Hiring manager interviews are a key part of the hiring process, but what hiring managers look for can vary significantly based on the role’s level. Here’s a breakdown of how the focus shifts: 👩💻 Junior/Mid-Level Engineers At this level, hiring managers prioritize communication, growth potential, and initiative: ▪️ Can you clearly explain your work to both technical and non-technical audiences? ▪️ Do you proactively seek challenges and act on feedback? ▪️ Are you taking initiative, solving problems, and pushing through blockers? ▪️ How well do you receive and apply constructive criticism? ▪️ Can you navigate ambiguity and find your own path? 🌟 Senior Engineers For senior roles, the focus is on leadership, influence, and strategic thinking: ▪️ Have you mediated disagreements or balanced technical and business priorities? ▪️ Can you adjust your message for teammates, stakeholders, and customers? ▪️ Do you own and drive efforts that align with larger team or company goals? ▪️ How do you deliver feedback to maximize teammates’ growth? ▪️ Have you shaped technical decisions or inspired team improvements? ▪️ How do you align your work with customer or stakeholder needs? How do you prepare differently for interviews as you advance in your career? Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eckHQFfT
Formation
Professional Training and Coaching
San Francisco, California 10,500 followers
Formation is the world's first AI-powered platform helping mid-level software engineers land lifechanging roles in tech.
About us
Formation is the world’s only AI-powered dynamic interview prep platform, providing unlimited benchmarking, personalized skill development, and world-class mentorship to accelerate peoples' engineering careers. Since June 2020, with Formation’s hyper-personalized learning approach, 450+ engineers have found success landing at companies across the tech industry. Some of these companies include Meta, Google, Twitch, Dropbox, Adobe and Figma among many others. Formation knows that every engineer is coming to the table with different experiences and a different way of learning. Formation's patented adaptive learning algorithm takes that into account and creates a dynamic interview prep roadmap to focus an engineer's efforts on the exact skills they need to develop at the exact right time. Thanks to this hyper-focused and personalized approach, Formation has successfully helped shape peoples' career paths for those with minimal experience to 8+ years of experience, unlocking prestigious roles at top-tier companies for ambitious engineers.
- Website
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https://formation.dev
External link for Formation
- Industry
- Professional Training and Coaching
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California
- Type
- Privately Held
- Founded
- 2019
- Specialties
- Computer Science Education
Locations
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Primary
San Francisco, California, US
Employees at Formation
Updates
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A Rising Tide Award is given to a Fellow who positively impacts other Fellows' weeks. ⛵ This week’s award winner is Adam Miller! He was nominated by another fellow for his kindness and generosity with his time. 🤩 His nominator shared: “Adam was very friendly and welcoming during our session and offered to chat afterward. We talked about the different challenges in job hunting. He was generous with his time, and I look forward to having more chats with him in the future." Thank you, Adam, for being such an amazing part of Formation!
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Wondering if you should schedule an interview during the holiday season? ✨ It depends. 🤓 If you feel prepared: The holiday season can be a great time to stand out. Many companies want to fill roles before the year ends, and fewer candidates may apply. Use this urgency to your advantage and lean into opportunities that come your way. 😱 If you’re not ready: It’s completely fine to defer. Let the recruiter know you’d prefer to interview after the holidays so you can bring your best self to the process. A thoughtful explanation shows you value quality over rushing through the process, which recruiters often appreciate. Whether you choose to interview now or later, what matters most is feeling confident and prepared. Get more tips for navigating the holiday season on the job hunt: https://lnkd.in/e3M2WBiS
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Looking to expand your network as a software engineer? 🌐 👉 Join online tech communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and coding subreddits. 👉 Contribute to open-source projects to collaborate and build relationships while flexing your skills. 👉 Attend local meetups or virtual tech conferences. 💡 Make sure to follow up with the people you meet—turning a quick chat into a lasting professional connection is easier than you think. Need more ideas? Find tips for networking in tech: https://lnkd.in/eaBC_DcQ Where do you connect with other engineers? Share your go-to spots below! 👇
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A Lighthouse Award is given to Mentors who are recognized and nominated for making an impact in Fellows' weeks. 🏆 This week’s Lighthouse is... Malay Kapoor! 🤩 Here's what his nominators had to say: "He made me feel valuable. He commended my work experience and gave extra information he didn't have to about creating a resume. I left feeling like I can achieve the job of my dreams." Thank you for making such an incredible impact!
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🎄The holidays are perfect for job prep (and cookies) Use down time during the holidays to: 🎯 Identify your bottlenecks (What needs attention? Your resume? Technical skills? Networking?) 🗓️ Timebox your prep for consistency without burnout 🤝 Reconnect with former colleagues and mentors Preparation now = opportunity later. Don’t wait until 2025 to get started! 🌟 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e3M2WBiS
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💡 Mock interviews are a great tool for interview prep, but they’re even more effective when paired with other strategies. Here are 4 ways to level up your preparation: 1️⃣ Build a strong foundation Don’t rush into hard problems before mastering the basics. Most tough interview questions are built on core concepts, so focus on honing your technical fundamentals first. 2️⃣ Work with others Group sessions and pair programming are game-changers. Collaborating lets you see new approaches, get real-time feedback, and sharpen your communication skills—while mimicking real-world teamwork. 3️⃣ Get into good feedback loops Feedback is key to growth. Identify weak areas, actively work on them, and seek advice from mentors or peers. Use feedback to refine your skills and avoid repeating mistakes. 4️⃣ Maximize learning from every problem After solving a problem, reflect. What worked? What didn’t? Can you improve efficiency or readability? Analyzing your approach ensures you’re continuously improving and ready for new challenges. Strategic practice beats endless repetition—prep smarter, not harder! 💪
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A Rising Tide Award is given to a Fellow who positively impacts other Fellows' weeks. This week we are celebrating... Ryan Christie 🤩 His patience and understanding were super appreciated by his peer during their session. His nominator shared: "He was the best Fellow I have had in the past month. He has an immense amount of patience and understanding. He made it seem very enjoyable to pair with him. Would love to pair with him in the future." Thank you, Ryan, for making Formation such an incredible place to grow!
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🚨 Don't skip researching the product before your interview. 🚨 Hiring Managers want to know you’ve taken the time to understand the product and think critically about what it has to offer (and improve). Be prepared to answer: ❓ What’s one thing you’d improve about our product and why? ❓ What’s something you think our product does well? ❓ How would you explain our product to someone who hasn’t used it? Take the time to explore the product, think through your answers, and stand out in the interview.
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Most candidates don't get enough feedback during interview prep. When you join Formation, we focus on continuous assessment and refinement. It looks something like this: 👉 Benchmarking. Before anything else, we evaluate where you stand. What are your strengths? Where are your gaps? What needs immediate attention? This allows us to create a tailored plan that ensures every minute of your preparation is well-spent. 👉 Iterative practice. Every practice session should inform the next. After each problem or mock interview, we provide targeted feedback, helping candidates understand not just what they got wrong but why they got it wrong. From there, the practice becomes more precise, focused on eliminating those weaknesses. 👉 Real-time course correction. As you progress, feedback loops let you shift focus. If you're still struggling with tree problems after a week, we don’t keep moving—we double down, making sure you have the depth of understanding required to tackle variations of those problems in real interviews. At the end of the day, interview prep requires being strategic with your time, knowing where you need to improve, and building the skills that will help you stand out in an interview. That’s why Formation’s approach is focused, efficient, and feedback-driven to build both confidence and competence. ✨