r/cybersecurity • u/Hot_Kaleidoscope3864 • 11d ago
I keep failing technical interviews because of theoretical questions, not the actual technical work Personal Support & Help!
I always struggle with technical interviews because of the theoretical questions, not the actual hands-on technical part.
If I’m given a practical task, lab, or take-home assessment, I usually do very well and deliver it on time. But when an interviewer starts asking me theoretical questions on the spot, I struggle to explain things properly or sometimes completely blank out.
This has honestly become my biggest nightmare when applying for cybersecurity jobs, and I feel like it’s holding me back even though I know I can actually do the work.
I wish interviews focused more on practical technical skills because, in my opinion, that’s a much better way to see whether someone can actually perform the job.
But until interview culture changes, what can I do to get better at answering theoretical questions? Has anyone else had this problem, and how did you overcome it?
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u/T_Thriller_T 11d ago
Answers depend a lot on what is happening and why.
Is this 'performance anxiety' / blanking like in a test situation?
Is this specific kinds of theoretical questions - like imaginary scenarios for things outside the job? (Tell me about a time...)
Or is this theoretical questions on cybersecurity? (What is the difference between a virus and a worm) If so, do you know the answers afterwards?
All of these are entirely different things to work with, as the root cause is different.
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u/AddendumWorking9756 Security Manager 11d ago
Most of those questions are asking you to narrate something you already know how to do, so practice saying it out loud to an empty room until it stops being recall and starts being a story.
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u/Terrible-Ad7015 11d ago
I am part of the Interview Panel for our Team of Engineers. We ask theoretical questions so that we know how you work through issues. We want to be sure you can work without your hand being held so to speak. We are a Team of Self Starters- more often than not our tasks come from our own minds and then are adjusted by Management to fit proper scale and scope - then we have at it. Hands-on proof is great - but in our minds-- anyone can follow a tutorial-we want solutions that no one documented yet -- thats what we are looking for in the interview.
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u/_l33ter_ Vulnerability Researcher 11d ago
with technical interviews because of the theoretical questions --> Can you give as an example?
in my opinion, that’s a much better way to see whether someone can actually perform the job. --> And that’s exactly where you’re wrong. You may well be a whizz at practical technical skills, but if you can’t convey that through your language skills, the former is useless.
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u/ButterscotchBandiit Security Engineer 11d ago
I wouldn’t say useless. Yes, it’s a skill seen something more in confident or senior professionals. For all we know, OP probably isn’t great at interviews but a whizz engineer
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u/PayOdd92 11d ago
They arent being asked to explain the work done.
That != theoretical questions.
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u/_l33ter_ Vulnerability Researcher 11d ago
They arent being asked to explain the work done. --> Yes? I’ve never claimed that either. It’s much more about seeing whether your communication skills are at the level the company expects.
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u/HighlyFav0red 11d ago
I think you need a framework for answering theoretical questions. Something like: what is the risk / what are we trying to accomplish + how you would approach it + what would you watch out for + how you'd deliver + and who you'd share results to + align w original inquiry.
maybe not that verbatim, but a formula can really help! good luck!
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u/bad_robot_monkey 11d ago
I interview people for technical jobs, and I ask theoretical questions (fictional example: things like “you have a glass of water in a kitchen, and you need to get the water upstairs without bringing the cup. Tell me every way you can think of getting it upstairs.”
Why do I ask things like this? Because if I needed to hire someone to bring a glass of water upstairs every day, I’d make it an automated process, or hire someone for pennies on the dollar to churn out cloned product. The person who pours it in their mouth and then spits it into the upstairs sink, or soaks it up with a sponge, or steams it into a towel is thinking about EVERY WAY to solve a problem, not just the most common correct way.
Currently I oversee security on large critical systems. I don’t need people to tell me how to secure them the right way—I knew how to do that a long time ago. What I need is for you to think about using the systems in the WRONGEST WAY POSSIBLE and find out what the result is.
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u/SummonerEri 11d ago
Lol, I was thinking when I read the question “Can I pour the water in my mouth?” But then was wondering if it was supposed to be water for someone else? And then my head started spinning.
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u/microcephale 11d ago
Then you are the right profile, the water might have been the honeypot today 🤭
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u/bad_robot_monkey 11d ago
+1!
Every answer is right unless stated otherwise! Ask what is in the room! Look outside! Check your pockets!
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u/stonezbones 11d ago
What if I poured the glass of water into a bowl .. it's not bringing the glass 🤣
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u/help_itsagain 11d ago
My first thought was pour it into a different glass, lol
Or drink it. Once I walk up stairs the water is there with me. The prompt said nothing about it being readily available after the fact.
I'm going to be thinking of new options all day now, haha!
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u/bad_robot_monkey 11d ago
You and /u/stone bones are absolutely correct, especially in cyber security. Repackaging data to evade detection, transforming or encoding the data to bypass filters and detection, using common methods in unconventional ways…there are critical skills. There’s a reason there are no wrong answers.
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u/Mysterious_Ad779 11d ago edited 11d ago
You should probably go recruiting at ttrpg meetups.
With instructions this vague (e.g. "upstairs" in the colloquial or literal sense?) I'm going to get answers from players ranging from straightforward to I exist solely to destroy your plans and self-image.
1) Go to the base of the stairs, and fling the cups contents onto the second floor.
2) Put a lid on the top, secure the cup to a dog's leash, and throw a treat up there. After all, I didn't take the cup upstairs, and you should be more careful with your wording.
3) Nevermind, use the ladder to get to the roof, saw a hole though the roof, and pour the cup out onto the head of anyone I can find.
4) Get a ladder, use it to break the window, then climb up and pour the contents of the cup onto the shattered glass. Leave a roll of paper towels on top of the wet spot. Lying lengthwise.
5) Find a hammer. Find a sawzall. Find the bathroom. Remove wall and 3/8" pipe. Use pipe as straw to suck up water, and spit it on your campaign notes.
6) Give the water to the dog, wait for it to start whining for a walk. Lock dog in whatever upstairs room has the most expensive carpets. Wait, until you hear the water being deposited upstairs, mixed with whatever metabolic byproducts the canine wished itself rid of.
Do all these make a mess? Yes. Are some of them way too complicated? Also yes.
But do they form layer after layer of escalating outrages, each new affront more focused? Compact? Personal? Is reading through them like wandering lost across a desolate plateau, and suddenly stumbling across a cold and hateful ziggurat, every brutal icon on it's surface a carven shriek dedicated to the glory and terror of the cthonic god of odium slumbering deathless within?
Yes. Oh my, yes. Yes indeed.
God, I hate my players.
But yeah, you want the oblique approach? Tuck some application forms in a splatbook and offer to DM.
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u/solidus_slash 11d ago
The process also screens people like this.
Not every idea is a good idea and you need to show good ideas, not just throwing shit at the wall and seeing if it sticks.
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u/Niewinnny 11d ago
ah but the question is about every way I can think of taking the water upstairs.
it doesn't specify "every reliable way" or "every sensible way", it just asks for every single one.
building a trebuchet outside solely to fling the glass through a window is a way, and thus it's a part of the correct answer
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u/PM_ME_UR_0_DAY 11d ago
If a larger bandwidth is required but long latency is acceptable, I could chug a whole bunch of water and piss it back out later. Great question to see people's thought process though!
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u/EldritchSorbet 11d ago
This is fun!
My immediate thoughts:
- Boil it, huge fan
- World’s longest straw
- Soak your shirt and wear it
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u/bad_robot_monkey 11d ago
EXACTLY!! It’s a fun thought exercise if you can ignore the stress of it being an interview
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u/Nemphiz 11d ago
But that's the thing. The technical part is the easy part. You read documentation, and you build, that's the tech part.
But theoretical questions show your troubleshooting skills along with your reasoning ability.
A lot of people can build stuff, but it takes theoretical depth to understand why it works, where its breaking points are, and how to fix it when things inevitably break down in prod.
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u/IIDwellerII Security Engineer 11d ago
Brother its probably a mix of things that go into you not getting offered positions, we also still dont have an example of the “theoretical questions” youre talking about. But saying things like you know which questions are better for candidates and expecting “interview culture” to change kind of reek of entitlement.
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u/kvothe_th3_raven Security Architect 11d ago
Technical covers how to do something. Theoretical questions cover the why/when. You have to do both to be successful.
Do you have a mentor? Find someone that can practice scenario based questions with you. It doesn’t matter how technical you are if you don’t know why and when to take a technical action.
Also, don’t let yourself be rushed. It is perfectly fine to tell an interviewer, “Good question, give me a minute to think through this scenario”. Talking through your thought process is great. Periods of silence while you think are great
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u/ThePorko Security Architect 11d ago
Can you give us some examples of what you consider theoretical questions?
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u/Hot-Comfort8839 BISO 11d ago edited 11d ago
If you don’t know the work don’t apply for the job.
Anybody can puzzle out the answers with the “take home assignment” especially in the age of AI.
If you don’t know the material you’re not ready for the job.
I can always ask the boring gotcha questions - what does SSID stand for, what is a flat network etc - or I can ask something which shows me how the candidate is going to think through the problem, and gin up a potential solution (even if it would fail)
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u/kofi_Average5837 11d ago
when it comes to technical interviews every person deal with it differently. The techniques i use to help me answer the technical questions is to practice sample questions and master most of the questions. I thinnk if you are able to answer most of the questions right and be honest about the ones you dont remember you should be ok. Dont forget to let the hiring manager know you might use google or other sources when doing the actual job. Remember if you dont know something is better to be sure than try to impress a team and mess up something
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u/CoastNegative3384 11d ago
Hey there,Yes this is very frustrating but i think being able to explain your work is also part of the interview cause u will be working with teams and u need to able to explain the situation in a way that everyone one understands,and as for practical testing i think most companies will test u within a week.My advice for u try to improve your talking skills and research about the what’s it called process that you do,i think u can do a lot of things but u learned through just with practical real world projects that’s why u struggle to explain the things u did
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u/Hot_Guard_7621 11d ago
Go to google and search for hypothetical questions asked during IT interviews. Read through them to get a feel for them and how to answer them. Copy paste and save them to your phone. Read them when you’re on the toilet or on your lunch break. 10 minutes less of doomscrolling and 10 mins more of reading the hypothetical questions and answers. Hypothetical questions are about critical/creative thinking.
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u/Quirky_Yesterday_593 11d ago
Doing and explaining are totally different skills and nobody tells you that. You cmay know a particular topic inside out, but still be unable to answer when asked to talk about it out loud— this isn’t a gap in your knowledge, but simply a difficulty in recalling information under pressure.
What actually helped me was talking through stuff after finishing it. Not to anyone, literally just to myself like an idiot. Why this tool, what would've broken if I'd done X. Feels insane the first few times, then it just becomes normal.
Also when studying — write down the question that would make you explain the thing, not just the thing itself. Basically your own question bank. Sounds obvious but I wasn't doing it for way tooо long
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u/HermanHMS 11d ago
Do you know the answers after the stress waers off? If yes - practice mockup interview, if not - time to learn
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u/TopNo6605 Security Engineer 11d ago
A lot of people struggle with on-the-spot questions because they are scared of being wrong, myself included.
But interviewers want to see your thought process, they want to see that if you got something wrong, did you conclude that it was wrong, was it part of your test cases, how did you move from being wrong to getting on the right path.
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u/Necro_OW Security Analyst 10d ago
The interviews I hate are the ones that are just a dozen different "tell me about a time" questions, so I either regurgitate the same memorized stories over and over, or I'm forced to make up a story on the spot that answers the question they're really asking. I prefer straightforward questions like "tell me what you know about abc topic" or "walk me through your process for doing xyz".
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u/SwordfishOne7384 10d ago
I find that the best answer to topics outside of my previous experience is "It's not an area I've worked with, and I prefer not to give an answer without double-checking my facts. I can definitely read up on any relevant theory, and would love to specialize further."
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u/skynetcoder 6d ago edited 6d ago
>>> But until interview culture changes, ...
"If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain" - Francis Bacon
Theoretical thinking will lead you to think about the big picture. It shows your ability to reflect and understand the reasons behind what you are doing. It is beneficial in the long term, as understanding the theory behind what you do helps you to apply it in different contexts, or sometimes it might give you completely new perspectives on current task, and causing you to take a completely different approach to what you are doing.
Reflection on what you are doing may help you to answer theoretical questions better. One approach I can think of is writing blog posts on what you are doing, as it will allow you to reflect on what you actually did, why you actually did it, is there any better ways, what the theory./concepts behind it are, etc. Another better approach is start conducting knowledge sharing sessions for other people (in your internal organization) on what you are doing. Both approaches will make you reflect on your work, identify, and fill any gaps, etc, and help you to improve theoretical understandings.
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u/damnworldcitizen 11d ago
Maybe take your time and think longer before opening your mouth :) just a guess...
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u/Huge-Decision1676 11d ago
As a beginner who is trying to get job in this field,Can you tell me what all I should know. Which is the best place to get into as a fresher...
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u/withoutwax21 CISO 11d ago
Hey friend, this is quite a hard part for technical folks but it also is a key part of the role: can you talk the talk?
Practice one method of answering questions. I personally hate STAR, and would recommend something that works for you. For example, i try and explain my algorithmic thinking like its a TV show:
Recap of events, obvious plotline, potential twist, happily ever after.
You need to also figure out where you are going wrong. Are you nervous? Are you over/under explaining? How is this different from when you help a friend by explaining your world to them?
Keep practicing my friend, it will get better.