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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.

• What are the expectations for a successful candidate in this role?
• How does this role impact your vision for the team I would join?
• What organizational priorities would this role support?
• What stage of data maturity does the org most closely align with?

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:

• What Data Engineers Honestly Want To Tell Stakeholders
• Requirements Gathering With Fewer Tears
• 3 Data Engineering Presentation Types That Don't Touch Analysis Or ML

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