Behavioral: Your Approach to Engineers' Growth, Feedback and Career Progression

The interviewer asks how you coach the engineers on your team and help them develop. Explain your approach and show it working through real situations. ```hint Show it through one person Pick one engineer whose growth you helped with and use their story to show each step of your approach, instead of listing principles. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Do you mean engineers who report to me, or the engineering team I work with as a product manager without formal authority over them? - Are you most interested in day-to-day coaching and feedback, or in longer-term growth such as promotions and taking on bigger scope? - Should I describe a team of mostly senior engineers, mostly early-career ones, or a mix? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - How you learn what each engineer wants and where they stand, rather than running one plan for everyone - The concrete mechanisms you use to develop people and how often you use them - At least one specific example with the actions you took and a result you can point to - How your approach differs for a strong performer and for someone who is struggling - How you judge whether the coaching is working, and something you changed when it was not ### Follow-up Questions - Tell me about an engineer who was already excellent. How did you keep them growing and engaged? - Describe a time someone on the team was underperforming. What did you do, and how did it end? - If you have no formal say over the engineers' careers, how do you contribute to their growth without overlapping their manager's role?