Documentation and reflection on practice interview experience.

jbevis_interview-participation.md

Practice Interview Reflections

The most formal interview practice I've had to date was the vending machine challence during week 2 of the inning. In this challenge I was asked to create a vending machine API with the bare minimum functionality of taking in money, users can make a selection, and the vending machine dispenses the item. I was surprised at my performance during this session albeit a practice one. I felt that I was able to clearly articulate my though process and while I hit a few touch moments, I was able to work through and talk about my process. I tried to do this because, as it had been discussed with us, it is very important to be able to verbally communicate one's thought process during the interview, so that interviewers can get a much better sense of one's problem solving process. To that note, I feel confident that I will be able to continue to talk through my process even when I run into challenges during the technical challenge. What I have noticed after all the practice interview questions is that there is still a lot about programming that is not fully committed to memory. I will definitely need to study up on a lot of fundamental aspects of HTML, CSS, and JS so that I can fully convey my abilities to potential employers. What I have found the most surprising about interview practice is really the double edged sword I've described above. In both the way I was relatively comfortable during the prep technical challenge, and how caught off guard I have been during some of the challenge questions. Clearly, there is work to be done, and I will continue to hone these skills in the weeks following graduation.