What To Say When You Don’t Know How To Answer A Coding Interview Question
Here you are at the coding interview! Everything is going well. You’ve answered the first question and you even solved one problem. Great!
An interviewer asks a new question… And you have no idea how to answer so you’re panicking.
Take a breath. It is perfectly normal if you don’t know something. It’s ok even if you have a great degree and 10 years of experience. Nobody can know everything. The interviewer also understands this. Calm down, you need a sharp mind now.
Don’t lie! Don’t pretend that you know the answer.
It looks ridiculous and kills all your previous merits. It’s better, to be honest. Tell the interviewer that you don’t know the correct answer.
Now, the most important thing about this, do not to stop there. Don’t just wait for the next question. This is your chance to prove yourself, go for it.
If the question is how something works, think of how it could work. If you know a similar technology, suppose, it works the same. Say out loud what you’re thinking.
You don’t need to guess the correct answer, but to show that you are able to process and think logically. This is the point of an interview. The interviewer will help you with your reasoning with a hint or a question, so pay attention.
Learn basic coding concepts, to be able to speculate on the questions like this. Basic coding concepts include data structures, algorithms, and patterns. This will help you to nail any interview. And not only that. When you come across something unknown at work, knowing the base, you will quickly figure it out.
Good luck with your interviews!
P.S. If you’ve read the article, I would really appreciate it if you could let me know how much you liked it through the number of claps!
