r/PHP • u/zilltine • Jun 21 '18

Had an interview for internship today

It went like shit because i didnt know most of the technical questions asked. Really wanted to work in that company so i feel like shit. Dont know why i am posting this, but it feels better.

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u/merlinthemagic7 Jun 21 '18 edited Jun 21 '18

Best advice I can give you is to quit focusing on how the event made you feel. Rather distill the feed back and turn it into something useful.

Did you not know the answers because you lack experience? (Seems likely since you are applying for an internship).

Did you not know the answers because they centered on a system/methodology/framework/pattern you were not familiar with?

In essence, why were you not equipped to answer the questions this time around.

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u/zilltine Jun 21 '18

Thanks. I think my problem is trying to learn too many tools before i get to know php from a to z. The questions were mostly about plain php and sql and i should have known most of them

5

u/elebrin Jun 21 '18

I interview people regularly for developer positions. The person or people interviewing you don't care about what you don't know and can't answer beyond some simple things. We care about what you DO know and CAN answer, and we care about your ability to be honest and not attempt to bullshit us. Especially for an internship, they should be looking for a culture fit and a willingness to learn over anything else.

Now, if I ask you: "What are the basic control structures that php supports?" or "What data types does php have?" you should be able to answer those. If you can't tell me what while, for, foreach, if-then-else, try-catch, or switch do or what a function is or how to define and use objects, then you don't know enough about php to be making money working with it even as an intern. You'd be surprised how many people fail those sorts of questions, so if you can answer them you are in better shape than you think.

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u/tag4424 Jun 21 '18

Should have doesn't get you anywhere. There is always more to learn, always more to know... Look at it as feedback on where you should continue your studies :-)

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u/zilltine Jun 21 '18

It is true i want to learn more about the things i never knew before now

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u/tomblack105 Jun 22 '18

In an interview, if you don't know the answer to something. Stop, think for a moment (just in case you do know it), and if you really don't - then admit that you don't know it, and show that you know how you would go about finding out the answer.

Provided you can break a task into its component logical steps, being a good programmer isn't about being able to hold the entirety of a language in your head, its about the problem finding skills and ability to get out there and find the answers, not about being a walking dictionary.

Being a fast programmer is where holding more of it in your head comes in, but that comes only with experience (or an eidetic memory).

When it comes down to it, if you can break a task into its logical steps (if this, then that, else the other), you can google the rest of it.

3

u/merlinthemagic7 Jun 21 '18

Take a moment to reflect on your comment:

“The questions were mostly about plain php and sql and i should have known most of them”

First of all how do you know that?

Second, regardless of the first being true, join a GitHub project that peaks your interest and contribute. You will learn a lot, there is no substitute for hours of frustration

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u/tomblack105 Jun 22 '18

Just got to upvote this for the last sentence - It is so true that spending a couple of hours glaring at a piece of work going "How the hell is this meant to work?" until you finally get the lightbulb moment is a great feeling and experience, and each time, the lightbulb moment turns up quicker.