What to focus on and what to delegate to successfully deliver the results your stakeholders want — Many first-time software engineering managers wonder: what should they focus on in their roles to deliver the results their stakeholders want? On the one hand, the answer is straightforward if we look at engineering management as a combination of three key responsibilities. People Management: hiring, coaching, motivating staff, performance reviews…

Tips from a hiring manager to spot a job candidate who may not culturally fit despite having the technical skills — Today I’d like to talk about interviewing software engineers and share a few interview questions that I ask to get an idea if a candidate would be a great fit from a cultural perspective and whether they are motivated to get this job. These questions help me reduce the risk…

Common mistakes and winning tactics for your next job interview — I’m interviewing software engineers every week. Too many of them make the same mistakes at the coding interview and fail to demonstrate their skills at the expected level. As a result, they don’t get a job offer. That’s sad because any software developer, regardless of their experience, can avoid those…

Software developers often underperform at behavioural interviews. Learn how you can stand out and get a great job offer — The job interview process in established tech companies often includes a behavioural interview to evaluate the candidates’ “cultural fit”. Some candidates underestimate the importance of this interview and think of it as a casual conversation. They believe they should be fine as long as they have the required technical skills…

Tips from an interviewer on how to explore the problem, design a solution, and communicate your approach. — Previously, I’ve outlined common mistakes software engineers make at job interviews and shared tips on demonstrating skills and knowledge efficiently. This time I’d like to focus on how to pass your system design interview successfully. I’ve created this guide based on my experience interviewing candidates at my recent jobs, including…

How not to fail spectacularly at your next job interview — I’ve interviewed lots of software developers at my recent jobs and have seen too many candidates making similar mistakes which, sadly, didn’t allow them to demonstrate their technical and soft skills well enough to be hired. I’d like to point out some of those mistakes to help software engineers avoid…

How to prepare for an interview, avoid common mistakes, and successfully demonstrate your technical and soft skills — I’ve been interviewing candidates for software engineering roles for a few years as an engineer and as a hiring manager. It is time to share a few tips with candidates on how to prepare for a job interview, avoid common mistakes, and demonstrate their technical and soft skills. Most tips…

How to help your new team start performing sooner — Managers of newly formed teams want them to start performing as soon as possible. A theoretical model that can help achieve that was proposed by psychologist Bruce Tuckman in 1965. It describes four distinct stages in team development: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. Managers and teams familiar with that model…