➡️ Interview Tips, Gradients & CSS Text Highlights - Issue 3
Good morning and Happy April!
Do you get nervous when taking a technical interview? I assume we all do — no matter how much experience we have under our belt.
When I’m preparing for an interview, I often think of things I should say or should do.
I've been conducting interviews for my company for nearly two years. Taking technical interviews is one thing, but being on the other end and giving interviews has highlighted a few patterns that I want to avoid when I take future interviews.
First, don’t oversell yourself. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying that you sabotage your own interview; you have experience and worth, but there’s a difference between showing your worth and overselling yourself. Candidates have told me they have experience with a language, framework or agile methodology and when I ask a question to gauge their understanding, it becomes obvious that they have no experience at all. Instead of overselling yourself, a more fitting response would be something like “I don’t have experience in that area, but I’m a diligent learner and I know I can deliver.”
Second, don’t cheat. I know this sounds obvious, but it hurts you in more ways than one. I can’t tell you the amount of times candidate’s are clearly referencing a solution to a coding problem, and yet can’t answer basic questions about the implementation. It’s painfully obvious to the interviewer, too. Don’t cheat. You’re smart. Move slowly and think through the problem or question asked of you.
Third, don’t make assumptions - they can cost you valuable time. Approach questions and coding challenges with a fresh mind and ask clarifying questions to understand the problem scope along the way. Asking questions doesn’t shine a bad light on you. Rather, a good programmer asks the specific questions at the appropriate time.
💡 CSS Tip
Do you love CSS? I do! I know many developers dread CSS — but I believe that’s partly because they never truly understood the basics or have seen the amazing things it can do. For example, did you know you can change the color of highlighted text on a web page? Yeah! Here’s an example!
::selection {
background: red;
}
If we take this idea and add a few lines of JavaScript and a CSS variable, we end up with rotating list of colors each time the text is highlighted! Check out this CodePen to see it in action!
🎨 Project Tease
I’ve been learning Next.js over the last few weeks and, just like most of us, I thought one of the best ways to apply the knowledge I’ve learned is to create a fun little project. I’ve had this idea for a really long time and I thought now was the appropriate time to dive in. I don’t have a timeline on when this project will be released, but here’s a teaser!
📚️ What I’m Writing
March has been super busy and I only managed to release one article this month, but I’d love for you to give it a read!
💫 Content from the Community
As always, I want to share some content from the community that I’ve found mind-blowing, helpful or thought-provoking. Let’s take a look!
Incase you missed it, Adam Wathan and the Tailwind Labs team recently released the Tailwind JIT (just-in-time) compiler. Why is this a big deal? The new compiler only generates the utility classes that you need rather than having all of the classes generated in the project by default. This means that build times are considerably faster, and there is no longer a need to edit variants in the tailwind.config.js file! There are several other really neat things about the JIT compiler (like using arbitrary styles!); view the release video below to learn more!
At the beginning of this issue I gave some of my own tips for taking technical interviews. But what if you're the one giving the interviews? Curtis Einsmann has some great tips for those giving interviews during the pandemic:
I’ve interviewed many candidates virtually since the pandemic.
— Curtis Einsmann (@einsmanntech) March 26, 2021
At the start I say:
1️⃣ If you hear my keyboard, it’s neither good or bad. Just for my memory.
2️⃣ I promise I’m still listening even if I’m not always looking at the camera.
3️⃣ I’m not bothered by background noise. 😄
Do you have something you think would be helpful to share with the community? Hit “Reply” and let me know!
🙌 Wrapping up
I hope you enjoyed this issue! March has been crazy and April will be even more so - my wife and I are expecting our first baby (a little girl!) at the end of April. Fun times to come!
Until next time,
Braydon
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