๐งโ๐ผ The 9 Types Of Interviewers You'll Meet In Tech
Even though it looks like I seamlessly made it to FAANG, my offers did not come without a good amount of failures and learning experiences. After undergoing countless job interviews throughout college, I figured I’d share the 9 types of interviewers I’ve encountered over the course of my recruiting experiences. Keep in mind that these are mostly in the context of tech.
1. The Silent But Deadly ๐
Undercommunicative af. Does not give hints. So quiet to the point where you have to ask whether your mic is working. It's difficult for you to assess how well the interview went after it's over. Were you on the right track? Or were you going entirely in the wrong direction? You'll never know.2. The Know-It-All ๐ง
Thinks that Java is a quirky choice for technical interviewing. Has over 1000 stars accumulated on their Github account. Participates in open source projects. Will ask you how to recursively reverse a linked list in O(logN). Picks the least interesting point on your resume to talk about. Hints are vague. Their tone feels like one of condescension. You think you bombed the interview afterwards. The next day, you get an email saying you passed the first round. Bless this dude.3. The One Who Hates Their Job ๐คฌ
They don't wanna be here right now. Like, they reaaallyy don't wanna be here. You can hear it in their voice. You feel bad for taking up their time. You wish you could just immediately hang up and wish them good luck on their job hunt, but you need a job right now so here you are. You almost feel like you and this dude could be best friends in an alternate universe. At the end of the interview, you whisper goodbye with a telepathic pat-on-the-back.
4. The Asian Dude Who Could Be Your Uncle ๐จ๐ณ
HOOO Mah GAWD ่ ่ IS THAT YOU?? Lmao oops thought this was a WeChat video call. When you hear that Asian accent you just know shit's either going down or back up your a$$. Man's gonna ask you to return the intersection of two linked lists in O(n). It's all fun and games until he asks for O(1) space. You show him that your SAT studying in fifth grade did you wonders by pulling out your secret weapon: the two-pointer approach. You attack with those SAT II 800 math skills: A + C + B = B + C + A. YEAAA COMMUNICATIVE PROPERTY BOISSS LET;S GET IT!!1!
5. The Woman ๐ฉโ๐ป
YOU JUST STRUCK GOLD IN THE MINE OF COAL. Okay, no promises about how she'll treat you during the interview, but acknowledge the difficulty of stumbling upon a female tech interviewer. I think I encountered one female interviewer for every 10 interviews I had (many of which had multiple rounds). When it happened, I immediately felt this silent exchange of "Great to see a fellow woman-identifying SWE in this land of tech bros." The Woman may seem like an easy pass, but don't underestimate her abilities. She could grill you any second, so don't get too cocky. And don't think that she's wrong during the interview just because she's a woman. We put up with enough of that shit already.6. The Believer ๐
The nicest one on the list so far. Genuinely believes in your abilities to succeed. Writes up a good eval despite your unfinished implementation and improper syntax. Judges on effort and not on your ability to memorize the solution to Alien Dictionary. Even though you got rejected, you remember their kindness and that alone is enough to inspire you to keep going in this unpredictable journey of tech. You wish that all interviewers would be like them.7. The Exploiter Of Unpaid Ivy League Labor ๐
Lurking on Handshake. Targets first and second years at Columbia. Posts an enticing internship job description until you learn that the opportunity is unpaid. Brags about the number of Ivy League interviewees they have lined up after you. Thinks they can be the next Facebook. Offers you minimum wage at the bare maximum. Wants you to accept their offer during the interview. "The Learning Experienceโข > $$."8. The Fellow ABC ๐
Why, hello there. You're probably no more than 2 years older than me. You remember the pain of the interviewing process, don't you? All those hundreds of Leetcode questions and mock interviews you had to grind to get to where you are today? Well I'm in the same boat you were in back then. Pls have mercy and save my soul. Whatever you do, just don't ask me to construct a binary tree given its preorder and inorder traversal.Lowkey gives JomaTech vibes. Trying to be serious but you can’t help but smirk as they speak. You see these guys often for trial interviews, except you’re not supposed to know it’s a trial interview but you can tell because there’s a middle aged dude shadowing him. Don’t worry, most of them will understand. They’re probably gonna dip FAANG tomorrow and join the next VC unicorn startup anyway.
9. The Texter ๐ฌ
Okay, these people are just straight up dickheads. They don't even look at the screen when you talk. You can see the blue and grey text message bubbles in their camera reflection. "Mhm, mhm. SGTM. Go ahead and implement it" with their faces downturned. Too many of my friends have had this sad experience.Summary
You'll definitely encounter at least one of these, or even a combination of the above categories at your next interview. If you're an interviewer, which categories would you say you fall into? I personally think I'd be 1, 5, and 8. Maybe 2 if I'm feeling like a cocky girlboss.Anyhow, whether you’re still searching for a job or already set, I hope this post gave you some gud laughs. Don’t be too hard on yourself. People post about their successes all the time, but hardly ever talk about their failures. Just remember that no company takes precedence over your wellbeing. Cheers! ๐ฅ
๐ชinterviewers are hooman too guys๐งฑBREAK THE GLASS PIPELINE OF TECC๐ฎadd me on acnh๐no rly