/tech/ - Technology★

1. you may have multiple phone interviews

Depending on a number of factors (student status, student job, contract, full-time), which you have left out, you might be talking to 1-2 HR people for a 30 minute screening. It might be more conversational than you expect, and that's the point. Nobody wants to work with a brain-dead neet who can't hold a decent conversation without sperging.

2. Talk about past projects/experiences

They may open the floor to you. At that point, ball's in your court, so make good use of it. Control the conversation and drive home why you were drawn to the position, what your ambitions and competencies are, and how that relates to past experience. Don't just speak out of your ass, everything you say should be dependable based on your own action. Talk about your GNU/Linux hobby and home installations you've done for yourself, friends, and family. Talk about how you've faced problems you never expected, how you resolved them, and what you learned from that experience. If you know hardware, what demonstrable skills can you showcase over the phone?

Everyone is under supervision in some regard, that doesn't really narrow it down, I wouldn't worry about it.

Finally, don't bring up compensation, ever. It's a simple piece of advice, but it's worth getting right now. Wait until you have an offer in hand, and reserve your ability to say no.

>What should I expect in a phone interview

Expect someone reading from a script. The person interviewing you will be from HR and have no technical experience. If your answers are different from the ones provided in (most likely) her script they will fail you.

>>838349

lol

>>838349

>from HR and have no technical experience

wasn't true for my phone interview for a support position. I was literally asked about RMS.

>>838342 (OP)

want the job. Social retardation + any kind of misgivings or reluctance to take the job, is a devastating combination. You can't fix retardation but you can psych yourself up on the job. Do that. This is probably the most important thing you can do at your point.

As someone who has conducted these, it's generally to see if you're a motivated normie who can communicate well and be easily trained to do busywork in a field they're familiar with, or if you're a NEET weirdo who can't understand what I'm saying and wanders all over the place in a conversation while mumbling something about gentoo.

>>838361

It often depends on the size of the company. Large companies don't have anyone technical do low-level interviews, and technical interviews only happen after they've failed to cull you via HR.

>>838363

Are there any specific things you looked for? How do I act like a normie?

>>838348

>If you know hardware, what demonstrable skills can you showcase over the phone?

I have no idea. Does giving a basic description of what each component does count? I can't really think of anything else.

>Finally, don't bring up compensation, ever.

Yeah, that's not even a consideration for me. I'd be willing to work for literal pennies just to get my foot in the door and actually have something to put on a resume.

>>838398

>How do I act like a normie?

Be friendly and relaxed, and don't talk about anime or memes. It's better to come off as well grounded even if you seem a little plain than to sperg out.

>>838361

When I interviewed for my current job, I stayed extremely well-behaved. When I was invited to the office for an in-person interview, I dropped all pretenses. I even corrected one of the interviewers when she referred to GNU/Linux by the name of its kernel. And then I launched into the history of the GNU operating system. It was easy to keep it polite and cordial because it clearly wasn't her fault that she was misinformed.

>>838419

I forgot to add that, in the first sentence of my previous reply, I was referring to a preliminary phone interview. I didn't drop all pretenses until the in-person interview.

Bring up buzzwords like active directory, group policy, Linux, scripting, automation, servers and other shit normalfags don't understand.

>>838342 (OP)

>troubleshooting and repairing computers

Expect to touch proprietary software. I know it sucks the life force out of you, but you must persevere.

>creatinging technical documentation

How does this fit in with above?

>>838482

Depending on your exact environment, creating good documentation is crucial.

>>838419

I can just imagine. A random white guy at an interview amongst 20 indians, his interviewer asks "what's your experience working with linux OS?" and the interviewee would go "Allow me to interject for a moment."

He'd then go home, open up 8ch.net/tech/ and bitch about all the pajeets stealing his job.

OP here. I have an in-person interview tomorrow. Does anyone know what kind of things I should go over so I don't choke on easy questions? From what I can tell, this job isn't a customer service job, it's just being the IT bitch for the company and fixing employee's computer issues.

>>848210

That's even easier anon. Remember that Helpdesk has been reshaped into Customer Service by your betters (i.e. the business degrees).

This means a few things for you:

1. You gotta hold your autism. Don't be rude, be workplace nice and respectful. You can rant in your cube if you're out of sight, but you gotta shape that resting bitch face as soon as you hit the floor.

2. You gotta know the basics of how to troubleshoot and how to do basic corp. tasks. If something doesn't work, check the cable first, that kind of basic troubleshooting. For corp. tasks, we're talking resetting passwords, following processes for hiring/firing, knowing how to use helpdesk software.

>>848213

>>848215

Welp, I'm pretty sure I bombed it. He didn't ask me a single technical question, he just described what the job was like and kept asking if I had any questions and I didn't know what to say. Even tried talking about things like football and, again, I had no idea what to say. It was 100% a test of social abilities rather than any technical abilities.

Oh well, thanks anyway anons.

>>848622

Helpful tip for the future: Asking inane questions usually comes across better to normies than to ask nothing at all. They're so used to it, they don't even notice you're asking questions that only a sub-50 IQ monkey could actually need an answer for.

If he says you gotta troubleshoot hardware, ask if you have to jiggle the wires if nothing else comes to mind, then after he answers yes, nod sagely as if you are deep in thought while saying "mmhhmm"

>>848622

>Even tried talking about things like football

+1 in the "things you'll get suddenly ashamed and angry about in the middle of the night" list

how many interviews have you had? It sounds like you expected a Google/Microsoft IQ test in the form of stupid questions.

>he just described the job

Do you want that job? Can you do that job? How long would you be satisfied with that job? How much pay would you need? What kinds of promotion paths does the job have? These aren't his questions mate, they are your questions. Things you youself must answer if you are to decide to accept the job vs. another if offered it.

Talking about football was a mistake. You should have run out of time with talk like

<oh cool, sounds like something I can definitely do :) yeah I've done stuff like this before.

<nah I actually enjoy answering questions. When I learned C my first step was to join IRC and then spend most of my time hurriedly looking up and answering other people's questions.

<hm, what you just said worries me a bit. How much customer interaction would be expected of me? oh I've worked with customers. My personal theory is that customers appreciate technical information if it's straightforwardly provided, neither an attempt to snowball nor as an excuse for also giving an understandable answer, at least telling the customer what to expect. I just don't enjoy customer interactions, ha ha.

Even if you're totally clueless, does the job sound interesting? Do you want the skills and knowledge that you would need to be good at the job? Then say so. You can learn. You learnt this thing this one time and it was fast.

anyway, you'll do better next time. You may also have not fucked up quite so badly as you think you did here. I got a second interview and then got hired after 'failing' a phone interview so badly I wrote the job off altogether.

>>848630

>Helpful tip for the future: Asking inane questions usually comes across better to normies than to ask nothing at all.

Yeah I think I'll just start asking questions even if I already know the answer then.

>>848632

>+1 in the "things you'll get suddenly ashamed and angry about in the middle of the night" list

No, he was the one who tried to talk about football by mentioning a team won some championship and I know literally nothing about football so I just kinda smiled and nodded.

As for the questions, I already knew the answer to all of those except the last one before the interview, and he told me about the last one without me asking. But yeah, I'm just gonna ask them anyway next time.

>I got a second interview and then got hired after 'failing' a phone interview so badly I wrote the job off altogether.

That's actually what happened here. I thought I fucked up the phone screen hard, but I got an interview. Still pretty sure I fucked up the interview even more, though. Although he did say he had 200 applicants, so I guess the fact that I got an interview at all is kind of a good sign.

>>848622

>described what the job was like and kept asking if I had any questions and I didn't know what to say.

Next time, say that he has described it all very well, that you believe you understand exactly what is required of you, and that you're certain you can be of use, don't speak over excitedly, make it sound very matter of fact. It's probably fine not to initiate small talk of your own initiative, most places won't care if you're a bit dry. In any event it's far worse saying something stupid than not saying a lot.

>>848630

This. Ask about their infrastructure, network, software, etc. Give comments when you can, show them your familiar with aspects of their setup. If you're brave give suggestions on how to improve it

Person who has been jobless for four years and failed about 40 interviews here.

I don't know man.

>>838681

You dont have interns create documents

>>847213

Honestly in many places you'd land the job by the mere fact you can speak with confidence. Last group interview I attended many pajeets missed out by being rubbish at speaking.

>>849486

Also, OP, this will be the exact guy breathing down your neck :

> "city" college

> has never read a book in his entire life that did not have an O'Reilley logo on it.

> lots of ponzy-scheme certifications

> comes to work at 8 and leaves at 8 because he loves work

> imported his girlfriend from back home

> "play hard, work hard"

Not trying to discourage you, but the tech industry is literal shit and that's the secret no one tells you until you join it.

>>838419

THE VIRGIN TOKEN FEMALE HIRE

THE CHAD GANOO/LOONIX ZEALOT

>>849491

Weird. Everyone I work with is pretty cool. Maybe you're just in a fagblasted shithole like California? Move. Accept a pay cut. Enjoy your more-than-compensating spending cut.