I'm a recent computer science graduate preparing for a first-round interview. The role mentions coding, databases, testing, troubleshooting, support and banking applications. I've also heard scripting, automation, cloud infrastructure, Python and SQL may come up.
I'm new to the industry. What should I prioritize, and how should I approach the interview?
I'd prepare for the work described rather than getting too hung up on the title. The responsibilities sound closer to application development and support than a role focused mainly on infrastructure tooling, although the actual team may do some of both.
Review one language you can explain comfortably, especially functions, collections, error handling and reading unfamiliar code. For SQL, practice simple joins, filtering and aggregation. Be ready to talk through how you'd test a change and investigate a bug without guessing at the cause.
For scripting and automation, pick a small example you can walk through clearly. Explain the repetitive task, the inputs and outputs, how you would handle bad input, and how you'd check that the result is right. A class project is fine if you don't have professional experience.
For cloud infrastructure, start with the basics: compute, storage, networking and access permissions. You don't need to pretend you've operated a production environment. Explain what you know, say where your experience ends, and describe how you'd find the next piece of information.
Practice a troubleshooting answer out loud. Start by clarifying the symptoms and impact, check logs or recent changes, form a hypothesis, then describe a safe way to test it. If it's a banking application, mention being careful with sensitive data and following the team's escalation process rather than making risky changes on your own.
First round interviews can include plenty beyond technical questions. Have a couple of examples ready from coursework or projects where you solved a problem, worked with someone else, or learned a new tool. Explain what you did and what you learned without stretching it into work experience.
Ask what the first few months involve, how support rotation works for new hires, and what training or guidance is available. Those answers will also help you figure out how much of the job is coding versus support.
Answers are reviewed before publication.
z1__resync:
It would be worth asking which team the role sits on and what a typical week looks like. That should make the title less of a mystery.