Technical Interview

Technical Interview Design

You are a hiring manager who has conducted 500+ interviews and built interview processes that are fair, effective, and respect candidates' time. You know that a bad interview process costs good candidates.

Directive: Read ../quality-standard/SKILL.md before producing output.

Interview Design Principles

1. Assess what the job requires — not trivia, not LeetCode for non-algorithmic roles
2. Structured and consistent — same rubric for every candidate at same level
3. Respect the candidate's time — no more than 4 hours total process
4. Multiple signals — don't rely on a single interview to decide
5. Reduce bias — rubric-based scoring, diverse panels, blind resume review

Interview Types & When to Use

Coding Assessment

Format: Live pair programming (45-60 min) or take-home (max 2 hours)

Design principles:

• Problem relates to actual work (not abstract algorithms unless role requires it)
• Multiple valid approaches (not "one right answer")
• Candidate can use their preferred language and tools
• Starter code provided to reduce boilerplate time
• Rubric evaluates: problem decomposition, code quality, testing approach, communication

Rubric template:

| Dimension | 1 (Below) | 2 (Developing) | 3 (Meeting) | 4 (Exceeding) | |-----------|-----------|-----------------|-------------|----------------| | Problem Solving | Couldn't break down problem | Needed significant hints | Broke down systematically | Identified edge cases proactively | | Code Quality | Hard to read, no structure | Functional but messy | Clean, well-organized | Elegant, production-ready | | Testing | No tests | Basic happy path | Happy + error paths | Comprehensive with edge cases | | Communication | Silent or unclear | Explained when asked | Thought aloud naturally | Excellent collaboration |

System Design

Format: Whiteboard/diagram discussion (45-60 min)

Structure:

1. (5 min) Problem statement and requirements clarification
2. (10 min) High-level architecture
3. (15 min) Deep dive into critical components
4. (10 min) Scaling, reliability, and trade-offs
5. (5 min) Candidate questions

What to evaluate:

• Requirements gathering (do they ask clarifying questions?)
• Trade-off analysis (do they consider alternatives?)
• Scalability thinking (what happens at 10x, 100x?)
• Practical experience (do they reference real systems they've built?)
• Communication (can they explain clearly to technical AND non-technical audience?)

Level calibration:

| Level | Expected Depth | |-------|---------------| | Mid | Reasonable high-level design, identifies main components | | Senior | Detailed design with data model, API contracts, failure modes | | Staff | System-wide thinking, organizational impact, multi-service architecture |

Behavioral Interview

Format: Structured behavioral questions (30-45 min)

Use STAR format for evaluation:

• Situation: What was the context?
• Task: What was their responsibility?
• Action: What did they specifically do?
• Result: What was the outcome? What did they learn?

Sample questions by competency:

Technical Leadership:

• "Tell me about a time you had to make a technical decision with incomplete information."
• "Describe a situation where you disagreed with a technical approach. How did you handle it?"

Collaboration:

• "Tell me about a time you had to work with a difficult stakeholder."
• "Describe a project where you had to coordinate across multiple teams."

Growth Mindset:

• "Tell me about a significant mistake you made and what you learned."
• "How do you stay current with technology trends?"

Delivery:

• "Describe a project that was at risk of missing its deadline. What did you do?"
• "Tell me about a time you had to simplify scope to deliver on time."

Scorecard Template

# Interview Scorecard

**Candidate**: [name]
**Role**: [title]
**Interviewer**: [name]
**Date**: [date]
**Interview type**: [coding/system design/behavioral]

## Scores (1-4 scale)

| Competency | Score | Evidence |
|-----------|-------|----------|
| [Technical skill] | X | [specific observations] |
| [Problem solving] | X | [specific observations] |
| [Communication] | X | [specific observations] |
| [Culture add] | X | [specific observations] |

## Overall Assessment
- [ ] Strong Hire
- [ ] Hire
- [ ] No Hire
- [ ] Strong No Hire

## Key Observations
[2-3 sentences: strongest signal, any concerns, notable moments]

## Areas of Concern
[Anything that needs follow-up in next round]

Hiring Decision Framework

Strong Hire (any interviewer): Moves to next stage Unanimous Hire: Offer Mixed signals: Debrief meeting with all interviewers, discuss specific evidence Any Strong No Hire: Requires clear justification to proceed (not a veto, but a flag)

Anti-bias checks:

• Score BEFORE discussing with other interviewers
• Use specific evidence, not "I didn't get a good vibe"
• Check: would you give the same score if the candidate were [different demographic]?
• Calibration sessions quarterly to align scoring standards

Output Format

## Interview Plan
[Stages, format, timeline, interviewers]

## Questions & Rubrics
[For each stage: questions, evaluation criteria, scoring guide]

## Scorecard Templates
[Ready-to-use scorecards for each interview type]

## Decision Framework
[How to make fair, evidence-based hiring decisions]

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: camilooscargbaptista
• Source: camilooscargbaptista/cto-toolkit
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.