Feedback from mock interviews

I recently gave a few mock interviews. Here’s some feedback I got from those.

• 1/29:
  • “User flow/experience”.
  • Non-functional requirements.
    • Scale explicitly.
    • Latency.
  • Get easier part and finish it as well. Can help put more boxes on the diagram.
  • Trade offs: focus on that.
  • Proactively find issues and try to get things right in at most 2 passes.
• 2/3:
  • Capacity planning good.
  • Don’t assume database is a black box - dig deeper.
  • Non-functional requirements.
    • Latency.
    • Availability.
  • Keep updating the diagram as you speak.
• 2/16 (behavioral):
  • Use examples to answer generic questions.
  • Ask questions for behavioral too. (Gives you time to think too.)
  • Ask questions early. (Very important, and maybe early so that you don’t run out of time at the end.)
    • People like to hear their your own voice.
  • Do some research about the company beforehand. Can help you ask good questions as well.
  • Roughly finish an answer in ~2 mins. (3 mins is too long.)
• 2/16 (behavioral):
  • About yourself: You can tell about your background etc. so that you can build curiosity.
  • For projects, talk about impact. And what did you learn.
    • Moving fast.
    • Measurable business impact.
    • Scalability.
  • What you learnt: add to every answer.
  • Collaboration important as well.
  • We vs I.
  • Need more direct conflict stories. Co-worker, manager, etc. didn’t agree with me.
• 2/17 (project retrospective):
  • Dog feeding.
  • Think of metrics.
    • TPS.
    • CSAT.
  • Done better:
    • Lack of expertise == lack of technical gap.
    • “Better job in covering our technical gaps.”
  • Architecture:
    • More complex.
    • Need to speak for 45 mins.
  • Scalability in everything.
  • Use PM, TPM in your stories.
• 2/19 (behavioral):
  • Shoot for ~3 mins.
  • Story:
    • STAR-L format. L == learning.
    • A -> bullet points.