The skills that make an average software developer into a great software developer are often only partly technical. Sometimes the greatest multiplier of value is simply context: she has been working on this codebase long enough to know all of the nooks and crannies, the unwritten oddities and silent requirements, where all the bodies are buried: a rather gruesome saying, where bodies really means deadly tech debt and code smells.
In this example, then, the mythical 10x developer is more of a village elder, a living knowledge base. But if contextual experience is of primary importance, would that mean a senior developer with knowledge borne of another company and codebase start at zero again in a new role? Certainly not, but her knowledge must be explainable and accessible: that is, this experienced developer must be a skilled and willing communicator, and ideally a strong teacher.
Now, don’t get me wrong — I am not saying every senior new hire on my team needs to be the embodiment of Bill Nye the Science Guy, but with Golang and CSS — that would be a certain circle of hell I needn’t visit. But I am saying that there are a variety of ways, both quiet and outspoken, verbal and written, technical and cultural, that developers can help make a team greater than the sum of it’s parts — and that is through their ability to share their knowledge and superpowers and uplift those around them. But, sadly, being unable to identify these traits in your typical interviewing process is very much why Technical Interviewing is Broken1.
There is a powerful, but simple technique to help identify those village elders when interviewing candidates: actual conversation. The best interviews are not interrogations, the candidate shouldn’t feel like they are behind a podium and buzzer on some tech-acronym quiz show, but instead where there is genuine listening, and authentic give-and-take. Typically, this falls into a “culture round”, or a non-technical session where the candidate talks about themselves, which is sometimes only done after a gating whiteboard/technical round — in other words, frankly, you might not even be getting to this conversation.
One tactic for conducting a successful interview — from a friend who has built a lengthy career as a journalist interviewing lots of people, many famous and a few infamous — is simply “Mmm” (no, no, not the Crash Test Dummies song), or what he calls “channel markers”:
When the other person pauses, or stops talking, don’t jump in with your own thoughts or just jump to the next question.
Instead, wait a few seconds with the silence to see what else they may offer, even if this feels a little awkward.
Or, using “channel markers”, just acknowledge, wordlessly, with “Mmm” or “Ah”, which signals a bit of “I hear you, go on.”2
With a candidate that is a strong communicator, in an environment where they feel safe, they will fill the space with additional details or an alternate perspective, or perhaps even with a bit of information that they hadn’t intended to disclose. The goal is not to trick them into oversharing — it’s merely to give them to space to speak, and to listen as intently as possible. Don’t overdo the silence, of course, or it may start to feel confrontational, as if you've deemed their response as unacceptable. Purposefully give the candidate the opportunity to elaborate, perhaps with a gentle nudge of a channel marker.
And in order to evidence their teaching skills, it’s a matter of extending existing dialogue with simple “Could you explain?” “Walk me through the steps that got you to that decision,” or even an explicit “Explain it like I’m five years old,” with the goal of hearing how they can break down complexity or chaos into simpler elements. And here again, “Mmmhmm” may be the simple signal of “…go on…” you need to encourage further elaboration.
The Bullet Points for July 15, 2021
On Interviewing
“There’s an air of desperation among tech employers this summer. Software talent, it seems, is in such high demand that companies are morphing how they hire. And workers are the ones with the power.” [San Diego Union Tribune]
The job market has heated up and so have the complaints from job seekers. Mike Conley's story on LinkedIn went viral with over 2 million views and more than 40k comments. [Forbes]
Job seeking as a bait-and-switch marketing opportunity isn't something you hear of every day. [The Register]. Older, but from the same article, the FBI alerts about fake job listings stealing PII. [FBI]
Don't be afraid to ask about the specific strengths needed for the role you're looking to fill. [Three Interview Questions to Avoid, Healthleaders Media]
On Gender + Diversity
“Engineering Hero” Mary Brians [Design News]
I believe it starts with being confident enough to speak up and find your voice. I am frequently not very assertive with managers or coworkers. However, I try to fight that quietness when it matters - but in the past, I was always quiet. I feel that many other women in engineering have this problem. Much of the female management I’ve had has both encouraged me to speak up and grow confident. As a female in STEM, I think we have to encourage each other to speak up and not be afraid to ask questions when it matters most
Relevant to Mary’s comment, above: “Assertiveness is a Virtue Anyone Can Develop with Practice.” [Pysche.co]
Have you heard ‘The Dave Rule’? It's the ratio of how many more men with the same name exist in a tech team than there are total women. [The Drum]
It’s a global issue: Lack of inclusion of women and higher gender gaps in technology is alarming. [Global Village Space]
Fictionish Novel, “The Startup Wife”: What happens when a woman conceives of and creates an app — and then her husband becomes the face of the startup that monetizes it? [NPR]
On Devex
Report: The average engineer spends 6 hours per week — roughly one day — dealing with technical debt. [Venture Beat, also CIODive]
A report on the wellbeing of UK software engineers found 83 suffering from some degree of burnout. Most agreed that COVID-19 was partly to blame for increased workload and general anxiety caused by COVID 19. [The Register]
On Recruiting + HR
WayUp, a sourcing platform for diverse candidates, is merging with Yello. [Techcrunch]
Seattle startup AdaptiLab, which helps hiring managers interview candidates for machine learning and artificial intelligence roles, has sold its interviewing tool to CoderPad. [Geekwire]
Houston's industrial resurrection: moving from older companies that were a part of the city’s oil-propelled boom to an economy based on fostering technology. "Every company [in Houston] is an IT company now" [Marketwatch]
Interview with Rachel Lyubovitzky, whose HR automation startup, EverythingBenefits, was acquired by UKG. [ROI-NJ]
Startup CEO slams Millennials for job hopping. Old man yells at clouds. [Globes]
Let’s be fair, of course, this isn’t something specific to tech interviews — this happens everywhere, especially when dealing with filling roles above entry-level positions. More on this is a future edition.
"Mhm and other sounds that help in conversations”, Science Norway