Career / Job Search

22 Questions to Expect at Your Next Interview

by Karin Klinger
22 Questions to Expect at Your Next Interview picture: A
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Published on June 26, 2015

Interviews are hard. One way to prepare for your next job interview is to think through how you might respond to the questions your prospective employer might ask, which begs the question: what will they ask? And how can you use your IT career training to land the job of your dreams?

We asked our community here at HQ and among our learners what were the best, worst, and even weirdest interview questions they had encountered. Here are 22 IT job interview questions that you might just bump into the next time you're in the hot seat:

Technical interview questions:

1. "Describe in detail how you would use Wireshark to identify a latency issue." This is a chance to let your IT job training shine! Be prepared to demonstrate your knowledge and skills when you encounter technical questions! 2. "How do you show routes that are being advertised to a bgp neighbor in a specific vrf?" 3. "You are working on a Linux server and [something bad] happens. What do you do?" Trainer Jeremy Cioara ran into this question at an interview and said, "Well, since I don't know anything about Linux, I would find the darkest, coldest closet in the facility, because that's where the Linux guys are typically kept." Jeremy reports that everyone laughed including the Linux guys and they offered him the job on the spot. 4. "How have you worked with protocols?" 5. "Describe EIGRP, and how it works, to this coworker who is completely non technical."

Best interview questions:

1. "Tell us about an issue that you couldn't resolve. How did you handle it?" 2. "If you could start your career over again, what would you do differently?" 3. "What will you do here at [company name] to try to take over my job?" Trainer Chris Ward got this question and was quick on his feet as he responded, "I'd make sure they don't find your body." He then went on to answer the question quite professionally, and got the job! 4. "What industry blogs do you follow?" 5. "Where do you see yourself in two years?" One of our learners once responded to this question (perhaps a little too enthusiastically) by saying to the manager, "Sitting in your chair!" He found it surprising that he didn't that job confidence is good; arrogance is bad. 6. "What is the last fictional book you read? And what is the last career-related book you read?" 7. "When was the last time you broke the rules or a policy to get the job done?" 8. "Describe the best team you've ever worked with. How did you contribute to that team to make it great?"

Worst/weirdest interview questions:

1. "If you could be an animal, what animal would you be?" One of our learners responded to this question by saying, "Penguin! Because they waddle!" Oh, and did we mention, she's a HUGE fan of Linux? One of our team members here at CBT Nuggets also got this question and said, "Spider monkey!" And he got the job! 2. "Did you want some [of my cinnamon roll]?" 3. "Star Wars or Star Trek?" One of our team members here at CBT Nuggets responded to this classic question by saying, "Why choose?! You can have both!" Yeah, she got the job. 4. "What really pisses you off?" Trainer Anthony Sequeira got this question and was rather surprised by it. But his response was awesome: "Racism. That really does piss me off." 5. "Are you more of a hunter or gatherer?" 6. "Why are manhole covers round?" 7. "Do light sabers need to be charged?" 8. "Do you know where I could find ammunition for my specialty shotgun?" A rather clever learner submitted this question for us and said, "that question blew me away." Well played, sir. Well played. 9. "You already have the job, but HR is making me do interviews. So, how are the Red Sox doing?"

Post your technical, best, worst, and weirdest interview questions here to help us build up a list that will help our community crush their next interviews!


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