5 Dangerous Things to Avoid Saying In a Tech Interview

Your next tech interview could tank in the first 5 minutes.

Not because you can't code, but because of what you said.

I've mentored hundreds of engineers through technical interviews. The ones who land offers? They avoid these career-killing phrases:

1. "My current company is a mess"

Never trash your employer. Instead: "I'm looking for opportunities to work on more complex systems and grow my skills in X."

Positivity signals maturity.

2. "Let me guess the answer"

Interviewers can smell BS from miles away. If you're unsure, say it: "I haven't worked with that specific tool, but I'd approach it by researching X first. Mind if I look it up real quick?"

Honesty beats ego every time.

3. "I don't know" (and nothing else)

Bridge the gap: "I haven't used GraphQL, but I've worked extensively with REST APIs. The concepts seem similar, and I'm excited to learn the differences."

Show how you connect dots.

4. Generic buzzwords without proof

"I'm a self-starter" means nothing. This does: "I noticed our deploy times were 40 minutes, researched CI/CD optimizations, and reduced them to 12 minutes."

Specifics sell. Buzzwords don't.

5. Questions Google could answer

"What does your company do?" is lazy. Instead: "I saw you recently launched Y feature. How does that fit into your product roadmap?"

Research shows you care.

The engineers who get offers aren't always the most technical.

They're the ones who communicate like professionals.

What's the worst thing you've heard someone say in an interview?

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