The situation…
Recently, I have been preparing to get another internship to replace my Administrative position. I am aiming to submerge myself into programming and put as many hours into coding as I possibly can. I currently have a “spare-time” Internship on a game development team, as well as a part-time Administrative position that allows me to work from home or anywhere with an Internet connection. But since I changed careers two years ago, I have felt as though I wanted even more exposure to coding, so lately I have been preparing to obtain a programming position to replace my current part-time Administrative position. (Don’t worry, my boss knows and supports me completely lol.)
My fears…
Over the past few years, I have read so many horror stories of hiring managers conducting interviews with recent Computer Science graduates, only to discover that they aren’t able to code their way out of a paper bag. I have heard stories of the dreaded programming tests that accompany many programming positions. These fears, in part, are what drove me to do self-learning on top of my degree program. Above all else, I read (A LOT) and practice 10 times as much as I read. However, no amount of practice has been able to squash my fears around the dreaded programming interview test.
What’s my solution?…
More practice. lol. However, I have been practicing with a purpose. I have been focusing on interview-specific algorithms and timeboxing myself to overcome the shakes that I get with just thinking about programming on the spot. I spend a few hours a day implementing different data structures, practicing kata on code wars, looking at the implementation of different data structures within different programming languages, and pretty much living and breathing programming.
So, what about Python?…
Yes, python. I originally fell in love with C++ as my favorite language after taking a C++ last year. But after a few different events, I was exposed to Python. First, there was me joining Code Wars, which didn’t have C++ as a language option for code katas. Then, there was my interest in scripting languages in general after reading requirements of different job openings. Finally, there was the announcement of one Maryland’s major Computer Science programs moving to Python to teach new students.
Armed with this information, I started to practice Python about 4 months ago. I have read a bunch of resources for interview tests and just yesterday I made a repo for my solutions to these problems. This repo is my means of tracking changes and bugs and making improvements along the way! If you haven’t gathered yet, my primary means of preparing for these types of interviews is lots and lots of practice. Personally, I don’t think there is a better way, and I also believe that Python is a great language to use for this purpose!
Happy Coding 🙂
CoderBug
Mira is a Senior Full Stack, specializing in Web Applications developed in the healthcare industry.