- Jun 21, 2025 — [I Failed to Implement the Diameter of a Binary Tree in a Coding Interview](/2025/06/21/i-failed-to-implement-the-diameter-of-a-binary-tree-in-a-coding-interview.html)

Six months ago I failed a basic coding interview at a FAANG. Yes, I was a Principal Engineer, and yes, I was paid absurd amounts of money, yet I couldn’t implement a diameter of...

- May 20, 2019 — [Day 1 at Amazon Web Services & Principal Engineer Interviewing Tips](/2019/05/20/day-one-at-amazon-aws-principal-engineer-interviewing.html)

- Aug 30, 2016 — [Phone Screens are Harmful and The Benefits of the Informational Interview](/2016/08/30/phone-screens-are-harmful-and-the-benefits-of-the-informational-interview.html)

I learned about informationals at Microsoft. For any decent developer Engineering managers setup an in-person informational before sending you into a full job interview loop. Th...

- Aug 19, 2014 — [The Other Side of Your Interview](/2014/08/19/the-other-side-of-your-interview.html)

I gave a talk yesterday at the Flatiron School about the interviewing and hiring process for Engineers at Artsy and beyond. This focuses primarily on explaining to juniors, ie. ...

- Jan 3, 2014 — [American Horror Story and Entitlement in a Job Interview](/2014/01/03/american-horror-story-and-entitlement-in-a-job-interview.html)

“Wednesday night’s American Horror Story: Coven delivered an interesting theory on youth culture: Millennials are actually dead inside.” I’m quoting Bustle’s article, which quot...

- Dec 8, 2012 — [Five Ways to Torture Candidates in a Technical Interview](/2012/12/08/five-ways-to-torture-candidates-in-a-technical-interview.html)

When I joined Microsoft in ‘99 I was taught how to properly interview candidates. I was shown the wheel of competencies, a kind of a wheel of fortune where a color represents th...

- Apr 16, 2012 — [You Have to Stop Saying Your Experience is Under NDA in Interviews](/2012/04/16/you-have-to-stop-saying-your-experience-is-under-nda-in-interviews.html)

I talked to a developer recently. He said: