A candidate being asked IT interview questions

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Whatever be your business industry, type, or scale, information technology is vital for it. From enterprises to local stores and small businesses, almost every business needs professionals adept in software development, computer support, web development and design, and database administration.

As an employer, you shouldn’t just consider a potential IT candidate’s resume and cover letter for evaluating him or her. It would help to conduct a few rounds of interviews where your interviewers can ask simple and complex IT interview questions to judge the in-depth knowledge and prowess of your potential hires. If you are a part of the interview board, knowing what questions to ask can go a long way in helping find the right candidate.

It will be wise to remember that standard IT technical interview questions can be diverse. From behavioural questions and questions regarding education to situation-based questions and questions about the candidate’s certifications, experience, and technical knowledge, a lot can be asked to evaluate the candidate’s approach to handling real-world problems.

IT interview questions can vary depending on the position you are taking the interviews for. Thus, IT manager interview questions will differ from questions asked to an IT network specialist or IT help desk interview questions. You could go online and search IT interview questions on Reddit, YouTube, online tech forums, etc., which you can modify and use in your company’s IT interviews.

Not sure what IT interview questions you can ask when interviewing for technical positions? Here are five that can help.

5 IT Interview Questions to Ask

Question #1: What’s Your Technical Background and Experience?

Since possessing a rock-solid technical background is key to getting hired by an IT company, employers ask this question in technical interviews to get an idea of whether your skill set matches the requirements for the open position.

Typically, asking this IT interview question lets you know about your candidate’s technical background and experience, including:

  • Technical skills utilised at a previous job (if applicable)
  • Technical skills gained in college or while completing a bootcamp/certificate program
  • Ways the candidate stays updated on technical changes in the IT field (which could be by reading articles and blogs, participating in tech forums, joining bootcamps, competing in hackathons, working on personal IT projects, taking online courses, etc.)

Question #2: What type of IT software are you most proficient in?

Usually, the type of software professionals use depends on their respective job types within the domain of IT. For instance, if you are interviewing candidates for the role of a web developer, perhaps you may be looking for someone with experience using Adobe Dreamweaver or WordPress. Again, a potential candidate for the post of a software engineer may need to be proficient with SQL, Python, Javascript, Java, etc.

By asking this IT technical interview question, you can know about the IT software your candidates are most familiar with, how they typically use it, and their success stories with these software.

Question #3: If you have to explain a tech-related matter to someone with limited tech skills, how will you do it?

As IT plays a vital role in almost every business and company, communicating well with non-tech co-workers is a must-have skill. Asking this interview question will help you evaluate the communication skills of your candidates.

Depending on their answers, you can prod your potential hires further to know if they can

  • Use simple terms and steer clear of technical jargon and ambiguous acronyms
  • Leverage their understanding of core concepts for easy-to-understand explanations
  • Break down a complex process and link it to something that’s common knowledge to make a non-tech person understand it easily

Question #4: Have you ever taken the lead on a project? If yes, tell us something about it.

Apart from strong technical knowledge, a successful IT professional brings forth the qualities of an excellent leader. With this question, you can assess the leadership skills and team spirit of your interviewees.

Since teamwork and leadership skills can help professionals achieve great results in today’s IT industry, this IT interview question can give you a glimpse of how well the interviewees can work in teams and act proactively in tight situations like an approaching deadline, processing new client requests the last minute, or collaborating with different departments to get the project on track, for instance.

Question #5: Tell us about a time you couldn’t solve a problem. What did you do?

This IT interview question is used to understand how a candidate would react in a difficult situation. Be it navigating a stressful situation or addressing a challenge the person hasn’t come across before, the answers can help you understand if the candidate can act proactively despite running into a roadblock, take responsibility, collaborate with other people, and even own up to any mistakes and learn from them.

The key is to evaluate the candidates’ resourcefulness and their grit to see it through till the end, irrespective of the adverse situation.   

Final Words

IT technical interview questions shouldn’t be about tricking interviewees with brainteasers, riddles, or impossible questions. Instead, they should help you evaluate candidates and find how they would handle real-world problems that they may encounter once they are hired.

You can use the above questions to plan your IT interviews like a pro. And if you need help finding and hiring the right IT candidates, you can always rely on us at InHunt World!

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