Introduction

Today, I would like to share an important incident which recently happened to me during an Interview. This is a real experience that I encountered very recently. I hope this will encourage people to contribute more and often.

Background

I went to an interview in an MNC company where they were quite impressed with my contribution to the online communities, and so I thought to share this experience with you all.

On Interview Day

My profile was shortlisted for one of the leading MNC companies, and I had an initial interview over the telephone. I was shortlisted for the next round and was called in for a face-to-face discussion. The HR department scheduled the next round at the company premises. On the day of the interview, I went through four phases: a written test, a technical discussion, a face to face with a project manager, and a face to face with the HR head.
In the written test, the questions were about OOPS, C#, ASP.NET, MVC, .NET Core, and SQL. Though I am not very familiar with .NET Core, somehow, I managed to answer the questions correctly because I used to read articles about .NET Core on the community sites. I was selected for the next round; i.e., the technical discussion.

The technical discussion was very tough, but again I answered well. The interviewer came across my profile where I mentioned my contributions to the C# Corner community. The interviewer asked questions accordingly, such as, "Tell me the latest technologies and their usages." I answered well since I follow the forum regularly.

My next round was a face-to-face discussion with the Project Manager. He asked about the projects I had done so far and again, finally, he came across my profile where I mentioned the community. He is also a former contributor to C# Corner and other Microsoft communities.
Let me tell you his words, as I recall them:
"Companies may or may not use the latest technologies based on the client's budget and requirements but you people (Software developers / Programmers) should update yourself. We see how you are up-to-date, and you have the willingness to learn new skills. Software developers should not depend on companies to implement new technologies. You should try new technologies on your own. Companies should depend on you to implement these new technologies. We prefer a candidate who is ready to learn and should be active in communities. Contributing to a community is a healthy habit because you learn more and your network grows rapidly."

Here, I am not saying that I was selected only because of the community contribution, but because of this contribution, my profile was given more weight; they gave me added preference over the other candidates.

Conclusion

Here, I have shared how my community contribution helped me during the interview. Those of you who are contributing, please keep contributing more and grow your network. Our contributions will pay off someday and I believe, it will become a stepping stone to our progress.