Introduction 1 About This Book 1 How This Book Is Organized 2 Part 1: Finding and Hooking Your Next Employer 2 Part 2: Preparing for Your Interview 2 Part 3: Everyone''s Testing Time 3 Part 4: Sealing the Deal 3 Part 5: The Part of Tens 3 Foolish Assumptions 3 Icons Used in This Book 4 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 5 Part 1: Finding and Hooking Your Next Employer 7 Chapter 1: What Should You Expect? 9 Understanding the Interviewing Process Funnel 10 Finding Companies That Are Hiring 10 Meet online 11 Meet in person 12 Look at company websites 13 Submitting Your Résumés 14 A Company Is Interested! Now What? 15 Participating in phone screens 16 Going to in-person interviews 17 Being prepared for tests 18 Dealing with One or (Better Yet) Multiple Offers 19 Chapter 2: Knowing How the Company Is Preparing 21 Learning What Each Company Is Doing 22 Gathering information about smaller business and startup needs 22 Navigating the involved hiring process at bigger companies 23 Preparing for the interviewers you''ll meet 25 Leading Your Interview 25 Finding out how the interviewer is approaching the interview 26 Volunteering the right information to make you shine 27 Showing other ways you''re the right fit 28 Being Prepared Pays Off 29 Chapter 3: Understanding the Investment a Company Makes 31 Knowing Why Companies Are Risk-Averse 32 Different risks for different companies 33 Firing is hard 33 Discovering What Companies Are Concerned About 34 Showing How You Can Help the Company 35 Explaining how you can help the team you''ll work with 35 Demonstrating how you fit into the company culture 38 Offering examples that back you up 38 Part 2: Preparing for Your Interview 41 Chapter 4: Searching High and Low for Companies 43 Getting Your Ducks in a Row 44 Deciding Where You Want to Work 44 Search for a local technology ecosystem 45 Commute or move? 45 Working remotely 46 Figuring out the Size and Type of Company You Want to Work For 46 Large companies 46 Small companies 47 What Type of Job Do You Want? 48 Step one: Technology 48 Step two: Environment 48 Step three: Define your specific role 49 Learning What''s Available 49 Understanding the pros and cons of job search websites 50 Using and managing recruitment agencies 51 Networking to find the unadvertised jobs 52 Chapter 5: Shining Up Your Résumé and Social Media Accounts 55 Finding Out Who You Are Online 56 Googling your name to get your online image 56 Learning how to rebrand yourself 58 Cleaning Up Your Social Networking Profiles 61 Understanding your visibility online 61 Learning what helps get you an interview 62 Removing what can disqualify you in an employer''s eyes 64 Making Your Résumé Stand Out 64 Finding a professional résumé service versus doing it yourself 65 Giving your résumé service the right information 66 Advertising what you have to offer 67 Tailoring your résumé to the job description 68 Writing a Cover Letter 68 Fitting the cover letter to the job description 69 Adding the parts of a cover letter you need 70 Chapter 6: How Your Experience Affects Your Interview 73 Qualifying for Senior Status 74 Being More than Just a Junior 75 Show your work 76 The right extracurricular activities 77 Character 78 Commitment 78 Resolve 79 Don''t forget talent 79 Leave the best for the end credits 80 Playing in the Majors 80 Be honest about your career 81 Stable or stagnant? 81 Ambitious or flighty? 82 Tell the rest of the story 82 Education 83 Leadership 83 Flexibility 84 Don''t forget skills 85 Chapter 7: Getting Ready for the First Ring 87 Preparing for Your Phone Screen 88 Prep your space 88 Watch your behavior 89 Have your friends join in 89 Reviewing the Type of Phone Screen You May Get 90 Basic screen 90 Technical question screen 91 Live coding assignments 92 Acing Your Phone Screen 93 Answering basic technical and experience questions 93 Coding live on an instant messaging client 94 Making time to do assigned homework 94 Avoiding disqualifying situations 95 Part 3: Everyone''s Testing Time 99 Chapter 8: Testing Strategies for the Interviewee 101 Preparing for Questions the Company May Ask You 102 Searching online to find the top questions 102 Knowing how to answer soft skills questions 103 Leveling Up Your Coding Skills 105 Make an honest assessment 106 Getting up to speed with Codility 107 Testing your skills with LeetCode 108 Canvassing Your Network 109 Interviewing people who have interviewed before 110 Finding people who will give you mock interviews 112 Getting Feedback after the Interview 115 Chapter 9: Working with Data Structures: Garbage In Means Garbage Out 117 Learning the Basics of Data Structures 118 Managing arrays and linked lists 118 Wrangling hashes 120 Learning about stacks in your kitchen 121 Learning about queues 122 Showing You Know Data Structures 122 Questions companies have asked interviewees 123 Answering data structure questions the right way with Big O 124 Finding More Detailed Information 125 Chapter 10: Identifying Design Patterns and Using Recursion 127 Recognizing Design Patterns 128 Understanding the basics 128 Knowing when to use design patterns 129 Learning about singleton, adapter, façade, and more 129 Knowing What You Need about Recursion 131 Direct versus indirect 131 The real stack overflow 133 Understanding Your Recursion Test 133 Solving a recursion word problem example 134 Finding more examples and resources 134 Chapter 11: Sorting with Sorting Algorithms 135 Absorbing Common Sorting Algorithms 136 Starting the tour with bubble sort 136 Expanding your knowledge about merge sort and quick sort 137 Understanding use cases for each sorting type 139 Solving Two Sorting Examples 141 Sorting one deck of cards 141 Sorting many decks of cards 142 Getting More Examples and Researching Resources 143 Loads of reading material 143 Moving examples 144 Visualize the sort, Luke 145 Chapter 12: Solving Puzzles Is Fun 147 Knowing What Kind of Problems an Interviewer Will Ask 148 Solving a Programming Puzzle 148 Breaking down a problem 149 Building your solution 150 Realizing What Interviewers Want 151 Getting Better at Solving Puzzles 152 Working on puzzles in books 152 Searching online to hone your solving skills 153 Part 4: Sealing the Deal 161 Chapter 13: Closing the Deal 163 Scheduling Interviews with Multiple Companies 164 Managing Multiple Interviews with the Same Company 165 Knowing the types of interviews you may have 165 Meeting the team to see if you''re a good fit 166 Grasping what you''ll work on with the team 166 Learning about your future path with the company 167 Understanding When a Company May Contact You 167 Following up will not lose you the job 168 Being annoying can work for you 168 Coming Up Snake Eyes 169 Receiving a generic response 169 Asking for more information 170 Receiving Your Offer 171 Getting the word 171 Obtaining a written offer 171 Negotiating the offer over the phone 171 Knowing when pay is not the top consideration 172 Being Clear about Your Benefits 173 Understanding the company''s health plans 173 Matching your 401(k) benefits 174 Learning how much time off you get 174 Retiring with benefits 175 Chapter 14: Honing Your Negotiating Skills 177 Finding Information from Employees Online 178 Glassdoor 179 Comparably 180 CareerBliss 182 Dealing with Company Salary Information and Expectations 183 Learning the company''s cards 183 Keeping your cards close to your vest 184 Forcing your hand 185 Managing the Negotiation Process 185 Giving a counteroffer 185 Negotiating more than salary 186 Avoiding pitting companies against each other 186 Walking away 187 Part 5: The Part of Tens 189 Chapter 15: Ten Ways to Stand Out 191 Have a Professional Headshot 191 Establish a GitHub Profile 192 Get Plenty of Referrals 193 Have a Video Résumé on Social Networking Sites 193 Create Your Own YouTube Channel 194 Have a Good Blog to Show Your Expertise 195 Produce a Podcast and/or Vlog 196 Point to Mobile Apps You''ve Already Developed in App Stores 197 Write and Self-Publish a Book 198 Speak at Developer and Business Events 199 Chapter 16: Ten Non-Technical Questions You May Be Asked 203 What is your greatest strength? 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Programming Interviews for Dummies