Steve Huynh, formerly Principal Engineer at Amazon, shares observations from 10+ years of interviewing software engineers, and an excerpt from his new book, Technical Behavioral Interview
This matches everything I see from the hiring side. The "ramble and stumble" is probably the most fixable failure mode in the whole loop... and the one that kills the most otherwise-strong candidates.
The debrief question I end up caring about most isn't "did they answer well?", it's "could I picture them on our next incident call at 2am?" If I can't form that picture after 45 minutes, it's almost always a no from me no matter how polished the answers were. The audition framing is spot on.
The "start with recruiter" is probably true for US-centric organisations like Big Tech. Smaller orgs, or more traditional ones don't see recruiters as guides for the candidates, rather like gatekeepers on the company side.
Glad we’re talking more about behavioral interviews :)
This matches everything I see from the hiring side. The "ramble and stumble" is probably the most fixable failure mode in the whole loop... and the one that kills the most otherwise-strong candidates.
The debrief question I end up caring about most isn't "did they answer well?", it's "could I picture them on our next incident call at 2am?" If I can't form that picture after 45 minutes, it's almost always a no from me no matter how polished the answers were. The audition framing is spot on.
The "start with recruiter" is probably true for US-centric organisations like Big Tech. Smaller orgs, or more traditional ones don't see recruiters as guides for the candidates, rather like gatekeepers on the company side.
Interviewing as dating - definitely changed my perception. Thanks to author
"Learning #3: The interview is an audition for what it’s like to work with you"
Seriously!? An interview is a high-pressure performance that apparently requires rehearsal.
Work is not, or at least shouldn't be, e.g. a team should be a psychologically safe environment.