Interviewing is a learned skill - for both the interviewee and the interviewer. The stakes for candidates are higher, but the interview’s outcome is majorly influenced by how it is conducted by the interviewer. Moderating Interviews well and making them a fun experience is a great way to hire great talent and also a solid contribution to employer branding. Sitting on the candidate chair myself the amount of information interviewers could learn about me was often limited by how they conducted the interview.

I hired a few excellent Engineering Managers who I’m very happy with last year. I obviously also had to interview a whole bunch more to find them. In this article, I’ll summarize how I would build the best hiring process with my current knowledge after this journey to fill future open positions quickly with excellent candidates. We will move from understanding the role in the first place to building a performant funnel and ultimately closing the candidates we really want.

Energetic, amped up, friendly, and joyful. These are attributes of how we want everyone, but especially our leaders, to behave at all times. But that’s hard, and it seems like a lot of people wash out after 1 or 2 years after joining the company. Sometimes they become just quiet, other times they get cynical, reserved, and angry. I believe this has something to do with energy management, and I collected my approaches for conserving my mental health by managing my energy better.

Regular 1-on-1s are to this day my favorite management tool, and it has transitioned remarkably well from working with Software Engineers to now working with other Managers. It’s probably the one constant factor in a sea of learning over the last few years, but I believe I also got a little bit better at running them. I collected something close to a Field Guide to share my current state of knowledge - This can be useful for Managers and Engineers alike because you can also use this to improve the 1-on-1 you have with your own boss.

A while ago I told one of my new Engineering Managers that I expect them to develop a strategy for their team. And oh my, were they confused by this ambiguous ask. I failed to explain this concept and my wish multiple times until we got it right, so this is both a lesson for me and for everyone else watching: As an Engineering Manager, how can you develop a strategy for your team?