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📓 3.6.4.1 Weekly Technical Interview Prep

At the end of every course section, we'll take a break from coding to practice interview questions. These questions will (primarily) revolve around the content we learned in this section, and, much like a "real" interview, some will be more technical than others.

In addition to learning how to implement the new tools, technologies, and concepts, you want to become comfortable talking about them too, so you may accurately demonstrate and communicate these skills you've learned to potential employers in an interview.

Take turns answering the questions below with your partner:

Technical Interview Questions​

  • What does it mean to scaffold an application? What are the advantages and disadvantages of scaffolding?
  • What is the difference between an API application and an MVC application?
  • What is serialization? Why is it useful?
  • What is deserialization and why is it necessary in an MVC application?
  • Why should we use environmental variables with API calls?
  • What is JSON? Why is it a commonly used format for API calls?
  • Explain the differences between a few different status codes. Here are a few examples: 200, 401, 403, 500.
  • What is CORS? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
  • Why should we use versioning in an API application?
  • What is a JWT? Why would we use JWTs with an API application?
  • When would we use pagination in an API application? What benefits does it provide?

Stories and Examples​

Offering a tangible story or example that highlights your skills usually goes much further in an interview than simply telling your interviewer you're good at something. (i.e.: Telling a story about a time you tracked down a tricky bug versus simply saying "I'm good at problem-solving!").

Review the STAR method, discussed in this lesson on non-technical interviews. Use the STAR method to practice answering non-technical questions with your partner.

Again, if you come up with a story or example you feel good about, jot it down somewhere! It's tough to come up with stories like this in an interview on the spot. Having a few tucked away to review before an interview will be a huge benefit to you later.