Great Technical Interviews

Thoughts on the process of hiring technical people. Deck is as-delivered at SelfConf in Detroit on Friday, May 29th 2015.

1. Great
 Technical Interviews Jeff Casimir / @j3 / turing.io
2. Building Teams
3. What are you
 really looking for?
4. What makes a developer 
 the right fit?
5. Years of experience?
 Mastery of a stack?
6. What about you?
7. Character changes slowly. Skills change quickly.
8. Let’s hire people for 
 who they’ll become,
 not what they’ve done.
9. The MVT
10. “I’ve never seen 
 a technical project fail 
 for technical reasons.”
12. Product < People
13. Each team has a set of 
 skill and cultural needs
14. Confidence Humility Collaboration Growth Empathy Grit Pitch Design / UI UX / Product Backend Ops Service
15. Collaboration Empathy Pitch Design / UI UX / Product Service Chelsea
 The Product Person
16. Jamie
 Data Cruncher Humility Collaboration Growth Backend Ops
17. + =
18. Confidence Humility Collaboration Growth Empathy Grit Pitch Design / UI UX / Product Backend Ops Service
20. Instead of “fit”,
 find a complement
21. Stability & MVT
22. Right people at the
 right time
23. Teams stabilize like 
 the electrons of an atom
25. 4 12 32 128
26. Confidence Humility Collaboration Growth Empathy Grit Sales Design / UI UX / Product Backend Ops Service 4 12 32 128
27. Stability Levels Risk Mission Skills Level A (4) Extreme Definers Hackers Level B (12) High Challengers Multiple Level C (32) Moderate Believers Specialists Level D (128) Low Followers Redundancy
28. Processes
30. Knowledge < Processes
31. Processes allow for
 iterative learning
32. Not following a script, writing the script
33. • Sketch out a plan • Relish uncertainty • Listen to the work • Correct course • Iterate the process
34. Finding process people
35. • Writers • Chemists • Musicians • Social Workers • Teachers • Bartenders
36. • Plan • Experiment • Listen • Correct
37. Potential beyond experience
38. Technical Interviews
39. What makes a strong
 interview process?
40. • Goals & Expectations • Aptitudes over abilities • Highlight differences • Mimic the business
41. Goals & Expectations
42. What will a new person 
 do for the team?
43. • Fix gaps • Accelerate capabilities • Reinforce critical areas • Specialize / Focus
44. What will your team
 do for them?
45. • New challenges/technologies • Industry recognition • Mentoring and growth • Put skills to the test
46. Personas for hiring
47. Who are you looking for?
 Who are they looking for?
48. Aptitudes: Empathy
49. The ability to understand the needs, feelings, frustrations, and passions of others
50. • Profile five customers • What are their needs, desires, skills, fears? • What will make them quit? Empathy: Measure It
51. • Compassion & sensitivity • Excitement for solutions • Understanding scope Empathy: What to Look For
52. • Indifference • Biases and -isms • Contempt Empathy: Watch Out For
55. Aptitudes: Iteration
56. The ability to integrate 
 new information into a process
57. • Collaborate on a puzzle (LSAT, tangrams, sudoku) • Teach along the way • Can they re-apply? Iterate? Improvement: Measure It
58. • Rational process • Patience & confidence • Changing course • Listening & application Improvement: What to Look For
59. • Plowing ahead • Desperation & leaps • Inability to explain Improvement: Watch Out For
60. Highlight Differences
61. An MVT puts differences
 at the forefront
63. Monoculture kills
64. Your team should reflect your customers,
 not your founders
65. You can’t see yourself, get help.
66. Mimic the Business
67. When was your 
 last binary sort?
68. looking for “problem solvers”
69. Problems are one-time Processes are many-time
70. What processes do you use?
71. Can your interview 
 mimic those processes?
72. • Goals & Expectations • Aptitudes over abilities • Highlight differences • Mimic the business
73. Playbook
74. You get less than two weeks
75. • 1. Async Challenge • 2. Feedback/Revision Cycle • 3. Assess Aptitudes • 4. Live Collaboration • 5. Final Decision
76. • 4-8 hours of work • 3 days to submit • Use git & GitHub 1. Async Challenge
77. • Start with working, tested code • Acceptance tests: 
 1 implemented, 
 1 pseudocode, 
 1 described 1. Async Challenge
78. • Example: 
 Simplistic CMS • Challenge Possibilities:
 Implement versioning of pages
 Permissions to control authorship
 Future/timed publishing 1. Async Challenge
79. • Submission: 
 Send a pull request 1. Async Challenge
80. • Review code in the PR • Add one additional acceptance test based on weaknesses • Less than four hours work • Two days to complete 2. Feedback/Revision Cycle
81. • They update the PR • You review/comment • Make the move-forward decision 2. Feedback/Revision Cycle
82. • Based on your identified weaknesses • Collaborate on targeted exercises • This is not programming! 3. Assess Aptitudes
83. • Propose a next revision/addition to what they’ve built • Pair to write the acceptance test • Pair to write the implementation • Use a rubric to evaluate 4. Live Collaboration
84. • Return to your original goals • Do they have the skills now 
 to be productive? • Do they have the aptitudes to
 become great? • Make the call within 24 hours 5. Final Decision
85. • 1. Async Challenge • 2. Feedback/Revision Cycle • 3. Assess Aptitudes • 4. Live Collaboration • 5. Final Decision
86. The Movement
89. “If you can do the job,
 then you should get the job.”
90. TechHire
91. Hire for who they’ll become,
 not what they’ve done. Jeff Casimir / @j3 / turing.io