It’s easy to get excited about the job prospects for Information Technology (IT) professionals. The U. S. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of IT jobs will grow at a rate of 12% per year between 2018 and 202028, creating more than 545 000 new jobs. Even though the job market is good, that doesn’t mean you won’t feel nervous about job interviews or that you don’t need to prepare.
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Of course, you should make sure you’re ready to answer common interview questions for any role. But don’t stop there. Below we’ve also outlined ten questions you’ll likely face when interviewing for IT roles. IT hiring managers will tell you what they look for and explain “why” they ask the questions. There are also sample answers for each question to help make preparing for your interview a breeze.
Information technology (IT) is an exciting and rapidly growing field. As technology continues to evolve and transform businesses, there is increasing demand for qualified IT professionals. This makes the IT job market highly competitive. To stand out and land your dream IT job, it is crucial to thoroughly prepare for the interview process.
In this comprehensive guide, we will provide an overview of IT interview questions best practices for preparing and sample answers to the most common technical and behavioral questions asked. With the right preparation, you can ace your next IT interview!
Understanding IT Interviews
IT interviews aim to assess both your technical abilities and soft skills. Here are some key things interviewers evaluate:
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Technical skills – Your proficiency in languages, frameworks, networking, troubleshooting, etc.
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Problem-solving – Your approach to diagnosing and resolving technical issues.
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Communication – Explaining technical concepts simply and working collaboratively.
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Culture fit – Whether your work style and values align with the company.
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Motivation – Your career goals and passion for IT.
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Ability to learn – How quickly you can pick up new technical skills.
Interview formats vary across companies. You may encounter:
- Screening calls
- Take-home assignments
- Technical assessments
- Pair programming sessions
- Behavioral interviews
- Panel interviews
Understanding the interview format allows you to prepare appropriately.
How to Prepare for an IT Interview
With preparation, you can confidently tackle any IT interview:
Research the Company and Role
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Review the job description closely, highlighting must-have tech skills.
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Learn about the company’s products, services, tech stack, and customers.
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Understand the day-to-day responsibilities of the role.
Review Key Technologies
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Brush up on languages, frameworks, networking and other tech listed in the job description.
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Study IT fundamentals like TCP/IP, DNS, APIs, encryption, etc.
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Build small projects to get hands-on practice.
Practice Responding to Questions
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Compile a list of likely technical and behavioral questions.
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Craft your answers using real examples and quantifiable achievements.
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Rehearse your responses out loud until you can explain concepts clearly and concisely.
Prepare Questions to Ask
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Research aspects of the company or role you want to better understand.
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Draft a list of thoughtful questions that show your interest in the position.
With tailored preparation, you will feel poised and confident for your IT interview.
Technical IT Interview Questions and Answers
Let’s review examples of common technical questions with advice for crafting strong responses:
Q: What do you consider your strongest technical skillset?
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Do: Provide an overview of your strongest skill(s) and years of experience using relevant examples. Explain how this skillset makes you a great fit for the company and role.
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Don’t: Boast about skills not required for the job. Avoid vague claims about being an “expert” in many areas.
Example response: “My strongest technical skillset is in Java development. I have over 5 years of experience building high-performing Java applications. For example, at my last company I optimized order processing speeds by 75% by refactoring backend code to improve efficiency. I am confident I can leverage my Java expertise to help enhance your company’s legacy billing systems.”
Q: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest IT advancements?
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Do: Demonstrate curiosity and passion for learning. Discuss resources like online courses, tech blogs, conferences, and experimenting with new tools.
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Don’t: Say you rely solely on occasional internet searches or news articles.
Example response: “I make it a priority to dedicate 5-10 hours per month to enhancing my skills. I’m subscribed to relevant tech publications like Linux Journal to learn about new advancements. I also leverage online learning platforms like Udemy to take courses on trending topics like Docker and blockchain. Additionally, I attend local Meetups and hackathons to experiment with new technologies and collaborate with other professionals.”
Q: Walk me through how you would debug a problem with a web application.
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Do: Detail the logical, methodical troubleshooting process you would follow. Cover steps like reviewing error logs, isolating issues, reproducing bugs, and validating hypotheses.
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Don’t: Provide a vague, disjointed explanation of debugging steps.
Example response: “When debugging a web application issue, I would start by reproducing the error to understand exactly when and how it occurs. I would review server logs to identify any relevant error messages, exceptions or stack traces indicating the source. I would use debugging tools like browser developer consoles to test network requests and isolate points of failure. If unable to resolve quickly, I would search internal documentation and forums for related issues. I would also engage other developers who may have context. With this scientific approach of methodically gathering clues and testing theories, I am confident I could efficiently resolve the root cause.”
Practicing responses using real examples will help you provide polished, compelling responses that impress interviewers.
Behavioral IT Interview Questions and Answers
Along with technical skills, communication and collaboration are hugely important for succeeding in IT roles. Expect interviewers to probe your soft skills with questions like:
Q: Tell me about a time you successfully explained a complex technical concept to a non-technical colleague or customer.
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Do: Share a specific example highlighting adaptability, patience and strong communication skills. Explain the situation, actions taken, and results achieved.
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Don’t: Provide a vague, hypothetical response with no real example.
Example response: “Recently, our sales team was requesting help understanding how our SQL database structure affected available reporting capabilities. I scheduled a demo to walk through examples tailored to their workflow. I used analogies comparing tables to Excel spreadsheets, and explained joins/relationships through examples merging sheets. The visual format and relatable examples clearly conveyed the technical constraints. This helped set achievable expectations around custom reporting. The sales team gave positive feedback on the clarity of my explanation and having a better grasp of our database’s capabilities and limitations.”
Q: How do you prioritize tasks when working on multiple projects with tight deadlines?
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Do: Demonstrate time management and organizational skills. Discuss creating task lists, estimating timelines, setting milestones, and open communication.
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Don’t: Imply you just work as quickly as possible without planning.
Example response: “Working on concurrent projects requires proactive planning, communication and discipline. I minimize context switching costs by structuring my week into dedicated blocks for each project. Within each block, I create prioritized task lists and set milestones to stay on track. I also frequently touch base with stakeholders for continual alignment, especially if any adjustments are needed to timelines or scope based on new constraints. This structured approach ensures I deliver quality work efficiently across all my commitments.”
Behavioral questions allow you to showcase the soft skills that make you a collaborative IT professional. Preparing examples and talking points in advance is key to making a winning impression.
General IT Interview Questions and Answers
You will likely encounter broad questions assessing your general qualifications, motivation and career plans:
Q: Why do you want to work in IT?
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Do: Convey genuine enthusiasm for technology and the field. Focus on aspects of IT work culture and opportunities for growth that resonate with you.
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Don’t: Provide a generic response about job stability or salary prospects.
Example response: “I’ve always been fascinated by technology and problem-solving. I love the constant learning, creativity and teamwork inherent in IT roles. I want to apply my analytical skills to tackle technical challenges and innovate with the latest tools and technologies. I also appreciate the collaborative, meritocratic work culture that allows professionals to share knowledge and continuously upskill. Working in IT would be immensely rewarding and aligns perfectly with my strengths.”
Q: Where do you see your IT career in 5 years?
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Do: Demonstrate ambition and career mapping. Share goals aligned with the role and realistic growth at the company.
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Don’t: Focus on plans beyond the employer’s sphere or give unrealistic aims.
Example response: “In 5 years I hope to be an expert in cloud infrastructure serving in a senior engineer role. I aim to master AWS cloud services and architecture patterns. Through succeeding in the cloud engineer role I’m interviewing for today, combined with AWS certifications, I am confident I could progress to an advanced role managing critical infrastructure and initiatives. I would love to grow my skills and make significant contributions here over the long-term.”
With preparation, you can highlight your skills and potential for any general IT interview question.
IT interviews vary in their formats, technical depth and focus areas. With the right planning, however, you can confidently tackle any question.
Do your research, brush up on key tech, rehearse your responses, and convey your passion. You’ll be ready to impress your next IT interviewer and land the job!
Tell Me About the Stakeholders and Internal Clients You Work With Outside of IT and How Your Work Supports Overall Business Goals.
When you answer this question, hiring managers want to know that you understand how IT helps run a business. You should know how the people who will be using the tools you help make use of them, whether you’re helping to design a system for tracking customer service, making a digital interface that will help your company’s purchasing department pay its vendors, or helping your coworkers with technical issues.
Tell Me About a Work Problem That Required a Complicated Solution and How You Worked With Your Team to Resolve It.
Hiring managers are exploring several skill sets with this question, which is a favorite among IT interviewers. It’s clear that they want to know how you deal with teamwork, collaboration, listening, and communication, but they also want to know how you solve problems.
“I care more about the ‘how’ than the ‘what'” when it comes to their answer, says Jeremy Child, Human Resources Director at LemonBrew Technologies. “I want to know how the candidate worked with others on the team, how they made sure they understood the issue, and what they did to help solve it.” ”.
When the process or story is just as important as the result (questions that start with “Tell me about a time when…”, “Describe for me…”, or “Give me an example when…”), ”) try answering using the STAR Method. STAR is an acronym that stands for:
- Situation: Set the scene and give the necessary details.
- Task: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation.
- Action: Explain exactly what steps you took to address it.
- Result: Share what outcomes your actions achieved.
By using this approach in your response, you’ll demonstrate focus and have more opportunity to share specific skills.
Don’t be afraid to share a solution that didn’t initially work out. Persistence and follow-up are valued in IT roles and showing determination in getting past roadblocks is a plus.
Your response might be similar to this:
Situation: “I had a problem with a recent project when a software package didn’t work as promised. The program was made to help our sales team by letting them collect information about customers, keep track of contacts, place orders, and send them to our warehouse to be shipped and billed. After we installed the software, orders weren’t getting billed correctly. ”.
Task: “I had to work directly with our sales team, the outside software vendor, and our accounts receivable staff to figure out how the data was gathered and where the issue lay.” It turned out that the pre-made program didn’t record some billing information and had to be changed to do so. ”.
Action: “I met with each department to learn exactly what they needed. To allow for customer billing, I hired the outside company to add custom data fields to their program. My team made changes to the accounts receivable interface. Sales then started to collect more tax and vendor ID information, and the problem was fixed. ”.
Result: “We’re still using this software package today and the additional data fields have helped to streamline billing. The time between an order being placed and the company receiving payment has decreased by 50% on average. ”.
IT (INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY) Interview Questions And Answers!
FAQ
What is asked in an IT interview?
What kind of questions are asked in a tech interview?
What is a technical interview?
A technical interview often happens as part of the interview process at a technology company and applies to certain tech-heavy roles, such as those in engineering, product, or design. In such cases, your technical interview may also include an onsite or remote challenge, such as a whiteboard design challenge or a live coding test.
Do you need a job interview to become an information technologist?
As an Information Technologist, you have honed these critical skills over time and now are ready to step into a new role. However, before you can do that, there’s one essential step to cross: acing your job interview. Job interviews can be nerve-wracking, especially in a field as broad and complex as information technology.
What questions are asked in a technical it interview?
Recruiters and hiring managers ask technical IT interview questions to ensure you know the essential technical concepts you might use in your role. Unlike a coding interview, where you show your knowledge of programming concepts with a live coding test, an IT interview will likely consist of questions about these concepts.
What do Interviewers look for in Information Technology?
The heart of information technology is problem solving, and often that problem solving involves programming or scripting. By asking for a specific example, interviewers want to see not only if you have the technical skills, but also if you can apply them in a real-world context.
