Revisiting Talking While Coding

Learning Goals

• Revisit the benefits of talking in a technical interview
• Revisit strategies for talking during a technical interview
• Strengthen your ability to talk while coding

Prep

Think about what you remember about talking while coding (or look back on the initial lesson here) and write down your answers to the following questions:

1. What sort of things should you say during a technical interview?
2. What are some benefits of saying these things during a technical challenge?

This section is to be completed in the morning before this session begins after lunch. Your instructor will call on folks to share their responses at the start of the lesson.

Revisiting Four Tips

Tip 1. Focus on the Purpose

When folks first start trying to talk in a technical interview, they sometimes start by literally reading their code out loud or talking in a way that sounds like reading code. This is not adding very much value, the interviewer can see what you’re typing! Instead, focus on the purpose of your code.

Tip 2. Share Tradeoffs or Uncertainty

Any time that you are considering different options, it’s great to share that with your interviewer! Are you uncertain about the approach you are taking because you see a potential issue, that’s useful to share too!

Tip 3. Think About Your Tone

Try to maintain an enthusiastic approach, even when feeling nervous. You are aiming to come across as competent and humble, so try to find the middle ground between overconfidence and excessive uncertainty.

Tip 4. Take a Quiet Pause

Yes, sharing your thought process is important, but if taking a minute to think quietly would help you gather your thoughts that’s great too. Just make sure to communicate that with your interviewer instead of just going silent.

Let’s Watch an Excellent Example

Individually, make your way to this mock technical interview. Watch through 9:30, the end of the API section.

Also, take a look at the database tables he created later in the video.

While watching, take notes of specific things he says while coding that you think are excellent. When we come back together I’ll call on folks to share.

Your Turn!

You and your partner will each get a chance to be the interviewer and interviewee.

The interviewer will start by asking the question. Then the candidate will start by collecting the requirements, then talking through some API endpoints, and finally drawing out some of the database tables.

I recommend that the candidate share their screen and use the zoom whiteboard feature.

Schedule:

• 15 minutes, Partner 1 answers their question
• 5 minutes, Partner 2 gives feedback to Partner 1
• 15 minutes, Partner 2 answers their question
• 5 minutes, Partner 1 gives feedback to Partner 2

While the interviewer, here are three questions to guide your feedback

• Did the candidate ask thoughtful clarifying questions?
• Did the candidate explain at least one tradeoff they were making or another option they considered?
• Were the candidate’s explanations easy to follow?