I'm A Software Engineer -- How Do I Interview For My New Boss?

Transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.

Hey folks, I'm going to go to a submitted question um that I think is pretty cool. So um this one was sent in on the code commute website which is at codecomute.com. There's a contact form there. You can submit stuff anonymously. And so that's exactly what this person did. And um the question is around uh the scenario where this individual uh is a software developer and they and their colleague are being asked to prepare to interview a manager for their team and so this manager would essentially be their boss. So they were saying, "Hey, like given that we have to interview for this position, what uh what suggestions do you have? Like what kinds of questions and stuff would you be asking for basically interviewing someone that's going to be your boss?" And I think this is super cool because like um if I if

I think about my own career where I've been in situations where I've had um you know new new managers brought in above me um or especially being in a startup where you have like director VP roles as a company's growing where people are coming in above you. Um, I would say there were sometimes situations where I got to to interview the people that were coming in. Uh, and other times where like it's almost like the decisions been made and it's like courtesy that you're just kind of interviewing. And I don't I don't mean that in like a I don't know like salty kind of way. I just mean like that's kind of how how it worked out. So being able to reflect on times where there were good and bad managers like what what would I have tried to ask right and so admittedly I haven't sat here and done like a ton of uh you know upfront reflection on this but I I think it's a good question to kind of think through.

So, um I think a few different angles that I would be interested in are like one of them is kind of like selfishly as a software engineer um or in my case now as a manager, right? doesn't really matter like in my career selfishly what what types of things would I be looking for in a manager to make sure that I feel like I'm going to be supported which I'm saying you know air quotes like selfishly it's not really selfish like that's should be an expectation let's call it selfishly though um so how do I what am I going to ask to feel supported and what types of things would I be curious in to make sure that um I'm going to be able to grow in my career Right. Supported can mean that supported can also just mean, you know, day-to-day activities, making sure like support can look different for everyone, but um I would kind of look at support from day-to-day activities as well as career growth.

And so like that would be one area that I would selfishly want to make sure that I'm getting clarity on. And then the other thing that I'd be trying to ask is like sort of not selfishly um how is my how am I going to ask questions to make sure that my whole team is going to be supported, right? Um you you might need to zoom out a little bit further than this depending on um the org structure, right? So to give you an example, if this manager being brought in is just going to be managing your team, okay, like there's your you're sort of framing the level of or amount of responsibility they're going to have, but like my manager not only manages my greater team, but also like a sibling team. So, you know, if I were trying to hire a man or interview for a manager that's in the position of my current manager, um the the purview, their responsibility is greater than just my team.

So, I need to factor that in. Um and then I think one more angle on top of all of that, sorry, I need some sort of sugar pretty badly here. I just finished CrossFit. Um, one more angle on top of all that is I think more forwardlooking, which is not just the team that we currently have that they're going to be responsible for, but like personally I don't want to be on a team where I'm like, hey, things are things are just, you know, hunky dory. I want to make sure that whoever is leading our team is trying to like propel us. I want to make sure that I have someone at the head of that team that's going to be like not only how do we just maintain like steady state but like what are we doing to grow as a team uh in

the domain that we're in like how how are we pushing forward right um personally I'd be interested in that because otherwise what I don't want to have happen is like a year goes by 2 3 5 years and it's like the team is just kind uh keep on keeping on. Nothing's really evolving. I want to make sure that we're um staying like, you know, cutting edge personally. That's what I would want. So, those are three areas, right? The more selfish, like how am I going to be supported? How is my team going to be supported? And then like how are we going to be pushing forward? And so a lot of manager questions um in my opinion focus on on behavioral types of things. Tell me about a time when like things like that. And something that you may want to tailor depending on your interest uh how you feel supported is like uh a commonly debated thing is like how technical is your manager right?

If you have a very very strong technical team, right? So you're say you're a senior engineer, you have uh seniors on your team that are your peers, um maybe principal, staff, beyond kind of thing on the team. If you have a really strong technical team and even the juniors you have on your team, like you know, everyone is supported technically already, what you're looking for in your manager may not need to focus on that as much. Maybe um you know you or other people on your team uh have had experience with a manager that wasn't technical and that was uh problematic, right? Um again, this is a bit of a spectrum here and people have different opinions on this, but I I think most people don't want a manager that seems like stupid technically. Like I don't think anyone wants that. But also beyond like just being competent, how much of an expert do they truly need to be?

Right? I've I've made tons of videos about this topic where, you know, one of my best managers was not a software engineer, right? They they had a product manager background and uh that worked extremely well. they were able to, you know, communicate effectively. We could get on the same page for technical details and they didn't have to be a software engineer. Um, you know, uh, not like to to I don't know to to be stereotypical, I guess. There's certainly situations where there are people that are extremely technical and maybe their uh their communication abilities, interpersonal skills might be perhaps lacking in comparison to that. Like I personally would not prefer that. I would much rather have someone who's not as a manager is not a technical expert but is able to navigate the interpersonal stuff a lot better. I would personally much rather that. Um but you may not.

So I think you want to ask questions that that focus on those things, right? If you're looking for someone who's more technical and that's an expectation that you have in that manager role, ask questions about how they, you know, they participate with the team around designs, code reviews, um is there an expectation they're also contributing to the code base, right? Again, that may or may not be the case. I'm feeling like I need a lot more sugar. Like my blood sugar feels very low. Um apologies. Um so I think yeah, you're going to want to tailor stuff that way. So like some example questions on the other side of things like um when it comes to interpersonal challenges, right? Like how do you um as a manager how do you deal with situations where there's conflict between team members um resolving you know uh technical indecision?

How um how have you coached people through you know performance improvement plans? how have you know I don't know like there I think there's lots of different things you could be asking around like the the interpersonal side of things right um how do you approach one-on ones like what does that look like how do you approach uh performance reviews um can you tell me about a time where you had an employee that was uh maybe not meeting your expectations and how you let them know or the opposite someone that was excelling how you let them Um, but I think a lot of that to me is that first category like how am I going to feel supported? Oh man, I don't feel very good. I just need a psych to breathe here. I want to put my window down to get fresh air, but it's too loud.

Um on the team support I would say you know um how do you identify like skill skill gaps on the team or um what's another way to say that like if you're basically if you're building out the team how do you I like tell me about a time where you had you know, expand the team and make sure that you had the right roles and experience brought in. I just feel very sick right now. I might have to stop the video, unfortunately. Yeah, I might wrap it up here. So, I'll keep this one kind of short, but um I think when you're trying to interview a manager, it's a lot more behavioral interviews, but I kind of mentioned those three categories that I would focus on. So, sorry for keeping this one short, but I got to put my window down because I'm feeling pretty nauseous.

But, thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one. Take care.