Holding wholesome tech interviews [part 1/7]

More than just technical interrogations

This article is part of a series on how we can further improve the experience and the outcome of technical interviews, from the side of an interviewer.
For a centralised table of contents for the whole series, check out this Github Gist

rethinking the format

What if instead of a borderline cold, one-sided machine gun of questions, only maybe followed up by a significantly shorter round of rushed reverse QA at the very end, technical interviews were something more?

What if we would be able to achieve that same goal of validating a hiring match, and actually sometimes even more so, and do that through an actual, and genuinely friendly & curious conversation?

A conversation that would of course be leaning significantly more towards the discovery of one of those participants’ mastery of a said topic, but also towards at least some of their personal traits, their MOs, gripes, passions and goals, and also sometimes indirectly revolve around both the participants’ knowledge and experience of a specific technical discipline.

A pre-researched, well organised and yet not strictly formal dialogue, where both sides may and should be able to ask questions also intermittently, in an almost casual manner.

A dialogue with a clearly driven and yet loosely carried out direction, with the plethora of potential wins on both sides that can come out of this more meaningful type of interaction, and further unpacked in the upcoming chapters here.

taking notes from the best

Imperatively inspiring me to conduct my own technical interviews in a similar manner, and afterwards becoming also one of the main reasons for wanting to verbalize and share on this, the very select number of personal experiences that I was lucky enough to take part of, resembling those almost idealistic (depending on each persons’s experiences) descriptions above, really put several other experiences as well as some of my peers’ feedback into perspective.

Now, apart from the literal shining memory of those positive personal experiences, and of the energy of those passionate people managing to conduct a technical interview in such a manner, I cannot ignore what has also become a second influential factor for me, as another great instantiation of all this.

A bit far away from an IT technical recruitment scenario; and may sound like a bit of a stretch. But bear with me, as I paint the picture of two special (I could not decide on just one of them)… podcasts.

There are many others, also from my favourites, and who knows how many more that I don’t even know of, but these 2 specific ones — the Joe Rogan Experience and the Lex Fridman Podcast — have been both my personal favourites for some time, as well as among (if not) the most popular, and their interviewing format can be deceivingly discreet in terms of what they manage to achieve.

In a nutshell, and regardless of the vast multitude of topics discussed, in each of these podcasts the interviewer gets a relatively generous amount of time (often around 3h) to organically craft a genuinely friendly dialog, that also happens to be an interview, and in which, also regardless of the guest’s occupation, or station in life, the discussion is framed to happen between two equals.

The hosts are not interviewing the guests with the purpose of hiring them. However. Through each of those particular hosts’ genuinely curious nature, as well as both of their relentless yet non aggressive ways of not leaving vague topics unpacked or unexplained, something very special gets assembled.

Moreover, by simply incrementally asking more, actively listening, and providing counter arguments when playing a devil’s advocate can provide even deeper value and/or discovery, they manage to indirectly put quite a spotlight on the on-the-spot knowledge of each guest, while still — or even precisely because of the discussion becoming a genuinely curious and friendly dialog, that drifts further and further away from an interrogation type of interview.

I think that there’s something essential to learn from all this.

on-the-spot + long-term wins on both sides

Mainly, that this paradoxically mindful & well-organised, yet natural & loose form of social interaction between humans comes with some key principles that we could also apply during technical interviews.

That is to say that not only can you get much better and more insightful answers if the guest — er, candidate — is in a relaxed state, and if the interview format and energy resemble a more socially natural setting, but that there’s even more to it than that.

If the host — er, technical interviewer — is able to dedicate the mindfulness, energy and a bit more time to set this in place, and also to tend towards such a format, then, in parallel with the goal of discovering and validating a hiring match, an actual rapport and meaningful relationship can also be planted, during that very early discussion.

There are actually even more positive points to be gained on both sides by using such a format and overall approach, and we will unpack and analyze them throughout the following chapters, along with the kinds of helpful context for them.

[a preview of] requirements, for the interviewer side

Regarding the duration, 3 full hours may be excessive, depending on the role and seniority of the job opening; but I do believe that even 1.5h or 2h instead of a measly 1h can be significantly more valuable, especially for non junior hires. Please do note that this would be exclusively for this [upgraded] technical interview, which usually follows a human resources interview and perhaps also an online technical preliminary round and/or a portfolio triage.

Now, besides the extra time and energy, the interviewer will also have the requirement of being an active listener, *metaphoric pause to emphasise this very next trait*, and to also be genuinely curious.

Potential bonus points if they are willing to open themselves up a bit as well if the specific scenario reaches a context encouraging this — yes, even if they are not the ones applying for the job (we’ll also exemplify this particular point in a later chapter).

And lastly, to want to actively plant the roots of a new work relationship — even from that very early stage — yes, even before knowing the candidate is a good fit. I think this inertia is important, and directly setting out with a positive mindset can be crucial. I also believe that most people can feel whether that is genuinely there or not very quickly, and if this point of contact gets reached, I think a minimum of positive assumptions from both sides could be in order.

and more wins ahead

I’m stuck with this hardcoded belief that after taking part in even one such interview where you experience the above mentioned — while being evaluated technically, regardless of the very outcome: the degree of empowerment, the rapport assembling so surprisingly quickly, the degree of human connection, and finally the lingering positive impressions remaining afterwards — you cannot help but to attempt to give that back, when you also reach a similar position.

You are probably already extrapolating this to other concepts as well: I also think that regardless of where we work and what we do, the positive aspects of the manner in which we were mentored tend to shine bright, when it’s our turn to help others.

So let’s get back to our main topic, and try to npm --verbose --dry-run install the energy behind this overall concept further, as well as the rest of the principles and required traits behind this mindset.

[Jump to the next chapter!]