Sitting on both sides of the interview table provides an interesting perspective on what makes candidates stand out. The patterns become clear after a while - it’s rarely what candidates think matters most.
The tech industry’s hiring process can seem mysterious from the outside. The candidates who tend to get hired are often the ones who demonstrate: the ability to identify and solve real problems.
After years of interviewing candidates and building engineering teams, I now understand why some candidates stand out while others blend into the endless pile of resumes.
The secret isn’t what most people think. It’s not about having the perfect GPA or collecting every certification under the sun. It’s about proving you can solve real problems.
Many graduates believe they need to master every technology in a job posting. This mindset is paralyzing. When I’m interviewing juniors, I’m not looking for technical perfection. I’m looking for problem solvers who can learn.
Don’t Cut Corners, Put In The Work
The more work you put in, the easier it gets. The less work you put in, the harder it is to land your first tech job.
This journey often feels like pushing a boulder uphill. Some candidates try to find shortcuts - copying projects without understanding them, memorizing interview answers without grasping concepts, or rushing through tutorials without building anything meaningful.
The tech industry moves quickly, but learning fundamentals takes time. Each hour spent deeply understanding a concept compounds. Those who take time to grasp why something works, rather than just making it work, develop stronger problem-solving abilities.
Reading documentation, working through bugs, and building projects from scratch might feel slower than following quick tutorials. But these experiences build the kind of deep understanding that shows during interviews. Interviewers can tell the difference between someone who’s done the work and someone who’s looking for shortcuts.
The most impressive candidates aren’t always the ones who claim to know everything. They’re often the ones who can walk through their learning process, explain their mistakes, and show how they grew from challenging experiences. These are skills that can’t be faked or rushed - they come from putting in genuine effort and time.
Success in tech isn’t about finding the fastest path to a job. It’s about building a solid foundation that will support an entire career. There aren’t any real shortcuts to becoming a good developer - just consistent effort and genuine curiosity about how things work.
Building a Story Worth Telling
The biggest mistake I see candidates make is treating their job search like a checklist. They focus on accumulating credentials instead of building a compelling narrative. Your journey into tech should tell a story.
When I review applications, I look for candidates who can show their evolution. Maybe you started with simple scripts to automate your daily tasks, then built smaller web applications, and gradually tackled more complex problems. This progression shows growth and initiative.
Start documenting your learning journey. Write about the problems you encounter and how you solve them. This documentation becomes invaluable during interviews and helps you build a personal brand in the industry.
The Hidden Job Market
Here’s something most career advisors won’t tell you: the best jobs often aren’t posted publicly. In my last hiring round, we filled two positions through network recommendations before the job posting even went live.
Building a professional network sounds daunting, but it’s simpler than you think. Find communities where developers gather - online forums, local meetups, open source projects. Don’t approach these spaces trying to get a job. Instead, focus on learning and contributing.
The Interview Mindset
Interviews aren’t interrogations - they’re conversations about problem-solving. When I interview candidates, I’m trying to understand how they think, not trying to trip them up with trick questions.
One of the best interviews I conducted started with the candidate admitting they didn’t know something, but then walking me through how they would figure it out. This showed confidence, honesty, and problem-solving ability all at once.
Be prepared to talk about challenges you’ve faced and how you overcame them. The specifics of the technology matter less than your approach to solving problems.
The Portfolio Trap
Most portfolios I see follow the same template: a todo app, a weather app, and a chat application. While these show you can code, they don’t tell me who you are as a developer.
Instead of building what everyone else builds, find problems that genuinely interest you. Maybe you’re into gardening and build a plant watering scheduler. Or you’re a gamer and create a tool to analyze your match statistics. These projects reveal your passions and problem-solving style.
Beyond Technical Skills
The dirty secret of tech interviews is that technical skills are only part of the equation. I’ve passed on technically brilliant candidates because they couldn’t explain their decisions or collaborate effectively.
When I’m interviewing, I’m asking myself: “Would I want to debug a production issue with this person at 2 AM?” Technical skills matter, but clarity of communication and grace under pressure matter more.
Making the Wrong Kind of Noise
I see too many candidates trying to game the system - leetcoding 24/7, memorizing design patterns, cramming system design concepts. While these have their place, they’re not what make a junior developer stand out.
What catches my attention is evidence of curiosity and craftsmanship. Show me your debugging process. Talk about a time you dove deep into documentation to understand a concept. Tell me about the rabbit holes you went down while learning.
The Cover Letter Most People Get Wrong
I review dozens of cover letters each month. Most read like boring resumes in paragraph form: “I am writing to express my interest in…” Nobody has time for that.
A good cover letter fills in the gaps. Instead of listing technologies, tell me about the time you stayed up all night debugging a production issue for your personal project. Or how you contributed to an open source project because you found a bug that annoyed you. These stories show me how you think and what drives you.
But here’s the thing about cover letters - if you’re going to write one, make it count. No cover letter is better than a generic one. I’d rather see no cover letter than read another “Dear Hiring Manager, I am writing to express my interest in…”
The First Job Isn’t the Last
Your first tech job won’t be your last. It’s not about finding the perfect role - it’s about finding a place where you can learn and grow. I look for candidates who understand this, who show they’re ready to learn rather than pretending they already know everything.
Too many juniors obsess over landing roles at FAANG companies or hot startups. They forget that your first job is like your first apartment - it’s not your forever home, it’s where you learn to live on your own. The goal is to find an environment where you can make mistakes safely, ask questions freely, and absorb knowledge from more experienced developers.
