Thinking about applying for an internship to get some experience under your belt? Make sure you know how to do it right! Here, after years of experience in conducting interviews with interns, we have prepared some tips that will help you in joining VirtusLab! Most of them are universal, so keep them in mind for all recruitment processes you will attend.
[Please note that currently, all recruitment processes are carried out remotely and our internships (for now) will be also conducted remotely. But don’t worry, we’re well prepared for this and will provide you with the highest standards of mentoring!]
We know that you’re probably applying for various companies for a significant number of opportunities with different programming languages. However, do the research about the company – it will help you prepare better for the interview as you know what VL’s main areas of interest are, in which business domains we specialise in etc. Your knowledge of the company will surely be noticed and appreciated by recruiters.
We understand that being under pressure during the interview might distract you. Therefore, that could be a great idea to prepare yourself for the basic programming questions. Just write in google “Computer Science Interview Questions” and you will find plenty of them. Our types of questions usually consist of differences between functional and object-oriented programming, statically and dynamically typed languages, clean code etc.
Before you apply for our internship you have to know that we will not teach you everything – basic/general knowledge about the programming language in which you would like to work is required. It is better for you when we do not have to teach you the basics and spend this time on more advanced issues. You have to expect a programming task during the interview. So we recommend doing 2-3 algorithmic tasks before the interview to warm up a little bit.
Be prepared that we might ask you about your motivation. Firstly, why would you like to join VirtusLab? Secondly, why would you like to work with this specific technology? Thanks to that it would be easier for us to find the most suitable place for you among our projects. What’s more, you will seem like a responsible candidate with a particular plan for the future by being prepared for those specific questions.
We might ask you about your previous job experience if you have some. It does not have to be a company experience. Working on your own’s projects or open-source software is good as well. If you do not have any of that, we have to base our recruitment process on your knowledge and values. Think about your most prominent advantages and some disadvantages (we all have them, it’s normal!) before being interviewed.
You know that programming requires teamwork. However, it is pretty difficult to check this well during the interviews. So, we will probably ask you about the case where you had to deal with teamwork. Think about your biggest project and try to answer the following questions.
Being up to date with technologies is one of the crucial reasons we decide to hire someone. We are trying our best to provide our employees with the opportunity to work on the newest, most modern technologies. Therefore, we care if people joining VirtusLab also want to be up to date in the fast-changing technical environment.
Don’t be afraid to ask! We understand that it might be one of the firsts recruitment processes in your life. We really do. So please ask – we try to keep you updated, but some information might be missing, or you want to know more. It is the same for giving us feedback. It helps us to prepare better for next year.
Another important thing is talking – especially when you’re trying to solve algorithmic tasks. We appreciate when our candidate is talking about their ideas. We can help if something blocks you. We can truly enjoy your ability of critical thinking, creative problem solving, effective communication, adaptive learning, and good judgment only if you show them to us. What’s more, we treat it as a huge plus when someone is curious about a given programming task’s specification.
Currently, all processes take place remotely, but we require you to have the webcam turned on during the conversation. Of course, we don’t have any dress code at our company. However, we are all human and no matter how hard we try, we all give in the first look impression. You don’t need to be in a suit, but take care of your neat appearance and clean surroundings (that might be visible during an interview).
We know that approach “fake it until you make it” is tempting and sometimes it works. Most of the recruiters were witnesses when the candidate was typing something on their computer during an online interview. We really can hear that. What’s more, after that amount of interviews, we know what comes first at google. If you do not want to feel ashamed, just don’t do it.
You can freely try to answer or say “I don’t know” – it puts you in a better light than cheating. We are also conscious that you don’t know many things – e.g. you can have a general knowledge of Big Data but you will never truly understand what it is until you have a real-life experience working on that. It’s an internship and you have the right not to know everything! So keep calm & don’t cheat!
Now when you know everything, all that remains is to apply for our internship. You decide which technology you want to develop:
