WIP: Technical Interview Preparation Initiative: Promoting Faculty Awareness and Intervention with Computing Majors

This innovative practice WIP paper describes an initiative that seeks to promote faculty awareness and interventions towards student-based technical interview preparations. In the field of Computing, there is a trend for having a high demand of jobs in industry and a low supply of candidates to fill them. Literature indicates notable challenges that could pose as influential factors for this job/candidate ratio discrepancy in the field: 1) student retention challenges in computing areas at the collegiate level; 2) fostering stronger K-12 student interests and engagement towards computing fields as a career choice; and 3) representation barriers that exist within marginalized groups in computing. Yet, computing majors' inability to showcase their developed computational skills as prospective candidates to tech employers and hiring managers can persist as another barrier. Candidates are typically expected to demonstrate their computational skills and abilities practically. A candidate's inability to demonstrate such skills and abilities effectively could lead to missed job opportunities and even lucrative career pursuits in tech. One notable approach used by tech industry companies to examine the skillset compositions of their candidates is through technical interviews. This interview-based examination allows a hiring manager(s) to observe a candidate's ability to solve problems computationally in a think-aloud format, which also enables these professionals to gauge the candidate's verbal and communication skills during this interaction. When cross referencing the practice of technical interview examination in industry with the styles of learning and application fostered in computing classrooms in the academy, there exists a potential contrast between this expectation imposed by tech industry companies and professional preparation protocols fostered at academic institutions. There are computing-focused departments/schools and institutions at large that have identified the need to educate and prepare their computing majors for technical interviews. Yet, there still exists a greater disparity for institutional awareness and effective preparation when observing academia altogether. Such a disparity presents an opportunity to promote the importance and need for effective technical interview preparation strategies and enhanced awareness in the academy on a larger scale. In partnership with the STARS Computing Corps and KARAT, the authors of this manuscript created a faculty-targeted workshop in such efforts to increase academic awareness to the technical interview process. Faculty from a variety of institutions across the U.S. are participating in this workshop with the sole purpose of: 1) gaining first-hand exposure to the technical interview process, and 2) developing initiatives that can be implemented back at their home institutions to better prepare their students for the technical interview process. Pre and post surveys have been administered to the participating faculty to gather feedback about their experiences while matriculating through this workshop. Notable outcomes indicate that the participating faculty value this workshop and its intended impact to promote effective technical interview preparation practices. Likewise, these faculty are developing and adopting applicable initiatives to be employed back at their home institutions to better prepare their students for technical interviews. Overall, these faculty feel more equipped with preparing their students to successfully conduct technical interviews.