Interviewing Experiences in 2022

A look at how product interviews were in 2022 and perhaps they are gonna be worse in 2023

Jan 18, 2023

Hi All,

(Generated by Mid journey)

I hope you all are doing well and welcome (if you aren’t new then again) to Dozen Worthy Reads. A newsletter where I talk about the most exciting things about tech that I read the past couple of weeks or write about tech happenings. You can sign up here or just read on …

(Um, never thought I’d need a disclaimer here but here goes: This edition was handcrafted entirely in San Jose, CA)

After a long and mostly unplanned break, I hope to be back to writing more frequently. You might be thinking who is this random dude in my email if that is the case, I apologize. But stick around, I’m not smart but I am opinionated AF and hopefully, you might enjoy my writing.

For those that remember me, the last few months have brought on a lot of changes for me professionally and personally and I could blame my lack of writing on all these changes. But if I am being honest I stopped writing because for the first time, I am tired. Tired of tech, tired of the never-ending news cycles and the insane shit that keeps happening in tech. Prior to my stopping writing, I was quite unhappy professionally. I was the Head of Product at an early-stage startup that really should not have hired a Head of Product because they were still unclear about both Product Market Fit as well as which segment of users to serve. As I always say, “When you try to be everything to everybody you end up being nothing to nobody”

Personally, too, life had dealt me a few solid blows which were coming to an end and I decided to take a long break in India. After my break, I hit reset and started looking for a job. I quit my old job without a new job and was quite OK to take a break if nothing worthwhile panned out.

This was way before the great layoff (which I still think is a huge mistake!) and so I had several competing offers because I’m freaking amazing (just kidding, everyone was hiring like there was no tomorrow and of course, no one was wiser that SBF was a highway robber. I mean he still thinks that he isn’t one!) To be honest, I also got rejected by a lot of companies, most of them were fair rejections and I guess I was punching above my weight class and missed. Often times as humans we remember the best and worse experiences and not the mediocre experiences here are four of my experiences with interviewing the last year which show how suboptimal companies hiring processes are and in some cases … well how mature and good they are

One of the first ones was a company in the HR Tech space and I went in via a referral after many rounds of interviews I was rejected. Their CPO communicated in a timely fashion that I was rejected but what struck me was how BAD the CEO was. He was not articulate about why he is solving the problem, and what his strategy is compared to the competitor and ultimately I think he didn’t like my direct and perhaps abrasive form of questioning. I’m not going to mention names of course but in my head, this company will not beat its competitor who is doing way better. Another very senior exec in the HR tech space had the same thoughts (and this is someone I respect very much)

The second company was a fintech company that had an interesting spin on crypto investing. I won’t say more else it will be quite easy to find them. After I think 10+ rounds of interviews (with just 7 employees, LOL) I met the CEO for a long walk around a super posh Palo Alto neighborhood. I went home. I never heard back. I mean for crying out loud, there is a thing called basic courtesy. Yeah I know you’re rich and very smart but seriously? This was not via a referral

The third company was a Series B startup with 250+ people in the HR tech space I applied via someone I barely knew but he was super kind and after a conversation, he referred me internally. I did apply for a role that I was NOT qualified for and I told the person who referred me that but he still encouraged me. I spoke to the CEO and subsequently to the CTO and while I never got the job the CEO was kind enough to reach out and thank me. Classy. Freakin Classy! Hands down a great experience

The last experience was via a referral as well (all my applications were via referrals) and I was initially hesitant to apply because the position was a bit “lower” than what I expected to be in. After my first conversation with the hiring manager, I was quite excited. Here’s why: Firstly, he was extremely clear about what role he wanted to fill and had a broad vision for it. Secondly, he worked to understand my needs and was super kind through the process and everyone I interviewed with was kind, smart, and amazing. In the previous tech world where I did have a lot of choices, I decided to take up this role and a few months in I am happy that I did. In retrospect had I joined any of the prior companies there is a good chance that I’d have been knocking down virtual doors in search of a job. Ultimately I had a few learnings which I wanted to capture below:

Horizontal and Vertical Growth

I’ve struggled a lot with thinking about career growth. I always feel like I should be ascending the proverbial corporate ladder and I’m not sure why. Perhaps it has always been positional power and if I have it I’ll be able to “get things done” and both be mentally stimulated as well as earn more $. Ultimately as The Peter Principle states, people are promoted until they reach a position where they are no longer competent; However, the Dilbert Principle states that they are promoted because of their incompetence. Whichever one it is really doesn’t matter but what matters is HOW you perceive it.

Rejection has nothing to do with you

This is generally applicable to all roles but ultimately very applicable to Product Management. The roles that I got a lot of calls for were roles that were tied to my domain expertise versus my product management expertise. Some companies hire based on how good a Product Manager you will be (Think generalist PMs at Facebook or Google) and some companies hire you because of your domain expertise. What I have come to realize is that BOTH are key in most cases but companies that purely hire for domain and do not test for product skills run into more issues

Build both muscles

Domain expertise cannot be traded and while you might be a fantastic Product Manager that can guide teams domain expertise is likely what will get you the role – and keep you performing at high levels. This is not to say you should not experiment but find a domain or two that you like and forge ahead

Product Cases

A lot of companies give folks product cases and expect the candidate to spend “no more than 4 hours”. This in my opinion is a load of crap since the “exercise” is at least 10-15 hours of work (and free labor). At a previous company, a designer I interviewed expected to be compensated for his time in prepping for the case. I’m not entirely sure that is unreasonable. A series A startup in the Insurtech space that I interviewed with sent me an email saying “Can you please share your case in PPT format” and within two minutes of me emailing it in “ppt” format (from gSlides) I got a rejection email. I sure hope my strategy was filled with the exact opposite of what they should do .. and they follow it (NOTE: Curiosity got the better of me and several months in they have executed a few things that I suggested, not to say they were unique)

Careers are not linear

By all means I am not done with my own career growth. You have obviously seen the below and I live this all the time …

What you may not have seen is this. These are your choices and the paths are unlimited. Tech might be in a bad shape today but tech is going nowhere. There is an entire world of career possibilities and many might not be linear.

Next’s weeks note will be on tech and work predictions, some inspired by the above experiences. Thank you for reading and have a great week

Dozen Worthy Reads