Writing

Our articles and podcast episodes on software engineering, management and collaboration.

Interviewer Skills Part 1/??: Why set specific goals

This is Part 1 of a multi-part series covering some of the topics introduced in our RailsConf 2018 Interviewer Skills workshop. You’re hiring - yay! How would you describe what kind of person would be an ideal candidate to hire? Beyond experie...

Return from RailsConf + Interviewer Skills Part 0/??: Intro

We’re back from speaking at RailsConf, and what an incredible experience! The conference organizers did a fantastic job at running a smooth event despite never-relenting weather challenges. We were constantly learning from our fellow speakers, and...

Twenty minutes

Recently I was chatting with a friend, and the topic turned to my upcoming workshop on Interviewer Skills at RailsConf. My friend’s not in software, but is in a technical field: she’s an engineer! a real engineer! as in buildings and bridges and s...

Tell me about a time when...

Here’s a question I got recently: “Doesn’t it work to ask a candidate what they would do? couldn’t I present a situation to them and ask what they would do?” My first impulse was to jump into an answer about behavioral interviewing, and explain h...

Embracing Uncomfortable Refactoring

Sometimes refactoring is fun. Sometimes refactoring feels therapeutic. Usually, those kinds of refactoring are the kinds we don’t need. We know it: we always have that faint feeling that we’re having just a little too much fun to justify our sal...