My First Interview Experience 👨🏾‍💻

UpdatedApril 30, 2021

•3 min read•View as Markdown

Bolaji Ayodeji

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Comments (8)

Join the discussion

Christopher Lynch4y ago

I don't think essayup is a premium writing site. My essay was good but it was delivered late! Make sure you have enough extra time if you decide to place an order on their website.

Your DevOps Guy5y ago

Thanks for sharing, Bolaji Ayodeji.

You don't need to "know it all", you just need to "know it and know-how and where to find more knowledge."

I also think people tend to underestimate this point.

Bolaji Ayodeji5y ago

Thanks for reading, totally agree.

Idris Olubisi5y ago

Thanks for sharing this ✌

Nelson Michael6y ago

finally got the chance to read this. can't wait for when it would be my turn

BROWN OFONIME6y ago

Its good to read this inspiration challenge.Nice articles

Chris Bongers6y ago

Nice awesome write-up!

Ruth Ikegah6y ago

Thanks for sharing Bolaji, I just discovered another amazing blog (Gift's blog).

Bolaji Ayodeji6y ago

Yayy, thanks for reading!

Edidiong Asikpo (Didi)6y ago

Thank you for sharing the things you learned from your first interview.

Bolaji Ayodeji6y ago

Hope it helps :)

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Bolaji Ayodeji's Blog

59 posts

Software Engineer, Teacher, and Developer Advocate.

The Beginning

My first interview experience was for an internship role at Upnepa NG, a company in Lagos, Nigeria. Upnepa is a data-driven platform that gives real-time (On/Off) information and total hours of electricity supply in selected areas, communities, and homes across Nigeria.

I saw the advert for the role of Web Developer Intern in October 2018 posted on Facebook by one of Upnepa's co-founders. As of then, Upnepa just got started and just joined an acceleration program in collaboration with Facebook and CCHUB at NG_HUB from Facebook.

I so much loved their mission to monitor, aggregate, and analyze power supply, power outages, and power distribution in order to improve productivity in young people and students, provide power supply rates insight for SMEs, and foresight for governmental institutions, energy distribution companies, and energy solution projects.

I prepared my resume and applied for the job. This was my first time applying for a job, I was very inexperienced and wasn't sure how it all works. I just kept calm and waited for whatever comes next 🧘🏾‍♂️.

The Interview

Eventually, I got an email that my application was accepted and it was interview time.

The interview was to evaluate my:

Communication skill

Personal Development

Commitment

Level of expertise in web development

I prepared, read tons of resources online around preparing for interviews and hoped I was ready for it. Fast forward to the interview day, I joined the call (I can't remember all the details now 😬) and answered tons of technical and non-technical questions alongside some test web projects.

After some more time and patiently waiting, I got another email after the interview.

Yayy, I got the job and was super excited! 🤩

Lessons Learned

Build a killer brand for yourself. Check out Gift's guide on personal branding for developers.

Prepare a good resume before applying. Here's a great guide for this.

You don't need to "know it all", you just need to "know it and know-how and where to find more knowledge."

Ensure you have good people-skills aside from technical skills.

Do some research about the company before applying and interviewing.

Get a good internet connection before joining the interview.

Invest in quality webcams, microphones, or noise cancellation headphones.

Conclusion

Don't spend your entire life waiting for the best time making that move, write that article, build that side-project, apply for that job, or ask that question today. The best time is always now!

Join Hashnode's writing challenges like the #2Articles1Week and #MyFirstInterviewExperience to write, share knowledge, become a better writer, learn in public and win some Hashnode badges.

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