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As an engineering leader, you might have an idea of the leadership interview process.
But when it comes to tech leads, senior engineering managers, and software engineers, they often feel confident about technical interviews because they practice coding, problem-solving, and system design regularly. They know what to expect and how to prepare for these technical questions. However, they may not be as familiar with leadership interviews.
Leadership interviews focus on different skills, like managing teams, planning projects, and communicating effectively.
Since their day-to-day work is often more technical, they might not spend as much time thinking about or practicing these leadership aspects, leading to less preparation and understanding of what leadership interviews require.
Knowing the difference between technical and leadership interviews is important because it helps you prepare correctly and show the right skills for the job.
If you too lack this knowledge, this is what we are going to cover here.
In technical interviews, you need to demonstrate your coding abilities, problem-solving skills, and technical knowledge.
If you treat a technical interview like a leadership one, you might focus too much on your management stories and not enough on solving technical problems.
On the other hand, leadership interviews are about your ability to manage teams, plan projects, and communicate effectively.
Here’s a simple comparison to help you out:
Technical Interviews
Technical interviews focus on your technical skills and knowledge. They want to see if you can solve problems and understand the technologies you’ll be working with.
Here are the main aspects:
- Coding Skills: You might be asked to write code on a whiteboard or computer. For example, solving algorithm problems or debugging code.
Example: Writing a function to sort a list of numbers or finding the bug in a piece of code.
- System Design: You'll need to design systems or applications. This tests your ability to create efficient, scalable solutions.
Example: Designing a database schema for a social media application.
- Problem-Solving: You might face puzzles or complex problems to see how you approach and solve them.
Example: Finding the shortest path in a graph or optimizing a slow query.
- Technical Knowledge: Questions about specific technologies, frameworks, or tools you’ve used.
Example: Explaining how you’ve used Docker for containerization or how REST APIs work.
Leadership Interviews
Leadership interviews, on the other hand, assess your ability to lead and manage teams. They focus on your soft skills and decision-making abilities.
Here are the main aspects:
- Team Management: Questions about how you manage your team, delegate tasks, and handle conflicts.
Example: Describing a time you resolved a conflict between team members or how you ensure everyone meets deadlines.
- Project Management: They want to know how you plan, execute, and deliver projects.
Example: Explaining your process for tracking project progress and handling delays.
- Communication Skills: How well you communicate with your team, stakeholders, and other departments.
Example: Providing an example of how you explained a complex technical concept to a non-technical audience.
- Vision and Strategy: Questions about your long-term goals for the team and how you plan to achieve them.
Example: Outlining your vision for improving team productivity over the next year.
- Decision-Making: How you make decisions, especially under pressure.
Example: Describing a tough decision you had to make and how you arrived at it.
Key Differences
Here's the breakdown of the differences between the two:
| Key Differences | Examples |
|---|---|
| 1.Focus | Technical interviews focus on your coding, problem-solving, and system design skills. Leadership interviews focus on your management, communication, and decision-making skills. |
| 2.Questions | Technical interviews ask you to solve problems and design systems. Leadership interviews ask about your experiences managing teams and projects. |
| 3.Skills | Technical interviews test your hard skills (coding, design). Leadership interviews test your soft skills (communication, management). |
Table of Contents
Technical Interviews
Leadership Interviews
Key Differences