Paul: Remote interviews can trip up even the most experienced engineers, not because of weak technical skills, but because the interview format changes the rules. In this guest post, Matt Williams, the Head of Engineering at Recursive, shares practical advice on avoiding common pitfalls and acing the interview.
Matt: Remote interviewing is such a different beast to wrestle with versus in-person interviewing and so many people end up self-sabotaging. Across my years of experience as a geologist and a software developer, I’ve done hundreds of interviews, and I wanted to give very practical tips for some people to follow in this new paradigm. Like all advice, it’s important to adapt it for your own context. Don’t take advice like following the STAR method, and then proceed to answer interview questions like “Situation: X, Task: Y, Action: Z, Results: A”. Ready? Let’s go!
Tip #1: Check your screen share compatibility before the interview
When interviewing you’ll probably be asked to share your screen(s). You should have the meeting software installed and tested in a call with yourself to make sure you don’t blow time you need for showing off your skills on fixing the share. People on Macs are most frequently the victim of this, especially when they haven’t used a particular video call software package before. Don’t get caught out!
Here’s a quick checklist:
- Check permissions for the application to share, especially on MacOS, otherwise you’ll have to leave and return to the call
- Check that it actually works. Google Meet has some issues with different Linux flavours and window managers (Wayland, X11)
- Check your font size in the IDE. You don’t want your interviews craning their necks trying to read what you’re doing.
- Ensure you know how to control which tab/window/screen you’re sharing and whether or not you can share more than one screen at once (tip #7 says don’t do that)
Tip #2: Get Used To Talking On Camera While You Work
Stream or record yourself while you code on a personal project. Review it afterwards! Pro athletes watch their tapes, you should, too.
It will help you get over the fear of being watched while working, which I share. It will help you be an engaging interviewee and put you a cut above the rest. They’ll understand where your thinking is, what your intent is, and give them opportunities to provide comments or event assistance!
Turn that coding interview into a pair programming session with you as an amazing partner.
Tip #3: Don't Skip The Small Talk
Don’t skip the small talk in a remote interview, even if it’s a coding test!
I know that you’re gonna feel like you’re losing precious coding time, and it *could* be. The people giving you the interview are often going to be the ones working with you. I’m not saying you need to have a long conversation, just avoid giving one-word answers. Be interested and friendly and try to avoid the kind of transactional conversation that remote style conversations can have us fall into.
If you’ve got challenges holding these kinds of conversations, you can use this to frame your push to get into it as excitement to show off what you can do. Consider asking a couple of friends to help you with some practice!
Tip #4: Take A (Short) Break If You're Crashing Out
It’s easy to get overwhelmed during some of these interviews. A lot of things can trigger it, and you need to know how to deal with it. If you’re about to lose it, it’s *way* better to ask to take a 5 minute break and lose that coding time than it is to freak out and say that you can’t do it and/or give up. Even if you’re in the first 20 or 30 minutes!
Just go to the bathroom and sit. For a lot of people, especially those with family, it’s a place of sanctuary. You can lock the door. It’s usually quiet, but has some white noise so it’s not just silence. You can do it, and it’s important to remember that sometimes the expectations aren’t that you complete whatever exercise is being done, but that you’re able to work diligently on it and make progress, communicate your lines of thinking and logic, and reach out for help when needed. Most companies aren’t looking for heroes, they’re looking for teammates they can work with productively.
What brings you back to earth in stressful situations?
Find your own process. Have a plan. You’ve got this.
Tip #5: Pick The Right Location To Interview In
You’re having a remote interview, you don’t have to be in an office, but you need to pick a good location for it, no matter what.
- Don’t use a cafe or public setting
- Don’t take the interview at your current workplace (arguable)
- Have sufficient lighting if it’s a video call
- Have a solid internet connection
This feels like stating the obvious, but the behaviours I and others are running into make it clear that it isn’t. Struggling to have a conversation because you’re in a noisy place, having a discussion with a shadowy figure, or waiting and wondering what happens when your connection drops will have neutral outcomes for you at best.
As for taking the interview at your current employer…it just brings up a host of other questions that, again, will have neutral outcomes for you in the best of cases.
You’re often only going to get one shot, make it a good one.
Tip #6: Don't Wait, Grab That First Interview Slot
Don’t delay setting up a call/interview when you’re given a calendar link to arrange it. Take the earliest practicable slot.
There seems to be some drive to pick interview slots 1 – 2 weeks in the future. Maybe it’s anxiety, maybe it’s to get more time to prepare, I don’t know. What I do know though is that others are grabbing the slots ahead of you.
The reality is that businesses aren’t waiting to pool every applicant in the pipeline before moving forward. They don’t need perfection, they need a solid choice who can do the work necessary to be successful in the role. Waiting 10 days to talk is giving other people time to show that they’re good enough, and then you might be interviewing for a role that is effectively gone.
If you think you’re the right person for the role, trust that you’re ready. Not grabbing that early slot is an unforced error.
Tip #7: Use A Single Screen
Use a single screen. Share the entire screen, not a window or tab.
This is the one tip that I think might take you out of a “normal” dev environment of multiple screens. Your interviewer wants and needs to see what you’re doing during these live assessments, and it’s so easy to forget which tab you’re sharing or which screen has the share.
You could be referring to things on a screen, but it might not be the screen you’re sharing. This happens to me all of the time when collaborating online, and it’ll happen to you. Share the whole screen! Sharing the whole screen prevents that awkward “sorry, I can’t see anything you’ve been talking about for the last few minutes” friction that kills your momentum. Just make sure you’ve closed your personal tabs first, and mute those notifications.
Interviews
Interviews, especially coding ones, can be hard. They’re a judgment on your skills, your character, your ability to communicate, and for many of us, our identity. It’s really important to keep in mind that this judgment is limited to the snapshot of that role at that time, with that company.
It can hurt to not move forward in any given hiring process. I’m not going to sit here and fib to you about that. What I can say is that if you have fun connecting with new people, you will find the process of interviewing for a role that you’re interested in much, much easier. If you have challenges with that, you can train yourself to find enjoyment in it. There is something for everyone, and bringing that kind of energy into the room can and will leave a lasting impression. The same goes for interviewers; you never know where someone you interviewed will end up.
Good luck out there.
Matt Williams is the Head of Engineering at Recursive, a Tokyo-based company building custom AI agents for enterprises tackling complex, high-stakes challenges, from supply chain optimisation to R&D acceleration and renewable energy planning.
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