If I talk about the following weaknesses: My sometimes I prematurely propose pocs in my code that didn’t yield the right benefits I optimized for code cleanliness in a complex problem w multiple edge cases and got pointed out in pair programming to make control flow explicit but repeated Could I do well with those sorts of examples? It turns out I have a bunch of these examples. I’m tryna make sure these don’t make me look incompetent for my mid level target level for a big tech interview. If they are good the theory is I have a lot of stories to do some real interviewing practice and refinement to make it better over time.

My sometimes I prematurely propose pocs in my code that didn’t yield the right benefits Does pocs = Proof of concepts? Good training for a behavioral interview is to not use acronyms as I talk about here, hehe: This seems okay as a narrative. I optimized for code cleanliness in a complex problem w multiple edge cases and got pointed out in pair programming to make control flow explicit but repeated I feel far less good about this one. It's way too tactical. You need to find a more fundamental character flaw IMHO for the weakness question as I describe here: Behavioral Interview Prep - What's your greatest weakness?

Valid behavioral interview weaknesses for E4 target Level

Mid-Level Software Engineer at Taro Communitya month ago

Big Tech

Interviewing

Mid-level Engineer

If I talk about the following weaknesses:

My sometimes I prematurely propose pocs in my code that didn’t yield the right benefits
I optimized for code cleanliness in a complex problem w multiple edge cases and got pointed out in pair programming to make control flow explicit but repeated

Could I do well with those sorts of examples? It turns out I have a bunch of these examples. I’m tryna make sure these don’t make me look incompetent for my mid level target level for a big tech interview.

If they are good the theory is I have a lot of stories to do some real interviewing practice and refinement to make it better over time.

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(5 comments)

0
Alex Chiou
•Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
a month ago

My sometimes I prematurely propose pocs in my code that didn’t yield the right benefits

Does pocs = Proof of concepts? Good training for a behavioral interview is to not use acronyms as I talk about here, hehe: https://www.jointaro.com/course/master-the-behavioral-interview-as-a-software-engineer/the-interviewer-isnt-you/

This seems okay as a narrative.

I optimized for code cleanliness in a complex problem w multiple edge cases and got pointed out in pair programming to make control flow explicit but repeated

I feel far less good about this one. It's way too tactical.

You need to find a more fundamental character flaw IMHO for the weakness question as I describe here: "Behavioral Interview Prep - "What's your greatest weakness?"
- 0
  Mid-Level Software Engineer
  •Taro Community
  a month ago
  Was that last comment about the character flaw a comment to both options or like a comment to the bottom option?
- 0
  Alex Chiou
  •Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
  a month ago
  It's comment on both options as I personally feel like neither qualifies. This "weakness" question generally isn't asked to look for shortfalls in technical skill.
0
Rahul Pandey
•Tech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
a month ago
The best way to figure out if these achieve your desired goal is to tell the 2-minute version of each story to a fellow engineer or manager. Then ask for their reflections about what qualities they'd say you displayed or didn't display.

In a question about weaknesses, the follow up after the story is equally or more important:

What did you learn from the experience?

What will you do differently going forward?
- 0
  Mid-Level Software Engineer
  •Taro Community
  a month ago
  Can I subtly workshop this in 1:1s at work? Like I use the real low lights that happen and get signal from current managers and leads about improvement without obviously sharing with them?