Guardians Guide to the Galaxy of Interviewing

You are sat on a VC, eyes are on you ??. You know that you have the ability and skillset to land the role, but the preparation felt impossible because you can't read the interview panels mind or know exactly what they are looking for ??

Sound familiar? - This interview guide will help distribute the power to you in an interview, through your preparation ?

Firstly - I get it, and I understand.

I am working for the biggest software firm in the world, who's high standards set many trends within the tech industry, you may be interviewing for other leading tech firms, or start-ups.

How could you pass an interview with such high expectations, some people feel like an imposter just trying. You feel immense pressure as the market is so ruthless, perhaps?

With the right prep and the core foundational skills - you CAN pass an interview - but it is all in the preparation, and setting yourself up to execute as best as you can manage.

Different companies look for different things, but they all trace back to the same fundamental skills.

Let's start from the foundations and work upwards.

The Article will go in this order:

1. Foundations of answering interview questions
2. Q&A Phase of interview (Situational questions, 'I' vs 'We' & more)
3. For Software Engineers more specifically - the coding interview
4. Video library link of 1-2 minute tips essential for acing the technical interview - Interview tip Video Library

Foundation of answering a situational interview question

An incredible useful methodology of answering a question in full without straying from the point, is the STAR format, but I prefer the STARS format. If you are the type to let nerves get the better of you, and ramble on, that is normal. This will end that.

S- Situation - Explain the situation that you were in, what was asked of you

T- Task - What were the challenge ahead, what needed to be considered, who needed to be considered? Timeframes?

A- Action - what were the actions that you took, what was your strategy, how did you engage people to collaborate towards the common goal, what did you drive?

R- Result - What was the result that came about from your actions? What was the output? what result did it deliver - 'improvement of efficiency by X%, profit by X%'

S- Self Reflection - Go one step further and without being asked, reflect. Reflect on what went wrong, what you learned, what data points you analyzed and how you improved it for the next project, how did it drive future results.

A good way to incorporate this method is to pre-plan a number of scenarios which you can adapt and tailor on the day to the question asked but if you have some prepared anecdotes and couple this with the delivery of STARS, you'll give a strong, open and structured answer to situational questions.

Interview Phase 1:

Q&A - and building a strategy to tackle this..

Usually you can be asked situational questions - 'tell me about a time when you have experienced X, Y or Z'

Normally, a company will ask these questions with certain values or competencies in mind that they expect you to demonstrate. It's almost like a game of ticking the right boxes, honestly.

Different companies will have their own nuances, but they will always come back to the same foundations. So what competencies should you demonstrate in your answers? What would an interview questions for this look like? - both can be found below ????

• Collaboration - show that you respect others opinions, and take them on board before making decisions. You use a data driven approach to prove points and solidify your case, and can also concede when someone has a better idea and put ego to the side for the greater good

Example Question: 'Has there been a time when you have experienced a conflict with a team member/ difference of opinion - how did you resolve it?'

• Communication - You can clearly explain yourself so that others understand, you can break down complex tasks and be able to explain them to a 10 year old. You demonstrate a clear thought map, talking through your decisions with your team (and the interviewer) to show them HOW you landed at the place you landed. Set clear milestones for projects, channel expectations and accountability through the team trusting your team mates, and manage upwards, downwards and sideways so that everyone is on the same page, you create clarity & generate energy.

Example Question: 'Has there been a time where you have managed stakeholders, multiple members of management, and how did you go about this?'

• Striving for Results - You are driven and proactive in achieving the best results. You push for higher standards and help your teammates strive for this also. You go about driving process changes to improve the efficiency of the project or application you are working on, to achieve a better end result for all. You don't wait for others, you take accountability yourself.

Example Question: 'Has there been a time when you have driven a change in process, and what was the result?'

• Adaptation/ Adaptability - How adaptable are you to changing and demanding circumstances, can you demonstrate a systematic approach to prioritization/ delegation? Can you adapt to a new environment if things don't go to plan, do you have a back up plan, can you pivot on a strategy if the idea is good but you need to change direction, think 'The Lean Startup' book.

Example question: 'Discuss a time when you have overcome a major setback in a project? How did you deal with this?'

• Data Driven - Do you leverage the power of data to tell stories to your stakeholders? Do you use data to make informed decisions? Can you interpret data you have available to help you make the best judgement calls, to know where to act, or where not to act based on this? Historical trends? learning from it for future improvements? Data analysis is essential in the modern world with so much more of it available to us. You need to showcase those examples of being data -led, but also demonstrating that you understand the 'so what?' - don't showcase data for the sake of it, know why you are using it and what is being actioned based upon what it is telling you.
• Diversity and Inclusion - Do you practice what you preach when it comes to having an inclusive mindset, how do you resolve issues with coworkers. Similar to collaboration, respecting other peoples opinions is crucial and demonstrations of this helps, allowing others to speak, but also giving the quietest person in the room a chance, during or after the meeting to express their thoughts, more often than not they hold the key!

Strategy for handling a Q&A:

• Prepare your working scenarios/experiences around the above in advance! Don't leave it to thinking off the top of your head in a pressurized environment.
• Don't mistake point 1 for over-engineering your answers, you need to come across as natural and NOT robotic, but perhaps having the word 'STARS' on your wall to remind you of structure, then a key word prompt to remind you of an relevant experience to discuss? - It can work well!
• You need to map out the core areas you anticipate an employer would look at i.e the above - communication, adaptability, collaboration, results driven etc and consider how to bring those competencies in to your answers.

The Technical part

This part is aimed less at the generic job seekers market, and more specifically for Software Engineers.

There is a big variation in what larger orgs look for you to demonstrate competency and understanding of. A few of them are:

• Algorithms / Data structures
• OOP - understanding classes, dependency injection, etc
• Architecture & system design - do you understand scalability? Can you draw a diagram and map out a plan.
• Your mindset, problem solving skills and people skills

In these scenarios you need to remember that most companies are not looking for the finished article, or 'perfect'. They want a well- rounded individual who is meticulous in prep, considers others, and strives for good results.

Some tips for demonstrating this in a tech interview can be:

• Ask clarifying questions: Are you looking to gather?additional?information. Are you making yourself clear and the problem clear before diving in to code? clarifying assumptions, weighing up time complexity vs X and Y?
• Problem solving: How well can you break the problem into smaller chunks or components? ?
• Data structures: Did you?demonstrate?understanding, mention and weigh up pros/cons of different choices for the problem, and talk through this out loud?
• Can you demonstrate your 'thought flow' so talk and think out loud, discuss your ideas and why you believe in them?
• System reliability and fault tolerance - understanding of concepts if you don't have the experience, demonstration of implementing them if you do.
• Scalability and Performance: Did you consider any potential bottlenecks? Are you thinking about performance from the start or as an afterthought?
• Technical knowledge: concepts like threading, load balancing, caching,?db?scaling, distributed systems

My friend Maksym Mokrousov went from joining 微软 to working in our Technical Interview panel within a year, and I interviewed him about the Algo interview process, you can watch this for further support and read his article below:

(2) Algo interview guideline | LinkedIn

You can also watch my interview with him here:

Video Library of quickfire tips to ace the technical interview:

Interview tips library - Microsoft - Culture Page (culturehq.com)

I hope that this guide gives you some form of comfort in a tough market. Any thoughts or comments please share and I can add them.

Good luck and remember that you ARE good enough, but are you prepared enough?

JK