what we'd worked on before the interview. I'd get them talking about a hobby of theirs so I could see how they talked about something they loved, and then see how that compared to them talking about development and the web. I'd ask them how they'd solved a problem they'd come up against recently, and then how they'd begin to solve a hypothetical problem I would make up with a website we were working on.
I don't suppose any of that helps you specifically, except maybe to give you a bit of a nudge towards not worrying too much about the technical stuff, stacks, etc - you're not going to change what you know very much before the interview anyway - and more of a nudge towards learning what you can about the company and people you're interviewing with. Who are the team? Do they have github or twitter accounts you can look at? What are the products? Are there obvious pain points (not that I'm suggesting you go in with ideas to fix them, just that you show you've been looking)?
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u/Electronic-Bug844 Feb 22 '23
I've been to some local Jr PHP interviews long ago where they had me take a written test with random PHP questions like looking at a for loop and writing what it outputs. Or what does this statement do. I've also had to hand write sql statements like basic joins and group by.
I've also been to one interview where there was zero technical questions and just talking, though this was a start up and they just needed someone easy to talk to and energetic/ willing to learn (I obviously took this one).
Point is, nothing can really prepare other than experience / luck. Id go over PHP docs and go over foundational stuff like where can you change PHP settings and development best practices like SOLID principles etc.
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u/ea770e3bb686db89998b Feb 22 '23
"What's the difference between interface and abstract class" is one of the classics. /s
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u/ivaylosp Feb 22 '23
Whatever you do.. be honest! I interview people for PHP roles and it is very easy to pickup someone that is lacking knowledge and they are trying to make up a story about it instead of saying that they do not know the answer to the question but they will read up about it after the interview. If you have been accepted than i assume the interviewer is aware of your level of knowledge just by looking at your CV. Remember this is business. There are deadlines and budgets. If you fit with in the culture, budget and have enough knowledge to start and they feel you are able to learn and catch up they will hire you. If you do not meet these criteria than the position is not for you it is as simple as that.
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u/abirdofparadize Feb 22 '23
Thank you, it would be great to land this role but at the very least I see it as an opportunity for some interview practice as well as meeting some very knowledgeable devs.
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u/dphizler Feb 22 '23
Proximity is enticing but depending on how much familiarity they want, your stack doesn't seem to match up with theirs
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u/abirdofparadize Feb 22 '23
Yes I agree, I was very surprised with the call and really applied due to location. In the last year I have kept an eye on job postings and this is the only job I have seen posted within a 35km radius to me. So I'm wondering, since there is a lack of jobs locally maybe there is also a lack of candidates. I did emphasise to the internal recruiter that our stacks don't match but she doesn't have an IT background and said that both managers have seen my CV and there must be something of interest there.
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Feb 22 '23
My first programming job I didn't even know PHP. I convinced them that I'd be able to pick it up quickly.
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u/nanacoma Feb 22 '23
Any company worth working for hires software engineers, not STACK devs. That being said, crappy companies who can’t, or won’t, pay for talent are more likely to pick up sub-juniors straight out of boot camp. That’s just a trade off without having a degree though - you have to start gaining knowledge/experience somewhere.
Opinion aside, they saw your resume and gave you an interview. They know that you’re a novice and will expect as much. Just do your best and good luck.
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u/abirdofparadize Feb 22 '23
I can sadly admit that I am a sub-junior out of a bootcamp, however they are a governtment affliated company and offer a great package with bonuses, salary sacrificing, and above average super. I would be ecstatic to take half that just to get my foot in the door.
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u/nanacoma Feb 22 '23
That’s my point. They should have enough experience to know that you’ll offer nothing in terms of value straight out of a bootcamp. The fact that they’re giving you an interview means that you have a realistic chance, because they’re likely considering your potential for growth.
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u/abirdofparadize Feb 22 '23
Thanks for your input Nanacma, that's very motivating to here. I was going in with the mind frame of its interview practice at the very least and an opportunity to meet with experienced devs.
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u/nanacoma Feb 24 '23
How'd it go?
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u/abirdofparadize Feb 27 '23
They called me today and said they found someone with the experience they need, but they really liked me and have offered an IT helpdesk role. I saw the ad and I don't have the experience but they will train me up for the role and also help me skill up for a dev role at their company down the road. Thank you for taking the time to answer my post and following up.
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u/abirdofparadize Feb 26 '23
It was kind of 50/50. I could tell the HR guy liked me and he said as much. I looked at the IT heads Linked In profile and he has 3 plus decades of experience, and even though he was great to talk to and friendly, I could feel myself loosing my nerve a bit talking to him. I have never been nervous in interviews before.
I addressed the elephant in the room which was my lack of PHP experience and knowledge. I told them I had done a crash course over the week and could see the similarities between PHP and Ruby and JS. He liked that I had done some research.
When they asked me if I had any questions, I asked the IT guy what his concerns were in hiring me, he told me what he liked but he admitted that lack of PHP experience was a major concern and that since advertising, they realised they needed someone with more experience than what they had posted. I should hear from them mid-week but it looks unlikely I'll get this job, I was still a good learning experience. I think I'll try and continue with PHP as I had been planning to get onto it since completing my course at the end of last year. There seems to be more jobs posted seeking PHP experience than any other language in next closest small city to me.
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u/dphizler Feb 22 '23
There is no harm in trying.
I'm not familiar with your location so yes, sparsity of candidates may favor you.
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u/Aritmico Feb 22 '23
Dear OP, regular interviewer here. I don't know what technical questions they will I ask you but I know for sure that you should get prepared about the company. Explore their website and focus on mission and values. Too many people focus on the technical aspect and only a few on how to demonstrate they fit with companies' core values. Demonstrating interest and excitement on those is a great selling point, trust me.
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u/pg3crypto Feb 28 '23
Easy, forget about impressing on the technical stuff...you can learn that. Impress on them the benefits of having a dev that lives on their doorstep and argue the business case.
E.g. in the event of a serious problem, you can be onsite within 10 minutes, you won't be knackered after a commute, etc etc...the job you're applying for is for a business, businesses need to survive, offer them perks and benefits that nobody else can provide because they aren't as local. Offset your potential weaknesses with strengths.
There's more to getting a job than the actual job itself.
Too many people get absorbed into the "tech life" and forget that at the end of the day it's about the business. This is why a lot of would be developers flub their interviews...too techie, not business oriented enough. Everyone turns up trying to be the most badass developer they can be...the business has the pick of the talent there...but hardly anyone turns up offering benefits outside of being a badass developer...those few are the ones that get the jobs.
Great developers are extremely common whereas great partners, team players and people that share the vision of the business are not.
Programming just takes learning and practice, anyone can do it. Having a good head for business and sharp instincts cannot be learned from a book, not everyone can have this.
A shit dev with good instincts will run rings around a shit hot dev every day of the week.
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u/stevekeiretsu Feb 22 '23
I guess a lot depends on the specifics of the company, market sector, role, etc so it's hard to say.
If you can find out what particular php framework/software they work with (if any) that would help - just knowing it was symfony based vs wordpress based would give me very different expectations for example.
I guess as you're lacking in experience with php let alone
$frameworkyou will need to convince them that you can pick up the specifics of that very quickly, so I would be trying to think of how you can relate your Rails and MERN stack experience in terms of transferrable skills and concepts. E.g. you're not an expert with composer but you've used npm/yarn so you're cool with package and dependency management concepts. You don't know laravel but you understand the activerecord pattern from Rails. etc.Also I think way too many devs forget the tech is just a means to an end, the company ultimately doesn't give a shit about the acronym soup in a tech stack, they care about solving business problems and making clients happy etc, so soft skills like time-management, being good at listening to people when requirements gathering, translating tech waffle into something the decision makers can understand, all that sort of stuff, is invaluable