🤑 What did you think of the tip to "forget your fingertips" (also called "forget what you did with your hands")? What else would you like to discover about the approach of a good senior engineer?
If that's what they want then I have to tell them what they want to hear. But at the same time I find it a little offensive because as a developers we write code with our hands and that is the main things for us but he kinda shamed for that. I find that if interviewer were to say this to developers in the middle of interview, developers should just standup and walk out of the room without even saying goodbye to interviewer. And if 20 developers did it like that then maybe after trying to hire senior for like year with no results they would start to learn some respect for devs.
So key takeaway from this is that don't be too technical but rather tell what you did from business point of view. So basically explain to your non-technical friend and if he/she will find that you have added value to the company then you are senior.
the easiest way to instantly be better at interviews is to imagine yourself being the interviewer. What do you want to hear? Do you want to know about implementation details, or how much fun someone is having doing X? No! You want to hear how this person will improve your life, taking responsibility off your shoulders, making your life easier and most of all, making you money.
This is really important and I've seen this in interviews I've done (as the interviewer) where people come across as just being a member on a team and just doing their day-to-day job. And yes those devs are needed on larger teams just to push the basic features through, but what you're often looking for is someone who can be trusted to make executive decisions that have a positive impact on their peers, the project and deliver real results. And to do that they can't just be someone who sits in the silo just dealing with whatever random tasks come their way. They need to be someone who takes ownership, interfaces with the right people, and takes additional steps to ensure the company's goals are met, not just the goals of that one team. They care about product, not just code. They are available to others for assistance, and they have a multiplier effect on any team they work on. And as seen in this video, you need to present yourself in a way that communicates that - and also your passion for it.
That's how big orgs work, everyone's just a cog. If you're looking for startup or small shop folks, then mention that in your job ad and don't waste candidate's time.
What are the best ways to articulate times when you were the owner and architect of a project but delegated much of the day to day engineering work to others?
And that's why we are deeper and deeper in crisis. Noone wants people who actually do stuff, everyone wants people who just talk. And the only value they add is distance between real problems and real development.
I think it's a balance. I've been in places where there are a lot of good engineers who could get stuff done, but there was no one leading them to deliver what was most important to the business. Or there was no one that would reach out to another team to solve a problem faster. A good senior/staff will get things done by getting the right people in the room and letting them get the right thing done.
If I was interviewing, and I've done a fair share of them as a dev manager myself, I wouldn't hire any of these 2. Both were pretty bad. One (Alex) displays no passion for what he does nor can articulate anything outside of technical scope. The other (Dima) gives advice to turn Alex into a better salesman, both of which would go straight to the bin if I was hiring. 🤷♂
Lets simplify shall we: just ACT AS IF. Thats it. Find a role model, someone you know would pass the interviews, study their mannerisms, and impersonate their responses. If you can do that, you will pass the interview too. In time, with daily practice, youll become that person...then youll nees to find a new role model who can help you level up again. If you cant impersonate your role model, then you aint ready to level up
How do you do metrics on which of these tips or techniques even work or have the results you claim they do? If you can't measure something how do you put a value on it?
Pretty thankful I don't work in a arbitrarily gamified environment like this. Defining yourself in terms of levels? Having to work on elevator pitches tailored to specific letterboxes that you are trying to fit through? He specifically said he owned and led the Python wrapper project and the feedback was - "imagine this is Tarantino movie" ... excuse me? This is like a parody of effete, pompous tech culture.
@@michaelvivirito in most environments being able to explain things in a concise and captivating way does give one an advantage. One could say it's an "unfair" advantage, and one could say it's a prime example where "soft" skills trump the "hard" skills, where what matters at getting things done are arguably the "hard" skills. During the Manhattan Project times, yes, absolutely. I would agree. Today, first of all, most of what most people are working on is nowhere near that complicated. Second we often find ourselves working in large teams as parts of large organizations, and following some unwritten teamwork rules matter. Third, and probably most important: even if Dima ~15 years ago would want to work with hardcore get-things-doers, even Dima today would prefer to be surrounded by people who have mastered the skill & art of telling a short yet clear and captivating story -- in addition, of course, not instead of actually getting things done. Hope I was articulate enough that I am on your side in spirit, but the real world we live in is quite clearly favors the other side -- the side where being able to act out some role is at times promoted from a secondary "soft" skill to a "business-critical", must-have skill for senior++ folks.
@@dimakorolev4740 I’m not on any side and even with all the words you typed you made it hard to really understand your point. Simpler is better my friend.
@@michaelvivirito yeah, when being understood is important i'm arguably better at speaking than writing -- my writing style is pretty darn dense indeed
which confusingly is why these videos are important i *KNOW* Alex built a lot of great things with his own hands, and even with his experience presenting these results in a short&stressful interview time frame is tricky imagine how much more talent on this planet is under-utilized! instead, both the talented people and those who have work to be done and are ready to pay for it struggle to find each other and make deals that's why i'm eager to keep shooting more of these vids
Cringe on both sides, introducing yourself in terms of levels (L3/4/5) screams mid. In terms of technical ownership this isn't a thing anymore unless you're early in a startup.
Folks, seriously, I contemplated long and hard -- for years! -- on whether this is a positive-sum impact or not. Today I believe it is. Like it or not -- and I hate playing roles and pretending as much as you do! -- presenting oneself as a senior++ person takes one places. And not just because the game is rigged, but because teamwork and soft skills do matter. And I'm speaking from the position of someone who's technically savvy and was routinely under-valued, and had under-influenced the important decisions because, well, that's how the world is. If you have a better world, please let me know. Otherwise, let's learn to be effective in the one we have. I'm not claiming it's fair and good and what not. But I did converge to believing that mastering the skill of being effective in this world "as is" is far closer to a "true" skill than to "pretending".
Nope. Easy to judge fake vs real. In these behaviorals, follow up questions for 1 story to probe for more details last for around ~20 minutes. Also there are other interview rounds anyway to profile your level. The content is good advice for people underselling themselves, which most people do.
🤑 What did you think of the tip to "forget your fingertips" (also called "forget what you did with your hands")? What else would you like to discover about the approach of a good senior engineer?
If that's what they want then I have to tell them what they want to hear. But at the same time I find it a little offensive because as a developers we write code with our hands and that is the main things for us but he kinda shamed for that. I find that if interviewer were to say this to developers in the middle of interview, developers should just standup and walk out of the room without even saying goodbye to interviewer. And if 20 developers did it like that then maybe after trying to hire senior for like year with no results they would start to learn some respect for devs.
So key takeaway from this is that don't be too technical but rather tell what you did from business point of view. So basically explain to your non-technical friend and if he/she will find that you have added value to the company then you are senior.
Midlevel dev here who struggles with interviews. This was incredibly helpful thank you.
Can you pls upload more of this? Really insightful.
We are recording another of these sessions this week :) What specifically would you like to see?
@@ApplyPass I guess the way the answers needs to be articulated i.e the choice of words, impact etc.. This video gives only a sneak peak.
@@abhilashkr1175 Okay, so a deeper look. Nice! Yes, that's what we're working on next :)
@@abhilashkr1175 This Thursday, we're posting a 1-hour version of this short video. For you!
@@abhilashkr1175 We recorded this new episode for you! ua-cam.com/video/nbCne6_sBBs/v-deo.html
the easiest way to instantly be better at interviews is to imagine yourself being the interviewer. What do you want to hear? Do you want to know about implementation details, or how much fun someone is having doing X? No! You want to hear how this person will improve your life, taking responsibility off your shoulders, making your life easier and most of all, making you money.
This is really important and I've seen this in interviews I've done (as the interviewer) where people come across as just being a member on a team and just doing their day-to-day job. And yes those devs are needed on larger teams just to push the basic features through, but what you're often looking for is someone who can be trusted to make executive decisions that have a positive impact on their peers, the project and deliver real results. And to do that they can't just be someone who sits in the silo just dealing with whatever random tasks come their way. They need to be someone who takes ownership, interfaces with the right people, and takes additional steps to ensure the company's goals are met, not just the goals of that one team. They care about product, not just code. They are available to others for assistance, and they have a multiplier effect on any team they work on. And as seen in this video, you need to present yourself in a way that communicates that - and also your passion for it.
That's how big orgs work, everyone's just a cog. If you're looking for startup or small shop folks, then mention that in your job ad and don't waste candidate's time.
@@minciNashu seconding this approach, but big companies admittedly pay more
Please do more of these. I work as EM and its helpful to understand how senior candidates think
This is insane value
What are the best ways to articulate times when you were the owner and architect of a project but delegated much of the day to day engineering work to others?
explain how you identified what needed to be done
REALLY good content right there
You have my like and subscription, so helpful.
And that's why we are deeper and deeper in crisis. Noone wants people who actually do stuff, everyone wants people who just talk. And the only value they add is distance between real problems and real development.
Yup, awarding higher levels that jus talk and have meetings don’t actually add a ton of value.
I think it's a balance. I've been in places where there are a lot of good engineers who could get stuff done, but there was no one leading them to deliver what was most important to the business. Or there was no one that would reach out to another team to solve a problem faster.
A good senior/staff will get things done by getting the right people in the room and letting them get the right thing done.
Great content, we need more of this 👍👍
If I was interviewing, and I've done a fair share of them as a dev manager myself, I wouldn't hire any of these 2. Both were pretty bad. One (Alex) displays no passion for what he does nor can articulate anything outside of technical scope. The other (Dima) gives advice to turn Alex into a better salesman, both of which would go straight to the bin if I was hiring. 🤷♂
Lets simplify shall we: just ACT AS IF. Thats it. Find a role model, someone you know would pass the interviews, study their mannerisms, and impersonate their responses. If you can do that, you will pass the interview too. In time, with daily practice, youll become that person...then youll nees to find a new role model who can help you level up again. If you cant impersonate your role model, then you aint ready to level up
Well put.
How do you do metrics on which of these tips or techniques even work or have the results you claim they do? If you can't measure something how do you put a value on it?
More!
Good content, over-cut though. It's like every gap in speaking has been cut and the audio becomes unnatural and choppy
learning with every next minute we record & release -- thank you!
Pretty thankful I don't work in a arbitrarily gamified environment like this. Defining yourself in terms of levels? Having to work on elevator pitches tailored to specific letterboxes that you are trying to fit through?
He specifically said he owned and led the Python wrapper project and the feedback was - "imagine this is Tarantino movie" ... excuse me?
This is like a parody of effete, pompous tech culture.
I wish I could be on your side but the reality is arguably the other way around 😞
What’s your current environment?
@@michaelvivirito in most environments being able to explain things in a concise and captivating way does give one an advantage.
One could say it's an "unfair" advantage, and one could say it's a prime example where "soft" skills trump the "hard" skills, where what matters at getting things done are arguably the "hard" skills.
During the Manhattan Project times, yes, absolutely. I would agree.
Today, first of all, most of what most people are working on is nowhere near that complicated. Second we often find ourselves working in large teams as parts of large organizations, and following some unwritten teamwork rules matter. Third, and probably most important: even if Dima ~15 years ago would want to work with hardcore get-things-doers, even Dima today would prefer to be surrounded by people who have mastered the skill & art of telling a short yet clear and captivating story -- in addition, of course, not instead of actually getting things done.
Hope I was articulate enough that I am on your side in spirit, but the real world we live in is quite clearly favors the other side -- the side where being able to act out some role is at times promoted from a secondary "soft" skill to a "business-critical", must-have skill for senior++ folks.
@@dimakorolev4740 I’m not on any side and even with all the words you typed you made it hard to really understand your point. Simpler is better my friend.
@@michaelvivirito yeah, when being understood is important i'm arguably better at speaking than writing -- my writing style is pretty darn dense indeed
guy sounds like he has 1 year of experience, worked on very basic tasks
which confusingly is why these videos are important
i *KNOW* Alex built a lot of great things with his own hands, and even with his experience presenting these results in a short&stressful interview time frame is tricky
imagine how much more talent on this planet is under-utilized!
instead, both the talented people and those who have work to be done and are ready to pay for it struggle to find each other and make deals
that's why i'm eager to keep shooting more of these vids
Cringe on both sides, introducing yourself in terms of levels (L3/4/5) screams mid. In terms of technical ownership this isn't a thing anymore unless you're early in a startup.
It 100% is a thing in Amazon, Google, etc.
Yes let's teach people how to pretend to be good
Exactly. Get yourself a position that appreciates your skill and work ethic. Don't play these ridiculous games.
@@JoshHenderson16 its already hard to figure out imposters from people who actually give a damn about the craft
Folks, seriously, I contemplated long and hard -- for years! -- on whether this is a positive-sum impact or not.
Today I believe it is.
Like it or not -- and I hate playing roles and pretending as much as you do! -- presenting oneself as a senior++ person takes one places. And not just because the game is rigged, but because teamwork and soft skills do matter.
And I'm speaking from the position of someone who's technically savvy and was routinely under-valued, and had under-influenced the important decisions because, well, that's how the world is.
If you have a better world, please let me know. Otherwise, let's learn to be effective in the one we have. I'm not claiming it's fair and good and what not. But I did converge to believing that mastering the skill of being effective in this world "as is" is far closer to a "true" skill than to "pretending".
@@dimakorolev8596 - dude google brevity holy shit.
Nope. Easy to judge fake vs real. In these behaviorals, follow up questions for 1 story to probe for more details last for around ~20 minutes. Also there are other interview rounds anyway to profile your level. The content is good advice for people underselling themselves, which most people do.