This document discusses improving the interview process for software engineering roles. It outlines some common problems with traditional problem-solving interview questions, such as knowledge gaps, intimidation of candidates, and arbitrary questions. The document recommends that companies decide what skills they value, ask questions aligned with those skills, provide candidates with preparation resources, train interviewers to ask better questions and coach candidates, and create an infrastructure to continuously improve the interview process. The overall goal is finding good employees, not just good candidates.

1. Gayle
Laakmann
McDowell
<dev>
</dev>
Author
Interview
Coach
Interview
Consul:ng
(CS)
(MBA)
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Laakmann
McDowell
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2. What
I
Coach
Download
at:
CrackingTheCodingInterview.com
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Laakmann
McDowell
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3. Tradi:onal
Dev
Ques:ons
Startups
“Elite”
Other
Behavioral/Experience
Knowledge-­‐Based
System
Design/Architecture
Algorithms/Problem-­‐Solving
✔
?
✔
?
✔
?
?
Disclaimer:
So.
Many.
Excep.ons.
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Laakmann
McDowell
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4. Generalist
vs.
Specialist
• Generalist
(algorithms/problem-­‐solving):
– Reasonable
test
of
intelligence
if
done
well
– Less
:ed
to
specific
team
– BUT
necessitates
that
you
will
train
people
• Specialists
(knowledge
&
experience):
– Tests
that
someone
can
“hit
the
ground
running”
– BUT
is
the
knowledge
actually
difficult
to
acquire?
Gayle
Laakmann
McDowell
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5. Algorithm
Ques:ons
“Problem-­‐Solving
Ques:ons”
=
Solving
a
problem
you
have
NOT
seen
before.
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Laakmann
McDowell
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6. Problem-­‐Solving
Ques:ons
few
false
posi:ves
(only
good
people
pass)
but…
lots
of
false
nega:ves
(many
good
people
fail)
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Laakmann
McDowell
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7. Problem-­‐Solving
Ques:ons
“Design
an
algorithm
to
find
the
most
common
element
in
a
list.”
=
Solving
a
problem
you
have
NOT
seen
before.
Gayle
Laakmann
McDowell
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8. Why
Problem-­‐Solving
Ques:ons
Work
• Smart
people
do
good
work.
^^
That’s
preIy
much
the
gist
of
it.
So
why
so
many
false
nega:ves?
Gayle
Laakmann
McDowell
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9. Why
Smart
People
Fail
1. Knowledge
gaps
2. In:mida:on
3. Arbitrary
ques:ons
4. Not
knowing
how
to
be
good
These
are
[par:ally]
solvable
problems.
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Laakmann
McDowell
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10. Why
Help
Candidates
Be
Great?
• Goal:
good
employees,
not
good
candidates.
• Do
you
want
to
eliminate…
– Everyone
who
doesn’t
know
___?
– People
who
are
insecure?
– People
who
are
bad
at
interviewing?
– People
at
random?
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Laakmann
McDowell
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11. 1:
Knowledge-­‐Gaps
(Why?)
• Not
knowing
fundamental
CS
knowledge
– Especially
older
people!
• Obscure
CS
knowledge
being
tested
– Making
ques:ons
“hard”
via
knowledge.
Gayle
Laakmann
McDowell
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12. 2:
In:mida:on
(Why?)
• Candidates
misunderstanding
goals.
• Interviewers
being
[uninten:onally]
rude.
• Scary
ques:ons.
• Insecurity.
Gayle
Laakmann
McDowell
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13. 3:
Arbitrary
Ques:ons
(Why?)
• Well-­‐known
ques:ons.
• Easy
ques:ons.
• “A-­‐Ha”
moments
&
singular
hurdles.
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Laakmann
McDowell
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14. 4:
Not
Knowing
How
To
Be
Good
• Didn’t
use
an
example.
• Tried
to
rush
the
process.
• Didn’t
walk
through
problem.
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Laakmann
McDowell
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15. Design
Around
This
1. Decide
what
you
value.
2. Ask
the
right
ques:ons.
3. Give
candidates
tools
to
prepare.
4. Train
your
interviewers.
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Laakmann
McDowell
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16. 1.
Decide
What
You
Value
• Is
problem-­‐solving
skills
a
top
priority?
• What
sorts
of
specialist
skills
do
you
need?
• Are
fundamentals
of
CS
sufficient?
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Laakmann
McDowell
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17. 2.
Ask
the
Right
Ques:ons
• Right
topics:
– Avoid
scary
topics.
– Require
only
basic
CS
knowledge.
• Right
difficulty:
– Medium
&
hard
problems.
– Avoid
common
problems.
• Logical
path
with
mul:ple
insights.
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Laakmann
McDowell
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18. 3.
Give
Candidates
Tools
to
Prepare
• Tell
them:
– What
to
expect.
– How
they’ll
be
evaluated.
– Struggling
is
normal.
• Links
to
prepara:on
resources.
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Laakmann
McDowell
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19. 4.
Train
Your
Interviewers
• How
to
design
good
ques:ons.
• Be
extra
nice
to
candidates.
• Coach
candidates
to
be
great
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Laakmann
McDowell
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20. 4b.
Coach
Candidates
To
Be
Great
• Encourage
the
right
example.
• Remind
them
of
details.
• Don’t
let
them
dive
into
code.
• Encourage
shining
gears.
• POSITIVITY
&
SENSITIVITY
A
good
coach
can
make
a
HUGE
difference!
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Laakmann
McDowell
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21. Need
The
Right
Infrastructure
• Interview
training
• List
of
good
&
bad
ques:ons
-­‐-­‐
and
why
• Standard
resource
sheets
for
candidates
• Feedback
from
candidates
• Assigned
roles
• Con:nuous
evalua:on
&
shadowing
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Laakmann
McDowell
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22. It
shouldn’t
come
to
this…
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Laakmann
McDowell
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