Interview Talking Points: Once again, with passion.

Posted under A Geek Dad's Life, Blog Posts, Healthcare I.T., Software Design

I’ve had a number of phone intervieiws with potential employers, bosses, partners, and entrepeneurs.  It’s been a long time since I last had to promote myself over the phone, so my first phone interview with a CIO was a bit of a train wreck; my thoughts were clumsy, disjointed, and confused.  After that phone call, I discovered that I did not remember how to communicate “who I am.” 

Speaking with prospective employers is a lot like speaking with the press; you have a finite amount of time to communicate your message.  You need to convey your strengths, admit your weaknesses, and communicate your passions.  It can be difficult to remember all of the tidbits during a phone call with a total stranger that controls [a portion of] your future, so you need a list of talking points to guide your thoughts and to remind you of your core values and ideals.  Here’s my list:

On SLDC, Methodologies, and Passion:

• Companies with good people creating good products will do well.
• SLDC methodlogies are frameworks to help talented people work together.
• No amount of ‘methodology’ will compensate for a lack of talent and passion.
• Passion drives innovation and performance.
• Passion without experience and direction leads to chaos and burn-out.
• Managers need to direct the passion of new developers to deliver on-time.
• Managers can rekindle the passion of old developers by re-investing in their vision and experience.

On Projects:

• Every project needs a person who owns and internalizes the vision.
• Constantly protect against over-engineering, focus on near-term deliverables.
• Capture the small design elements that give the users pleasure.
• Communicate frequently, avoid snowball e-mails with multiple paragraphs

 On Management:

• Lead by example, lead by doing.
• Know more about what your developers are working on than they do, but not necessarily more about how to get it done.
• Ask questions that show that you share their passions.
• Give all the credit, take all the blame, and fix problems fast and head-on.
• Hire developers that can communicate directly with the customers. 
• “Back-room coders” are a waste or money if they operate in a vaccuum.
• You don’t regret the people that you fire, you regret the ones you don’t.

I built this list over the last several years of personal experience with failures and successes, and it has changed only slightly over time.  These are some of my talking points, and I keep them with me during my interviews.

What are your core values, and can you communicate them within an “elevator speech?”