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How to navigate team match interviews?

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Staff Software Engineer at Taro Community6 months ago

I would like to get some ideas for team match interviews with EMs. Most times, the team match interviews are the last ones after the entire loop with the company has finished. These interviews are very unstructured and very EM specific. Since there is no structure and most times, the team details are not known upfront (except team names), I was wondering how I navigate these and make sure I can show my full potential and upsell for this interview.

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(2 comments)
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    Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
    6 months ago

    The overall principles of a behavioral interview don't change with these interviews. Your goal is still to show that you would be a valuable member of the team as you are passionate about software engineering, working with others, and the company/space. Since you are Staff, you need to show signal that you're capable of leading large teams and solving incredibly difficult technical problems. Here's some good resources:

    Given the team name, you should have enough to determine the overall domain. From that, there will be 1 of 2 possible outcomes.

    1. You have prior experience in the domain - In this case, bring it up. Easy.
    2. You don't have prior experience in the domain - This one is harder. To make up for the lack of domain knowledge, you should look for opportunities to showcase your adaptability. Talk about times where you had to switch teams/companies/product spaces and were able to ramp up successfully very quickly.
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    Eng @ Taro
    6 months ago

    I was wondering how I navigate these and make sure I can show my full potential and upsell for this interview.

    I would prepare by coming up with a list of questions about the team and what kind of projects the team will be working on. The team matching process is as much for you to find out more about the team's domain as it is for the team to recruit a new engineer.

    Also, If you can ask thoughtful questions about the team, it reflects well on you because it shows how deeply you can think about a problem.