Apologies in advance for the finnicky video sync - we had some hardware issues that unfortunately I couldn't fix in post. Fortunately the audio is stellar!
This was a lot of fun @hello_interview! Thanks Stefan for having me and I hope it's helpful for all the SWEs out there prepping for interviews. Feel free to ask any questions you might have and I can take a pass.
Thanks for the video! I would like to know more about project archetypes and conflict archetypes. Would you be able to enumerate them? I think it will be helpful for candidates to see which of their experiences best fit which archetypes so they know what information they can omit when storytelling
These aren't well established or an industry standard or anything---I bet Kent Beck has some list somewhere, lol---but here it goes... On projects: * Business identifies need for [feature], we built [feature] end to end, working with PM/Designer/Senior Eng/Data Science/QA/etc. * Infrastructure needs implies need for [feature/service/etc], we built it end to end * Product encounters [performance/reliability/scaling challenge], we had to spin up instrument -> investigate -> experiment -> improve cycle * Legacy code was slowing team down b/c of [implementation time/oncall burden/etc], we had to pause to refactor while not killing business * Tech debt burndown: structured project to improving test coverage/observability/etc * Team had [no/bad] CI/CD pipeline and we had to [build/fix] it * We had to make a build/buy decision for [key piece of infrastructure]; we evaluated both sides and decided On conflicts, here are few: * PM/EM wants [feature], engineers push back for time/cost reasons * Engineers want [refactor], but PM/EM push back for time/cost reasons * More senior eng has concerns about implementation approach * Designer unhappy with implementation quality vs time/cost * Customer unhappy with product/time/cost * Partner team doesn't want to implement needed feature to hit your team's deadline * Engineer wants to adopt [new tech] but team is resistant What else can people come up with? I also made a note to write up something more extensive soon on the newsletter. Stay tuned!
While in a Behavioural interview, when someone asks "tell me about a fav. project", how much details are needed so that it does not feel too much ? should the answer focus on me or the project ?
Apologies in advance for the finnicky video sync - we had some hardware issues that unfortunately I couldn't fix in post. Fortunately the audio is stellar!
This was a lot of fun @hello_interview! Thanks Stefan for having me and I hope it's helpful for all the SWEs out there prepping for interviews.
Feel free to ask any questions you might have and I can take a pass.
Thanks for the video! I would like to know more about project archetypes and conflict archetypes. Would you be able to enumerate them? I think it will be helpful for candidates to see which of their experiences best fit which archetypes so they know what information they can omit when storytelling
These aren't well established or an industry standard or anything---I bet Kent Beck has some list somewhere, lol---but here it goes...
On projects:
* Business identifies need for [feature], we built [feature] end to end, working with PM/Designer/Senior Eng/Data Science/QA/etc.
* Infrastructure needs implies need for [feature/service/etc], we built it end to end
* Product encounters [performance/reliability/scaling challenge], we had to spin up instrument -> investigate -> experiment -> improve cycle
* Legacy code was slowing team down b/c of [implementation time/oncall burden/etc], we had to pause to refactor while not killing business
* Tech debt burndown: structured project to improving test coverage/observability/etc
* Team had [no/bad] CI/CD pipeline and we had to [build/fix] it
* We had to make a build/buy decision for [key piece of infrastructure]; we evaluated both sides and decided
On conflicts, here are few:
* PM/EM wants [feature], engineers push back for time/cost reasons
* Engineers want [refactor], but PM/EM push back for time/cost reasons
* More senior eng has concerns about implementation approach
* Designer unhappy with implementation quality vs time/cost
* Customer unhappy with product/time/cost
* Partner team doesn't want to implement needed feature to hit your team's deadline
* Engineer wants to adopt [new tech] but team is resistant
What else can people come up with?
I also made a note to write up something more extensive soon on the newsletter. Stay tuned!
What are some good examples of conflicts to talk about for senior engineers?
Major technical disagreements, challenges with partner teams, pushbacks against manager (depending on company).
Thank you so much for sharing this useful information.(by crystal)
While in a Behavioural interview, when someone asks "tell me about a fav. project",
how much details are needed so that it does not feel too much ?
should the answer focus on me or the project ?
Awesome!