Java Programming Interviews Exposed

Chapter 3

Technical Test and Interview Basics

Undertaking an interview for a Java developer will inevitably require an employer to test your technical ability.

This chapter covers some of the testing formats used by interviewers to see if your programming skills match what is required for the role they are trying to fill.

The questions provided throughout this book will usually be asked within one of the interview formats discussed here. If you have never had to do a technical interview, or it has been a while since you last did one, this chapter should set an expectation of how recruiters assess candidates.

Technical Written Tests

Technical written tests are often used as a screening technique for interview candidates, and are usually done before any face-to-face interview. Candidates will be asked to take a short, written test so that the interviewing team can assess whether they are worth interviewing.

This is beneficial to the interviewing team, because they can get a good idea about the ability of the candidate without having to put in much effort. Quite often, interviewers can find it hard to differentiate candidates from the resume alone, because many resumes consist solely of lists of technologies used in previous roles. This should be a motivator to make sure your resume stands out from the list of average resumes a recruiter receives.

Offline, written-on-paper tests are not very good ways of assessment, because this is not the way you would usually write code. You have ...