How to answer question!

𝟭. "𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄" 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗪𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴: I don't know Redux 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: I haven't used Redux, but I'm familiar with state management patterns from Context API and Zustand. How does Redux differ?

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: We're hiring problem-solvers, not walking documentation.

𝟮. 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲-𝗼𝗳𝗳𝘀 𝗪𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴: React is slow, that's why we had performance issues" 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: We had performance issues with unnecessary re-renders. We optimized with useMemo and code-splitting, which reduced our bundle by 40%

𝗥𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗴: Can't take ownership or debug systematically.

𝟯. 𝗡𝗼 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 You spent 30 minutes talking. Asked zero questions about:

• Tech stack decisions

• Team structure

• Code review process

• Testing practices

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀: You just want a job, not this job.

𝟰. 𝗖𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗪𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴: I built a dashboard with React and TypeScript" 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: I built a real-time analytics dashboard. The challenge was handling 10K data points without lag, so I implemented virtual scrolling and WebSocket debouncing

We're listening for: Problems you solved, not technologies you listed.

𝟱. 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗪𝗲𝗯 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘀

• Can't explain the difference between == and ===

• Don't know what the Event Loop is

• Never heard of CORS

• Can't describe how browsers render a page

Framework knowledge ≠ Engineering knowledge.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝟭𝟬 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: Minute 1-2: Clear, confident introduction. Minute 3-5: Show genuine interest through questions. Minute 6-8: Demonstrate problem-solving over memorization. Minute 9-10: Prove you understand trade-offs, not just syntax.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁:

• Stop memorizing. Start understanding why.

• Why does React use a virtual DOM?

• Why do we need bundlers?

• Why is accessibility not optional?

• Why does performance matter?

The "why" separates junior from senior.

𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲:

• Technical skills get you the interview.

• Communication, curiosity, and critical thinking get you the job.