Graduate Developer Interview

ballooba

I am currently working in Quality Assurance for 2.5 months which is my first job since graduating. I took the job about a week after returning from the States. It doesn't suit me and I have been looking for something else since about 2 weeks after I joined.

I have an interview on Thursday for a development job with another firm. When I took the QA job I wanted to work in PM or development. The company didn't do development but did have Project Managers. They told me that if I took the job there would be scope to move into PM.

I since find that I will not be able to hack waiting for a PM job while doing the soul destroying QA work and waiting for a PM avenue to open. To be honest the PM avenue may never open judging by promises made to other people there.

I figure that I always liked writing stuff in college, solving problems through code and finding problems in the code. If I do decide eventually that I would rather be in PM then I will be able to move into that area very easily.

My problem is how can I put this in an interview? I think they will look on this as being a negative point rather than me being honest. I think it is inevitable that they would ask me why I am leaving my current job.

dangerman

Just be honest. - it's hardly a negative point to have taken the qa job as a first step but have been actively looking something that you are interested in - like this job you are interviewing for - say that development and project management were always of far more interest to you.

It doesn't suit me and I have been looking for something else since about 2 weeks after I joined.

Say something like this, but perhaps leave out 'doesn't suit me' ... maybe "didn't find it that challenging...etc". - No need to be negative about the job you are leaving, just matter of fact. - "It's QA. It's given me a good insight into part of the dev cycle but I'm far more interested in actual hands on coding - that's why I'm here."

ballooba

Are PM and Development two conflicting paths that shouldn't be mentioned together or could it be seen as beneficial to do development for a while before PM?

TempestSabre

I would have said no. Often places specifically look for PM with some experience of development. Depends on the company obviously.

dangerman

Are PM and Development two conflicting paths that shouldn't be mentioned together or could it be seen as beneficial to do development for a while before PM?

No, but you are going for a development job, so it's not a good idea to sit there saying 'i'm just doing dev because I want to end up a pm' ... keep the pm thing for the 'where do you see your career going' or 'where do you see yourself in 5 years' type questions

As you know doubt know pm is a funny one - people tend to come from seperate disciplines and end up doing the same thing ~ eg. you'd have those coming from the technical background which is where you'd like to end up ... and those from finance, logistics etc.

So it's definately a plus to want to be a pm, but don't go overboard and forget that it's development you are applying for and what the company is seeking from you in the immediate future.

ballooba

Any advice on what other questions to expect? It's for J2EE stuff.

mountainyman

Talk about how great your current company is and how much you enjoy the job; just say of course I prefer development

PM is crap anyway.

be enthusiastic and cheerful.

MM

ballooba

Yeah I was thinking I would go on about the positives of my current job rather than the negatives. Companies see people who bitch about previous employers as people who are going to bitch about them.

mountainyman

Companies don't see anything. If you are upbeat you look like a winner. They ain't givin' you jack sh1t; you _might_ CHOOSE to get on board if you want. They have to do the wooing.

Khannie

mountainyman wrote:

They have to do the wooing.

Welcome to 2005 where that isn't true any more.

For graduate interviewing, expect some java language knowledge tests, like (for example: )

What's the difference between a string and a String (answer: One's a built in type, other's an object). etc.

I did some grad interviewing, and I remember that question was the hardest we asked.

We also asked stuff like what's the difference between a class and an object, stuff like that.

If you enjoy coding it'll show and you'll have nothing to worry about.

Good luck.

Edit: Just noticed the date on the post. Hope I'm not too late!