Interview basics: your first technical screen
This course explains how an entry-level technical screen for an internship or first junior Ruby on Rails role is usually structured. It describes what the call measures: fundamentals, communication, composure and basic collaboration. It covers recurring HTML and CSS questions, Ruby questions on symbols, blocks and truthiness, and Git questions on merge, rebase and conflicts. It gives a four-step way to answer when you don't know something. It lists questions to ask the interviewer, including contract topics for roles in Brazil. It ends with a full 30-minute mock screen.
What you'll learn
- ✓The three-part shape of a typical entry-level technical screen
- ✓Semantic HTML, the box model, specificity and responsive CSS basics
- ✓Ruby symbols, blocks, procs, lambdas, truthiness and Enumerable methods
- ✓Git vocabulary, merge versus rebase and resolving merge conflicts
- ✓A four-step structure for answering questions you don't fully know
- ✓Questions to ask the interviewer, including estágio, CLT and PJ terms
What a technical screen tests
A technical screen isn't a trivia contest. Nobody is trying to catch you not knowing the ninth argument to String#gsub. A 30-to-45-minute call with an engineer, or a recruiter and an engineer, exists to answer one narrow question: can this person hold a normal conversation about code without…
Read the full lesson free →Curriculum
7 lessonsWhat a technical screen tests
How a 30-to-45-minute entry-level screen is structured and the four things it measures.
HTML and CSS questions at intern level
Intern-level questions on semantic HTML, box-sizing, specificity, em and rem, flexbox, grid and media queries.
Ruby questions you will get
Frequent Ruby topics: symbols versus strings, blocks, procs, lambdas, truthiness, Enumerable methods and basic classes.
Git and workflow questions
Git questions on commits, branches, pull requests, merge versus rebase, conflicts, code review and .gitignore.
Answering when you do not know
Why freezing and bluffing both hurt, and a four-step structure for answering without a ready answer.
Questions to ask the interviewer
Questions about onboarding, code review and growth, plus estágio and contract questions for roles in Brazil.
Mock screen: putting it all together
A full 30-minute mock screen joining background, HTML, CSS, Ruby, Git, uncertainty and closing questions.