Programming Interviews Exposed, 4th Edition

18Knowledge-Based Questions

Knowledge-based questions vary greatly in frequency from interview to interview. Some interviewers do not ask knowledge-based questions, whereas others focus solely on them. Interviewers often ask these questions when a whiteboard or paper isn’t available, such as at lunch, or when they are satisfied with your coding ability and want to test your general computer knowledge.

PREPARATION

Knowledge-based questions generally come from two sources: what you said on your résumé and your answers to questions earlier in the interview.

Questions drawn from your résumé are usually short and simple—just long enough to verify that you actually know the technologies you claim to have used. It’s a good idea to review your résumé prior to your interview to make sure you’re prepared to answer questions about every item on the résumé, no matter how small. Some interviewers even go through your résumé and ask you general questions about each item—“What is X?” and “What have you done with X?” For example, if you put jQuery on your résumé, be prepared for the questions “What is jQuery?” and “What have you done with jQuery?” If you can’t intelligently answer either question, you should remove the jQuery reference from your résumé.

NOTE

Be prepared to answer questions about everything on your résumé.

In a similar vein, be careful with what you say during the interview. The interviewer may want some more in-depth explanation of technologies and techniques you mentioned, ...