Software developers too 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…
Career
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…
Engineering Management
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…
Engineering Management
Developer-friendly practices to keep the business and the engineers happy
At some point during the growth stage, startups realise they no longer can afford to move fast and break things along the way. Their customers become demanding and their numbers grow. As a result, broken functionality and outages result in lost revenue, lost customers, and reputational damage for the business.
…
Career
Use pair programming, code reviews, feedback, and meetings efficiently to grow faster into your next role
Ambitious junior and mid-level developers invest time into professional growth to level up and move to more challenging and rewarding projects: they read books, articles, do courses and tutorials.
However, they often overlook some of the development opportunities that are available in their current team and role. That is common…
Engineering Management
A brief guide for pragmatic software engineering managers
Managers know that to build a high-performing team they need to create a strong teamwork culture. Unfortunately, few of them know how to achieve that in practice.
Let’s look at a few techniques that, when applied consistently, may help a software development team to improve cooperation and collaboration and develop…
Engineering Management
Simple things most managers can do to build a cohesive team of software engineers
Even first-time managers know that to build a high-performing team they need to improve engagement and encourage collaboration between the team members. Sadly, not every manager knows how to achieve that, even though that shouldn’t be particularly difficult unless their team is completely dysfunctional.
To create a cohesive software development…
Engineering Management
Free up time for critical tasks and coach future leaders by strategically delegating responsibilities
Managers of growing software development teams have to deal with rapidly increasing workload. At some point, they don’t have enough time in their day to look into each issue. …
