The third edition of Programming Interviews Exposed is now available for sale from Amazon.com and other booksellers. Watch this space for more details…

• Rock the Technical Interview (PDF format)
• Rock the Technical Interview (PowerPoint format)

I hope you find them useful!

So what do you do after you’ve been rejected? Here are my tips:

• Don’t take it personally. I know, it’s hard, because in many ways job interviews are personal. Read Steve Yegge’s description of the ‘anti-interview’ to see why the rejection may not have anything to do with you at all. Generally speaking, I think it’s important not to place too much emphasis on where you work or what kind of title you have. If you’re a good programmer, have confidence in your own abilities. (Bonus tip: being confident will also help you do well in those interviews…)
• Be honest with yourself. You usually know when you’re blowing an interview. It’s not a good feeling. But the lack of an offer probably won’t be that much of a surprise.
• Don’t rant about the company. It’s never a good idea to diss potential employers. It’ll hurt your chances if you re-apply, and it makes you look bad to other employers.
• Learn from the experience. Hopefully you read a good programming interviews book before the interviews, but reading and doing are different things. Write down the questions that you were asked and how you thought the interview went. Were you asked about algorithm complexity and you didn’t get the right answer? Go re-read the relevant book chapter and then work on some complexity problems. Don’t be afraid to explore other books, too.
• Prepare for more interviews. Don’t stop preparing! You have to keep reading, keep working on problems, and keep programming. You should also be updating your LinkedIn profile and building an online reputation.
• Re-apply when you’re ready. If six months have passed and you’re still interested in working for the company, re-apply for the job. Most companies will give you a second chance. You’ll be in a much better position this time because you know what to expect from the interviews and you’ll be much better prepared.

Don’t forget that hundreds or even thousands of people apply for jobs at high-profile companies like Google and Facebook. Most people don’t even make it past the screening stage. These companies spend a lot of time, effort and money to find talented employees. Making it to the interview stage is a big deal. You just have to make it a little further!

And as for my story…. I applied to Google again after about a year, took the interview process much more seriously, did proper preparation…. and this time I got in. I’m very happy working in the Google Waterloo Region office and glad it worked out in the end. I hope it works out for you, too!

People leave jobs for all kinds of reasons. Some people leave for better opportunities — that’s what I did last year. Some people leave because of personal issues not related to work. Some people leave because the job just doesn’t fit them anymore or because there’s nowhere else for them to advance career-wise within the company. Some people leave because of poor performance. And a very few people leave because of harassment and abuse.

But recruiters looking to determine if you’re a fit for their company don’t want to see you badmouthing your previous or (even worse) current employers. It’s not professional and it makes them wonder if you’ll be doing the same thing with their company.

Of course, you’ll never be completely happy with everything your employer does. There will be policies and decisions you disagree with. But don’t rant about them in public. Try to work internally to fix them, if you can — and I know this can be very hard in many companies. If you can’t fix them and you can’t live with those policies/decisions, maybe it’s time to look for another job.

There’s very little to be gained by complaining about an employer in public. Remember what Thumper said: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.

• Updated code samples. Code samples in the first edition were mostly in C. The second edition places more emphasis on Java and C#.
• Corrections. There were a few errors in the first edition that have been corrected in the second edition.
• Additional interview material. The second edition includes more coverage of important areas like concurrency as well as entirely new topics of discussion.
• Clarifications to existing problems. Answers to many of the programming problems have been clarified.
• Inclusive language. While men still dominate, more and more women are finding their way into the field, and the second edition reflects that reality.

Just as important, though, is what hasn’t changed: the comprehensive, let’s-talk-it-through approach to answering the problems that made the first edition so readable and useful is still the same. Grab your copy today!

Programming Interviews Exposed is available from Amazon and other bookstores.

Stay tuned for more! You can leave us comments here on this blog or use the contact form to drop us a note.