Surviving the Whiteboard Interview: A Developer's Guide to Using Soft Skills to Get Hired

The industry standard whiteboard interview can be daunting for developers. Let’s face it: it combines the worst aspects of a typical interview, on-the-spot public speaking, a quiz show, and a dinner party full of strangers judging you―all at once. Brilliant developers can let their nerves get the best of them and completely bomb a whiteboard interview, while inexperienced developers who excel in soft skills can breeze through them.

In Surviving the Whiteboard Interview, author William Gant uses his real-world knowledge and expertise to guide you through the psychological roadblocks of a coding test while also providing you with a sample coding challenge. With enough preparation, information, and assured confidence, you can survive a whiteboard interview at any organization. In addition to the benefits listed above, Gant helps you explore how you can create a good soft skills impression that will last beyond the whiteboard test by showing your work ethic, positive attitude, and ability to take and implement criticism effectively. These assets will unequivocally serve other parts of your life outside of an interview context, as well.

While Gant does not promise that you will ever truly enjoy interviewing, he does promise to arm you with the proper preparation techniques and knowledge needed to tame the common fears and dread that come along with it. Maximize your career potential and get inspired with Surviving the Whiteboard Interview. The steps to your dream role just might be closer than you think.

What You Will Learn

• Practice both hard and soft skills required to succeed at a whiteboard interview, covering coding tests as well as psychological preparation
• Learn how to make other aspects of your interview stronger, so you can create a great impression
• Master solving common whiteboard problems in different programming languages

Who This Book is For

This book is primarily for aspiring software developers who are looking for a job in the field. However, it will also be helpful for more seasoned developers who find interviewing painful and want to improve their skills.

About the Author

William Gant is a software developer who has been working in the industry since 1998. He has worked with dozens of different programming languages in a wide variety of programming environments, as both an employee and as a consultant. In addition, he has owned his own business, been heavily involved in several startups and is currently half of the Complete Developer Podcast, among numerous other things in the development space. He's been through the school of hard knocks in software development and has a passion for showing others how to do the same.