The Top 8 Remote Developer Interview Mistakes TO AVOID — and Land the Job | Arc.dev

After hundreds of job applications, you finally landed a remote developer interview.

Woohoo!

Now don't mess it up.

I have witnessed every single mistake a developer can make during a remote interview.

And the shocking thing is most of those mistakes aren't actually incorrect answers to technical questions.

So if you can eliminate the simple, common mistakes that everyone makes, the job's practically yours.

So many developers fall at the first hurdle - setup.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

This is certainly true for remote interviews.

In the first few moments, the interviewer is assessing what's it going to be like to work with you in the long-term?

Are you friendly?

Are you professional?

And all this before you've even said a word.

My go-to checklist is lights, camera, action.

Lights, camera, action.

Lights, camera, action.

This is easy.

Lighting.

Make sure the room as well lit.

Make sure your face is well lit.

The interview is about presenting the best version of you.

The consummate professional.

And dark mode just won't cut it.

Eye contact is important in an in-person conversation, but it's also true in a remote interview.

As developers, we've often got our webcam relegated to the second monitor, or maybe it's even relegated to the side of your desk.

In a remote interview, I want you to think of the camera as king.

It should take pride of place.

It should at least be the place where your eyes are focused for the majority of the interview.

If eye contact makes you nervous, consider you only have to look at the camera.

You don't have to look at the person.

You can make technology work for you.

You can minimize the image of the interviewer and calm those nerves.

You don't scare me.

Seeing yourself on camera can be off putting to, so minimize the picture of yourself, focus on the conversation instead.

Having a camera off to the side or up high or low on the desk gives an unprofessional feel.

It's not something you do in person.

You wouldn't have conversations side on, so don't do it during an interview.

So we've done lights.

We've done camera.

The next thing is action.

And what do I mean by that?

It's how you present yourself and let's start with something really simple smile.

Lots of people are nervous during an interview, and most interviewers are accommodating of that fact, but you do have to at least try.

Smiling is inviting.

And it's good to remember that nobody ever hire someone they don't like.

A smile displays confidence.

And if you're not confident, it begs the question - what are you hiding?

You don't have to go over the top and be creepy but a smile goes a long way.

So the second part of the action element from smiling comes conversation.

So we've talked about the absence of a smile, but the next thing to go is usually conversation.

Don't waste your opportunity with one word answers.

The more you can turn this into a conversation versus an interrogation, which is what an interview can often feel like, the more pleasant this will be for everyone involved.

If it's pleasant, it'd be memorable.

And that's what we're looking for, isn't it?

One trick I use to get the conversation started early is to ask why is this role open?

And you don't have to wait until the end of the interview to be asked if you have any questions.

So let's move on.

Next item is clothing.

What to wear, the eternal dilemma.

I struggled with this today if I'm honest.

Smart, or casual, or smart casual.

What is that?

I don't know.

Now, there are no concrete answers to this, and the other thing is you can't really just stop the interview and go and change, but you can do some research beforehand.

Look at the company's social media.

In their post, in their videos what are they wearing?

If they're smart, you're smart.

If they're casual, you can go a little bit more casual.

If they're smart casual, you leave a comment and tell me what smart casual actually means.

Dressing formerly for an interview is a little bit weird in my opinion.

So if in doubt hit a nice middle ground, be unremarkable.

Easy for some.

You can be smart, but not noticeably smart.

Simple no?

The important thing is not to let the conversation gets sidetracked into being about what you're wearing.

Next.

Let's talk a little bit about surroundings.

You're living your best life.

Isn't everyone?

And it's tempting to present you living that life.

You're working from a cafe.

You're out in nature or working from a bustling street in some far off city.

Sounds great.

Now's not the time.

Lots of employers are still nervous about remote work and they wonder what are the developers doing all day.

Let's not make it any worse.

Present yourself as a professional in a professional environment.

Show that you're ready for work.

Find a quiet place free from distraction and keep your attention focused on you.

And this now leads into my next point quite nicely.

If things have gone well up to this point, then they're about to start asking you some interesting questions.

Namely, when they ask you about money and about your current notice period.

It's common for developers to say, oh, I don't know.

I need to check up on that one.

Let me have a think about that.

Don't kill the momentum.

Have your answers ready and show that you mean business.

Now the next point is a biggie.

Passion.

Believe it or not, many of the other candidates will have the same skills as you.

Not the same as me hashtag just saying.

Some will have more experience.

Some will have less.

But let's remember skills and experience are not the only things on the table here.

Don't forget passion.

If you can make it clear in the interview that this is not just a job for you, this is something you're passionate about.

Then you're going to find that this is something people want to support.

It's not something to fake, but if you're passionate about this role or this technology, then that adds a lot of weight to your application.

And now we're onto the final point.

And this one's a little bit tricky.

Whether you realize it or not, the reason you are being interviewed is because there is a problem.

And therefore the company is hiring in order to fix that problem.

Examples are things like there's too much work for the current team to do, or maybe there's a skills gap in the department.

Whatever their reasons are, your job in the interview is to find out what that problem is and fix it.

If they're behind schedule, then you're the master of getting projects back on track and delivering on time.

You're not just another developer.

You're the solution.

Everybody else will provide generic answers to most of the questions, and if you don't just provide answers, you provide solutions, you'll starting to stand out.

Thanks for joining me for another video.

I hope you're getting interviews.

I hope you're getting jobs.

I hope you're getting value.

And as always, if you liked the video, you know what to do.

See you next time.