So tell us a little bit about you.
Hello, I'm David, a software developer with over 20 years of experience, who
later went on to run recruitment teams.
I'll show you how to stand out and get the job you deserve as a
software developer, no matter how many years of experience you've got.
This is not a one-way street.
If you've got any feedback or any questions you want to ask me, feel
free to do so in the comments below.
If you're interested in following up the series, then don't forget
to like subscribe and hit the bell to get notified about new content.
The horror of the question.
Can't you just ask me to, you know, solve the problem of world peace
via code in a recursive function?
Nobody likes the question.
It's too open-ended or subjective.
There's no official answer.
So what do you do?
Well, you sweat, say something you'll later think about and
cringe and deeply regret.
Well, what should you say?
What could you say?
How about we discuss some of these options and try to turn this into one
of our preferred questions instead of the one that we fear the most?
I once watched a YouTube video with some script writers and producers,
and they were talking about how they condense the hours and hours
of footage got down into what ends up being the final cut of the movie.
One question they asked in each scene was "How does this progress the story?"
Well, that's a powerful way of looking at it.
If it doesn't progress the story, it's surplus, right?
If we apply this analogy to ourselves, we have a story and we're
trying to convey that story to the audience, namely, the interviewer.
We want to appear conversational, but we have to be mindful not
to talk about irrelevant topics.
We need to make sure that we're being concise and
continually moving the story on.
So how do we craft our story?
Well, we know that every story has a beginning and middle and an end, and we
can use that framework for ourselves.
But if we look a bit deeper, there's probably a little bit more meat
than we can add to the bone than just the beginning, middle and end.
So let's see what the key points are that we should be talking
about when we answer this question.
Firstly, setting the scene.
Introducing the characters.
You know that's you, right?
And you don't want to just introduce yourself.
This is where you add a little backstory.
Then there's the big event, the trigger point for the start of the real story.
There's the journey within the story.
And then hopefully we arrive at some form of conclusion unless you're
starting a trilogy, but that's probably a bit much for an interview.
So then, for each of these stages, we have to progress the story,
so let's start setting the scene.
So this is your journey into tech.
We want to set the scene as quickly as possible, and then
arrive at that trigger moment.
A bit of backstory is nice telling the interviewer the type of person
you are, but it all leads to this point where the spark was generated.
Ignition time.
Without it, there's no direction, and hiring without direction
is practically unheard of.
An employer wants to know that this is the career path you've chosen.
You're not being dragged somewhere.
So it helps that you've made this decision on your own.
And that's obvious.
So maybe this spark was there all along.
You were always obsessed with coding and computers, or maybe you lost
a job and then discovered this.
Maybe someone introduced it to you, but there has to be a spark moment.
Maybe it was, you started out in frontend development then discovered
backend development or move from backend development into DevOps.
Again, there does have to be a moment.
And that moment is when you decided to pursue this as a career, and hopefully
this matches the job you're applying for.
So after that initial spark, we're talking about the journey.
And this might sound like the dull part, but it should be anything but dull.
This is about what you did with that spark.
So what have you been doing in all of your jobs after that spark moment?
How did you get to this point in time right now?
So you can start listing things you've created, things you've been learning,
what's been inspiring you along the way.
You need to be spelling out your evolution.
This is true.
If you're a new developer or you're well-seasoned, even if it's a side
project, what did you learn from it?
What did you gain?
And how are you applying it now?
Where did it take you?
Well, hopefully that's what brought you here.
This brings us to the conclusion - the developer you are today.
Now this is not just merely a statement of fact.
You want to, in some way, continue the journey, or you want them
to be interested in being part of that journey going forward.
Maybe there is a trilogy in you after all.
Neo said it best in the first matrix movie: "I didn't come here to
tell you how this is going to end.
I came here to tell you how it's going to begin."
Then he went on to tell him how he was going to hang up the phone
and I quote "show these people what you don't want them to see."
Well, that's a bit heavy for an interview, but maybe you're going to
show them the developer you're going to.
That's a story that any employer would be excited about.
So remember that you're telling the story.
Set the scene, do it quickly.
Arrive at some big moment.
That moment when coding and hopefully the tech involved in this role entered
your heart and started a journey.
And once this journey started, what did you do?
Where did it take you?
Don't arrive at a final answer or a cast iron conclusion.
Leave them wanting more.
Leave them want to see where this journey is going to end.
Make them want to be part of it.
Show them that your proactivity and hunger are very much alive
and still driving you today.
So, thanks again for joining me.
I hope I've given you some ideas about how to introduce yourself during an interview.
I'd welcome any feedback in the comments or perhaps you'd like me to talk
about a different topic in the future.
Just let me know.
I'll see you next time.
Take it easy.