Help - software developer interview

February 5, 2021 2:46 PM

If you've seen my recent questions, you'll know that I need a new job. I have an interview next week for joining a large team with a contract to migrate applications off of a government client's mainframe using node.js and Angular. I currently develop Java EE web apps. While I'm competent in Javascript, I am not very familiar with this proposed stack and some of the jargon. A little help please so I don't sound like a moron?

Thanks for coming to help! We've all been here at some point, so please be gentle - I feel a bit stupid having to ask this. I do not have a Comp Sci degree nor have I worked with mainframes. There are some term being thrown around that haven't yielded much useful information from google. I have been preparing for this interview for a week, mainly brushing up on Javascript and familiarizing myself with Angular. I'm still at the beginning of getting to know node.js, all of this with some very helpful Udemy courses.

Here is some additional info I was given today about the project and which is coming to me third party from the recruiter:

-Replatforming to a distributed windows environment.
-Something about an emulator that runs generated (converted from mainframe) Java or C# code
-The new platform uses Angular and node.js (Hapi)
- Old c++ logic (are they saying the mainframe runs c++?)
-There will be a lot of 'back end interfaces'

Here are my questions:

What is meant by back end interfaces? Are they talking about how we will retrieve the exposed data? Or something else?

What do they want to hear when they ask me about integration? Yes of course it means taking systems with different technologies and building something that allows them to interact with one another. But that's all I can say because I don't understand how they are exposing the mainframe code. Is it safe to assume they are exposing the database with web services? Some other API? I know they just love the word integration and I should be able to speak at length about it.

How does the mainframe fit into the stack, which should look like:
Angular --> Node.js ---> Whatever Database exposed somehow

Thank you.

posted by kitcat to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Here's a different way to think about it: part of the value you can bring is your ability to ask probing questions to help clarify scope and help the client understand what their requirements are.

If, in an interview, you can demonstrate evidence of:

* up-front, before proposing or building solutions, you ask questions to uncover new information to clarify scope & requirements
* you can clearly communicate what you're thinking and any working assumptions you're making
* you are able to discuss multiple options/solutions for solving a given problem, and briefly explain the tradeoffs
* you can select a good solution from the options you discussed, and then proceed (this option might be highly influenced by pragmatism - i.e. you know there's a theoretically better solution that would take 3 hours to get right, but there's another option that's good enough and you can whip it up in 10 minutes during the artificial setting of a programming interview")

... then you would get very high marks from me as someone who has a high level of problem solving ability, an ability to act in a consultative mode -- i.e. you're someone who will probably add a lot of value to a project if left alone to solve problems independently. Assuming you do okay or well in other important areas of the interview (e.g. demonstrate a reasonably strong level of ability to write working code in some programming language -- maybe not the exact tech stack we're hiring for), i'd be voting to hire you.

(i.e. who knows what the client actually means by their "back end interfaces" jargon. the recruiter almost certainly won't have any idea. you've got a few educated guesses about what it probably means, but don't guess: ask the client to clarify!)
posted by are-coral-made at 3:48 PM on February 5, 2021 [4 favorites]

here's another idea: if they haven't told you, try to learn more information about the format of the interview.

Worth asking the recruiter. If the recruiter is clever (might not be the case) and trying to figure out how to game the hiring process to place more candidates in roles and thus make more money and has worked with these clients before (might not be the case), they might be able to tell you useful information about how the interview format usually goes and the kinds of things the clients are usually looking for.
posted by are-coral-made at 4:07 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

To help familiarize yourself with vocabulary and context that might come up in the interview, you could also read some articles and case studies about recent government mainframe transition work. Here are a few, although they're all about Java and not Node.js:

• "So you want to tackle the mainframe?", from a few days ago, about US Digital Service work on the the Medicare claims processing system
• More about USDS work on Medicare mainframes
• A 2018 article also about that USDS Medicare work
• Summary of a talk from 2017 by a USDS team member about Java and mainframe work
• Promotional article about a different COBOL-to-Java project

posted by dreamyshade at 4:31 PM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Yes, thanks. The recruiter is definitely trying to prep me although her IT knowledge is very limited. And yes, I'm not in the US but the health sector is exactly right.
posted by kitcat at 4:36 PM on February 5, 2021

Here's another transition story involving a government mainframe database and a Windows environment, might be a helpful example too: "Moving a legacy Microsoft environment to the Azure cloud" (2018). And this 2017 article has examples of integrating a mainframe database in a Windows environment.
posted by dreamyshade at 5:02 PM on February 5, 2021

From my experience, this transition requires a thorough Business Area Analysis (use those words). Until the enterprise understands (in documents) how this system interfaces with other systems, the transition is impossible.

The best people you'll need to talk to are the hardest to get time from. Managers don't really know what goes on at the shop floor. (They think they do, but that's what makes them poisonous.) The "worker bees" who actually get the job done are the people you need to talk to.

Also, you need to acquire buy-in at the highest level. If "mahogany row" isn't pushing this, it will encounter institution inertia from the "worker bees," and that is death to any change.

TL;DR: listen more than you speak. Be open to change, even if it means doing the wrong thing at first. Also, smile and dress conservatively. I'm sorry to have to stress the latter, but in the real world, no one will hire you if you are openly trans or bi. (Goes double for PoC, but you know that.)
posted by SPrintF at 5:40 PM on February 5, 2021

Also, smile and dress conservatively. I'm sorry to have to stress the latter, but in the real world, no one will hire you if you are openly trans or bi.

Counterpoint: show up wearing a suit for an on-site for an engineering role in my org, and the recruiter might pass on you right in the lobby, and never inform me that you showed up. This is extremely company specific.
posted by sideshow at 1:29 PM on February 6, 2021

Response by poster: The interview is remote, so luckily I don't have to about being misidentified!
posted by kitcat at 12:36 PM on February 7, 2021

I got hired by a government contracting company in a partly-technical role as a very openly bi person, wearing jeans and flannel at my coffee shop interview. My company is unusual, but just adding to the "this is extremely company specific" note.
posted by dreamyshade at 8:24 AM on February 8, 2021