4 ms·

you can say essentially the same thing and re-word it in such a way that it is less trite: "my biggest weakness is that i prioritise code quality, completeness

by shoo 7y ago

you can say essentially the same thing and re-word it in such a way that it is less trite: "my biggest weakness is that i prioritise code quality, completeness and long-term maintainability above all other concerns, without understanding the broader engineering or business context where sometimes an ugly short-term hack or ignoring edge cases may be necessary to get a release out the door on schedule for a marketing campaign, or temporarily mitigate a production issue, or allow a project to be delivered on budget" note: this is clearly still a weakness in an engineer, ideally you also need to talk through how you recognised this issue, what resources you used to change your behaviour and improve your performance in time or budget constrained situations, and what the result was...

perl4ever 7y ago
"my biggest weakness is that i prioritise code quality, completeness and long-term maintainability above all other concerns, without understanding the broader engineering or business context where sometimes an ugly short-term hack or ignoring edge cases may be necessary to get a release out the door on schedule for a marketing campaign, or temporarily mitigate a production issue, or allow a project to be delivered on budget" And if you're exactly the opposite...?
- quickthrower2 7y ago
  That’s fine too. Basically most traits are a trade off that you can draw a SWOT analysis for. Mention WT then SO plus how you have changed to try to get the best of both worlds.
scarface74 7y ago
My current reply would be two fold. 1. “My biggest weakness is front end UI/UX. If you are expecting a great UI person, I’m not your guy.” The purpose of that answer is to both show self awareness and self select out of jobs I know that I won’t be a good fit for. 2. “When I was a team lead/architect at the company before my current one, I realized I had X, Y, Z weaknesses even though I accomplished what they hired me for before the company changed directions. I ‘self demoted’ and found a company where I could fill in those skills gaps and strengthen those areas. Now as I pursue new challenges, I’m sure I will discover new weaknesses, but just as before, I have a methodical method for learning new soft and hard skills by doing $X”
- quickthrower2 7y ago
  > 1. “My biggest weakness is front end UI/UX. If you are expecting a great UI person, I’m not your guy.” Clever, but I assume you've already selected out of such jobs before you hit the interview. So you are in an interview for a back end job. Which means it's not much different from saying "My biggest weakness is Enterprise sales, if you need someone to land you that million dollar contract, I'm not your guy." I think my perfectionism example is better because it is a genuine weakness. I have shown that it leads to things taking too long which is a real issue for companies, and also that the candidate is working on addressing it (so they want to improve). > 2. “When I was a team lead/architect at the company before my current one, I realized I had X, Y, Z weaknesses even though I accomplished what they hired me for before the company changed directions. I ‘self demoted’ and found a company where I could fill in those skills gaps and strengthen those areas. Now as I pursue new challenges, I’m sure I will discover new weaknesses, but just as before, I have a methodical method for learning new soft and hard skills by doing $X” This is effective, as long as you can answer the follow up questions about why you had to leave that company and not move within it, etc.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Clever, but I assume you've already selected out of such jobs before you hit the interview. So you are in an interview for a back end job. I always use my network of trusted external recruiters. You often see postings for “full stack developers”, but once you actually talk to the recruiters, you find out that the hiring company would love that in theory, but they will take someone who is good on the back end. Also, I have some front end experience and I can usually get through an interview, but my fear is that I’ll interview well enough to set false expectations. This is effective, as long as you can answer the follow up questions about why you had to leave that company and not move within it, etc. I kind of hinted at it when I said “the company changed direction”. They decided that they “didn’t want to be a software company” and they were moving toward trying to fit everything into none custom off the shelf solutions and hire contractors (like WorkDay contractors) to customize solutions. They wanted to turn us into a ticket resolving/report writing department. Even while I was lead we were mostly using software developer contractors.

by shoo 7y ago

perl4ever 7y ago

"my biggest weakness is that i prioritise code quality, completeness and long-term maintainability above all other concerns, without understanding the broader engineering or business context where sometimes an ugly short-term hack or ignoring edge cases may be necessary to get a release out the door on schedule for a marketing campaign, or temporarily mitigate a production issue, or allow a project to be delivered on budget" And if you're exactly the opposite...?

quickthrower2 7y ago
That’s fine too. Basically most traits are a trade off that you can draw a SWOT analysis for. Mention WT then SO plus how you have changed to try to get the best of both worlds.

scarface74 7y ago

My current reply would be two fold. 1. “My biggest weakness is front end UI/UX. If you are expecting a great UI person, I’m not your guy.” The purpose of that answer is to both show self awareness and self select out of jobs I know that I won’t be a good fit for. 2. “When I was a team lead/architect at the company before my current one, I realized I had X, Y, Z weaknesses even though I accomplished what they hired me for before the company changed directions. I ‘self demoted’ and found a company where I could fill in those skills gaps and strengthen those areas. Now as I pursue new challenges, I’m sure I will discover new weaknesses, but just as before, I have a methodical method for learning new soft and hard skills by doing $X”

quickthrower2 7y ago
> 1. “My biggest weakness is front end UI/UX. If you are expecting a great UI person, I’m not your guy.” Clever, but I assume you've already selected out of such jobs before you hit the interview. So you are in an interview for a back end job. Which means it's not much different from saying "My biggest weakness is Enterprise sales, if you need someone to land you that million dollar contract, I'm not your guy." I think my perfectionism example is better because it is a genuine weakness. I have shown that it leads to things taking too long which is a real issue for companies, and also that the candidate is working on addressing it (so they want to improve). > 2. “When I was a team lead/architect at the company before my current one, I realized I had X, Y, Z weaknesses even though I accomplished what they hired me for before the company changed directions. I ‘self demoted’ and found a company where I could fill in those skills gaps and strengthen those areas. Now as I pursue new challenges, I’m sure I will discover new weaknesses, but just as before, I have a methodical method for learning new soft and hard skills by doing $X” This is effective, as long as you can answer the follow up questions about why you had to leave that company and not move within it, etc.
- scarface74 7y ago
  Clever, but I assume you've already selected out of such jobs before you hit the interview. So you are in an interview for a back end job. I always use my network of trusted external recruiters. You often see postings for “full stack developers”, but once you actually talk to the recruiters, you find out that the hiring company would love that in theory, but they will take someone who is good on the back end. Also, I have some front end experience and I can usually get through an interview, but my fear is that I’ll interview well enough to set false expectations. This is effective, as long as you can answer the follow up questions about why you had to leave that company and not move within it, etc. I kind of hinted at it when I said “the company changed direction”. They decided that they “didn’t want to be a software company” and they were moving toward trying to fit everything into none custom off the shelf solutions and hire contractors (like WorkDay contractors) to customize solutions. They wanted to turn us into a ticket resolving/report writing department. Even while I was lead we were mostly using software developer contractors.