In this blog I'll be sharing the first 2 Principles(among others) that helped me eventually get a job in 2026 in times of AI especially when its very competitive.
Why share principles?: Because principles are reusable across different interview types and can be applied across different industries for different kinds of job roles.
Principle 1: If each discussion can feel more like a conversation, than just a formal discussion, that feels more connecting and IMHO easier to see one as a future colleague.
Personal example: My best interviews went for more any where between 30 mins to 1 hour beyond the scheduled time because the conversation felt truly meaningful on both sides. Make sure you make space for that buffer if the interview automatically extends for longer
Reflection on the above 1+ month upon joining the new company:
- Since I've joined a new company. That feeling still remains with my manager who hired me for the role, our conversations just naturally extend and it feels enjoyable on both sides and IMHO it feels like each of us contributes to it in different ways that the quality of the conversations feel that they improve naturally.
- A key element that IMHO that makes this feel more enriched is that we both also genuinely hear each other out and we also talk about how each one of us doing personally on the well being side and anything else that could be appropriately applicable.
Credit for the principle: This principle comes from my personal experiences of giving many interviews over the years & related observations. It was also something that was reaffirmed by a Senior Manager in Berlin - I'm also thankful to him as it only strengthen my conviction further in this prinicple and doing it authentically.
Principle 2 : If they can learn something new(ideally could be related to your role or field) from you via the interview .
Personal Example: This happenned with me more than once, many people know about EXPLAIN and ANALYZE option when it comes to improving an SQL query, very few know about the BUFFER option which also helps with additional insights to improve query performance. I not only spoke about this when was asked a related interview question, I also followed that up with linking them to a lightning talk I gave about this at a past Euruko 2024 conference and sharing related slides here
Reflection on the above 1+ month upon joining the new company:
- My manager also mentions you bring something unique and complementary that the team doesn't have. He has mentioned this more than once until now since it appeared to him even after being hired, I from time to time, bring up something which he appreciates as something unique/different within the team, he mentions "this is why we chose you". This makes me realise how important it is for a team to be one where we can contribute meaningfully to each others areas of improvements such that the team is complete as a whole. No wonder even in Championship winning sports teams(Football, NBA, Cricket etc.,), its the complementary skills within the team that make them champions.
- This also makes me even more realise the importance of asking during the interview process which I also try doing in my interviews is - "How can I be a culture add to the team?" . I'm realising an extended version of this question could be: "How can I be a culture add to the team, department & the company at large?".