Curious Collab #2
This is an excerpt from one of Dave Anderson’s better articles which can be found here: https://www.scarletink.com/p/technical-skills-are-overrated-focus-on-your-attitude
“I walked into the interview room, and an energetic young guy ran up to me and shook my hand frantically with both of his. He was interviewing for an entry-level software engineering position at Amazon. I need to immediately point out that very few software engineers are energetically outgoing.
“Hi, I’m Chen!” he said brightly. “I’m so happy to meet you! This is a dream for me to come interview with Amazon, and now I’m here! It’s so exciting!”
I was pleasantly surprised. I’d already done multiple interviews over the previous couple of days, and no candidate had come close to Chen’s level of energy. I was the bar raiser for the hiring event, and my primary job was to ensure that we maintained a high bar for hired candidates.”
…
“Every single interviewer had the same impression I had. They all said that Chen was below the bar on their technical measures. He wasn’t great at design (even for an entry-level candidate). His coding was moderately ok, but below the bar. His technical problem-solving was not great. Everything that would make a candidate an easy rejection.
Except that literally every interviewer also said that Chen was remarkably enthusiastic. He was energetic. He was self-critical about his technical gaps, and was excited to hear constructive feedback. Even across interviewers, he demonstrated a drive to improve himself, resolving problems he’d made earlier in the interview process.
We collectively agreed that by the book, Chen was probably below the bar for a hire. Except that no one pushed (unlikely for other candidates) for a decision to move on. Time and time again, interviewers brought up anecdotes of something Chen had done which had delighted them in various ways.
I asked the other development manager if they’d take the candidate. They weren’t technically hiring at this event, but they were representing the hiring manager decision at the debrief. They said they’d take Chen in a heartbeat.
They said something like, “I’m confident Chen would figure it out. And my team would be a better team with Chen on it. That guy would be such a positive presence.”
Chen represents the Ideal candidate, and what make him stand out so much was that he wasn’t like any of the other candidates, even in rather negative ways. It had less to do with his Technical Skills and more to do with his Attitude.
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I’ve met various types of employees in my 20+ years working in Tech. The ones who “succeed” in everything they do are very magnanimous, genuine people. Humans have built in BS detectors, we know when someone’s flattering us or lying to us. Our body language screams out our real intentions. What Chen’s body language was certainly telling his interviewers was that he would make a great asset to the team, and that he’d be a positive influence to anyone he encountered.
So the goal is act like him, but not fake it. You genuinely need to pursue something that will bring you to that level of excitement, and then flaunt it with everything you have. You don’t need anymore certification or degrees, you just need a better Attitude to make your dreams come true.
Until Tomorrow,
Jason Ziebarth (Founder Club255)
JZ#374