tech passion

How to Get Your Tech Passion Across in an Interview

Employers aren’t just interested in hiring knowledgeable technical professionals with the right experience. Plenty of are far more eager to hire technology professionals who, like you, feel their career is more than a paycheck. The passionate, tech-forward polyglots and eternal learners who love the work they do in the technology realm.

You know you’re passionate about technology. Now you just need to make sure that passion comes across clearly during the interview process. Here are 6 ways you can (professionally) show your passion in an interview:

1. Hobbies or Areas of Interest on Your Resume:

Do you regularly attend meetups to learn more about technologies or share your knowledge? Do you spend hours of your free time contributing to projects on GitHub? Share it on your resume!

Some of your hobbies or areas of interest can (and should) be focused on things other than technology. But don’t be afraid to mention the ways you spend your free time engaging with technology, learning new technology, and integrating yourself into your local community of technologists. Employers see this as a major plus and it could land you an interview.

2. Share Your Passion on Social Media:

Most employers will browse your public social media profiles (think Twitter, LinkedIn, sometimes Instagram or Facebook depending on your settings) before you come in for an interview. If you claim to be passionate about technology but there’s no mention of that anywhere in sight, you could be sending mixed signals.

Share your passion on social media with fun memes, interesting articles about emerging technology, insights from technical leaders, your own technical insight, or in any other form you can. Just having a few of these things peppered in will help establish your passion for technology before the interview. And, if you need help finding something to share or say, check out Camden Kelly on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram and consider sharing one of our posts.

3. Talk About What You’re Learning in Your Free Time:

During the interview, it’s always great to mention the technologies you’re learning in your free time and the projects you’ve most recently worked on for fun outside of work.

While you may not have applied these skills in a professional environment yet, it will show employers that you’ll be able to constantly add value to their organization because you’re continuously learning and growing. When it comes to technical professionals, this is the trait that employers seek out the most so it’s important to get this element of your passion across during the interview process.

4. Dig Into the Technical Details:

Someone who is truly passionate about technology won’t just discuss projects they’ve worked on at a surface level, they’ll dig into the technical details and share a behind-the-curtains look at some of the technologies they used to get the job done. When you’re asked about your experience during the interview process, don’t be afraid to dig into some of the technical details. You’ll want to do this a little bit if you’re interviewing with HR and a lot more if you’re interviewing with the CTO, other technical professionals already on their team, or your future manager as they’ll have a better understanding of what you’re talking about.

5. Ask About Upcoming Projects:

What projects do they have in their pipeline? What technologies are they looking to get into in the near future? Asking these kinds of questions during the interview process will put your passion for technology on display as well as your clear interest in the position.

6. Show Your Enthusiasm:

It’s not always what you say, sometimes it’s the way you say it. Your body language, facial expression, and voice inflection when talking about the technologies you work with are important. Don’t be afraid to geek out a little and share your excitement for technology during the interview.

Of course, you’re passionate about technology. But that passion may not always come across the way you want it to during the interview process. However, as long as you do these 6 things, your technical passion will be on full display and it will make you a more enticing candidate that employers want to add to their team as soon as possible. For more career advice, check out our blog!