There's more to an interview than just knowing the right answer.

❓ In an interview, they can ask all kinds of questions about the things I have on my resume. For example, if I list Java, what if they ask about the pros and cons of Spring Boot, but I can’t answer? How do I prepare for all these questions?

✅ You can’t prepare for every question. And you shouldn’t.

The interviewer doesn’t want to test your ability to memorize facts. It’s pretty useless, to be honest – Google, StackOverflow, and others do it much better than you. What the interviewer wants to see is:

  1. Your knowledge breadth. It’s important to know “a bit about everything”. You don’t have to be an expert on Spring Boot, but if you claim to know Java, maybe you’ve heard something about it. And maybe you have experience with some other web development frameworks. Can you connect the dots?

  2. Your natural curiosity. Are you genuinely interested in learning about tech? Do you follow the trends? Chances are you can think of a relevant blog post you read recently or a tech talk you attended. Or maybe someone you met at a networking event told you a funny story about a Spring Boot project?

So, really, the last thing you want to do to prepare for such questions would be to drill down on the facts about the things on your resume. Instead, feed your natural curiosity.

Read as much as you can about all sorts of things that interest you. Attend events: Find a new meetup, go to a networking event and meet some people, register for a conference (low-cost airlines and hostels make it possible!). Keep expanding your knowledge base, and it’ll pay off.

(Thank you for the insightful discussion about this today, Khoury College of Computer Sciences Career Peer Advisors: Annabelle Sun, Jessica Wei, Yudong(Eddie) Yang; and thanks for the opportunity to work with this fantastic group of students, Dinuka G. and Ethan Selinger, M.Ed.!)