Here is why I go to interviews every year

I have been going to at least a couple of interviews per year in the last eight years. I want to share why I do it and how it benefits me.

It helps to improve my interview skills

The more interviews I go through, the more experience I get. The more experience I get, the better approach I develop.

In my case, with time, I figured out an interview tactic that works for me — prepare the story in advance, and tell your story right after the interview started. Because English is my second language, I prepare my story prior to an interview. In the story, I attempt to add some facts about my life that would differentiate me from the rest of the applicants. Once I am at the interview, as soon as the interview starts, I ask if the interviewers are fine with me telling about myself first and they usually agree. I take ten to fifteen minutes telling a story about myself. While I do this, I answer some of the questions that the interviewers had. Also, while interviewers listen, they come up with questions that are relative to my story and it is easier to answer such questions.

Another aspect of improving interview skills is getting used to various interview questions. Some questions are confusing, and some are tricky. I remember how I would sometimes feel lost. But with time, you get used to it, and you get some cliche answers in your arsenal of responses.

Finally, the more interviews you go through, the easier and less stressful it is to work on programming challenges.

It helps me to see if I worth more on the job market

This one is simple — it might be that you worth more on the current job market. Back in 2018, I was on family leave when my second daughter was born. I used the time to go through a series of interviews and one of the companies gave me an offer. I forwarded the offer to my manager and got a match and promotion from the employer.

It helps me to identify if I am starting to become outdated

This is how I felt in 2020. I was reviewing various job openings and noticed that the job market wants JavaScript developers with experience in webdriverio, cypress, puppeteer, or playwright. That made me spend some time playing with the JavaScript stack and the testing libraries.

What do you think of my idea? When did you go to an interview last time?