Behavioral Questions Flashcards
Memorize which answers to use for specific questions.
What are you most proud of?
Tauren, Adam, Josh feedback. Hearing how you have impacted peoples lives.
What are some of the best things you’ve built?
Platform, plug and play tf modules
Comp Search Module
Measurable Engineering Org
Errr
Maddox
Steps
Tell me your biggest mistakes, or something you could have done better.
Ie what have you learned?
Hiring engineers, not JS developers
Provision: push for value,usability combined with feasibility
TP: Dropped Cognito, Nobody owned usaiblity/value, Wasted a week not getting requirements
TP: Misunderstood how Lambda’s worked and it almost caused a big problem.
Workflow
TP: Setup with lambdas led to requests not staying in a single AZ which led to downtime.
What were some excellent collaborations you’ve had?
Kuntal, Shawn/Adam
Modeling Director of Product
12 Hours
Tell me about a time when you advocated for and pushed your own ideas forward despite opposition.
Measurable engineering organziation
How do you deal with conflict?
Mine for it healthy conflict, Thank people when they do it well (dir product), usually a misunderstanding, Never Split The Difference
How do you like to give and receive feedback?
Usually immediate but context matters. First, Can I give you some feedback? Undestand how mean it is not to give direct meaningful feedback. Be respectful.
* Adam making bade comments about designer
I ask for feedback all of the time. If I am doing something wrong or dumb, it is your duty to tell me.
* Adam & Shawn telling me I am messing up without program management
What kinds of technologies are you most excited about?
The best one to build value and usability for clients that is viable for the business.
Talk about learning AWS.
I want to know how technologies work though. The full stack eng is going to have to know more and more as AI gets better.
Give an example of a difficult customer interaction and how you worked through it. What was the outcome?
That one company. First principles, agreement. Our process sucked. Outcome bad.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Work / life balance as a leader and the implications it gives to others in the org.
I don’t turn off. I am always asking, Why things are they way they are and challenging them.
I was afraid of giving real feedback. I started challenging myself. I read lencioni books and others. Mean not to give feedback. Talk about feedback to Adam
Describe a time when you faced a conflict with a team member.
Peer: Copy Container Failure
Boss: CEO, Don, Comp Search
Boss: CEO, Hickman, Cap Tables
Tell me about a peer that you have a tough relationship and were able to turn it around.
Shawn had a tough relationship with him when he was in product, but I also saw potential, so I brought him in.
How does teamwork come into play in your current role?
Built a culture around HHS, Generative Culture, Leadership is a responsibility, not reward, Care about the human across from you, Psychological Safety.
Adam, Shawn, Me: Challenge each other.
Share examples of how you manage difficult stakeholders
Empathy, open and honest, try to explain the situation and problems, try to bring value for them anyways.
Describe a project you were responsible for or led.
12 Hours
Comp Search
New Comp Search
Describe a time where you influenced an outcome.
Measurable Engineering Organization
Delivery and Repo structure at Exactera
How do you deal with ambiguity and setbacks?
Ambiguity is just a problem that is too big. Break it down to the first principles.
* Comp Search
* Becoming CTO
Setbacks: in the moment you solve problems. Then retro and be better.
* Jason railing me during a production issue. I turned to him and said, none of this matter right now. We will retro later.
Tell me about a time when you have gone above and beyond for a client.
I took over product: I helped put out a couple of big time fires for our services department.
Tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision.
Toughest decisions are always people decisions. We had to do layoffs and I knew that it meant I needed to remove a couple of people that I brought into the company. Leaders run towards the hard things. I made sure that I was the person who spoke with them.
How do you handle stressful situations?
Meditate. Jason, Covid. Felt like he abondoned me. Meditation led me to understand that I was about to abonden everyone too.
Assume positive intent.
Tell me about a time when you wanted to change something that was outside of your regular scope of work.
Project Managing risks as Dir of Product
Tell me about a time you had to make a fast decision and live with the results.
Bloated db while building comp search, I needed to understand what was happening during automation.
First Copy Container, Not solving the underlying auto generated ID problem.
What project are you most proud of and why?
Comp Search. It brought together multiple skills I had been honing.
Tell me about a time a project took longer as expected.
Media Service
Provision
Tell me about a situation where two teams couldn’t agree on a path forward.
Being Dir of Product. Designer, Product Managers, Tech leads couldn’t make decisions together.
Describe a situation when you made a mistake, and what you learned from it.
Workflow
I dropped the cognito store
Tell me about some constructive feedback you received from peer/manager and subordinate
Adam, Shawn: Program Management
Communication during town halls
MJ: using same words meaning different things.
Tell me about a skill set that you observed in a peer or mentor that you want to develop in the next six months.
I did develop operations skillset from watching Shawn.
I did develop “lead and mine for problems by having conversations” from walt
Tell me about a time when you mentored someone.
Josh - One Pager
Adam - Self awareness EQ
Shawn - Changing career path
Tauren - “saved my marriage”
Tell me about something you’ve spearheaded/led the charge on at work.
Measurable engineering organization
Tell me about a time when you took it upon yourself to give feedback to someone who was holding-back the team.
Adam. Principal/Leader, Cynicism was confusing people
Tell me about a difficult technical challenge you encountered. How did you navigate it?
Comp Search
Tell me about your side projects.
Books
Studying AWS/SRE
Maddox/Errr
Tell me about a project that didn’t go according to plan (shifted priorities/deadlines/budget).
Copy Container
Workflow redo
How do you negotiate scope/requirements across teams?
Stepping in Director of Product
Communication, Planning, Strategic Context, Goal Setting
Good, Fast, Cheap, Project Managing Core Risks
How do you stay educated on best-practices/industry trends?
Substack
Books
Podcasts
How have you worked on your weaknesses and developed your strengths?
Books. I am more focused on improving myself based on my teams weaknesses, rather than my weaknesses.
Tell me about a time you had to deliver on a tight deadline.
Stepping in as product manager
Comp Search
Tell me about a time you fell behind or missed a deadline on a project. How did you respond?
Stepping in as product manager
Provision
Tell me about a conflict you had with your own manager. How did you approach this?
CEO, Do not build a product
CEO, Comp Search
Tell me about a time you overcame a conflict with a team member.
Copy Container 12 hours
Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with your team or the direction your team was headed.
Measurable Engineering Org
Tell me about a time where you had to resolve a conflict between two or more of your team members.
Tauren vs Xander
Tell me about a time you received feedback from a subordinate.
Working too many hours sending signals that others were expected to.
