StartUp Hiring #7 Adam Beck: Hiring & Interviewing tips for Software Engineers.

With over a decade of software engineering exp Adam has been through interview processes with several big-name tech companies. He’s got some great thoughts and opinions on what things stand out as really positive and what could be done better. If you’re an engineer who’s thinking of the next role or someone who hires software engineers, you’ll find something useful in this discussion. The big ticket items:02.00 Why do you think everyone has an opinion about recruiting?- The recruitment process is often an extension of the personality of the people who are actually hiring.- We ask people to be themselves, but they’ve also been taught to sell themselves - there’s a conflict there somewhere.06:00 What things stand out to you positively or natively in an interview you’ve been involved with?- One of the interviews I did with Zendesk, the hiring manager was friendly and gracious. - He clearly approached the interview looking for positive signifiers, reasons to hire not reasons not to hire.- We could do with more space in interviews for vulnerability. We want perfect alignment with arbitrary company values. I’ve never read them on a webs site and said yes that sounds like me.- Front-load interviews with an acknowledgement that this is an awkward conversation - have empathy for the situation. - The ROI for making candidates comfortable in an interview is immeasurable15:25 What could engineers do better in interviews?- Don’t focus on purely the tech being used.- You owe it to yourself to do more digging into the team, the company, and how they make decisions under pressure, other than just the pure tech stack. - Focus on being problem solvers, not just chasing the next thing,- Focus on developing skills outside of pure coding.23:30 What can we do about coding tests?- Making the technical part of the process as inclusive as possible. - Provide options - take-home test, online test, in-person test? Some people really struggle in person and others vice versa, providing options allows you to see the best of people because they can be comfortable. 29:55 What’s the ideal hiring process do you think?- More shorter sessions or fewer longer sessions?- 2 -3 steps seem to work really well for most people and companies.- Team debriefs are so important.- Does the “pub test” theory just help you build a homogenous team?