Did poorly on the interview, sad panda, any words of wisdom?

linuxlover

I'm sad panda fellas, cheer me up.

Spent the whole week preparing, failed the technical part. It's pretty standard troubleshooting, but I was nervous because they were all watching me live and all I was thinking in my head is what are they thinking right now, is this good, are they laughing inside, are they fed up, what should I do now to impress them... so hard that I missed the most obvious things, those that are just staring at you directly but you can't see them, you know? I work a lot better when I'm relaxed (aren't we all?) but I was stressed because the position fits me like horn dog fits on a *****. It was my dream job which I know I would be great at and I blew my chances. I did one scenario, failed the other one. They rushed through the interview as fast as they could, we'll notify you bla bla bla, but I know it's game over for me. If somehow I managed to get to the second round, I would be so nervous constantly thinking about how I did poorly the first time, that I would fail the second one even harder.

Hey, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? So tell me, what should I do now? I mean how do you prepare for a technical part? You can't possibly foresee all existing scenarios and we all don't work the same way. I do bad in some aspects and good in others. You only get so little scenarios in the interview.

The second scenario returned mysql error on the website and I was supposed to TS it. I suspected corrupt database but couldn't log in due to "Found option without preceding group in config file: /etc/mysql/my.cnf at line: 1". The error is saying my.cnf is misconfd, fix it.

[client]
pass="pass"
user=root

I did google it and add [mysqld] at the beginning but it still wouldn't work. Help?

RouteMyPacket

There is not one person on this forum that has not been through the same thing. Well, I haven't.. lol Just kidding..man it's just part of the process as we go on through the years.

Honestly, experience is the only thing that will allow you to settle down in interviews and be confident and honest in your approach. It boils down to "you don't know what you don't know"..if you have never experienced something, how can you know about it?

Ok, so now that you have been through that, let's focus on what we can get out of it. So what do you think? Did you take away anything from the experience to assist you the next time?

Also, just because YOU think you bombed does not necessarily mean they think you bombed it. So chin up and learn from it and on to the next one, you never know you may be getting a call.

A quick word of advice, if you miss a technical sceneraio or question in an interview you can always tell them straight "Oh wow...i'm sorry I missed that, how did I miss that..see I would have configured it bla bla bla"..this way you kind of recover and show you have analytical skills to reach the solution form another angle. Something like that. : )

Akaricloud

Honestly it sounds like you need to better prepare for the stress that interviews involve rather than focusing more on the technical side. Handling stressful situations in a calm, relaxed, logical way is important for many IT jobs. It's something that you'll need to become better at not only for interviews but for on the job technical emergencies as well. I used to before interviews purposefully try to get myself stressed, nervous and worked up just so I get to spend some time in this mode and it didn't come as a shock.

Each time gets easier. Hold your head up, admit to yourself what you did wrong and do better on the next.

linuxlover

I know it's the process we all have to go through, unfortunately. It's actually peanuts compared to what I had to go through to be able to be here today having an interview for an IT job. I count this as a personal success and I'm proud of myself to have achieved this on my own with hard work and lots of dedication. Life really wasn't nice to me and I took all the wrong paths it seems, but I learned a lot that way and I find this to be invaluable. This little interview fail puts me down for the day and tomorrow I'll be as good as new, I know how it goes. These little things can't crush me, I've had much worse so I'm not devastated, just frustrated at myself really because I didn't deliver. I don't believe in failure because each time I learn something new. You only fail if you don't learn.

My worries lie with not having proper work experience dealing with production and e-commerce servers and that's what I want to do for the rest of my life. I did run a cPanel server for more than three years but that's not the same as working in a company and having proper commercial experience. So normally they would ask me things I haven't had experienced before and naturally I wouldn't know the answer. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't be able to fix the problem, it means that it would take me longer than someone who has done this officially.

I could find a helldesk job, but I would only be wasting my time as my career goal is to work in Linux environment. The position I applied for was half technical support, half system administration at a web hosting company and it really seemed the perfect job for me, mainly because I'm looking to build a career and not work a 9-5 job. Now I realize my biggest weakness is not having relevant work experience. That's the hardest to get kind of experience. I'm not giving up though, I just need to rethink my strategy.

Thanks @RouteMyPacket for encouraging words.

Akaricloud wrote: »

Honestly it sounds like you need to better prepare for the stress that interviews involve rather than focusing more on the technical side. Handling stressful situations in a calm, relaxed, logical way is important for many IT jobs. It's something that you'll need to become better at not only for interviews but for on the job technical emergencies as well. I used to before interviews purposefully try to get myself stressed, nervous and worked up just so I get to spend some time in this mode and it didn't come as a shock.

Each time gets easier. Hold your head up, admit to yourself what you did wrong and do better on the next.

@Akaricloud There are different types of stress. One thing is to work under pressure on your job. I've done that before a lot, and I can handle stress and pressure, honestly. My previous employers were all complementing me on how well I handle stressful situations. But another thing is the kind of stress you experience at a job interview. I can't help but feel like my whole future depends on the outcome of that interview. I appreciate your input, thank you.

colby_ar

Unfortunately, few of us get to troubleshoot issues in a calm, peaceful environment. Most of the time you have a non-IT boss looking over your shoulder trying to back-seat-troubleshoot and wanting to know "what can we do to ensure this never happens again?!" Or your phone is ringing every 3 seconds with people screaming be cause "the website is down!", "I can't login!", "you broke it!", "the website is still down!"

It is something that comes with experience. You might try adding some distractions to your studies such as a TV, music, noisy girlfriend, etc.

jibbajabba

I bombed out of interviews I thought I aced and passed the ones I thought I failed. Part in the process of growing up in the wide world of job hunting

And I agree, if you start in IT you likely work a help desk kinda role. There is none without stress. None that I know of anyway. Just stick with it and move on. You hit the jackpot eventually, we all did.

Akaricloud

linuxlover wrote: »

@Akaricloud There are different types of stress. One thing is to work under pressure on your job. I've done that before a lot, and I can handle stress and pressure, honestly. My previous employers were all complementing me on how well I handle stressful situations. But another thing is the kind of stress you experience at a job interview. I can't help but feel like my whole future depends on the outcome of that interview. I appreciate your input, thank you.

Maybe we experience it differently but when a system that I'm solely responsible for is down and everyone turns to closely watch how I handle the situation, it's very much the same feeling. The feeling of "Oh **** my future here depends on how this moment is handled", combined with everyone watching and not necessarily knowing the solution right away feels identical to me. If I were to freeze and not be able to calmly work my way through it then the consequences may be much worse than failing during an interview.

My point is, if this got to you during an interview then you really need to address the issue instead of trying to just squeeze by the next time.

linuxlover

You're all right. I'm very passionate about everything I do and I shouldn't look at an interview as my one and only chance in life. I need to acquire more I-don't-give-a-duck attitude and become more self-confident. I should approach the whole thing differently. I think I might start going to interviews just to overcome the fear of "failing".

@Akaricloud Yeah I know what you're saying and I agree with you 100%. However (there's always however) TS-ing live is not the same as having a bunch of people with answers written on their hands asking you questions. They already know the answers and wait for you to say something clever. Then you start thinking about what they're thinking about you and that's how it all starts. The circle of mental hell, haha.

Thanks guys, you're great. I'm already over it. First I was thinking naahh, but now I'm going to apply for two more jobs I've seen listed. Cheers!

colby_ar

Practice makes perfect! Good luck!

LarryDaMan

So much pity for yourself. Buck up. Aside from some basic preparation, you shouldn't really have to "study" for an interview. Perhaps you weren't familiar enough with the technology anyway. Nervousness is fine, but work on being self-confident. A positive attitude will go a long way.

linuxlover

colby_ar wrote: »

Practice makes perfect! Good luck!

Exactly, thanks.

LarryDaMan wrote: »

So much pity for yourself. Buck up. Aside from some basic preparation, you shouldn't really have to "study" for an interview. Perhaps you weren't familiar enough with the technology anyway. Nervousness is fine, but work on being self-confident. A positive attitude will go a long way.

To quote George Costanza: "Pity is very underrated. It like it, it's good."

Just kidding. I don't pity myself, pity is for losers. If I had any pity in me, I would live a very different life today. It's the spite that kept me going all these years, but I do need an input from like-minded people here and there. I don't think there's anyone else that can give me better advice on such matters besides you guys here, that's why I started this thread and didn't call my BFF to moan to.

Anyway, I have added rep to all of you. I can't rep twice, the system won't allow me.

gbdavidx

what is the job for? you didn't even put the title

linuxlover

gbdavidx wrote: »

what is the job for? you didn't even put the title

I didn't put it in the title because it's not relevant to the discussion. I did mention the nature of the position later on:

The position I applied for was half technical support, half system administration at a web hosting company...

jibbajabba

A lot of jobs nowadays ask for tons of different skills and we all end up using Google on daily basis. You still need skills in order judge whether what you read even makes remotely sense(*), but using Google in front of that sort of crowd is odd and looks rubbish. Which, I could swear, is why a lot of people hate that too


(*) e.g. copy/paste 'rm -rf /' because someone on some forum says it fixes your Apache issue on a Linux server (actually seen that once).

linuxlover

Well you would have to be mentally challenged to do an rm -rf / on a commercial server. Why do you oppose using Google? I encourage using it as a problem-solving tool, but you would first need to know what you're looking for. So if you have a task to perform and you start googling general keywords then you're way above your head and no Google is going to help you. But if you know what you need to do but don't know the exact details, then by all means go search.

adam220891

OP, it's not all bad.

I just landed my first gig, and they didn't ask me a single technical question. I have no hands on experience, I've never even built my own computer (outside of class). Do you know how nervous I will be when I have my first day? I have no idea if I'm actually competent enough to do the job I got hired for. Also, it was my first ever IT interview, and since there was no technical stuff involved, I will not know what to expect if I apply for a different position in the future.

I'm thankful as hell I got the job, but it would be nice to have some technical interviewing experience under my belt for future references. With that said, I got hired because I displayed a high aptitude and was well-spoken (according to the CIO I interviewed with). I don't see any need to be nervous for an interview, the worst they can do is say no. You will have dozens more in your life, and if you learn from each experience, you will only get better.

linuxlover

Words of wisdom my friend @adam220891 and congratulations on your first IT job. I'm sure you'll do well, they wouldn't have hired you otherwise. I find thrown-to-lions-on-your-first-day to be the best way to actually learn something.

adam220891

Thank you sir, and good luck to you.

Just be confident in yourself. I know it's easier said than done, especially from a guy who didn't get asked technical questions, but take a moment prior to answering to collect yourself and your thoughts, and firmly explain the solution (or actually do it, write it, etc.).

It sounds silly, but grab a relative or friend and practice with them. I prepared before hand, and I've taken a public speaking course. It helps get over nervousness in situations with significance, especially around strangers.

jvrlopez

Like others said, be confident and don't worry about the interviewers too much. They're aren't going to kill you, call you stupid, or can do anything negatively to you (outside of not helping you get the job).

Try and be personable and strike an accord. Lighten things up before the technical piece if possible so it doesn't put too much stress on you. If you don't know the answer, be prepared to be able to recall where its solution may be found.

jibbajabba

linuxlover wrote: »

Well you would have to be mentally challenged to do an rm -rf / on a commercial server. Why do you oppose using Google?.

1. Mentally challenged? Perfect example of the attitude you can find in the Linux community. Not everyone knows what that command does, especially not people who just start with Linux and desperately try to find a solution. And it was just an example. Like I say, one guy was talking the p*** when a beginner asked a question.

2. Re-read my post I don't oppose Google. I merely stated that some people might be nervous in using it while people watching over their shoulders.

Anyway, going off topic here.

linuxlover

@jvrlopez I'm aware of that. It's harder to practice is.
@jibbajabba I misunderstood, I thought you were talking about someone doing that on a job. As far as using Google is concerned, we're on the same page.

To sum up.

1.Care less, relax
2.Be yourself

Dully noted, simple yet effective advice. I have repped everybody, case closed. However, you're free to add anything you like if you want to.

The Technomancer

Always be yourself in the interview. Do you really want a gig where you have to always keep a lid on your personality?

Also, any reasonable hiring manager knows that nobody gets everything right in an interview. On the rare chance someone does, that likely means they're overqualified for the role and will get bored and leave soon anyway.

linuxlover

We're on the same page @The Technomancer.

The Technomancer wrote: »

Also, any reasonable hiring manager knows that nobody gets everything right in an interview. On the rare chance someone does, that likely means they're overqualified for the role and will get bored and leave soon anyway.

Interesting, I never though of it like that before.

linuxlover

Just to let you know, I didn't get the job - it was my lack of technical skills as they've told me today. However, I managed to book another interview at a company in the same industry, also today. Unbelievable, all this from 1500km away. One way or the other, I WILL get hired and then I'll be able to say that hard work has finally paid off.

Corndork2

Keep your head up! You'll get it!

I bombed an interview with Pfizer before landing an even better position at Caterpillar. Its all about finding the right IT job that fits your working style and ability. Youre clearly professional and driven. You'll get where you want to go.

5502george

I had an interview once that I knew exactly what questions they were going to ask before hand!!! ....The worst interview I have ever had in my life LMAO. I spent so much time remembering what I was going to say that when they asked the first question and I couldn’t remember the answer I had in my head! I rambled on for about 3 minutes hoping it would come to me at some point....but it never did, I eventually looked up and everyone was just staring at me like WTF! HA HA it makes me laugh just thinking about it now.

....All in all I felt like a complete dumbass after the interview, but I kept my head held high and used it as a learning opportunity to never memorize questions and moved on. I now work for the same company but in a WAY better role