We need to talk about this new... pivot. I know you're getting a lot of "positive" reviews in the press. But let's be honest: most of these reporters aren't digging beneath the surface about what's really happening.
Read more15 Pieces of Career Advice Software Developers Should Follow
I'll get to the fifteen pieces of advice. But first, let me explain what awesome careers look like.
They don't look like nice linear graphs, where you're moving up a little bit each month. (Heck, even so-so careers don't look like that. You don't move up every month. You get a bit better at your career every month, but you move up in big steps.)
Read moreA Handout for Prepping for Coding, Product Management, and Behavioral Interviews
After coaching hundreds of people through coding, behavioral, and product manager interviews, I’ve distilled some of my core advice into some handy prep sheets.
Study these sheets before your interview. Really understand them. Email me questions if you have any.
As you prepare for interviews, use these sheets. Walk through your next coding problem closely following the procedure below. It’ll help you — I promise.
Read moreIs "culture fit" discriminatory?
In theory, culture fit is a great thing to look for. Teamwork is vital, and high functioning teams produce better products. Culture fit is also more than just the do-you-get-along-well with the team. Culture fit can also be about moving rapidly, taking risks, speaking up, being creative, or not micromanaging.
You do want people who fit in well with your culture.
However, in practice, "culture fit" is often discriminatory, especially against asians, women, and older people.
Read moreNow offering Acquisition Consulting/Coaching (Say what??)
Getting acquired by a big tech company is a dream for many start-ups. That dream comes with caveats. The acquiring firm may love your product but they still want to assess the skill of your technical team. As a result, they will often interview them just as they would “normal” candidates applying to software engineering and PM roles. For the last year, I've been semi-secretly offering a new service -- what I call "acquisition consulting". People found out about me from word of mouth mostly, and word spread. Now that I've got quite a few successes behind me, it's time to announce publicly what I've been doing.
Read moreIn Defense of the TopCoder-Style Software Developer Interviews
Despite what many assume, I do not think the so-called "TopCoder-style" software developer interviews are perfect. In fact, they're very flawed (more on this another time -- and a bit in here too). However, companies have a variety of reasons for doing this -- some good, some bad.
Read moreEnough with the Internet Hate Machine
Justine Sacco made an offensive comment. But, frankly, the reaction to her comment is far more concerning. The internet hate machine -- the explosion of tweets, blogs, articles, and inevitable rape and death threats -- it's too much. How long until the angry mobs result in someone being hurt or killed?
Read moreCracking the PM Interview: IT'S ALIVE!
I am thrilled to finally announce that Cracking the PM Interview: How to Land a Product Manager Job in Technology is available for purchase! Cracking the PM Interview is my third book, and a follow-up to my earlier book (and Amazon's #1 best-selling interview book), Cracking the Coding Interview.
Read moreCompanies who give candidates homework assignments: knock it off!
There’s a trend among start-ups (and some larger companies) that worries me: giving candidates “homework” assignments. Homework assignments lead to candidate abuse. Knock it off (or at least be reasonable). I’ve seen many friends and clients go through this. As a pre-screening round before an onsite interview, a company gives them a “homework” assignment.
Read moreYikes! Your interviewer is wrong. Here's what to do.
While it’s usually candidates who make the mistakes in interviews, interviewers can screw up, too. Handling that kind of situation can be tricky. Here's what you do:
Read moreMastering the Behavioral Interview Question
Not everything about the interview process is predictable, but you can bet that you’ll be asked a few behavioral questions – and probably a few behavioral questions per interview. Behavioral questions can be questions like, “what would you do if _______?”, but more likely they’re of the form, “Tell me about a challenging interaction with a coworker on _____ project.” Contrary to popular belief, you can and should prepare for behavioral questions. Yes, I know it’s “just talking about yourself,” but that doesn’t mean that you can’t use a few tricks to nail down your answers.
Read moreSorry, Folks: Google Hasn't Changed Their Interview Questions
Another day, another overly-hyped article on Google’s “crazy” interview questions. This one though gives hope to aspiring Googlers; Google has finally seen the light and realized that brainteasers aren’t useful! Not exactly.
Nothing has changed.
Read moreWhat to Do When You Don’t Know the Answer
From Tester to Developer: Here's How You Make the Jump
Some people love testing — and with good reason. Poking around and figuring out how to break stuff can be a lot of fun. However, some people take SET/SDET roles as a way into a company, and hope to move to being a plain ol’ software developer shortly thereafter. In many cases, these people find themselves stuck and unable to make that transition.
How do you make that jump? Read more on Dice.com.
Read moreAre Programmers In C/C++ More Preferred At Google Than Programmers In Java?
If there are two programmers who are equally good, but one knows Java and the other knows C++, Google would hire both. Really. But, does Google prefer, on the margin, C++ over Java? Not really. Java is actually easier in some ways in that you won’t have to worry about memory management and pointers in an interview. On the other hand, you’re also unlikely to understand computer architecture as well if you don’t know C++.
Read moreWhat Questions to Ask Your Interviewer
You know that awkward moment when you get to the end of an interview, your interviewer asks if you have any questions, and you just... don't? Sure, you should have questions. You know that. But, for now, you just got through being grilled for 45 minutes and you really have little you want to know other than, "am I done yet?" Here are some ideas of what sorts of questions you can ask -- and what questions can actually make you look better.
Read moreWhat It Means When You're Brought Back For Additional Interviews
In a standard technical interview process, you're do between one and three phone interviews and then come in for a full day of four to five technical interviews. Then, the company makes its decision and you're on your way (or not). Sometimes though, the company calls you back with some slightly frustrating news: they want you to do another interview, usually on the phone.
Read moreWhy Technical Interviews Work (And Why They Don’t)
Although I have, quite literally, made a career in the technical interviewing space, I have mixed feelings on them. They offer a lot of value and most people's issues with them ("trick questions!" "no relationship to real world coding!" "in the real world you'd just look up stuff like this!") are easily refuted. However, they're far from a perfect science. On Dice.com, I discuss why technical interviews work, and why they don't. Click to read more.
Read moreHow to Make Your Resume Bullets Jump
Somewhere in the midst of discussions about things like “tailoring your resume to the position,” one of the best pieces of resume advice gets lost: Your resume needs to be accomplishment-oriented. Many resumes that I see do precisely the opposite.
Read moreHow to Reach Out to Experts (and Actually Get a Response)
In an ideal world, I’d respond to all the questions I get from people asking for advice. I like helping people; this is why I do what I do!
In the real, time-limited world, I can only respond to about 25% of the questions I get from people. If your goal is to get a response from me, then you’re shooting to “outperform” 75% of people. Here’s how you can maximize your odds of getting a response from me and other experts.
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