pre interview qna

What are your key strengths?
I find that my abilities tend to focus more on finding innovative solutions to problems that weren't obvious from the get-go, in the sense of a tendency to try and think outside of the box and utilize my focus on abstract thought processes to come to a proper conclusion. Other than that, I also have a large amount of passion for improving the experience of others and being as helpful as I can, because I derive a large amount of personal pleasure and satisfaction from improving the quality of experience for others or helping others however I can.

What are some of your weaknesses?
Due to my focus on being a very abstract thinker, sometimes I have trouble vocalizing things into a concrete form. I also get caught up in my mind a lot, due to the fact that I tend to try and understand every last aspect of what I'm trying to do at the moment, and thinking of all the edge cases and peripheral concepts involved. I also sometimes slightly struggle with verbal expression, and prefer written discourse wherever possible.

What job responsibilities do you excel at?
I tend to excel in areas where I can either provide support for others, be it someone who is completely new to the concept or product, or even a professional who understands it entirely well. I also perform well in areas that require creative thought in the sense of implementation and functionality, as well as designing automation processes.

What knowledge areas and technical skills are your strongest?
The technical field has been a huge focus for me for well over half my life now; I'm entirely an autodidact, and have acquired all the skills I have due to my passion for trying to understand the wide conglomeration that is the technical sphere. I tend to specialize in software and web development, as programming is one of my favorite pastimes and something I take a lot of pride in, but I also have an innate relationship with technology that makes it easy for me to comprehend concepts and transmit them to others when necessary. I try to be a jack of all trades sort of individual, where I can fit in just about anywhere in the technical field.

What team and leadership skills are your strongest?
I don't really have what one might consider very many strong leadership skills, as I tend to be more of a behind-the-scenes, follower sort of personality who thrives under the direction of a leader. I do have the motivation to guide others in telling them what needs to be done to make my vision or plan come to fruition, but I don't have much experience in that. As per team skills, I tend to try to be very communicative and expressive with those that I work with, and to try and provoke that nature of open expression amongst those that I work with. I used to have a lot of trouble working in team environments when I was a child and teenager, so as an adult I've done my best to focus on how to contribute instead of complain about the situation.

Do you like helping people? Why?
I can't say that I like it, because that isn't a strong enough way to express it. Being able to assist others and improve their experience is something that is a deep passion of mine. I absolutely love helping people however I can, because sometimes that's one of the only ways I can really validate that my knowledge and experience has any true merit beyond what it feels like to me.

Describe a time when you helped someone out despite a great cost, sacrifice, or burden to yourself
I can't say there is any time where this has ever happened, but not because I haven't had much experience helping others. It's more that I feel that helping others is such a necessity and pleasurable thing to do that I don't feel like it is much of a burden or a sacrifice. The closest thing that came to it was when I was living with an old friend of mine, and I worked with him for several months, free of charge, to get his three websites designed, developed, and hosted, as well as assist him in doing construction work around his house when it came time to work on that aspect of his house.

Give an example of a customer that you turned around from a position of unhappiness to sheer joy.
The biggest example I have of this was a frequent customer that I had when I worked at HostGator, who maintained a WordPress site and had issues that were not directly related to the level of service provided by the company, such as issues with how his site was being laid out and other technical details that the company didn't expressly provide. However, I used my knowledge of web develoment to implement those small changes for him and help him meet his expected level of service and then some. It turned from him being upset about his problem, to enjoying my level of service so greatly that he would ask specifically for me when he called back to the company.

What are the key motivators that encourage you to perform at your best?
One big motivator is my desire to actually do a good job. I don't want to do a shoddy job at what I'm doing, because that reflects poorly on me as a professional, but even more than that, it reflects poorly on me as an individual in my mind, and I would rather be perceived as the knowledgeable and capable person that I know I am. Another big motivator is the knowledge that when I do my job right, I will make someone's day better, or I will alleviate the suffering of another individual.

What makes a job fun?
The most pleasant experiences I've had at a job were ones that had a consistent level of input as far as work goes, that way I could constantly stay busy and not get lost in my thoughts. Other than that, I also enjoy being challenged, and having the chance to come up with a novel solution to a problem. One of the biggest things that makes me enjoy a job, however, is just knowing that I can make a huge difference for someone, even just as an individual. I can transcend the feeling of being just another nameless entity on a pale blue dot, and for once feel that I actually have some weight in the world.

What types of management style frustrate you the most? What types of management style help to motivate you?
I can work with any type of management, as none of them tend to frustrate me too much. I do, however, dislike when management is not in direct contact with those that work beneath them, and when it is very difficult to maintain an open and direct line of communication with my supervisors. I like being in a tight-knit relationship with those that I work with, where I don't feel like I'm overstepping my boundaries by asking questions or trying to figure process or procedure out.

Describe a time when you were asked to work overtime without compensation. How did you manage the situation?
I've never been asked to work overtime without compensation; however, if it is necessary for the good of the company, and if I know my work will help, then I have no problem working overtime without compensation as a last resort.

Where do you expect to be in two years? Five years?
I don't have any strong expectations as to where I will be in the future, but my hopes are that I will establish myself within, and build a strong relationship with a company so that I can finally focus on maintaining a career, and improving my life beyond just living from paycheck to paycheck.

What type of further professional development are you interested in?
I would like to be able to develop myself in terms of leadership abilities, because although I am a follower, I feel like a lot of that is because I've never been challenged to actually be a leader, and in the past I was too nervous to attempt to even try at that. As I've grown and become acclimated to how life really is, I've found myself more open to the possibility of doing things I previously would have never thought of.

How does this position fit in with your long term goals?
I've not had a large amount of experience with online marketing in the past, and as such I'd really like to develop a better understanding and ability with that niche of professional skills, and I find that the possibility to work with a company that encourages personal learning of the services offered and development of said skills would provide me with the capability to develop that skillset, and as such give me a great desire to actually build a relationship with  said company and start working towards attaining a true career and not just another job.

What decision criteria will you use to decide whether you will accept this job offer, if it is offered to you?
A big part of my decision will be the vibe and experience I get from the interview, and what things I can glean about the nature of the company and the ethos thereof from said interview. I will also say that salary is something that would make me consider to not accept it, but that is not so much an issue as other more personal issues, such as feeling coherence and frisson towards the idea of working with such a company.

How "tech savvy" are you? What have you done / can you do that displays it?
I would like to think that I'm rather savvy when it  comes to the tech sector, due to the fact that I've focused on understanding as many technical skills as I can for well over half of my life at this point. The most I can really provide is past experiences of websites or code I've written/developed, though a lot of them are not in existence anymore. I do have a github account that has code I've written, however. A lot of what can do that displays it tends to be in how I would discuss my awareness of technical concepts and explaining my thoughts and ideas on such concepts.