Asklemmy

• Don't try to bullshit your way through anything. It's actually a strength to admit that you don't know something. Bonus points if you can describe the resources you would use to learn the answer.

• Almost a repeat of the first one, but slightly different. Don't play buzzword bingo or you'll sound like the 5th grader that just learned a new curse word and is showing it off on the playground. It's fine to use the industry jargon in appropriate ways; just be sure you know them.

• It's an entry level position. The kind of skills and initiative they're going to be looking for is the desire to learn, the ability to correct/improve documentation, understanding/following procedures, thoughtful suggestions for improvements, and having enough confidence and competence that they don't have to babysit you constantly.

• Networking / servers / security really covers a lot of ground and it leaves me wondering exactly what it is you're saying you'd like to do. Give some thought about how this entry level position helps you build your skills on your path to your ultimate goal and how you'll provide value along the way.

Don’t try to BS your way through answers; if you don’t know, let them know that but also tell them how you’d go about getting that information.

Relax, show a willingness to learn and you’ll be ok.

I got my start working for university IT and made it all the way to a CS Ph.D. and into industry.

Edit: and get good sleep! It’s nearly midnight on the West coast, get as much good quality sleep as you can.

Talk about your interests. Show a passion for your hobbies outside of work/the industry. Relate those passions to your goals within the industry. Generally just be interested and they’ll find you interesting. You got this!

Update edit: Congrats on the offer!

Go to bed

My tip.is always to remember that this is not yours to loose, its just an interview like a 1000 others you'll have. If you don't get it you didn't, try again tomorrow. When I think like that I'm usualy more relax and don't over talk.

Be prepared to talk about class projects you've done, what went well, what didn't go well and how you'd improve that next time. If you do any extracurriculars like clubs, game night, or even a frat, include that as it shows you can be social.

It's okay to be nervous. You're not a CONfidence man.

Remember that you are also interviewing them. They won't expect you to know all the answers, but will want someone that they can work with. If you can, answer questions with the STAR method (situation, task, approach, result), but don't waffle. You can use one piece of experience in a variety of ways: teamwork, research, urgent deadline etc.

It's ok to say that you are nervous, they should try to put you at ease.

You may be asked 'trick questions', these are not usually to to you up but to see how you work an unknown problem. There is no right answer. Not knowing stuff is ok. Not being able to think up a plan is less so.

Remember whatever the outcome, this is really useful experience. See if you can get a site tour, ask about the tech used... You can then add this to your knowledge for later. In my experience, industry is frequently several years ahead of academia so you get a good chance to understand the real world.

Go to the bathroom before you go into the place.

STAR. For every question try to give a situation, task, action and result which came from you personally. E.g. situation, someone was manually copying data from an online portal every month. As a task, you're asked to write some code which scrapes an API, and you defined the task via docs and planned tests. Then as an action you worked on it for a few days, and the result was the company didn't need to manually spend a few days per month doing it, freeing up people to do more exciting things.

It shows you understand the problem and know how to go about solving it in a professional way.

Interviewing is a very specific muscle. You should try and do as many as you can. It’s also something you should regularly practice, even if you have a job you love and never want to leave. I’d say every year or two, just go and interview at a half dozen companies for roles that could be interesting to you.

I’ve just been through several rounds of interviews with different companies for a tech role. You want to build a brand and learn to communicate it to others. This doesn’t mean you need to write a laundry list of skills that you’ve obtained but rather define who you are and practice explaining that to strangers.

Nothing can prepare you for an interview scenario except and interviews. I’ve been in customer facing roles as well as being the interviewer and the only thing they have in common with being interviewed is that you’re sharing a table with someone else.

Good luck for tomorrow!

How did it go?

Ask 'what success looks like' at said company.

Hell yea, glad you got it. I have my third interview at a software company later today, here's hoping.

Networking/security is some really neat stuff, I have dabbled as I used to work doing systems stuff, but moved to robotics automations after that. See if you can get your new employer interested in paying a bit for you to get certs at some point (often if you bring it up that you want some cert, they might be interested in putting some percentage of money towards helping you get it), Network+ and those other Cisco certs are pretty sought after as I understand it and could definitely help progress your career.

Also welcome to the industry!

Good luck. Nice to see happy news here.

Congrats! Welcome to the field. You'll be slinging ones and zeros in no time.