DEV Community: Lani 🪴

How to Break Into Senior Roles (Starting Today!)

Lani 🪴 — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 19:02:31 +0000

Not to sound like a broken record, but everyone’s doing it.

You know, moving jobs. Changing companies. Taking part in the Great Resignation.

Or, as we’ve come to know it, the Great Reconsideration.

When we wrote about knowing if it’s time to quit your job, we saw that many Elphas are ready for a career change. This rings especially true for those working in middle management.

After a few years in a manager role, it’s common to feel stagnant or stuck. We talked to more than 20 Elpha women in leadership who have been there. Our takeaways will show you how to break into a senior role, or transition from manager to director, starting today. We’ll also show you how to make your dream job come right to you . 🤩

Theresa Helmer, Executive Director of Integrated Content Strategy at Disney Branded Television, said it best about how to become a director of a company: “So much of my growth has come down to two key things: Championing Myself & Sponsorship.”

Elpha members agreed. Our recent conversations revealed action items (such as finding sponsorship) that can help you break into a senior role:

Pay attention to what you learn. Where learning ends, stagnation often begins.
Speaking up is key to getting out of that stuck place.
Don’t hesitate to be your own biggest fan.
Develop your strategic mindset.
Walking the walk of senior leadership can be your biggest edge.

Ready to make the move to the executive level? Let’s begin!

Pay attention to what you learn. Where learning ends, stagnation often begins.

Out of the 22 Elphas who responded to our recent post, 19 said that they’ve experienced the feeling of being stuck in their career.

When Christmas, Prev. Senior Director of Corporate Strategy at Yahoo felt stuck in her career, she spent a lot of time reflecting on why. She realized that "Leadership could see that I was a great employee, but they could also see that I wasn’t really clear on my future at the company and in my career. Armed with this clarity, I took action and started looking for senior leadership roles in different industries and careers where my skillset was transferrable."

Many Elphas shared that they know they’re stuck in a job when they aren’t learning.

If you’re not learning, you’ll likely grow bored. Boredom can be a red flag that our once-challenging jobs have run their course. 🚩

As Raven, Customer Experience Director, says; “My wake-up call was when I joked to a friend that I could do that job in my sleep. I felt bored, unchallenged, unheard, and under-resourced.”

Another Elpha says, “As a PM, I felt bored with lower-level story writing, sprint planning, etc. and frustrated that higher-level decisions were either made poorly or not well communicated.”

Lack of learning can also mean you aren’t developing the leadership skills needed to transition from manager to director.

Nicole, Operations Leader & Chief of Staff at Team Rubicon, advises Elphas to “be mindful of movement over time. Even if you are in a manager or more senior role, are you having the same pace of opportunity to continue taking on new things and increased responsibility?”

If you’re figuring out how to get promoted to executive-level work, start tracking what it is you’re doing day-to-day. By keeping a careful eye on projects that you’re managing or involved in, you can develop a gut check of whether your skillset has maxed out.

Jessie , Chief of Staff to the CTO at Roblox, follows a specific method for tracking career growth: Keeping a weekly log.

She says, “I'm learning so much in my role every day. I actually keep a log where I write down key learnings each week - things I could've done better, how a decision got made, how someone asked the right questions to surface a key issue, etc.”

Mia, Midcareer Career Coach, offers a similar suggestion. If you’re actively applying to new jobs, look at what you’ve learned from your current role. Fold that into your application process through storytelling. Mia advises Elphas to:

“Identify places in your current job where you’re using strategic thinking skills and bringing in innovative ideas, even if they are limited in scope. So curate the stories that support the role you want. That’s what goes into your cover letter.”

Speaking up is key to getting out of that stuck place.

Your dream senior-level position may be within reach at your current company, or it may require finding a new role. One thing stays the same, though: If you feel you’ve maxed out your career growth, you should start speaking up.

Madison, Senior Manager at ERPi, explains that communication was key to moving out of a stagnant situation at work. “...I communicated my desire to learn more and do more with my immediate leadership - how someone reacts can clue you into whether or not you're in the right place.”

A word of advice from Susan, CPO and CTO at Ikea: "Spend some time on where you want to get to. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is an incredible book for thinking about this. if you know your destination (or generally where you are going), you give yourself flexibility and the ability to make decisions in context."

With that in mind, if you’re starting to have conversations about getting “unstuck” – whether that’s with your boss or a job recruiter – we recommend following these tips:

Know what you want. When you picture your ideal job, what does it look like? Determining this will help you articulate your goals to others.
Make big decisions. Anyone figuring out how to become a director of a company or how to get promoted to executive-level jobs must decide whether to move up or along. A higher-level role may be at your current company, or a different one. 🏃🏾‍♀️
Make finding a better job easy. If you decide to move along, let a senior role come to you by joining Elpha’s Talent Pool. And get prepared for the desired salary conversation with our tips.
Get feedback about your decision. Ask bosses, mentors, or friends for advice on your career goals. Utilizing friends or mentors as a sounding board can help eradicate those flashes of self-doubt that appear in job changes.

Sarah , Talent Lead at Just Appraised, comes up with ideas for moving out of a stuck situation and asks for feedback. She says, “I would brainstorm ideas, sometimes alone, sometimes with colleagues and at times with upper management. I identified gaps and improvement areas and prepared a brief plan to approach them… Remember you don't have to have all the answers, sometimes simply taking initiative and leading the charge is what needs to get done.”

Your happiness at work is worth fighting for. Just ask one Elpha who says, “Early in my career, I didn't have the courage to speak up. With a few notches in the belt now and more confidence, I began talking to a couple of execs I had access to about my challenges... Showing that level of maturity gets you noticed - for the right reasons.”

If you want to move up within your own company, managing up is one productive way to directly communicate your career goals to your boss. Here's how Rema, Senior Director of Engineering at Fandango suggests doing so: "Ask your manager directly what their goals are this year and how you and your team can help with them. Are there things that you're noticing that should be done, improved, or fixed and haven't been? Bring those ideas to your manager!"

Amanda, Founder & CMO at House of Wise, proactively completed independent projects to show she was ready for more senior work:

“I would think about problems that hadn't been solved yet and spend 2 hours a day to work on creating decks that showed solutions to those problems. I would then ask my boss if I could show her something I was thinking about and if she liked it, I would ask to either get resources for it or give me the opportunity to present it to the team that could implement it. I stopped caring about offending people as long as what I was doing was going to move the company and business forward.”

Whether you want to progress your career internally or externally, communicating your goals is the most effective way to show people what you want. And, as Amanda told us, “the only person looking out for your career is YOU.”

Don’t hesitate to be your own biggest fan.

Say you’ve decided to speak up and make changes to your job. At this point, it might be time to ask your boss for a raise or promotion.

If you can display the value that you bring to your team when asking for a promotion, you’ll be more likely to get your manager on the same page. Just ask the Elphas we recently spoke to.

Ericka, Career Coach, says this: "Here's what I know to be true: when seeking a promotion, clarity is your step one. What seat would you like to occupy and how much money would you like to make?... There are several salary websites you can leverage to understand how much your seat is worth in the industry. However, check your employer’s intranet as well for job families, postings, and salary information. Whatever you do, don’t sit on your ask. If you’re going to hear “no”, make sure it’s not from you! Be your first yes and go in the direction of your career dreams."

Bottom line – when you’re asking for a promotion:

Know what you want.
Know what you’re worth.

Apply this to your next annual review or next 1:1. Back up your excellent work with hard numbers when you’re interested in moving from senior manager to director.

Tina, AVP at U.S. Bank, includes historical data when she asks for a raise. “I would come in praising my boss about his/her support for me during this time. I would ask about their goals for the next 3 years and how they plan to achieve them. Then, I would provide my reasons for desiring a promotion and back it up with historical success I had to prove I could help them achieve their goals."

Research is always your friend – particularly when you’re asking for a promotion. Head over to salary reporting websites like Salary.com to determine the comparable pay for executive-level roles.

Psst… 🤫 A recently passed Colorado law requires pay ranges to be disclosed in all job postings. You can filter your salary search to be Colorado-specific for a more accurate view of what companies are actually paying.

Develop your strategic mindset.

It can be hard to know whether or not it’s time to leave a job. Knowing if you’re ready to break into a senior role is particularly challenging.

Lorena , VP of Marketing at Go Nimbly, knew it was time to move up when teammates began seeing her as a leader. “This is an easy one for me. It hit me when my team members were coming to me for advice…”

Shin-pei, Director of Policy at Uber, shared the qualities that show her someone is ready for a senior role.

"One is the ability to think beyond your role and about the big picture. Another is to be able to prioritize strategy or decisions in ways that impact the entire organization, not just your specific team. But not at the expense of your team either. I don't think it has to do with being louder or more assertive, there are so many kinds of leaders! But I do think being able to contextualize and contribute to decisions at a higher level - and do it in a way that feels comfortable to you - can help start to hone those executive functions that can push you towards more senior roles. It's not just managing multiple things at once, it's more about honing on what's most important and being able to persuade people to see your POV."

Out of the Elphas we recently spoke with, many agreed they were ready for growth once they developed a strategic approach to their work. Leang, Founder & CEO at Pelora Stack, was ready to move into a senior role when:

Her “scope started to expand beyond a narrow or specialized focus.”
She “was invited to contribute to or own strategic projects.”
Her “resources (budget & people) began to expand.”

Susan, CPO and CTO at Ikea, says that she developed her strategic mindset by closely following business outcomes:

“I'm very interested in the business outcomes... being more focused on the outcomes than the outputs. This is a skill that you work on and grow. When I first started, my perspective on outcomes was narrower than they are today. But always having the curiosity to try and better understand the business and outcome context has been really helpful…"

As we saw from several Elpha Office Hours, proactively taking on projects or engaging with more senior-level business concerns shows that you don’t just have a strategic mindset. It can also show your boss that the entire company could benefit from your skills being put to their greatest use.

Walking the walk of senior leadership can be your biggest edge.

Becoming a director of a company, or member of a leadership team, does not follow a one-size-fits-all approach. But, Elphas shared a few of the most common qualities and skills that helped them get over a career hump.

Asha, Professor and Program Director of Women and Leadership, says that when it comes to growing your career, you should develop the following traits: “Leadership, expertise, network, passion. Vision.”

Susan, CPO and CTO at Ikea, shared the 5 qualities of leadership that she looks for when she's hiring or promoting leaders.

"Being smart
Getting things done
Having agency (not just getting things done, but knowing how or being able to fight through the challenges or ambiguities)
Giving leverage (enabling others...could be as simple as documenting code so that others can be better)
Being humble (meaning being curious, open to challenge, good at giving and getting feedback, and - of course - accepting improvements with humility)."

As Limor mentions, actively listening is one of the most sought-after skills for a good leader. It shows that you’re truly engaged with your team.

Maylee, Director of Marketing, agrees, “I think one of the most important skills is listening. Match that with understanding how to ask the right questions and empower the people who are working under you and it can be a pretty cool outcome.” Outside of soft skills, learning to speak like a leader shows that you’re ready for a new role. Elphas across the board say that doing this was instrumental to their career development.

Shelley, Founder/Director, shares, “At some point in my career, I think in my late 20s when I was an account director, a woman spoke to me about gravitas and the importance of having it in order to progress.”

Another Elpha seconds this, “I also got good at talking about my leadership philosophy, which is really helpful for interviewers to understand to see if you'll be a good fit for the team. Being able to talk about how you understand the industry, where you think it's going, and what that means for the organization is really important.”

Learning how to speak knowledgeably about your industry shows senior team members you’re ready to make a jump. This doesn’t mean you have to lose who you are, though. The unique qualities you bring to leadership should be at the forefront of your advancement.

Are you ready to advance your career starting today? Alana, Director of Search Platforms at Google, provides a 3, 6, and 12-month plan for those wanting to move into a director role:

“I didn't leap to trying to make a 5-year plan. Start small. What are you aiming for in the next 3 months? 6 months? Then build to year, then beyond as necessary. Bit by bit I built my ability to see ahead.
Book yourself time to do so. Day-to-day activities can continue to sweep you along, so book yourself time on your calendar for time to brainstorm and come up with org plans, product plans, etc. As part of this, pay attention to when you're the most creative and book time then.
Tell people you're doing this! This serves two purposes -- it gives people a way to participate, give you feedback, and grow with you. This worked well with other things I needed to do like inspire followership and grow my team. But also it helps market you and get you credit for your eventual results!”

How to break into senior roles – starting today

You can build the career that you want. As Theresa Helmer says, “...I believe no one is going to care more about my career than I will…”

If you know that you’re ready to leap into a senior position, you can get started now. To get there, we suggest that you:

Keep track of what you’re learning. Use a journal or Google Doc to track this on a daily or weekly basis, or through Alana ’s 3/6/12-month plan.
Stand up for your career growth. Taking on independent projects within your own company can show that you’re ready to grow into a bigger and more demanding position.
Maintain a file of your big wins. Having this information on hand shows your company (or future employers) just how hard you’ve worked.
Know when it’s time to go. If your hard work is being overlooked, it may be time to quit your job. It’s worth it to work somewhere you’re appreciated.
“Talk like a leader” to move up. Hiring a career coach can provide much-needed support (like learning how to be a better public speaker!) to launch you to a senior role.

As you work towards a senior role, join the Elpha Talent Pool to connect directly with great companies that match your values. This can take the hardest part of breaking into senior roles – the job search – out of the equation.

How to Quit Your Job (Even if You Just Started)

Lani 🪴 — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 19:12:30 +0000

By now you’ve surely heard the news...

We’re all quitting our jobs at record rates. 👋

4 million of us left in April, 3.4 million in May, and Elpha's recent should I quit my job quiz found that 90% of 4,500 respondents scored "speak up" or "start looking," indicating unhappiness with their current role.

The pandemic gave us all time to think deeper about the future of our careers. More than ever, we’re wanting to work for companies who share our values. (To instantly match with companies that have the values you care about, check out the Elpha Talent Pool.)

But the truth is, deciding when to quit a job and then going through with it is rarely so straightforward. As Deb Liu, CEO at Ancestry, remarked recently, “Knowing when to quit is just as important as knowing when to double down. So many people cling to situations that aren’t conducive to their growth and success because they are afraid to quit.” The social stigma associated with quitting keeps people stuck in bad jobs.

We believe that sometimes, quitting is the best thing you can do for your future. It means making a courageous decision to continue developing your career. Or walking away from an unhappy situation knowing you deserve better.

Even when you know you’re making the right decision by quitting, tricky situations may come up in those final few weeks. We’re here to help you navigate them with all the best wisdom from the Elpha community on gracefully quitting your job and moving onto what’s next.

We’ll answer these questions and more:

How do you know it’s time to quit your job?
Can you quit your job without another job lined up?
What do you say when quitting a job?
How much notice should you give when quitting?
What do you say when people ask why you’re leaving?
Can you quit a job you just started?
How can you stay in touch with people at your company after quitting?

Let’s dive in!

How to know when it’s time to quit

You’re considering a move but you’re not sure if you should stay or go. Here are five signs that the time might be right to resign:

1. You feel unhappy or upset most days at work.

Your happiness is more important than your company's success. Tune into how your work is making you feel. If it’s mostly negative, it might be time to go.

Lo, Communications Manager, shared what this felt like for her, “I realized it was time to quit when despite loving my role and the company's mission, I was unhappy, bored, and got overly upset at anything remotely bad that happened. I also noticed my mental health declining because work was upsetting me too much.”

Allison, Developer & Founder, shared:

“If I've been at a place for around a year and dread going into work, I know it's time for a change. There's no time in life for a job that makes you miserable. If things haven't gotten better within a year's time, it's probably never going to get better.”

2. You’re not set up for success by your organization.

At most companies, this looks like clear objectives and milestones for your growth. Do you and your boss agree on your most important deliverables that would represent successful performance? Having a clear understanding of what success looks like in your role is important for your future career growth. Becca, Leadership Coach at Fearless Femmes, shared her thoughts: “When there are no shared criteria for success, you will stall as a result--no praise, no feedback, unpredictable advancement, all confusion. Skidaddle.”

3. You’re not learning or growing.

If you feel like you’re not learning anything new in your role, or growing towards the next step in your career, it might be time to go.

Julia, Product Marketer, shares the way she’s learned to determine whether she’s stopped learning. “I've found it helpful to think about updating my resume or LinkedIn, what new things do I have to add there? What have I learned in the past year? This helps me get out of the rut of just enjoying my coworkers (and what has now become an *easy* job).”

Maylee, Director of Marketing, made the decision to leave when she felt “a lack of alignment at the company, not feeling valued or empowered to do my role, and micromanaged. I didn’t see a match for my end goals here, so I recognized the need to move on.”

4. Your work environment feels toxic.

The word “toxic” is thrown around a lot, so sometimes it’s hard to know if the environment you’re in fits into this category.

Jeneba, Assistant VP of Content Ops, shared three of her non-negotiables that indicate she’s in a bad place and it’s time to leave:

Behavior that violates my boundaries or goes against my values
An environment that does not provide an opportunity to grow and expand but instead fosters a culture that causes me to shrink
An environment where my ideas are not valued or heard but instead repackaged by someone else, reshared, and repurposed without being credited.

5. You’ve tried to improve your situation at your current company but it hasn’t helped.

Think of it as “remodeling” before you “move out.”

As Sara , Head of Program Operations at Reforge shares, “It is almost always easier to advance internally at an organization... you have all the social capital and institutional knowledge. Make sure you've exhausted internal options before starting a search. This starts with discussions with your boss.”

Katie, Account Management Lead at Outschool, on how she approaches it, “For roles where it's just obviously a really bad fit (like expectations and reality don't match at all), I've given the opportunity to "make it right.” If it's clear that the company is unable or unwilling to make good on the expectations that they set (and in the case where I am unable or unwilling to live with the reality), it’s time to go.”

Is it okay to quit without anything lined up?

The question of whether to leave your job before you’ve got your next one lined up is tricky. You've likely heard the common advice that doing so is “wrong”.

The reality is more dependent on your specific situation and how comfortable you are financially. These are the 5 steps we recommend before making a decision. Consider it your “Should I quit ASAP?” checklist.

Trust your instincts. Observe your body's reaction when thinking about work or while at work. How long have you felt that this is not the right job for you and what have you tried to improve the situation?
Assess your financial situation. If you’ll be unemployed for a while, the most important question is whether you can support yourself financially. Experts recommend at least 6 months of savings. If you don’t have that, do you have another skill you could monetize? A partner or family member you could lean on?
Talk to trusted people in your life. Ask the people who have your best interest in mind for their honest input. Share the facts of your current situation and ask what they’d suggest.
Start browsing opportunities. Without making a decision yet, start scoping out other jobs and companies. Are there other potential opportunities out there that seem exciting or more aligned with your career trajectory?
Consider talking to a mental health professional. If you’re feeling really stuck and burnt-out, or if you feel you’re in a toxic job environment, this can really help guide your decision.

Sometimes taking action and leaving before you have your next step planned out is helpful for your future career. Sarah M shared how having a break between jobs helped her be more deliberate about her next move.

“Having time and space to finish up the role and not go straight into a new role really helped me to work through my experience and to understand what I wanted next, without my decisions being reactively based on the experience I had just left.”

Another reason to quit before securing your next move is if your current job is significantly slowing down your search. As Meaghan, Career Development Coach, advises,

“Job hunting, when done right, is at least a very draining part-time job. If you're already unhappy at work, adding a job hunt to your nights and weekends is a fast track to misery and exhaustion. And trying to engage with an unsatisfying job will drain the creativity and confidence needed to network and put yourself out in the job market authentically.”

If you are in a role that involves lengthy interview processes (eg. an engineer), consider whether you have the bandwidth while working to also prep for interviews. Engineering interviewing is a separate skill from the job itself, so having the time to brush up before you start interviews is important.

Sara, Head of Program Operations at Reforge, agrees;

“I found that trying to run a search while fully employed at a high level wasn't feasible for me -- it meant that I was splitting my attention between two really important aspects of my career and not executing at a high level at either.”

But, it’s also important to consider the additional stress that leaping into the unknown without anything lined up can bring.

Kellie, Product Manager, had this experience:

“I quit a job without having one lined up and it was not the right decision for me. I had some money reserved but it felt I was jobless longer than I actually was. I was really scared and depressed because I was getting rejection after rejection and I know I wouldn't have taken them so personally if I was working and looking for something new.”

If you can't or don't want to risk a break in employment, one solution is to set a deadline for yourself by which you’d like to transition. This can help motivate you to look for new opportunities. Ana , Chief of Social Policy a.i. at UNICEF, shared how this worked for her:

“I decided to set a hard deadline for myself, using my contract renewal date as the benchmark. I started exploring the market and cast a wide net, scoping both open opportunities and interesting organizations about six months before my deadline, to get a sense of what was out there, and didn't mentally commit to that deadline until about 3 months later.”

* The exception here is if you feel like your physical and mental health are at a breaking point. Then, it’s best to get out ASAP and lean on those in your life to help you through. As Lauren reminds us, “It's just work, after all, which no one ever mentions on their deathbed as something they wish they did more of.”

How do you quit your job?

You’ve determined it’s time to say move on. How do you share the news? Here’s the order we recommend:

Prepare. Know what you’ll say, the reasons you’ll share for leaving, and how much notice you’ll give. (more on that below)
Plan. Book a time to share the news with your manager, face-to-face or via video chat if working remotely.
Communicate. After talking to your manager, come up with a communications plan to the rest of the team/company together, if possible.
Accept. Be ready for an expedited departure, the possibility of a counteroffer, and/or potential questions from your team.
Transition. As you move on from your position, support your team by putting together a transition document. Also, be ready for an exit interview on your final day.

The first thing to do is prepare for those final conversations. It can be really helpful to write out what you’ll say and practice in advance with someone you trust (not from your company). Be sure to do this when you’re in a rational, calm state instead of emotionally charged after a workday.

Here are some powerful statements that are truthful and succinct:

>>> There's no easy way to say this so I'll be direct... I’ve found a role elsewhere.

>>> I'm so grateful for the time I spent at [Company].

>>> I’ve decided that it’s best for me to move on from [Company].

>>> I'm going to be pursuing my career somewhere that better aligns with my aspirations.

>>> I'm putting in my two weeks notice. My last day will be [date].

Once you’ve come up with what you’ll say, schedule a chat with your manager. Diana , Portfolio Marketing Manager, suggests you touch on these three things in your conversation with your manager:

1. Appreciation for the opportunity and experience you’ve had at the company

2. Your decision to move on to a new opportunity

3. An explanation that your decision is based on personal and professional growth

It’s up to you what reasons you want to share when leaving. But generally, we recommend framing your decision so it’s not about the shortcomings of your current employer, and instead is focused on your own career growth. If you do have feedback you want to share, keep that for your exit interview (more on that below!)

Nina , Director of Communications, says to also practice follow-up questions that you think might arise.

Q: “Why would you leave at such a busy time when we don’t have anyone to replace you and so much work?”

A: I understand that it’s a very stressful time, and I’ll continue to support the project/team until [LAST DAY].”

They may ask what they can do to make you stay. Be prepared to reiterate that your decision is based on personal and professional growth, or whatever the reasons are that you’ve already shared.

They may also ask where you’re going next. If you’re not sure, or not ready to share, you don’t have to! You can simply reply, "I will share how we can stay in touch once I am settled."

Resignation Letters

After talking to your manager, you’ll likely need to follow up with a resignation letter via email. That email could look something like this:

Hi X,

Confirming what we spoke about earlier: I'll be moving on from [Company] and [date] will be my last day.

Thank you again for the opportunity to be a part of [Company] team -- I’ve learned so much in my time here.

I’ll be working to hand off my ongoing projects. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help make this transition smoother.

Rachel , CEO at WOKEN, suggests offering any support you're willing to give, like help finding a replacement for your position. But be sure to set boundaries here, so you make your decision clear and stick to it.

Possibility of a Counteroffer

Be ready to respond to a counteroffer. If you’re clear on why you’re leaving, you’ll know if a counteroffer (and of what amount) would be enough to make you stay.

In general, while more money is great in the short term, the same problems will still be there. So unless salary is your main reason for quitting, we don’t recommend staying for a counteroffer.

Transition Document

Putting together a robust transition document is a great way to build bridges even as you exit. Make it as easy as possible for people to take over your work. We’ve created a template for a transition document that will be constructive and helpful to your team.

As one Elpha remarked, People may remember your last weeks and the legacy that you leave behind for them more than they will remember your history of accomplishments with the company.

Exit Interviews

Right before you move on, you’ll likely have an exit interview and your company will ask for feedback. Now’s the time to share more in-depth, constructive feedback , if you’re comfortable and if you feel your company will be receptive.

Linda , Group Product Manager at Webflow , shared how one of her exit interviews went:

“In my exit interview, I took the opportunity to have a constructive but candid conversation with the founders on some of the more prominent problems that I saw. These are hard conversations and are much easier coming from someone that will no longer have direct ties to the company.”

How much notice should you give when quitting?

Two weeks of notice is generally standard in the US. But if you’re in a more senior role or you know it’ll take your company longer to transition, giving some extra time is often appreciated.

Some Elphas shared that they’d given an extra week of notice, or even a few months. Emily shared:

“I gave 6 weeks notice at a job I'd had for 5.5 years. I did this as a courtesy so that I would have time to get all the signed contracts that I could and set them up for success.”

Linda shared her approach:

“I gave my manager and my founders three months of notice. I knew that my institutional knowledge was not written down and needed to be and that I had 1-2 unfinished products that I wanted to ship. I had no ill will towards the company and I wanted to make sure that I did what I could to set them up for success while also clearly establishing expectations.”

You should also be prepared for an expedited departure. Nina shared her boss’s reaction to her submitting her notice:

“My boss said, ‘I think it’s better if today is your last day. I’ll pay you for two weeks but today should be your last day.’ Everything in me wanted to hang my head in shame, become invisible, and run out the door never to show my face again. But at that moment I had a choice: I could let my toxic boss write the ending to my story, or I could write my ending. And I chose to write my ending.” 👏

What do you say to people who ask why you’re leaving?

Once your news has been shared, you’ll likely be asked by coworkers why you’re quitting. People are naturally curious and may want to find out the “gossip.” Here’s what to do:

Be honest and straightforward

Camille , Content Writer, suggests speaking truthfully and honestly. “I won't lie about why I'm leaving as I don't think it helps anybody. I don't mean that I'm rude, but more so that I don't hide when something isn't working for me.”

How transparent you decide to be with coworkers is completely up to you. Many people will likely ask where you’re going next. If you're comfortable, be honest about your future direction, interests, and goals - you never know how they can help you in your next steps.

Keep it focused & future-oriented

No matter what your personal reasons might be for leaving, keep the reason you share purely focused on your professional and career goals.

If you’re a manager, share the news with your direct reports, individually if possible. Let them know you still believe in your team’s future, and be clear that your reasons for leaving are about your own desire to explore a new challenge, rather than about them. Explain what they can expect next and who their next manager will be. This will help the transition go smoothly for them and keep their morale high.

Lauren , National Strategy & Business Operations at Revel, suggests you say something like, “I'm ready to start my next phase of growth, take on more responsibility, or try something different.”

Another great way to put it is, “I got an opportunity that perfectly fits where I see myself headed, but I’ll miss everyone here.”

Stick to only one story

Sara , Head of Program Operations at Reforge, says you should have one story, and tell it that way, to everyone. It's tempting -- especially when you have close relationships or you're leaving for complicated reasons -- to let people in on the juicy details. But don't.

"If you have a single story or phrase, and repeat that in every conversation, there's no chance that alternative narratives start circulating. Tech is super small and you want to be able to call people again without hesitation."

Can you quit a job you just started?

Let’s say you started a job recently and have only been there for a month or two. But you’re having doubts about whether your new role was the right choice. Can you quit even though you just started?

If it’s only been weeks, or months, Teresa , Community Lead at Elpha, recommends staying for a little longer to ensure you’ve done all the due diligence you can and give them (and yourself) enough time to evaluate the situation. She suggests identifying what your non-negotiables and important questions are and the timeline in which you’d like to finish evaluating. Then, you can see how things stack up after that amount of time so your decision is better informed.

With that said, here are three reasons you might want to move on, however long it’s been:

The job is very different from what you expected.

Maybe your role as it was described to you in interviews is very different from what your day-to-day actually looks like. If there is a major misalignment in what you were brought in to do vs. what you’re actually being asked to do, you may need to move on.

Your instincts are telling you this role is wrong for you.

A bad situation can impact your mental health and self-confidence, and it’s not worth it. It’s okay to acknowledge you made the best choice at the time you took the job, knowing what you knew then, and that now it might be time to make a different choice.

One Elpha who left her job after six weeks shared her experience: “Life is too short to stay in unhealthy jobs, and I personally wanted to leave before it started to impact me and my self-confidence.”

Your job isn’t covering your most important “job must-haves.”

Remember, everything is a learning opportunity. Take the time to write out – daily, if you can – the details that are bringing you to this decision. Maybe it’s unsupportive teammates or not trusting management. This understanding can be helpful when you're looking for your next step. If you do decide to leave soon after starting, in your future job search, you have options for how to talk about your decision.

You could choose to not mention this job on your resume or in interviews.

Or, you can say it was an opportunity that helped you figure out what you really want. You can honestly share your story, talk through what did and did not work well in the role, and describe how the experience helped you clarify who you are as an employee and what the right workplace looks like for you.

To avoid a similar situation in the future, take some advice from Elizabeth , who says, “When I interview for new jobs I always ask the hiring manager or recruiter to give me 3 references to speak to within the company... It absolutely sucks to go through a honeymoon, 90 days, to discover things you probably could have found out if you were allowed to speak to the team upfront. If a company can ask for references, so can you!”

Read more about leaving a job soon after starting in this members-only conversation .

How can you stay in touch with people at your company after quitting?

Before you leave, and assuming it’s OK with your company, ask for personal emails or social handles from people you’d like to keep in touch with. You can also send out an email to colleagues and provide your contact info.

You’re definitely not obliged to stay in touch, but if you feel you’ve formed important connections, you don’t have to say goodbye just because you’re moving on from the company.

As Career Coach Anemari says, “As a general rule, putting the effort into building long-lasting relationships with people is always worth it, professionally and personally. You never know what the future might bring.”

Here are 3 unique ways to set up a recurring relationship with the people you care about before you leave:

Get feedback from them before you leave. As one Elpha shared, I’ve found that people will give me great feedback in the last few days/weeks, and it’s been helpful to set up informal time from cross-functional partners to ensure a smooth exit and to get their feedback. This can also be an opportunity to identify future references if you're applying to jobs in the future.
Ask your boss or executives to join your " board of directors " and let them know that you'd love to have a monthly or quarterly call to check in. If this feels natural to your situation, Sara suggests owning that calendar invite and agenda.
Create an alumni Slack channel - if you’re at a big enough company and one doesn’t exist already! This is an easy way to stay in touch with those you’ve worked with.

Quitting a job takes a lot of courage. If you’re in this process right now, take care of yourself! Remind yourself often of all your successes and the skills you’ve learned so far. Celebrate your tiny wins! And for more support in finding your next role, join the Talent Pool to connect with companies that are a match for your cultural values and skills.

Post-COVID Career Moves: Should you stay or should you go?

Lani 🪴 — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 18:30:33 +0000

Advice from leading career coaches on Elpha about how to think about your next step

The pandemic gave us all time to pause, reset, and think about the future of our careers. You may be considering a new job in your field, or a career transition to a new industry. If you’re not sure what the best move for you is right now, this resource is for you. With input from over 20 leading recruiters and career coaches in tech, we’ll dive into:

The hiring market in tech right now and what employees are looking for
5 questions to ask yourself if you’re deciding to quit or stay
Tangible advice on aligning your values with your next career move
Purpose exercises to help you explore your future career planning

The Great Resignation: What tech employees want now

Post-pandemic, the tech industry has largely rebounded and a new trend has emerged: ‘The Great Resignation.’ A record 4 million people quit their jobs in April and 26% of workers are planning to look for something new.

What are the motivating factors behind this shift?

Hiring is way up across the industry.

As Nancy Yee, Recruiter at Render puts it, “I think the market has officially graduated from "reheating" to red hot.”

Jennifer Kim, Head of People and D&I Strategist for Startups, shares her thoughts on this momentum.

It's no surprise that 1 in 4 workers are planning to look for new jobs – a number that I imagine could be higher for tech workers, who have more choices. In this kind of talent market, the power shifts to the workers.

The alignment between company and personal values - from D&I efforts to work/life balance - has taken center stage.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts have become critically important to many candidates and hiring managers. As Sasha Martin, Head of Recruiting at Shelf Engine, shares:

Ongoing social justice and political events have prompted people to examine their values and philosophies and get clearer on what really matters to them. The mission of a company, its culture, views on diversity, equity, and inclusion—these are no longer “nice-to-haves” for job seekers. Candidates are asking direct questions about these facets and are making decisions based on how strong the alignment is between the organization and themselves.

As Jennifer Kim puts it, The pandemic disrupted pretty much all aspects of life, and how organizations operate and staff up was no exception. The biggest trends have been not just about crisis response, but how companies and workers have responded to each other. This, combined with many other factors—challenges of quickly adjusting to remote work, the wide range of corporate responses to #BlackLivesMatter protests—left a strong impression on tech workers, whose expectations for their companies are higher than ever.

Recruiters are also seeing candidates raise more questions and concerns around work/life balance. Nancy Yee has noticed this at Render:

While work/life balance is a very real concern for all of us, especially when considering an earlier, smaller startup, this wouldn't regularly surface as a candidate concern… Today, I'm noticing more and more candidates openly raising their questions around work/life balance (specifically, how employers make this a reality and what practices are in place to support employees) without needing to justify why this is important to them.

The crisis response to the pandemic, social justice and political events, and the move to remote work have likely changed the hiring and recruiting process forever.

Questions to start with: should you stay or should you go?

The market is hot and there are lots of opportunities out there. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed with what to do next. But before you decide what to do next, first you have to decide whether moving on to something new is the right move for you.

If you’re not sure if you should stay in your current job or look for something new right now, here are the four steps that career coaches suggest you take:

Get clear about how you’re feeling
Review key indicators that it’s time to move on
Assess how much you’re growing & learning
Consider talking to your manager

Where are you now, exactly? Get clear on this.

If you’re thinking about a career move, the first step in your thinking should be to get clarity about how you feel about your current company and job. Start by asking yourself questions like: What isn’t working in your current situation? What do you want more of?

Rachel Serwetz, Career Exploration Coach & CEO at WOKEN suggests answering these questions first. Then, she says, “Listen to yourself -- if you feel unfulfilled by your role, industry, or environment, there is potential to find something that is a better fit. Consider pursuing career exploration. Career exploration is a process that is distinct from and a precursor to the job search, including a series of steps of practical learning and self-reflection in order to compare, contrast, and clarify which career path you are confident in pursuing (role, industry, and environment).” *You can take a career assessment to help with this at WOKEN.

You can also think about the pressures and expectations in your current role, and how you’re responding to them. Lindsay Gordon, Career Coach for Analytically Minded People, suggests this:

“The first thing I always have people do is to examine the pressures they feel about their job to understand if they have unreal or external expectations put on their work. One way you can do that is to fill in the phrases “The voices around me are saying: I should be a… I have to… My career has to…”

Are you noticing any of these key indicators that it’s time to move on?

Kathy Caprino is a Career & Leadership Coach and Author of The Most Powerful You: 7 Bravery-Boosting Paths to Career Bliss. She suggests taking note of these key red flags that you should take action to address:

You’re unhappy most of every day doing this work. The clearest sign that you need a change is how you feel internally about the work you’re doing. Ask yourself if you feel unhappy, depressed, bored, misunderstood, or mistreated.

The environment is tainted with extreme toxicity and poor leadership and management, including your boss and colleagues.
A job – and your success and joy in it – is shaped by many factors including the leadership dynamic of the company, how your organization treats its employees, the outcomes that the company is driving toward, and whether you respect and support these outcomes, and the growth you can achieve in your role.
The skills that you’ve been hired to use for this job aren’t a fit for what you’re good at or enjoy.
Often, people don’t understand that the skills you possess are not at all the same as the natural talents and abilities that you enjoy using each day. In other words, you may be “great” at updating spreadsheets (or overseeing projects, or doing event planning) but you may actually hate doing it.
You believe deep down that you’re meant for better, bigger, and more thrilling things.
Kathy has interviewed hundreds of successful career changers, and many of them shared with her some version of this: “I had this terrible, nagging feeling for years that I was made for better or different things than this, but I just didn’t act on that feeling until I finally snapped and say “Yes!” to myself.”
The outcomes that you’re working toward feel meaningless or negative to you.
Finally, how do you feel about the outcomes that your job supports? Do you love what you’re working on, and do you feel it has contributive value in the world? You simply cannot thrive if you subconsciously oppose what your employer and your work stand for in the world.

Are you learning and growing?

One of the most important questions to ask yourself is whether you see growth opportunities in your current company or role. Yulia Eskin, Career Coach For Software Engineers, suggests asking yourself these questions:

Does your company have a promotion rubric for your role and do you have clarity on how it applies to you? What’s the rate and frequency of promotions?
Does your current manager facilitate your career advancement by strategically placing you in the right projects to help you grow in the right areas? If not, can you report to a different manager who can help boost your career?
If you’re at a smaller company that doesn’t have promotion schedules, do you feel supported and like you have a clear direction for growth?

Meaghan Wagner, Career Development Coach, suggests this growth mindset question:

“What skills do you want to learn… and be using in your current role? From there, you can consider whether your current role offers you these opportunities or not.”

Career Coach Kelly Ling, agrees:

“Deciding whether to stay or go boils down to what new skills or experiences you are trying to gain in the stage of your career, and whether or not you can get this from your current company. If you are still learning and growing at your current company, that is a great reason to stay.”

On the other hand, if you’re not seeing learning and growth in your current role, you could be hurting your career prospects down the road. Here’s what Beatriz Albini-Ruiz, Executive Leadership and Career Coach, cautions:

“It comes down to one thing, personal growth. It's very easy to continue getting a paycheck, justifying and tolerating things at work, because of the comfort of a steady income. However, if we are not growing in any way, the chances of becoming stale and losing marketability increases. This can lead to worse outcomes down the road. If you are in a job, going through the motions, on autopilot, and feeling de-energized and stagnant, it’s time to move on.”

Can your current challenges be addressed by having a conversation with your manager?

Before you decide to start to look for something new, consider talking to your manager about the parts of your current job that you’re dissatisfied with. They may be able to help you develop your desired skills, or assist with a transition to another team where you can get the experience you’re looking for.

As Career Coach Marie Zimenoff put it,

“Although making a move can seem like the solution, it isn't easy. If you go through the exercise of talking to your current organization first,** **it will cement your decision one way or the other and give you the critical skill of having that conversation so you aren't jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

You also may have some leverage to negotiate your title, promotion schedule, or salary and benefits right now. Kelly Ling, Career Coach, agrees:

“While it's certainly "in vogue" to consider leaving a company right now, it may actually be an advantageous time to stay. Given many companies are seeing talent leave post-pandemic, it might be worth exploring asking for a raise or retention bonuses, increasing your role and scope, or asking to maintain more flexible working arrangements.”

The point is, you’ll never get what you don’t ask for!
_ _

Feeling curious? 4 Exercises to Help You Land Your Dream Job

Think through your strength and skills, and identify how they make you uniquely qualified for specific jobs.

Whenever you do start your job hunt, you’ll want to have already done some target research and personal branding exercises to focus your search. Meg Guiseppi, Personal Branding and Executive Job Search Strategist, suggests:

• Targeting… identify specific companies where you’ll be a mutually good fit.

• Research… determine what it is about you that makes you valuable to them.

• Branding… sync your hard skills with the personal attributes and qualities you have that all combine to make you a good hiring choice.

This work helps you clearly differentiate the unique value you offer when you network and interview for jobs.

Assess the values that matter to you

Being intentional about your career means keeping your values top-of-mind. Ekua Cant, Career Transitions Coach, suggests these career values to reflect on:

Intrinsic Values: The values that help you feel motivated and fulfilled. Think here about the tasks required of your job, what you do, how you do it, and who you are doing it with.
Extrinsic Values: The tangible rewards such wealth, social status.
Lifestyle Values: The kind of lifestyle that you want your career to enable.

An easy exercise that Nic Frick recommends is to grab a list of values (try Brené Brown’s list of values in her book, “Dare to Lead”) and see which ones jump out at you.

Experiment with putting different values into practice in your life for a few weeks and figure out which ones are most important to you.

For example, if you believe one of your values is authenticity, ask yourself:

* How can I behave more authentically this week?
* In what parts of my life do I struggle with authenticity?

If the value resonates, keep it. If not, continue to experiment with others.

Look back at your career with the MLN exercise

Setting aside some time to assess which jobs you’ve enjoyed most and the specifics about each of those jobs that you enjoyed, will really help when you’re back out there job searching. Michelle Carrizosa, Career Coach for Women of Color, recommends this exercise:

“One exercise I recommend is one I call MLN - go through your current experience on a master resume or most updated resume you have and mark each with M (More of this) if you want to continue doing that in your career, L (Less of this) if you don't enjoy a particular activity but you're good at it and N (Not more) - which is something you want nothing to do within your next role. This gives you a perfect starting point before you even begin a job search.”

Do some informational interviews to explore other paths

Once you’ve gone through all of the above exercises, and you have a sense of some roles that might interest you, Career Coach Ana Lokotkova suggests informational interviews to help you learn more.

Use LinkedIn(or Elpha!) to find at least 10-20 people who are a few steps ahead of you in the career you have or want and set up informational interviews with them.

The purpose of an informational interview is to get to know the other person and gather valuable insights from their experience. Prepare a list of targeted questions about their current and previous roles, work culture at their organization, and key lessons learned. Listen carefully for clues on items that matter to you the most.

After every informational interview, take note of your biggest findings and gather all your notes in one networking database. This exercise is great for anyone who enjoys hearing real-life examples instead of abstract theories, and wants to gain more clarity on their next steps.

Remember, when you’re ready to start your job search, make sure it’s for the right reasons. As Career Coach Fanni Gabor says,

Always run towards a new challenge and opportunity to grow, and not away from problems. Solve your problems first, because more often than not, they are circumstantial, and will follow you unless you address the root causes.

We hope this guide has helped provide a few useful frameworks for thinking about your best next career move.

_ _

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How to Prepare for and Ace Your Software Engineering Interview

Lani 🪴 — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 17:17:06 +0000

You updated your resume, found some open software engineer job postings, and fired off your applications. And it’s landed you an interview (or two)!

Now it’s time to prepare - and as the place where driven, ambitious women gather to build our careers, that’s what Elpha is here to help you do.

If you’re feeling anxious or stressed about what to expect in the interview process, know you’re not alone. You’ve landed in the right place.

We asked top women engineers on Elpha who work at Apple, LinkedIn, Twitter, Square, Zillow, Splice, and lots of other companies to share the most common questions they’ve heard in software engineering interviews, the best resources to prepare for interviews, and their top tips for acing the engineering interview in 2021.

Many of these women have been on both sides of the hiring process and know how exhausting and difficult it can be.

So take a breath, have a sip of coffee or tea, and sink into your chair a little bit deeper to read this one. We’re going to cover the most important things you need to know.

Preparing for the software engineer interview

What can you expect for your interview? Depending on the company, the interview process can include different steps in various orders. But generally, it’ll look something like this:

Initial phone screen: you’ll speak with a recruiter (or a member of the team, if you’re applying to a smaller startup!) who will discuss the details of the role and determine if you might be a good fit. Likely a 15-30 minute conversation.
Technical phone/video screens: these will be discussions with the hiring manager where you’ll be given coding challenges. You may be given a couple of problems to solve throughout the call, which will typically be 45 minutes to an hour.
“Onsite” (or remote) interviews: you’ll be meeting with potential managers and teammates for a technical portion, a couple of behavioral sessions, and possibly a cultural fit interview. These generally include a system design interview and whiteboarding, where you’re presented with a problem to solve in real-time. These can last between three to four hours.

With that rough idea of the process, let’s get into preparing. Here’s your 8-step preparation checklist:

1. Do your research on the company.

Read their website, play around with their app, and get a feel for what the product is like. Research who you’ll be interviewing with to learn about their background and find any similarities you might have. You also want to try to get an insider’s perspective of what it’s like to work there. (For companies hiring on Elpha , you can check out their profile to reach out to women who currently work there.)

“Before your interview, google the company to see if anyone’s mentioned the interview process or overall impressions of the company. Look at LinkedIn and see how long employees typically stay. Consider reaching out to a current employee for a (virtual) coffee. And finally, look at GitHub to see if code challenges have been posted.“ - Sarah, Frontend Engineer at Splice

2. Practice algorithms and data structures.

LeetCode is a great place to code out problems, compile and run your solution, and learn from other people’s solutions.

“To practice, I generally say you need to get really comfortable with “Easy” level questions on Leetcode. Practice at least 1-2 questions every day during your job search because you want to be practicing speaking out loud, conveying your thoughts, your different approaches, etc. Even if you’ve seen it before, chances are you’re not memorizing the solution so your approach may be different.“ - Bonnie, Software Developer at Hatchways

“Review the Leetcode Discuss section for the company you’re interviewing for, in order to focus your technical preparation. For system design, I recommend watching tech talks and system design mock interviews on YouTube!“ - Rachel, Software Engineer at Twitter

A few other resources that Elphas recommend:

AlgoExpert - A platform with hand-picked coding questions, video explanations, data structure courses, and solutions in 9 languages.

Educative.io - The Grokking the System Design Interview course, which is a complete guide to mastering the SDIs, hiring managers from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon. Interview Cake - A course that teaches the right way of thinking for breaking down tricky algorithmic coding interview questions.

3. Read Cracking the Coding Interview .

This book comes up a lot as a great resource for preparing for interviews - it’s a classic!

“Cracking the Coding Interview will get you ready for white boarding interviews. I’d do at least a few problems from each section, and if you can’t figure out a problem, go back and make sure you understand the solution after the fact. And then come back to that problem later and try it again. As you are going through the book, I’d choose a few problems that are challenging but that you also feel good writing solutions to that you can come back to as “Warm up problems” on the day of your interview. Lastly, I’d make sure to understand and feel comfortable with basic data structures and algorithms. That way you can put brainpower toward the difficult and unexpected pieces of the question the interviewer is asking, rather than CS fundamentals. I’d practice things like merge sort, BFS and DFS, etc. as a way to warm up and keep your fundamentals fresh.“ - Cadran, Software Engineer & Founder at Elpha

4. Craft your answer to the introduce yourself question.

“Tell me about yourself” is a guaranteed question in nearly every interview. Prepare for it by crafting a 1-2min story of the key points in your professional life.

“One of the videos I recommend to people is the one about answering the question “Tell us about yourself”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV6rXd_vtNY … If you’re being interviewed by 4-5 people total, then you need to have a well-prepared and, yes, rehearsed answer ready. You need to treat it like an elevator pitch. Boil your story down to the key points (both in terms of experience and things that make you unique). Use these points to craft a 1-2min max description of yourself and practice it every day in front of the mirror.“ - Anna, Junior Software Engineer at Novatec GmbH

5. Prepare answers for the other questions you know you’ll be asked.

This is really important, especially If you’re changing careers into tech or transitioning from a non-technical role. You have the extra hurdle of convincing the interviewer that you can ‘handle’ the technical side before you’ve gotten to that stage in the interviewing process. So what should you be ready to answer? Here’s what Arza, Software Engineer at LinkedIn says:

“Hands down the most common couple of questions as a career changer are 1) Why are you switching into engineering and 2) How do you learn new technical skills? For #2, the key is to make sure you point to an example of a skill you picked up on your own, how you did it, what roadblocks you came across and how you resolved them. Utilize the STAR method even if you’re being asked a general question. I’ve found interviewers really appreciate concrete examples.“

If you’re not familiar, the STAR method is a tool for answering behavioral interview questions. The acronym stands for:

Situation: Introduce the situation and set the scene

Task: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation

Action: Explain the actions you took

Result: Share what outcomes your actions achieved

Another question you’ll likely be asked is the desired salary question. How you respond is so important that we’ve developed an entire guide for how to respond when you’re asked about target compensation.

6. Practice by doing a few interviews with your second-choice companies.

If you’re newer to interviewing (or haven’t interviewed in a while), don’t make the first interview you have the one for your dream role. Solving difficult, timed technical problems in front of a stranger is tough! Interviewing with a few companies that aren’t among your top choices can help you get the nerves out.

“Practice with your second-choice companies first! This is a great way to get used to phone screens and whiteboard interviews in a lower-pressure environment before interviewing with your dream companies.“ - Harriet, Software Engineer at Remotion

7. Get in the mindset.

Your mindset is just as important as the rest of your preparation and studying. Set yourself up in a mindset where you are committed to figuring out the problems you’re thrown and willing to ask for help. Truly prepare to ace the interview. As Cher, Principal Software Engineer at Apple, puts it:

“My top tip for acing an interview is surrendering to the idea that you’re going to ace the interview. Seriously! We’re putting on a knowledge and experience show with a bunch of strangers trying to gain employment. It’s a nerve-wracking experience as it is, let alone as a marginalized individual.

Just be your most authentic, honest self. We’re not really just trying to prove we know how to do the job; we’re trying to gain the trust of potential teammates. The most important aspect of any interview process is to build rapport. The path of least resistance is humility and vulnerability. If you don’t know how to do something or answer a question - just say so! Find a way to show how willing and capable you are to ask for help and figure out how to complete the task or learn something new.“

8. Finally, get a good night’s sleep before your interview.

“I usually make a point of not doing any preparation the night before a full day interview, and focus instead on getting mentally centered and getting a good night’s sleep.“ - Jessica, Engineering Manager at Square

BONUS TIP: For remote interviews, practice coding on interview tools.

“Now that we’ve been interviewing remotely, candidates who have familiarity with some of the tools that we use to interview have been huge! We use HackerRank, which allows us to follow along with the candidate as they code. It’s not as robust as an IDE you’d use for developing, and so if you practice with it, make sure you don’t rely on it for catching anything beyond minor syntax issues--it’s easy to have a false sense of security.“ - Alyssa, Software Engineer at Zillow

During the software engineering interview

Firstly, you’ve got this. 😄

Technical interviews usually have three parts:

Beginning chitchat (5–10 minutes)
Technical challenges (30–50 minutes)
Your turn to ask questions (5–10 minutes)

Let’s talk about the chit-chat portion first.

Remember: the most important aspect of any interview process is to build rapport. To connect with interviewers, try to have specific, different stories prepared. Alyssa is an engineer at Zillow who has interviewed hundreds of people for software engineering roles, here’s what she says:

“Really hone in on specific stories and incidents you can share for the non-technical questions. We are guaranteed to talk to all the other interviewers after we’ve submitted our feedback. It’s okay (especially if you don’t have too much experience) to share the same story for all the questions we ask you, but it would be even more impactful if you have different stories. Very frequently, during the debrief, we’ll be like “the candidate shared that story with me too!” “And me!” “And me!“. Unless there are different takeaways from that same story, we honestly don’t get anything more out of the story. The more information we know about you, the more we can give you credit.“

You also want to be honest about your experience and capabilities.

“I really just like to be myself and be honest about my experience. You never want to oversell yourself and tell someone you know how to do all the things just to get your foot in the door and then not be able to deliver... Having a list of your best attributes, skills or accomplishments can really help if you get into an awkward lull in the conversation or you have to tell them “no, I don’t know X...” “But I do have a lot of experience with Y and Z...” and then sell those things to them! Selling my soft skills was very effective (I think) in my most recent interview. I was honest about my level of experience with coding but also made sure to let him know that I’m a fast learner, hard-working, and a team player who is adaptable.“ - Christine, Front End Web Developer at Stridek.

When you move into the technical portion, it’s really important to take your time to ask clarifying questions and make sure you fully understand what you have to solve. As Lirida, Founder and CTO at Learnable says:

“Ask clarifying questions and avoid making any assumptions. This can change what you think is a super difficult problem to a solvable one. Also, state your own assumptions clearly to the interviewer so they don’t fill in the gaps themselves.

Especially now that interviews are remote, it could happen that the interviewer is not paying attention to your answer. They might be distracted by their laptop/phone/kids. In that case, ask a clarifying question or confirmation question like “This is how I’m planning to solve it/thinking about it, would you like me to expand further?“. Something to bring the interviewer back into the conversation.“

Hopefully, if you’ve followed our preparation tips above, you’ve practiced in the same format as the interview is taking place - whether on a whiteboard or shared text editor. This should help you feel more comfortable and reduce the number of unexpected surprises in your interview. But what if you feel like it’s not going well?

When the interview isn’t going well...

What to do if you’re stumped by a question or feel like you’re not connecting with the interviewer

If you sense that an interview isn’t going well, it’s a great time to pause and check in with your interviewer. Here’s how we recommend you do that:

“If an interview is not going well, be honest! I am quick to say when I don’t know something and try my best to be vocal about how I would approach something. Ask lots of questions. Think of the interview collaboratively. The interviewer, more often than not, wants to see you succeed, and wants to know what it’d be like to work with you. So, treat them as a friendly coworker.“ - Sarah, Frontend Engineer at Splice

“If you notice that you aren’t doing well, don’t give up! Interviewers want you to do well and if you bomb a portion of an interview you can still nail the rest and get an offer. We want to at least see that you’re trying. I remember there was a candidate who kept talking about how he didn’t go to school for computer science, so he didn’t know algorithms and data structures super well, but was a really great developer in X domain. Even if you did study CS, we totally understand that if you haven’t interviewed in a while, you might be rusty on some of these concepts that aren’t used in your day-to-day work! We didn’t hire him, not because he didn’t go to school for CS, but because he didn’t even try to solve the problem. The entire interview was him talking about how much experience he has, but he wouldn’t even try to sit with us and walk through what he would potentially do for the problem.” - Alyssa, Software Engineer at Zillow

Cadran, Software Engineer & Founder at Elpha shares some important reminders from the hiring manager’s perspective. If you feel like it’s not going well, it may have more to do with the hiring manager than you think!

“If you get stumped by a question, try to remember to talk through your thoughts out loud. Even if you get stuck, you can show the interviewer how you think which is important info for them when assessing you as a candidate. You can also pause and check in with your interviewer as you go, e.g. “I’m thinking about x and y and that I would take z approach. Does that sound like a good strategy to you?” That way you can get some input from them about whether you are moving in the right direction which may help you build confidence and also will help you avoid going down the wrong path and losing time. If you aren’t connecting with the interviewer, just try to remember they are just a person, too. And might not actually be that great at interviewing! Or might be nervous, or might be dealing with a stressful project or some other situation. So just focus on the problem at hand as much as you can and focus on the parts of making the interview successful that you have control over.“

You can also ask to take a short break! “If you’re stuck (due to anxiety, brain freeze, anything could happen), it’s OK to ask the interviewer: “Can I have a few moments to think?“, or ask for a restroom break. Have water nearby, taking a mini-break for water can help.“ - Lirida, Founder and CTO

You’ll get through it. And once you do, it’ll be your turn to ask the hiring managers any questions you have for them. We recommend choosing a few from the below list!

What should you ask the hiring manager?

Questions to ask your interviewer in the final portion of the interview

The opportunity to ask the hiring manager your questions is a really important time to help you determine if this role is a good fit. Generally, you want to ask questions that will help you better understand the company and team structure. You want to make sure their engineering team structure and the style of your future manager align with what would work for you. A few specific questions to determine this would be:

What are the team’s key challenges today and over the next year? How does that fit into what the company is doing more widely? How does this role fit into those?
If you could imagine the perfect candidate for this role, how would you describe them?
How many direct reports do you have?
“How often do you meet 1-1 with your direct reports?
Who is on the rest of the team, and who would I work with most closely?
What is your approach to building a diverse and inclusive team?

Dive even deeper with questions like these, recommended by Rachel, Software Engineer at Twitter:

What does the roadmap look like in terms of projects/work that I would be directly involved with?
What has been the highest impact work you as a manager have been a part of so far at the company?
What has working for the company been like during the transition to remote work, and what are the plans post-Covid?
What does career growth look like within this role, and how does performance evaluation work at the company?

Belecia, Computer Science Grad Student at the University of Illinois, suggests figuring out what your career and personal values are and craft your questions around them.

“For instance, my values are:

📌 Learning (I always want to try new things and learn something new)

📌 Growth (I want to look back and see that I have stretched myself which ties into the learning)

📌 Community (people make me happy and I want to enjoy the people I work with as well as connect to the world around us)

📌 Flexibility (as I change, I want to be able to adapt a role to my needs and interests which has both financial and emotional components)

With these values, I rank which ones are most important and then ask targeted questions around them (for example, learning - if I am interested in learning about a new technology/role/product, how will the company support me in trying those things?)“

To better determine if the company could be a good fit for you culturally, here are a few ideas of questions to ask:

What are some of the company’s recent pain points and what was done to address them?
When you’ve done your best work here, what about the culture has enabled you to do that?
What did you learn about the company after you started working here, that you didn’t know before?
What’s something that would only happen here, given the company’s unique culture?
How does the company evaluate and onboard new tools and processes? Can you give examples of tooling the company has invested in to make things easier for developers?
What are some of the things you’d like to see improved at the company?

Bonnie, Software Developer at Hatchways, has been on the hiring side of interviews many times:

“As a hiring manager, one of my favorite questions to be asked is “What do you think the biggest challenge of this role would be?” This question helps me reflect on why I’m hiring for this role and respond honestly to the candidate.“ For a final question, you can also very pointedly ask the hiring manager for their thoughts about you. While it seems daunting, this question can allow you to address any uncertainties they may have and get direct feedback about what you can work on.

However, be careful with this one as it can catch hiring managers off guard. Whether or not you ask it should depend on the communication style of the interviewer and the rapport you’ve developed throughout your conversation.

“In the first meeting, near the end of the interview, I always say, “May I ask you a bold question? So we’ve been talking for 30-45 mins, do you have any concerns about me in this role?” Asking this is in fact bold but I’ve found extremely positive results. If they do have a concern, you can address it right then and there. You can also actually get honest interview feedback which is rare as most companies generally don’t allow interviewers to write feedback for liability concerns. The first time I did this I was so nervous I could barely get the words out but it gets a lot easier.“ - Shanea, Founder & CEO at COdesee

Conclusion

Whew! Between studying, practicing coding, preparing questions, rehearsing answers, and then staying calm and focused - interviewing is a lot! One thing that’s important to remember is that YOU are interviewing THEM too. You want to find a team where you are going to feel included, with clear goals and opportunities for growth.

Most companies are open to re-interviewing for a different role, team, or timeframe, so if things don’t go your way the first time around, keep at it. Your ideal match is out there! We hope this guide was helpful in preparing you for an upcoming or future interview. If you’re looking for your next software engineering role, check out Elpha Companies that are hiring now. You can also submit your info to our Candidate Database at any time to have companies reach out to you when they have open roles that match your background.