Important Interview Questions to Ask Technology Candidates

If you work in information technology or are trying to find the right talent, you already know the tech landscape is vast and the skills needed for a business analyst are very different from those needed by a network architect.  In this series we’ll present important interview questions specific to positions or functional areas.  In this post: Web Developer, IT Business Analyst, Help Desk Administrator, IT Project Management.

These questions can be a great starting point for assessing general business analysis skills and experience. Augmenting this list with questions specific to your company’s needs – like what tools they are proficient in or industry related topics - will help you find a technology professional that will help your organization reach its goals.

Web Developer

Depending on the project needs of an organization, the role of web developer can encompass a wide range of responsibilities and requirements. At a very high level, the web developer’s primary responsibility is to ensure an organization’s website loads and functions properly across devices and browsers. The ability to implement data collection solutions such as Google Analytics and various other technology integrations is often required as well. Other key components include interpersonal communication, project management, and leadership skills.

Common skills include: Web Security, HTML, HTML5, CSS, CSS3, JavaScript/JQuery, E-Commerce Systems and implementation, User Interface Design (UI), and knowledge of systems integrations and API's.

7 Important Interview Questions for a Web Developer

1. What development language are you most fluent in?
2. What other development languages have you worked in and what is your proficiency?
3. What operating systems are you familiar with?
4. What is your experience with web servers?
5. What databases have you worked with?
6. Do you have any experience in scripting? If so, what languages?
7. What is your strategy for Quality Assurance and cross-browser testing?

IT Business Analyst

An IT business analyst examines the technology, information, or systems needs of an organization to achieve its goals.  Business analysts define requirements, research solutions providers or develop internal programs/processes, and present those solutions to key stakeholder to solve the company’s information challenges and problems.

7 Important Interview Questions for an IT Business Analyst

1. Do you have formal business analysis training or certifications?
2. Have you done a gap analysis?
3. Have you lead joint application design(JAD) sessions or conducted them in conjunction with a Project Manager?
4. What is your experience in writing technology use cases?
5. Have you written documents defining functional requirements and to what depth?
6. What tools have you used to create requirement documentation?
7. Are you comfortable communicating needs and requirements between business leaders, solutions providers, and/or development teams?

These questions can be a great starting point for assessing general business analysis skills and experience. Augmenting this list with questions specific to your company’s needs – like what tools they are proficient in or industry related topics - will help you find a business analyst that will help your organization reach its goals.

Help Desk Administrator

The role of a Help Desk Administrator is to handle system support activities for their organization. Their primary responsibility is providing customer service to resolve support issues promptly and professionally. Help Desk Administrators respond to wide range of functional and technical needs, inclusive of  server and domain changes, advanced system and network repairs, computer information responses, equipment performance set-up, monitoring and reporting, hardware diagnosis, troubleshooting operating systems and software applications, among others. They must also identify opportunities to improve support such processes across the organization.

7 Important Interview Questions for a Help Desk Administrator

1. In your previous call center experience, how many users did you support and how many calls would you take on an average day?
2. Which operating systems can you support? And what would you say are the common issues you deal with those systems?
3. What kinds of hardware and software applications can you support? And what would you say are the most common issues you dealt with those systems?
4. What rights did you have to the network (network maintenance dive mapping, etc.) and how did you support/troubleshoot network-related issues?
5. What was your problem escalation procedure?
6. Based on your experience, what help desk or ticketing management tools/software have been most effective?
7. What certifications do you have? Are you currently working towards any others?

IT Project Management

An IT project manager is responsible for defining the process for taking a technology plan from the idea to completion stage. This includes project planning, organizing resources, and delegating responsibilities to achieve project goals within scope and on time. Project Management is a critical component to the successful completion of technology initiatives.

Project Management Titles include: Project Manager, Program Manager, Project Coordinator, and Project Analyst.

7 Important Interview Questions for IT Project Management

1. What are your key project management strengths?
2. What type of projects are you most comfortable working on? (Web projects, applications, integrations, etc.)
3. Describe your most recent project. What was the goal of the project, your role, and what was the size, scope, and budget of the project?
4. Are you more hands-on or administrative on projects?
5. What project management tools do you use?
6. Describe a situation where there was a project roadblock. How did you overcome that challenge?
7. In your opinion what components/characteristics make up a strong project management team?

Keep in mind that the best candidates aren't just qualified to do the job requirements, you should also look for people who are passionate about Tech, fit with your culture, and show potential for growth at your company.