00:06
hi everyone my name is Alison
00:08
Bruce to start with we want you to think
00:13
back to the worst interview process or
00:15
interview situation you've ever had if
00:18
this is triggering for some of you
00:20
please feel free to ignore us for a
00:22
little bit go to your happy place
00:26
for the rest we're gonna have we're
00:28
gonna have simple questions yes and no
00:30
questions if your answer is yes please
00:32
clap once if the answer is no you don't
00:34
have to do anything it's pretty simple I
00:36
can think back of the worst interview
00:39
you've ever had so clap if you have that
00:44
experience in mind okay
00:48
and after that clap if you felt a little
00:51
bit broken confident level through the
00:53
floor now I want you to think back to a
00:57
time where you join a company and you
00:59
were super excited but when you join you
01:00
realize after a very short period of
01:02
time it wasn't really what you were
01:04
expecting things were what they sold
01:06
you're in the interview again if this is
01:08
triggering you can ignore us this last
01:11
bit we want you want your attention
01:12
afterwards and again club if this has
01:16
happened to you before and if you're
01:20
kind of lost confidence that you will
01:22
ever find a job that will accept you or
01:29
you can see there were more than one
01:32
people huffing at least it was not just
01:33
me so I can constantly say that hiring
01:36
is not working in the tech industry and
01:38
as Android developers this affects us
01:40
because we are in the tech industry
01:42
we're no longer talking about stress
01:44
when we go interviewing we're talking
01:46
about having anxiety
01:48
some of us takes months to prepare for
01:50
just one job interview showing that we
01:52
care more about knowledge that you can
01:54
learn knowledge that doesn't come from
01:55
experience then the actual person and
01:59
how they can impact your team need your
02:00
take your culture so of course why
02:03
wouldn't we have anxiety if they're
02:05
questioning things that we don't know or
02:06
that don't come from practice to top
02:11
we're often at least hearing the
02:13
company's only hired the top 5% of
02:15
engineers of the whole world
02:17
apparently the top 5% of engineers in
02:20
the whole world look like Mark
02:21
Zuckerberg now opens to mark and this is
02:24
from the whole world and this type of
02:27
thinking is really toxic it's a way of
02:29
ranking people and it's just fuel for
02:31
our impostor syndrome because of course
02:33
we never identified like the top 5% we
02:36
feel like we got a job because we were
02:38
lucky they were having a nice day and we
02:40
just passed the interview magically it
02:43
also affects diversity because we only
02:45
want to hire clones of Zuckerberg
02:47
ignoring everyone that's not like that
02:49
reality is my top 5% of Engineers is
02:53
gonna be very different from B's from
02:55
yours Facebook Google Twitter
02:59
performance is context-specific so each
03:02
company is gonna have a different notion
03:03
of what their top performance is and
03:05
sometimes it's not even equal in their
03:07
company so to make good hiring decisions
03:11
this is my first advice we have to get
03:13
rid of that doncha so they shake it off
03:14
we no longer believe that the top 5% of
03:16
engineers it's a thing we're not here to
03:22
make your life easier unfortunately
03:24
hiring is difficult and it's supposed to
03:27
be you're hiring you're looking for your
03:30
next coworker you're looking for a
03:31
company where you know spend around 40
03:34
hours a week they're gonna be working
03:36
with people that you will see more than
03:37
family members well that's a good thing
03:39
or a bad thing that's your thing but
03:41
it's gonna be a place we're gonna be
03:43
spending a lot of time we do think
03:47
there's improvements we can do in the
03:49
hiring process and that's why we're here
03:50
because we do think we can make it
03:52
better for everyone not just candidate
03:54
but interviewers as well so during this
03:57
talk please think that think back about
03:59
your interview process or how you
04:01
approach looking for a job it might be
04:03
perfect already but maybe there's a
04:06
little bit of improvement that we can
04:07
help you with we're gonna go through all
04:10
the process but before we do that we
04:12
have to talk about something that
04:13
affects every one of us either
04:15
interviews of candidates we have to
04:19
our brains are pretty incredible they
04:22
analyzed millions of data points in a
04:23
second and then they simplify it for us
04:25
so we can understand it so basically our
04:28
brain has evolved to simplify things as
04:29
good or bad for people they we simplify
04:33
people in two dimensions competency and
04:35
motivation so basically a person will be
04:38
competent or incompetent and this gets
04:41
decided very quickly it makes sense
04:44
formidable evolutionary process because
04:46
our ancestor had to decide that thing
04:48
with teeth what's gonna kill them or not
04:49
you might survive not making a friend
04:52
you might not survive video if you try
04:54
to befriend a Jaguar
04:56
unfortunately I'm still hoping
04:59
so this decision takes takes place
05:01
faster than any other and it tends to
05:03
buy a source so another fun thing
05:07
arraigned us is the fundamental
05:09
attribution error we assumed that the
05:11
actions of a person are because of their
05:13
characteristics rather than the
05:14
circumstances for example the candidate
05:17
is obviously done because it's gotta be
05:19
failed the question rather than the
05:22
candy and made a mistake because he's in
05:24
a stressful situation and if we want to
05:27
want to have more fun to the mix we have
05:29
the confirmation bias when our brain has
05:32
decided on incorrect attribution it will
05:34
then look for evidence to try to prove
05:36
the hypothesis so we have the
05:38
simplification of people friend or foe
05:41
fundamental attribution error or
05:43
confirmation bias what does this means
05:45
you are an interviewing well it's quite
05:48
simple the moment you get into an
05:50
interview whether you're an idiot or an
05:52
interviewer you're gonna label the
05:54
person in front of you within the first
05:55
minutes of the interview and the rest of
05:57
the time you're just gonna look for
05:58
evidence that proves your hypothesis and
06:02
I'm not trying to make you feel bad
06:03
because it's normal it makes sense from
06:05
an evolutionary process and we all have
06:07
unconscious bias all of us and they will
06:10
depend on where we grew up where we ate
06:12
they were there where we went to school
06:14
our grandparents it's normal to have
06:16
unconscious bias but it's our job to try
06:19
to understand our unconscious mind and
06:21
try to remove it when you are in the
06:23
interview try to understand how your
06:24
brain is simplifying the person in front
06:26
of you and try to actually get to know
06:28
the human being behind it I don't want
06:31
to be labeled just as an Android
06:32
developer I like dogs I like reading I
06:35
like bouncy castles so I do appreciate
06:37
when people take the effort to just see
06:39
me as more than a meandering developer
06:41
so for a first type of hiring we have to
06:45
understand how our brain can fool us
06:48
now I've talked about all those biases
06:51
and how hard it is to hire it can feel
06:54
just overwhelming to stop hiring to
06:57
start looking for this next person to
06:59
join your team especially when it's the
07:01
first time you're being put in charge of
07:03
the hiring process how do you find
07:07
people to interview how do you make sure
07:08
your hiring process is fair and not
07:11
biased how do you convince the people
07:13
that you want to hire that you're the
07:14
right company to join it's really really
07:17
hard there are lots of unknowns lots of
07:19
questions and we're just getting started
07:23
the very first thing that you need to do
07:26
when you're looking to hire someone even
07:28
before you write a job description is to
07:30
look at your team and really think hard
07:33
about what it is that makes people great
07:37
members of your team that will be the
07:38
first step that will allow you to decide
07:40
who are the kind of people that we want
07:42
to hire and we'll make all the decisions
07:45
that you have to make further down the
07:46
line much easier so look at the team
07:49
that is around you sitting around you
07:51
look at the people the fitting the best
07:55
inside your team and ask yourself what
07:57
it is that makes them quite people to be
07:59
working with is it cultural fit
08:01
algorithmic skills product skills
08:04
product mindset communication skills
08:07
like there are lots of things that could
08:10
potentially make people fit within your
08:12
team and it's very dependent on
08:13
different companies and different teams
08:15
not everyone not every team will have
08:17
the same shape so really focus on what
08:20
is absolutely required for people to
08:23
perform the job look at this or a common
08:25
denominator of skills that everyone has
08:28
already that's the core requirement for
08:30
your job if you think of the skills is
08:34
really really important to you as an
08:36
interviewer but someone or two people
08:38
three people on your team don't really
08:39
have that skill is that really required
08:42
or is it just something that you like
08:43
seeing in people and then a second thing
08:46
that you need to look at is the
08:49
sometimes you'll be going through a
08:54
you're rewriting an application from
08:55
Java to Cortland and you don't really
08:57
have someone on the team that has
08:58
experience with large-scale migrations
09:00
like this so you may want to add some
09:02
skill to this that would be nice to have
09:05
things that will raise the bar for
09:07
candidates applying something that will
09:11
bring value to the team in a way that
09:13
multiplies the value of your current
09:15
team members something that will raise
09:17
the bar for other great team members so
09:20
start by looking at the skills that will
09:24
help you do the rest of the hiring
09:26
process much easier once we have these
09:29
bullet points we need to write a job
09:31
description the job description will be
09:33
the short summary that describes
09:35
basically who should apply why should
09:39
they apply and what the job will be once
09:42
they join your company so Job
09:45
Description has two goals in effect
09:46
first step is explain what the job is
09:49
what is it like working in your company
09:51
what do you expect of people who will
09:53
they be working with what do they do on
09:55
and the second part convince people to
09:58
the pipe you need to make sure that in
10:01
the job advertisement some time so
10:03
pitching the company
10:04
the Toraja will be shared throughout
10:06
lots of job boards you'll be copied and
10:09
pasted by recruiters it will end up in
10:10
places you never even thought like
10:12
virtual description will end up you have
10:15
to make it self-contained with these two
10:17
goals in mind describe what the job is
10:19
on your company and convince people to
10:21
apply don't assume people will click
10:23
through links don't assume your job
10:25
description will be shared on a platform
10:27
that supports links you might have it in
10:29
lots of random places and earlier we
10:32
gathered two big piece of information
10:34
the requirements for the job and the
10:37
nice to have for candidates you need to
10:39
make sure that you label them
10:41
clearly in your job description research
10:45
shows that on average men will tend to
10:47
apply on jobs if they meet about 60% of
10:51
requirements just a little bit more than
10:52
half so it may be most of the
10:54
requirements they will apply for women
10:56
that number is much closer to 100% so
10:59
you want to make sure that you don't
10:60
stop biasing that early in the process
11:02
we haven't even talked to people yet and
11:04
yet there are ways that the job
11:05
description itself can bias so let's be
11:10
aware of this while we're writing the
11:11
the job at that and let's be really
11:13
really clear what is nice to have a deal
11:15
break or a deal breaker
11:17
well next well once we have this perfect
11:20
job description it won't get seen by
11:23
anyone if it just stays in a Google
11:25
Drive so we need to start sharing it
11:28
there are lots of free jobs balls
11:29
free tools to post our job descriptions
11:32
as many sites as possible those are very
11:35
very great places to start but then one
11:37
thing I would try to keep in mind when
11:39
we are thinking of all the places to
11:40
advertise a job is where are we likely
11:43
to reach out to people who have not seen
11:44
what about that yet so for example if
11:47
you have a ties on github and on Stack
11:49
Overflow there's a huge overlap in the
11:52
members of both communities so you're
11:54
more likely to get people seeing your
11:55
developers twice than getting it seen by
11:58
people that haven't seen it yet so try
12:01
and reach out as far as possible try and
12:03
reach out outside of your bubble there
12:05
are lots of jobs boards for under
12:07
represented people in tech the usually
12:09
great places to go and reach out to
12:11
people that may not have seen your job
12:13
and finally reviewing CDs everyone's
12:16
favorite part of the day so first point
12:19
of contact between the company that is
12:21
hiring and someone looking for a job
12:23
will include a CV even if you are
12:25
getting introduced by someone early
12:27
works at the company
12:28
chances are the introduction will
12:29
contain a CV unfortunately that's the
12:32
way things work we tend to summarize
12:34
people to a one piece of paper and so
12:36
how do you go through CVS and make sure
12:39
that you mean guides the right people to
12:41
go through your hiring process well one
12:44
thing I would try to remember this page
12:45
is that we're not remaking a higher
12:48
honor hire decision like
12:49
not really deciding to your first time
12:51
on a job just based on the city so try
12:54
and look at the page and just see from
12:56
the experience they are likely or not to
12:59
meets the different requirements that we
13:01
drew up earlier it doesn't have to be a
13:03
hundred percent fit we're not at this
13:05
stage as I said trying to make them an
13:07
offer yet they still quite a few stages
13:09
were merely deciding whether it's worth
13:11
going for a phone call with them so
13:15
that's a place to start on the other
13:20
side we have the candidate that has
13:21
decided to apply for a job or has to
13:23
apply for a new job if they're anything
13:25
like me they're probably feeling
13:26
overwhelmed strength stressed anxious
13:28
and scared as much their imposter
13:32
syndrome might be through the rules
13:33
saying that you're never gonna find a
13:34
job why do you even bother and it's
13:37
normal I know I'm not alone we all feel
13:39
it or most of us feel it because it's a
13:41
risk you're getting out of your comfort
13:43
zone you're taking a risk yeah it's a
13:45
risk double duty no risk we need to
13:48
analyze that you need to calm down and
13:51
think this is normal this is part of the
13:52
normal human behavior and part of
13:54
interviewing before you start doing
13:56
anything one thing you have to
13:57
absolutely do is figuring out what you
13:59
need what do you want from your next job
14:02
of your next career move when I begin
14:05
and when a lot of us began in the
14:07
industry we feel that we have to go to
14:08
every interview with possibly can and
14:10
accept any job offer that we get going
14:13
to a lot of interview is not a bad idea
14:14
it can get you practice accepting any
14:16
job offer is a terrible idea you're also
14:19
interviewing the company they also have
14:21
to match your requirements so take the
14:24
time to figure out what do you need like
14:26
what does a company have to have if you
14:28
need a flexible work area working hours
14:30
then the company has to have flexible
14:32
working hours remote work
14:33
bouncy castle dark offices there's a lot
14:36
of things that you can figure out and
14:37
technical things as well but you know
14:39
bouncy curls are more important these
14:41
are some questions to help you it's a
14:43
great place to take a picture because
14:44
I'm not gonna read it aloud sometimes
14:47
you need the company not in your own
14:48
terms you know you can never make
14:50
redundant or get this means and I know
14:52
it's a terrible time and you're super
14:54
kind of just want to find a job and get
14:58
it over with I understand that feeling
15:01
but it won't do you any good if you just
15:04
upset any any company or any offer that
15:07
can damage your career any further can
15:09
that can damage your confidence anymore
15:11
even more so whatever your circumstances
15:14
even if they're super stressful and I
15:17
understand how they stressful they can
15:18
meet take their time to understand what
15:20
is it that you need from the company
15:23
let's assume we now know what we were
15:26
looking for now it's time to actually
15:28
find the company we will always
15:30
recommend to reach out to your network
15:32
first as other Android developers are
15:35
conferences they might be hiring ask
15:38
them about how their job is what their
15:39
day-to-day is what they like about the
15:41
job what they don't like about their job
15:43
what would they change that's a very
15:45
good question even if they're not hiring
15:47
there might have a friend or a friend of
15:49
a friend of a friend of a friend that is
15:51
hiring and you can ask for an
15:52
introduction don't be ashamed because
15:54
it's always a win-win I'm always looking
15:56
for recommendations and I always follow
15:58
through when people come like oh I have
16:00
our digestivo for a friend that's
16:01
looking for a job tonight
16:02
yes and then my way it's a win-win
16:04
scenario besides that we've mentioned
16:07
there's a lot of places you can reach
16:08
out this if you're underrepresented
16:10
candidates try to look through these
16:12
websites because if a company's posting
16:15
a job advert there they're already
16:17
taking the extra mile to try to reach
16:19
out to underrepresented calculates this
16:21
is the last time you're gonna see a
16:22
slide it's a very good site to take a
16:24
picture because a lot of people ask us
16:25
later about it so I'll give you two
16:30
now job descriptions you're looking at a
16:33
company you're reading through job
16:35
description is a great way to filter out
16:36
companies that you don't want sorry
16:40
you can tell what a bug culture is for
16:42
you based on the job description we're
16:45
all different we all have different red
16:47
sites so you also have to figure out
16:48
what your thread slacks are if you don't
16:50
like drinking or socializing after work
16:52
and they advertise your Wednesdays or
16:55
your Thursday or beer Wednesday's amber
16:57
Thursdays maybe that's not a good
16:59
culture match for you and it's okay to
17:00
not have not to apply to a company it's
17:02
perfectly fine and finally we've set it
17:06
again if you find a company that you
17:08
like apply even if you don't match 100%
17:10
of their requirements don't
17:12
underestimate your knowledge and don't
17:14
overestimate what the company is looking
17:15
for finally we apply and the fun begins
17:19
right this is like my worst nightmare
17:22
interviewing I'm with my knowledge this
17:24
is difficult when designing a hiring
17:27
process within a company you want to
17:29
make sure you find the correct candidate
17:31
that fits your culture and your team
17:34
every company is different in the way
17:36
they work in their tech tech in their
17:38
culture in their values company copying
17:41
the process of another company for
17:43
example Google and colonnades you're
17:45
your own it's not gonna give you the
17:46
candidate that will succeed in your
17:48
company it's gonna give you the Canada
17:50
that will succeed at Google but not in
17:51
your company I think the biggest part of
17:55
design in the interview process is
17:56
already done the core skills we talked
17:58
about before and then nice to have you
18:01
have to design the process to figure out
18:03
if the candidate have those skills that
18:05
you're looking for and which nice and
18:06
half they have if they can work in your
18:08
team if they can communicate well if
18:11
they can succeed if they can have an
18:13
impact in your team
18:16
at the beginning we talked about
18:18
unconscious bias and as a hiring manager
18:20
it is your responsibility to make the
18:22
process as for an objective as possible
18:24
if interviewer is having a bad day or
18:27
has a bias against someone you have to
18:30
make sure it will impact the process as
18:31
little as possible because it will
18:34
happen but whether rain will affect the
18:37
interviewer decision and I know I can
18:39
summary a bit overwhelming but there are
18:41
things that you can do to start a
18:43
document I think that every manager
18:45
knows that or that's my theory I'm not a
18:47
manager you have to write a document you
18:50
have a source of truth it will contain
18:52
every little detail of your process so
18:55
everyone can refer back to it this
18:58
document should contain every stage of
18:59
the process how long the process or how
19:01
long as they should take who or should
19:04
or can be involved were they expected
19:06
questions etc etc everything having the
19:11
questions in the document will help make
19:12
the present the process fairer and more
19:14
objective and more consistence because
19:17
the same questions are very similar one
19:18
should be asked to every candidate no
19:20
matter if they're being interviewed by
19:22
another person you don't want candidates
19:24
to be asked some kind needs to be asked
19:25
what Scott mean another one's like
19:27
what's your favorite burger it's not
19:29
fair it's not consistent another good
19:33
practice is to sit down with your team
19:34
and calibrate the sensors
19:36
what makes to this question what makes a
19:37
good answer and a bad answer a rough
19:39
idea again it will have more consistency
19:43
because our brains might bias to or
19:46
someone we liked and if they gave a
19:48
wrong answer but we like them we might
19:50
be say like oh yeah they're right
19:51
so again a document with a source of
19:53
true word interviewers can refer back to
19:55
it's a great idea another way to come to
19:58
mind calibration is having a grading
20:01
it sounds like has made like teachers I
20:03
take the term but the grading she can
20:05
have solved two problems making sure
20:08
you've evaluated candidate in all
20:09
aspects needed it's specific to you but
20:12
it could be architectural knowledge
20:14
Android knowledge about the castle
20:16
knowledge communication whatever your
20:19
core requirements are it will also help
20:24
the future like once the interview
20:25
process is over whether they can they
20:27
have those core requirements or not
20:29
whether they're higher know higher this
20:32
green sheet will also again remove bias
20:34
because it's a place for interviewers to
20:35
share the candidates answers and
20:37
opinions and to remember what they need
20:39
to evaluate the candidate on again
20:41
called lean versus burgers you don't
20:43
want that if you have a pre programming
20:46
exercise or a take-home exercise or well
20:48
not take them take exercise on site you
20:51
also have to write down how much help
20:53
the candidate needed and how fast they
20:55
went again our brains trick us when we
20:58
like a candidate we feel like the answer
21:00
the questions superfast they barely
21:02
needed needed any help but we we don't
21:04
kind of we're not sure about the
21:05
candidate we're like yeah they took ages
21:07
I had to help them they drugged so
21:09
dragged on for so long but actually they
21:12
might have taken exactly a same time as
21:14
an interviewer write it down to make
21:16
sure you're being objective to make sure
21:18
you're unconscious bias it's not being
21:19
triggered as a hiring manager make sure
21:22
you're cheering there's no numbers so
21:24
everyone involved knows what's the
21:26
normal another very important way to
21:30
remove bias is to have a diverse people
21:31
diverse set of people interviewing
21:33
throughout all the candidates for our
21:36
case this means diversity of experiences
21:38
as needed to each gender age and role
21:41
junior developers can and I would say
21:44
should be involved in hiring they just
21:45
need to be imported correctly they will
21:48
be meeting their future co-worker and
21:50
especially if they're a senior developer
21:51
if you want to let us talk before you
21:53
know that the inner developers will have
21:55
to share their knowledge and we'll have
21:57
to talk to junior developers so it's a
21:59
candidate cannot communicate properly
22:00
with a junior developer they might not
22:04
diversity of ethnicities gender and age
22:08
age we do have an ageism problem in the
22:10
industry and the same with a snippy and
22:13
gender for me is the biggest red flag
22:16
ever after five hours interviewing I've
22:18
only seen white men it's a
22:20
representation of their diversity so
22:22
it's a bad time for me that's what your
22:25
Lee sign in your hiring process try to
22:27
make sure you're reflecting your
22:29
diversity the diversity of your team I
22:30
know sometimes it's not perfect maybe
22:33
you only have white men and that's fine
22:35
but be honest about it I hate that when
22:38
I ask about the diversity and they tell
22:39
me well it's fine you know there's not a
22:42
lot of movement in tech so it's very
22:43
hard look around you there's enough
22:46
women and enough diversity in all these
22:48
aspects to make that arise so just be
22:51
honest about it I'm finally diversity of
22:54
role as Android developers we don't live
22:56
in an Andhra poeple we talk to other
22:59
developers to talk to designers and
23:00
product managers and other people in the
23:02
company so having a person that's not
23:04
technical in the process is a good idea
23:06
to make sure the person can communicate
23:08
technical problems to non-technical
23:10
people there are sort of questions you
23:15
should never never never never never I
23:17
cannot emphasize more you should never
23:20
this might seem very obvious to some of
23:22
us here but given how many times I penis
23:24
is this sort of questions and B first of
23:26
all we're just gonna you know reinforce
23:28
them you should never ask a person if
23:30
they have kids if they're planning on
23:32
having kids if they're married if
23:33
they're single their religion their
23:35
cities their nationality avoid any type
23:40
they make they seem that you're deciding
23:43
based on the answer and you can be
23:45
triggered by your unconscious bias that
23:47
you didn't know you had yes even
23:49
nationality because this might affect
23:52
your judgment without you knowing this
23:54
can be asked later after the interview
23:56
if you make an offer to make sure if
23:58
they need visas or everything but not
23:60
during the interview so never ask these
24:02
questions please you're terrible
24:05
okay we've talked about how can we can
24:07
make the process fair objective and
24:09
diverse and we actually haven't talked
24:11
about the process but this is a little
24:13
bit of purpose as I mentioned at the
24:14
beginning every company is gonna be
24:16
completely different so I don't want to
24:18
give you a perfect process until you go
24:21
go for it copy and paste it again it
24:23
will give you cunnies that work they
24:24
will work perfectly for me but not for
24:26
your company we will talk about the
24:28
building blocks that you can use and
24:30
there's like a couple of advice oh well
24:33
3 advices I want to give before that
24:35
applies to any type of process in the
24:37
interview try to ask behavioural
24:39
questions behavioral questions have you
24:41
evaluate the country's interpersonal
24:44
skills how they work in a team how they
24:46
communicate it gives you an idea if they
24:48
can be strong skills and then once I
24:50
need to improve you can even ask take
24:53
questions as behavioral ones for example
24:55
when should you or should do not
24:57
refactor it will give you an idea of the
24:59
candidates experience with refractors
25:03
which type of rig factor and the
25:04
technical thingy of it forgot the word
25:08
but it also will give you an idea of how
25:11
they can be communicated to the rest of
25:13
the team that we're gonna do a refractor
25:14
and even maybe how they handle
25:16
disappointment if they didn't get to do
25:18
their a factor they wanna be careful
25:20
though because there's no right or wrong
25:22
answer you're just evaluated the set of
25:24
skill that can be a have so make sure
25:26
everyone in the interview process knows
25:28
where the set of skills you you're
25:30
looking for there's no right or wrong
25:32
answer and if I candidate that you like
25:34
doesn't have the skills that you're
25:36
looking for try to think whether the
25:37
company can help them improve that skill
25:39
maybe it is an option another advice is
25:43
throughout any interview process make
25:45
sure you allocate time for the candidate
25:46
to ask question they're also
25:48
interviewing you there are no excuses
25:50
for this you can do it at the beginning
25:51
or at the end if you haven't finished
25:53
doing the questions doesn't matter they
25:55
have they have to have the time to ask
25:57
your questions as well and finally try
26:01
to be a little bit flexible
26:02
candidates have different life and
26:04
they're not all similar expecting every
26:07
candidate to have a github repository
26:08
with side side projects or code on the
26:11
weekends or everyone to do blog post on
26:13
talks it's very unfair there's not that
26:16
all the blog posts and talks so try to
26:18
allow a little bit of flexibility and
26:20
don't discard candidates that don't feel
26:21
in the stereotypical developer role now
26:26
building blocks we have the phone
26:27
conversations it's just a way to try to
26:30
connect with the candidate see if they
26:32
have the core requirements but you don't
26:34
have to go in very depth this is a time
26:35
for the candidate and the company to
26:37
decide whether they want to invest more
26:39
time on them take exercises if you were
26:42
in the panel I think a lot of us agree
26:44
with them but there's always a
26:46
conflicting topic it will make your
26:48
process shorter sorry you know it will
26:51
make your process longer and some
26:53
candidates hate them so they won't even
26:55
apply or they would just like drop off
26:57
but it does give you the chance to look
26:59
at someone's goal with a less stressful
27:01
environment or someone breathing down
27:02
your neck if you do decided to do an
27:05
exercise there are two things to keep in
27:08
mind time and the exercise don't define
27:11
the exercise that so it takes more than
27:13
four or five hours every candidate will
27:15
have a live kids of religion and
27:17
probably applying to ten other jobs so
27:20
it's unfair to ask them to work for free
27:21
for more than four or five hours and
27:23
second of all the exercise you want them
27:26
to have an exercise that's relevant to
27:28
your company asking to build Twitter for
27:31
you know learning language learning
27:34
application doesn't make any sense so
27:36
try to assign it so they also they can
27:38
they can see what type of problems are
27:39
gonna be solving if they join the
27:42
you can even integrate the tickle
27:44
monster sighs after in other stages of
27:46
the interview process for example you
27:49
can do pair programming over that
27:51
take-home exercise because they count
27:52
the Canadian will already be comfortable
27:53
with the code or you can just talk
27:55
through the decisions they made why they
27:57
made it how they solve another problem
27:59
how will they debug it etc brings us to
28:03
the next part of the interview process
28:05
the technical part of the process
28:07
usually in other cases it means white
28:13
we in particular disagree with why we
28:16
research sizes a hundred percent of the
28:17
times as an Android developer I don't
28:19
work in a whiteboard at all I work with
28:22
Android studio that has autocomplete it
28:25
creates my spelling mistakes I have
28:27
Stack Overflow I have a Google and I
28:29
have a team of people that are there
28:31
every time I get stuck so asking me to
28:34
write code on our whiteboard that will
28:36
not give you whether I'm good for the
28:38
job or not even if you have the
28:41
algorithm logic that you think is
28:43
essential you don't have to do it in a
28:45
wipe or exercise try to make it as close
28:47
as a real life real work environment
28:49
give them a laptop pair with them or
28:51
maybe if you feel they're gonna be
28:53
happier alone leave them with a laptop
28:55
one hour don't I don't think there's any
28:58
need to do a wipe or exercise so try not
29:00
to make it more stressful than they can
29:01
for the candidate and what then what
29:03
already is finally there's like the
29:07
other tips other bits of interviewing
29:09
there's a typical culture fit interview
29:12
be very very careful with this one
29:14
because usually people just see it as
29:16
can I go for beers with this person or
29:18
not and this is completely wrong you're
29:21
not evaluating whether you're gonna
29:22
become best friends with that person or
29:23
not this type of interview is to make
29:26
sure the candidate can fit and is
29:27
complementary to the company's culture
29:29
someone that will add something and
29:31
expand your cultural comfort zone and
29:34
finally this is now up to you you can
29:37
add any other bit of process that makes
29:38
sense for your company if your company
29:41
is very design focused and you want
29:43
everyone to be like very sunny then you
29:45
can add a design part of the process
29:46
this is now really up to you
29:51
this I think interviews is hard and
29:54
there's no one-size-fits-all thank God
29:56
because we're all very different
29:57
companies and persons take your time
30:00
rely on your team because they're there
30:03
and they're good and you want to feel
30:06
them included you want to make sure
30:07
you're hiring the correct person that is
30:09
gonna join them if you're thinking about
30:11
this type of process of problems you're
30:14
already way ahead of a lot of people
30:16
last thing I'm gonna say if just
30:19
remember that you're also being
30:20
interviewed as a person and as a company
30:23
they can is also figuring out if they
30:25
want to work with you so try to be a
30:28
nice person don't try to be a poopy
30:30
person try to be empathetic because
30:32
being on the other side is really scary
30:36
as a candidate if you get invited to a
30:40
phone call face to face interviews
30:41
you're probably gonna have to go through
30:43
that so step congratulations that's
30:45
already a big part of our process is
30:47
getting that so a first piece of advice
30:50
to any candidate going to interview is
30:52
asking your contact at the company the
30:55
person you've been in touch with what
30:57
know what you will be expected to be
30:60
doing on the day so a few companies will
31:03
tend to be very upfront about this and
31:05
we'll send you a kind of invite with
31:07
exact timings who you'll be meeting what
31:09
kind of exercise you'll have if you
31:11
don't have that it's acceptable to ask
31:12
for one interviewers and companies
31:14
please don't keep this to yourself
31:18
please do share it if it was for it we
31:21
don't really want to have surprise
31:22
interviews where we can't have people
31:24
coming in and we just ask them questions
31:25
and they have no time to prepare we want
31:28
people to come and prepare and be ready
31:30
for the kind of exercise that we're
31:32
going to be asking them to complete our
31:34
reason why sharing that ahead of time
31:36
really helps is that it will help
31:38
candidates prepare ahead of time and on
31:41
the day for the specific kind of
31:42
exercise they're going to be expecting
31:43
of them so no one really wants to go for
31:46
10k in the morning straight out of bed
31:49
without stretching it's the same for
31:50
interviews I don't want to go into an
31:52
interview not knowing if I'm going to be
31:54
expected to write cards because I want
31:56
to write a few lines on a side project
31:57
make sure that I warm up a little bit so
32:01
five lines of code in the morning on
32:02
site projects that will help you get
32:04
into the right mindset to write card if
32:05
you know you have to do that on the day
32:07
similarly if they tell you you're going
32:10
to have to think about how you would go
32:11
about designing cards for an application
32:14
that does something they will tell you
32:16
on the day you can start thinking about
32:17
how would you design a popular
32:19
application that will really help you
32:22
get in the right mindset for the
32:24
interview and you will really help you
32:26
perform better where being said there's
32:29
usually three broad categories of
32:30
exercises for Android engineering roles
32:32
and and during roles in January in
32:34
general they can encounter hands on code
32:37
systems architectural design and culture
32:40
/ behavior question for hands-on
32:44
interviews we're scheduling the
32:46
interview make sure that you know which
32:47
language you'll be expected to write and
32:49
we if you are expected to already know
32:50
that language is the exercise going to
32:53
be in Java or Kaplan which libraries
32:55
will you be using there's already really
32:58
important questions especially for
33:00
mostess smaller startups usually when
33:03
you interview they may no expect you to
33:04
ignore the language I used to work for a
33:06
company where we would interview Ruby
33:08
programmers but we are not expecting
33:09
everyone to be familiar with Ruby we
33:12
will help them if they were caustic
33:13
because of language specific issues so
33:17
ask if that's acceptable for us Ruby was
33:19
a nice to have local requirement so we
33:21
designed the interview to make sure that
33:23
it would allow people to succeed
33:26
throughout the process even if ruby was
33:27
not that co-main technology they were
33:30
using then during the interview make
33:33
sure that you speak out loud that's a
33:36
very very important part of coding
33:38
exercises the interviewer in whole
33:41
likelihood is not here just to evaluate
33:43
the cards that you're producing at the
33:45
ends they want to see your thought
33:47
process how do you go about building
33:49
this from scratch what do you do when
33:53
you get stuck with a berg and a problem
33:55
do you ask questions to get unstuck
33:57
that's also a good advice ask questions
33:59
if you get stuck onto something don't
34:01
let the clock run out not knowing what
34:03
to do ask questions and in the whole
34:05
likelihood the interviewer will give you
34:07
a small pointer that will allow you to
34:10
and on to the rest of the exercise so
34:14
that's for cutting interviews the other
34:16
type of interviews will be architectural
34:18
interviews and that tends to be more
34:21
conversation focused or Whitelaw focused
34:23
a lot of the advice will be very very
34:25
similar to the coding interview try and
34:27
think out loud ask for tips if you get
34:29
stuck one thing that is really really
34:32
really important for an actual interview
34:34
is ask for clarifying questions the last
34:38
thing you want to do is spend an hour
34:40
both as an interview or an interview
34:42
actually you don't want to spend an hour
34:43
working on the perfect system the
34:46
perfect perfectly designed system that
34:48
just doesn't really work it doesn't
34:51
really do what it's supposed to be doing
34:52
so ask cross of crying questions make
34:55
sure you understand the context in which
34:56
you're supposed to build this system
34:58
that you are being asked to architects
34:60
make sure that you understand what the
35:03
company requires of you and all the time
35:06
these architectural questions won't be
35:07
that much about good or bad answers I
35:10
mean there are lots of balances but it's
35:12
not good perfect answers it'll be about
35:14
the trade-offs that you make along the
35:15
way you'll be about what you're willing
35:17
to sacrifice in your architecture to be
35:19
able to get the benefits of a technology
35:21
that you're using so keep that in mind
35:24
and ask for clarification and again
35:26
think out loud that will really help you
35:28
make sure that you're going down the
35:29
right path so for example you could say
35:31
we need to build this application and we
35:34
need to choose a library to implement an
35:36
image display object because it's really
35:38
hard to do manually we're gonna have
35:40
lots of blogs so we might as well use a
35:41
library I would use public life for this
35:43
one because it's about gifts and we can
35:45
have cat gifts in the future and who
35:47
wouldn't want cat gifts in Android
35:48
application but also more than sorry
35:51
guys it's quite heavy as a library and
35:52
so I'm assuming that the size of the
35:54
output a PK is not a problem if it turns
35:56
out that for the purpose of the exercise
35:58
a size is a problem you will get that
36:02
feedback very early on and you'll get a
36:03
chance to course-correct
36:05
before it's too late in some cases as I
36:10
said we try to discourage companies from
36:11
doing this but you will be asked to
36:13
write courage or consider lower love
36:17
concerns in our church or interview
36:20
something around algorithms and data
36:21
structures as engineer we really don't
36:24
like them but they tend to happen so it
36:26
never hurts to brush up on the sort of
36:28
common algorithms common data structure
36:30
like you could use on the day that tends
36:32
to help a little bit as well and for
36:35
behavior interview that needs to be
36:37
mostly about your ability in dealing
36:39
with some scenarios in the past there is
36:43
no common set of questions that you tend
36:45
to get asked but it would be more around
36:48
how do you deal with conflicts how do
36:49
you resolve disagreements how do you
36:52
make decisions how do you explain
36:55
technical decisions to the rest of your
36:56
team so it's not really questions that
36:59
you can prepare for and have answers
37:00
ready but you can try and think about
37:02
this whole situations that have a reason
37:04
in your experience in the past that will
37:06
help you make sure that you have the
37:07
right memories available to you
37:09
that you can build on on the day when
37:12
they ask these questions so try and
37:15
think ahead of time when's the last time
37:16
I push for process change onto my team
37:18
and the team go on board how did I go
37:21
about pushing for those changes when's
37:23
the last time they had a strong
37:24
disagreement how did we resolve it
37:26
there's a sort of questions that you're
37:28
likely to encounter and finally some
37:31
tips now come on to all types are
37:33
interviews and that we usually do when
37:35
it's often to find a job ask all the
37:38
questions remember that you are
37:39
interviewing the company these are a few
37:41
questions you want to make sure that the
37:43
company is here to support you into your
37:46
personal growth as well remember that
37:49
you are interviewing the company as I
37:51
said the other day during the panel they
37:52
have to impress you as well you're not
37:55
just here to impress the company ask all
37:57
the questions and if something really
37:59
really matters to you don't shy away
38:01
from asking do you care about diversity
38:03
ask them about the diversity of your
38:05
that's him and what steps they're doing
38:06
to improve it do you care about the
38:10
ethics of data storage you can ask I ask
38:13
the health care company was I was
38:14
interviewing with how they dealt with
38:16
the safety of the data they were storing
38:18
about the users how do you make sure
38:21
developers don't snoop around private
38:23
people's information how do you make
38:24
sure that when we build features we just
38:27
use the data that we already have in
38:29
ways that are aligned with the values of
38:32
the company you can ask all of these
38:34
questions are very very few questions
38:36
that you can't ask a company at the end
38:40
you might accept an offer from this
38:41
company and spend five days a week
38:43
working with the people here that you
38:45
are meeting today on that interview so
38:48
make sure you ask of them all the
38:49
questions that you have and the last
38:53
part making a decision so once all the
38:55
interviews are done now you need to make
38:57
a decision both the company and the
38:59
candidate you have to decide whether you
39:01
want to move forward as a company try
39:04
and get everyone involved in the hiring
39:06
process into a room as quickly as
39:08
possible to make a decision and it's
39:11
really hard like the interviewers tend
39:15
to be the senior people to have lots of
39:16
meetings all tend to be managers I have
39:18
lots of meetings as well it's really
39:20
really hard finding a source in a
39:21
calendar but it's really unfair not to
39:24
do that very quickly the candidate on
39:26
the other side will be wondering what's
39:28
happening while you're making the
39:30
decision speaking of the candidate make
39:33
sure that you tell them when they should
39:35
expect an answer as well it will help
39:37
them make sure that they don't stress
39:39
too much because they haven't heard from
39:40
you yet and also gives you a deadline
39:42
that can motivate as well to make sure
39:45
that that decision happens you know when
39:49
you try and make a decision as a company
39:50
try and write your thoughts very early
39:53
on as well anchoring bias is very very
39:56
so tolian can be very very powerful just
39:58
imagine you're walking into a meeting to
39:59
try and talk about the interview and
40:01
your boss's boss or your boss's boss's
40:04
boss says this is the best engineer I've
40:07
ever interviewed I would be really
40:09
really annoyed if we don't hire them and
40:11
you thought actually this guy wasn't
40:13
great like are you that likely to share
40:15
that concern again that's anchoring bias
40:17
you want to make sure that you have your
40:20
thoughts clear and you don't let other
40:22
people's opinions influence you
40:25
everyone gets a chance to explain the
40:27
decisions as well you have to give space
40:29
to people to explain why they thought
40:31
one way or the other as the candidates
40:35
take the time to take a step back and
40:38
think again about the interview and how
40:41
you felt again you might have to go back
40:44
and start on Monday so really really
40:47
think about what you liked and you
40:49
didn't like about the company how you
40:50
felt during the day did you get that
40:53
weird vibe from one of your potential
40:55
future co-workers did you get
40:58
interviewed by a wall of white men ten
41:02
none of them women or did you have to go
41:04
through like a full day of interviews
41:06
and then you can even give you a lunch
41:07
break that happened to me once it's not
41:10
great and you might have to end up
41:12
working there you want to make sure that
41:13
you'll be happy going back and working
41:15
with the same people in a similar
41:17
situation sometimes the company will
41:20
decide not to make you an offer and that
41:23
sucks we've all been there we've all
41:26
interviewed for companies and not funny
41:29
and it's heartbreaking your inputs of
41:32
single-malt kick in your stop feeling
41:34
like you'll never find a job that you're
41:36
the worst engineer happen to me so many
41:39
times it's really really heartbreaking
41:41
and you really fell down for a bit we're
41:44
trying keep your head high and there's
41:46
so many reasons why the company might
41:48
decide not to make you an offer
41:49
it does happen for a lot of reasons not
41:52
just technical skills so keep looking
41:54
keep interviewing and hopefully you'll
41:57
find the right place for you on the
42:00
other hand maybe you will end up with
42:03
multiple offers and then you will have
42:05
to choose a company to work with and
42:08
very often you'll be compromised so try
42:10
and think about what really really
42:12
matters to you what you thought early on
42:14
about what really really matters to you
42:15
in terms of jobs because very often
42:18
you'll have to figure out what is the
42:22
it's working in a small team you may
42:24
have to compromise on salary or do you
42:27
really want to work with Coughlin
42:29
chances are you may have to help the
42:31
company move the legacy job application
42:33
towards Cortland so it will be
42:36
compromised and you really really have
42:38
to know what you want and it's never too
42:40
late to keep asking questions if you
42:42
realize you have a question you didn't
42:44
get a chance to ask early on in
42:46
email the person you've been in touch of
42:47
the company very often a completely
42:49
might even in value back for coffee you
42:53
have a chance to chat with your future
42:55
boss that's always great ultimately may
42:60
sound cheesy but hiring engineers is not
43:02
as much about technology it's a lot
43:03
about people and whether we are like in
43:06
this one meeting where I'm trying to
43:07
figure out who's going to be working
43:09
with us who are we going to work with in
43:11
the future whether you're the
43:13
interviewer evaluating someone the
43:14
hiring manager with the boss asking when
43:17
are we going to find someone or you're
43:19
someone looking for your next job like
43:21
it's it's all big decisions and we're
43:24
all trying to figure out in less than a
43:25
few hours every way we're going to be
43:27
working with next it's really really
43:30
hard as we said at the beginning it
43:32
there is no way to make it easy but
43:33
hopefully if we can make it a little bit
43:35
nicer good luck finding your next
43:38
co-workers and thank you very much
