Understanding non technical interview
At FAANG and big tech companies, senior-ish software engineers have to go through a non technical interview (different from the hiring manager interview). This round is not a discussion to convince you to join – it’s a real interview, and to be very clear, I have seen candidates being rejected only because of a non technical interview (e.g. a cross functional interview).
One of the most important components of these interviews is whether you would be successful in your new job again – i.e. if you were able to do
The questions are centered around your personal experiences so this isn’t something you can just copy from others. You should make sure you have interesting, impactful and personal stories that can show:
- How have you solved different kinds of problems yourself (e.g. prioritization, people conflicts etc.)? What kind of thought process do you follow (e.g. how do you balance team vs company priorities)?
- What have you learned from such an experience? Maybe you didn’t have an opportunity to solve a similar problem again, but as long as you extracted some lessons, it’s reasonable to assume you would be able to solve the same problem again
- How did you grow from these experiences?
If you are actively interviewing, my recommendation is to
- Write down (non trivial) stories about your work that can showcase different type of problems you solved and how you grew
- Connect the story above to build a narrative on who you are, what your strengths are and where your gaps are. Yes, you have gaps and you should be aware of them – otherwise you can’t address them
- Keep narrating these stories in your head (during your runs, your commute etc.) such that you can tell in a very natural and clear way