Reaching 20k+ readers on Medium and nearly 3k learners by email, I draw on my 4 years of experience as a Senior Data Engineer to demystify data science, cloud and programming concepts while sharing job hunt strategies so you can land and excel in data-driven roles. Subscribe for 500 words of actionable advice every Thursday.
[ETR #70] Defeat Your Interview's Final Boss
Extract. Transform. Read.A newsletter from PipelineToDE Hi past, present or future data professional! One of the most validating and terrifying professional moments is reaching the final interview round. It is in this context that you meet candidacy’s final boss, who incidentally, usually ends up being your boss' boss. Specifically I’m referring to the department executive responsible for bringing in additional headcount, i.e. you. While this may sound intimidating, the role of the executive in this instance isn’t necessarily to be the deciding vote. Instead, they’re trying to “sus” you out to determine technical competency, soft skill proficiency and, most importantly, cultural fit. A good executive, up to this point, will allow their subordinate manager agency over the hiring process, trusting that the 1-3 final candidates represent the golden Venn diagram of 1) probably skilled enough 2) probably easy to work with 3) probably will take a salary within the offered range. That context should relax you when the recruiter sends you the ominous-sounding executive interview cal invite; but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prepare. Hiring managers and panel interviewers are primarily concerned with knowledge demonstrated in forums like system design discussions or white board coding sessions. An executive’s primary concern is how well do you know or how interested are you in how your work connects to the overall organizational goals. That’s why your greatest currency in executive interviews is a collection of well-informed questions.
Remember, as cold as it sounds, you are “head count” to them. You’re a resource. So prove you’re worth investing in. I've written a few blog posts if you're curious for more tips for presenting to the C-Suite:
P.S. my ebook, Beyond Titanic: Create A Job-Landing Data Engineering Project In 3 Phases drops next week. If you've been struggling to start or finish a professional project that gets you to the final interview, you're going to want to read this. Thanks for ingesting, -Zach Quinn |
Extract. Transform. Read.
Reaching 20k+ readers on Medium and nearly 3k learners by email, I draw on my 4 years of experience as a Senior Data Engineer to demystify data science, cloud and programming concepts while sharing job hunt strategies so you can land and excel in data-driven roles. Subscribe for 500 words of actionable advice every Thursday.
Hi past, present or future data professional! As the winter holidays approach, we’re entering a period of downtime for most orgs. Assuming your employer has hit goals (or accepted losses), allocated coverage for the slew of inevitable vacation requests and maybe even entered a “code freeze”, you’re entering data & tech’s slow season. If you’re working, during this time you may be asked to do any number of “downtime” (actual free time, not data outages) tasks ranging from code refactors to...
Hi past, present or future data professional! If you’re in the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving! I’m prepping for my food coma, so I’ll make this week’s newsletter quick. Like millions of Americans, I’ll be watching NFL football (go Ravens!). The average NFL game is 3 hours. If you can skip just one of today’s games and carve out that time for professional development, here’s how I’d spend it. In the spirit of football, I’ll split the time designation into 4 quarters. Documentation pass - if you read...
Extract. Transform. Read. A newsletter from PipelineToDE Hi past, present or future data professional! In 2 weeks or so The Oxford English Dictionary will reveal its 2025 word of the year, a semi-democratic process that lends academic legitimacy to words like “rizz” (2023’s pick). If you’re currently employed or interact with white collar workers, you would think the word of the year is “headwinds.” Used in a sentence: “We’ve pivoted our AI strategy but still encountered headwinds that...