Applying and Interviewing Tips and Tricks for Developers

But Who Am I, Why Do I Care?

At Fishtank I am responsible for the application, interviewing and hiring process for open positions at Fishtank, for most departments. This involves posting job openings, flagging applicants for interviews, interviewing them and then hiring them. We get thousands of applicants per job opening and constantly have job openings. Out of the thousands of applicants we are hiring only a handful.

Maybe you’re less likely to get hit by lightning or get into a plane crash (sorry for bringing down the vibes) but the chances of getting through our process and being hired can be small. I would imagine this is not specific to Fishtank but any organization you are applying to.

This blog is meant to boost your chances of getting through the process and landing that dream job (whether it’s with us or not).

Applying

How can your application stand-out among the thousands?

Resume

Have a nicely designed resume that highlights relevant experience. Most resumes I look at are multiple pages of a lot of words. Sometimes certain words are highlighted but most of the time the resumes are unappealing, don’t stand out and lack any thought about design. At Fishtank we care about design, we care about UI/UX so make your resume stand out and look different.

Linkedin Profile

We almost exclusively use Linkedin for job openings and hiring. Your Linkedin profile is just as much of a resume as the actual resume itself.

• Always have a picture - I don’t care what you look like, I care that you put maximum effort into your public profile.
• Relevant experience - Dev bootcamps are education not experience. I see this all the time and I believe partially because the bootcamps tell people to list it as experience. I can tell you personally I do not like this. If you list it as experience and not education I likely won’t flag you to talk to.
• Don’t have gaps - If you took time off or went back to school or worked on personal projects then list it somehow. When applicants have gaps, especially large ones it just makes me question why?

Reaching Out

Don’t just solely rely on applying on Linkedin to get our attention. Reach out to employees at Fishtank to chat with them, or to directly pass along your resume. It’s quite easy for someone good to get lost in the haystack, get creative about how you reach me. This has worked numerous times in the past. It doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to get through but greatly increases you chances.

Interviewing

Once you’ve made it through the application process how can you nail the interview(s)? We generally have a two stage interview process. Our first interview is usually with myself and is more of a culture check and general interview. Our second interview is more of a technical assessment.

1st Interview

The first interview I conduct is to assess a few higher level subjective items:

• Cultural fit - Do I think you will fit in with our team?
• Consulting experience/fit - Do you have consulting/agency experience, and understand the variables with this type of working environment?
• Communication - Can you communicate effectively with colleagues and clients?
• Compensation - Are your compensation expectations within the range publicized and in line with your documented experience?

The most important question I ask during this first interview is “Tell me what you know about Fishtank?” The most common answer I get is a variation of “I don’t really know”. It always shocks me. DO YOUR RESEARCH. It’s not hard to explain to me at a high level what we do. If you don’t give me an acceptable answer you won’t get through. Period.

Ask Me Questions

I love it when people ask me questions. It shows they are naturally inquisitive and are also genuinely interested. Most people do ask questions but I can tell when they are just asking to check off a box on their process vs actually being interested.

Following this 1st interview I will either inform you that you are moving onto the next interview or communicate that we won’t be moving forward with you in our process. If you are one of those people, ask me why? I’m usually happy to provide feedback to those who ask. It’s rare people ask for feedback but when they do I’m happy to take a few minutes to provide it.

2nd Interview

The 2nd interview is a technical assessment. Depending on the type of development position you are applying for the assessment can be different. Generally though we are looking to assess:

• Core web fundamentals - HTML, CSS, Javascript
• Headless Tech Stack - React/Next.js, Tailwind, Typescript, Storybook
• Back-End Development (If applicable) - .NET, C#
• Application specific - Sitecore, Coveo

The point of the interview is to align technical aptitude with our needs, seniority level and compensation.

Here are scenarios we come across often that don’t align well:

• If you ask for 6 figures and don’t have good web fundamentals.
• If you have multiple years of Sitecore experience but don’t have good web fundamentals.
• If you have multiple years of Sitecore experience but can’t answer basic scenario questions.
• If you claim to be a front-end developer but don’t know React.

The most common situation that arises is when we are looking for a Sitecore developer. Sitecore developers have a tendency to stay in their lane. Meaning they don’t attempt to understand modern tech stacks or elevate their ability to have conversations about Sitecore. We have met so many Sitecore developers that just want to be told what to do all day and just don’t have the personality for consulting. That’s ok if that’s what you want but don’t expect to make it through our process.

Compensation

Make sure your compensation expectations are competitive.

• We are a fully remote company who pay fair market value for roles across the country. Just because you live in an expensive city doesn’t warrant us paying you more. You are competing with developers in cheaper locations. Remote work obviously has a lot of benefits but higher salaries may not be one of them.
• I often have people provide me compensation expectations outside of the range posted on the job opening. This is such a a waste of time for everyone. Ensure you understand the range before getting deep into the interview process.
• Understand total compensation vs salary. We offer some unique things other organizations don’t. Make sure you understand the total compensation picture and not just pure salary.

Help Me, Help You

Hopefully this article will inspire you to change how you apply and interview for jobs and make all of our lives easier and more fruitful. Happy job hunting!