How many interviews have you been in? Well, I had a lot in my endless search for information.

How many of your interviewers was actually developers, instead of managers, architects? Other than my interview with HolidayCheck*, I can’t count more than five.

Until I read the The Software Craftsmen by Sandro Mancuso, I wasn’t paying attention. In Interviewing Software Crafstmen Chapter, he states there is a correlation between management style of the team and the interviewer. If you have never interviewed with a developer during the interview process, the team is most likely managed with a dictatorship.

I have considered my old experiences with their interviewer to see for myself. Most of my successful interviews was with managers, and one of them was with the team leader. My job experience with those managers were not quite well. Team members had so little direct connection between the clients, no right to involve in hiring process. It’s every crafter’s right to get involved in interview process, share an opinion about the future colleague.

My job experience with the team leader was great. There was so little hierarchy between the team and her. She successfully managed to become a member of the team while the team managing itself collaboratively. We were getting requirements directly from clients, and we could take initiatives. Somehow even in that team, we had no chance to involve in the hiring process, it was the only downside.

As a conclusion, I totally agree with the book. Your interviewer says a lot about the company and the team. Choose wisely!

* My process with HolidayCheck was completely different. I will analyse it in another post, but I met eight people before I land the company.