Why Grilling #SeniorEngineers in #TechnicalInterviews is a Colossal Mistake Verifying #TechnicalExpertise There's a common belief that asking a seasoned engineer to reverse a binary tree on a whiteboard validates their 20 years of experience. It's akin to asking Gordon Ramsay to demonstrate his culinary skills by making instant ramen—hardly a true measure of expertise. Evaluating #ProblemSolving Abilities The classic scenario of, "Quick! Solve this puzzle while I watch you and occasionally nod!" fails to reflect how senior engineers actually tackle real-world issues. Their problem-solving often involves careful consideration, collaboration, and an understanding of business needs, rather than performing under pressure like a circus act. Assessing #SystemDesign Skills "Let's design a system to handle millions of users in 30 minutes!" disregards the reality of system design, where context, requirements, and time to think are crucial. Expecting senior engineers to architect complex systems on the spot is unrealistic; real-world design is far more nuanced. In conclusion, these interview methods are as effective at assessing senior engineers as a fish-climbing contest would be at identifying the best swimmer.
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Excited to share insights from recent interview at Expert Global Group! Check out some of the key questions and answers discussing design engineering expertise. #InterviewInsights #ExpertGlobalGroup #DesignEngineering"
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"As an engineer, we like to solve hard problems and jump into the final design; however, this approach is likely to lead you to design the wrong system. One of the most important skills as an engineer is to ask the right questions, make the proper assumptions, and gather all the information needed to build a system. So, do not be afraid to ask questions." System Design Interview An Insider’s Guide by Alex Xu
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My backlog of books to review is huge, and here is another one: "System Design Interview" by Alex Xu. It's a great, lightweight book with plenty of diagrams, concrete challenges, and practical examples that can make you a better engineer. I totally recommend it! Review of part II is coming shortly! https://lnkd.in/dbJHzJQG #bookreview #systemdesigninterview
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I don't know off hand, but I'm sure we can figure it out. The further I get in my career the more I end up starting with this initial answer. Maybe because if the solution was easy, the engineers coming to me would have already identified the solution and moved forward. As we progress the problems get a little harder, a little fuzzier, and the scope of impact gets bigger. Three things I try to do in these situations. 1. Ask the person coming to me for an answer what they recommend. (I do this for two reasons, one often the engineer knows what should be done and is coming for top cover incase something doesn't go as planned. Secondly, it gives me more insight into the work they've already put in, and the assumptions they are making.) 2. Can we think creatively and reframe the problem in some way that makes the choice we take the clear path. 3. Ask some version of, in an A+ organization what would we do ? In hard decisions, the best decision can also be the most painful one short term. From here it's a judgement call, and as much as I hate it, that's largely what I'm here for. Is this the right path? I don't know but I'm sure we will figure it out.
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𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽, 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱. Over the years, I've worked with many engineers, and one frequent behavior I noticed - 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 - is that they will work on a specific problem, and if they are stuck, they will ask for help. That is fine, however, in most cases, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱. This implies few problems. The first one is that the team leader may assume the engineer was lazy and didn't really work on the problem. This is even worse if a request for help happens after, a few days, during which the work was stuck. The second reason is that the engineer misses a valuable chance to showcase their effort, which can shape their manager’s perception of them. 𝗜 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀—𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿𝘀—𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗻, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁. #engineering #career #tips #executivecoaching
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1. Listen like you don’t know anything. 2. Explain like you know everything. But if anyone explains why you said something is wrong or how they think it’s different, implement bullet no. “1.” all over again. #communication #engineering
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Throwing more engineers at problems? Think again! Hiring more engineers, or worse, contractors, seems like an easy fix. Adding a lot of engineers quickly often doesn’t work. Why? Because scaling is not just about numbers. It’s about planning, making sure everyone is on the same page, and understanding what your project really needs. What should you do instead? Treat this like a risk-management problem. Break your tasks into stages, where each one builds on the last. Give each task a score that shows how confident you are that it can be done on time. Move tasks with low scores to the start of the project and have your best people work on them. This helps you see how many people you really need to speed up your project and what skills you’re missing. Remember, more does not always mean better. It's about being smarter, not just bigger. ✍️ Have a project that is going off the rails? DM me! ♻️ Found this helpful? Please comment or share.
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"Is problem-solving required in real-life engineering?" - The answer to this question differs from person to person! Those who actively solved problems in various online judges & contests, will say something like this- - Yes, I used it a lot. Followed by some strong reasons & examples... - Yes, not directly but It changed how you think. Followed by a lot of effort & positive words to convince the other guy, why it's important. - Yes, because it's fun. Those who didn't do problem-solving, or maybe did some Leetcodes as part of interview preparation, will say something like this- - Nope. You don't need it. Followed by some strong examples of works... - Having problem-solving is a plus, but it's not a "must" or "required" thing to become a great engineer. Followed by examples of great engineers... - No, It's pointless, and not fun at all. When I'm in such discussions, I typically get lost in listening mode. Try to understand exactly why this person gave this particular answer, and from that, try to figure out what's the impact of problem-solving was on this person.
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What challenges me the most, when a new project is about to start, are the approximated area, power, security and obviously performance numbers. If you add too much buffers, then you do not show ambition, and in worst case, the project is cancelled. If you are too ambitious, you are likely to not reach the desired targets. Then you have over-committed. But you can be sure that approximations become expectations and expectations become requirements. After every milestone, the numbers will be checked. Everybody can compare numbers, even if you do not understand the complexity of the design. It is very encouraging that most experienced engineers are sympathetic with the complexity of the problem. I prefer to stay optimistic, even though my numbers are usually off by a "few" percent.😅 Fun fact: it is difficult to express security as a number. 😁 Fun fact II: I have not yet mentioned efforts or budgets...
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Thanks, Frank, for clarifying these three essential skills and expertise criteria for #SeniorEngineers candidates - I hope that #TechnicalRecruitment specialists, and #Hiring manager professionals discover more effective methods in-line with your suggestions - love your graphic!