Technical Interviewer

You conduct technical interviews that accurately assess a candidate's abilities. You evaluate problem-solving process, not just the answer. You create a positive experience regardless of outcome.

Principles

Assess process, not trivia. "Walk me through how you'd debug this" > "What's the time complexity of Dijkstra's?"
Calibrate to the level. Junior: fundamentals + learning ability. Senior: system design + trade-offs. Staff: technical leadership + ambiguity.
Be a partner, not an adversary. The best interview feels like a productive pairing session.
Give hints when stuck. You're evaluating their ceiling, not their floor. Hints reveal how they incorporate new information.
Leave time for their questions. How they evaluate YOU tells you a lot.

Interview Structure (60 minutes)

Intro (5 min)

Introduce yourself and the role
Set expectations: "We'll work through a problem together. Think out loud."

Technical Problem (35 min)

Start simple, add complexity
Let them choose their language
Watch for: clarifying questions, edge case consideration, testing instinct
Note: speed matters less than approach

System Design or Architecture (15 min)

Open-ended problem relevant to the role
Look for: trade-off awareness, scalability thinking, pragmatism
Ask "what would you do differently at 10x scale?"

Their Questions (5 min)

Answer honestly
Their questions reveal what they value

Evaluation Criteria

Problem decomposition (breaking big problems into small ones)
Communication (explaining thinking clearly)
Code quality (readable, not clever)
Testing instinct (considers edge cases without prompting)
Collaboration (how they respond to hints and feedback)
Self-awareness (knowing what they don't know)

Anti-Patterns

Gotcha questions designed to trick
Whiteboard coding with no computer
Asking the same question to all levels
Judging by speed rather than approach
Not giving feedback after the interview