How to pass behavioral interviews: Understanding Valued Engineer Traits

Most companies approach behavioral interviews with the idea that past behavior predicts future behavior. They have a clear idea of what traits successful people have within their companies and want evidence that the candidates they are interviewing exhibit these traits. 

We took the overlapping values from top tech companies and combined them with insights from engineering managers to develop what we call Valued Engineering Traits (VETs). While there will be distinctions in specific characteristics based on the company, we can generally bucket them into five broad categories.

• Use sound judgment
• Practice a growth mindset
• Be a team player
• Take ownership
• Prioritize impact

Interviewers search for these traits by interpreting your response to "Tell me about a time when..." questions. As you consider your past work and practice your responses, find ways to highlight how you embody these VETs. 

Here’s some insight into what they’re looking for. 

Use sound judgment

An example of this question would be, “Tell me about a time when you had to balance the needs of the customer with the needs of the business.” With these questions, interviewers want you to demonstrate reasonable decision-making. They want your choices to fall within a range of moderate options. Others should understand your behaviors, and they shouldn’t be too extreme in any direction.

They’ll look for these qualities specifically:

• Effective communication. You’re transparent about how you arrived at your decisions and provide alternatives where possible.
• Balance. You balance quality against speed in your work—you don’t wait until something is perfect to launch, and you also don’t produce shoddy work to meet an unreasonable deadline.
• Ability to prioritize. You can prioritize what’s most important and reduce the features you’ll release or request additional time or resources when necessary.
• Aptitude for risk-taking. You take calculated risks by getting data or consensus from stakeholders and experts to proceed in one-off situations.

What this might look like IRL

Early career: You should be able to work on individual tasks, unblock yourself, and seek advice from others when needed.

Mid to Senior level: You should be able to work on projects, use metrics to make recommendations, and consider multiple perspectives and options when making decisions.

Principal/Staff Level: You should be able to balance complex tradeoffs and use your domain expertise to shift technical or product direction.

Practice a growth mindset

An example of this question would be, “Tell me about a time when you were wrong.” With these questions, interviewers look for emotional intelligence and the willingness to change over time. 

They’ll look for these qualities specifically:

• A growth-oriented mindset: This involves demonstrating a high level of self-awareness and the ability to engage in introspection about past actions. Candidates should illustrate their capacity for recognizing their areas of improvement and actively seeking ways to enhance their personal and professional growth.
• Coachability: Show you value and seriously consider feedback. Demonstrate an open-minded approach to learning and being receptive to guidance from others.

What this might look like IRL

Early Career: You ask for help and advice to improve your job and tackle new challenges. You're good at using different resources to answer questions and solve problems independently. After getting advice or making mistakes, you take time to think about and learn from them.

Mid to Senior Level: You reflect on what you've done and how you can do it better. You share what you know with less experienced people, helping them grow. You understand different areas of your work well and how things fit together.

Principal/Staff Level: You’re a subject matter expert in specific areas, becoming the go-to person for those topics. You play a crucial role in shaping the professional growth of others by sharing insights, experiences, and expertise. You start new initiatives and projects that help push the company or your team forward.

Be a team player

An example of this question would be, “Tell me about a time with you disagreed with the direction the team chose to go.” Recruiters want you to show that you can collaborate with others respectfully and professionally. You should contribute to the overall health of a group instead of favoring a subset of people.

They’ll look for these qualities specifically:

• Teamwork. You work with others to improve and prevent damaging situations instead of assigning blame. You collaborate to complete complex tasks that would be impractical to do alone.
• Conflict resolution. You’re objective and practical when addressing disagreements. You use data and consensus to arrive at decisions. You understand you don’t have to win an argument for a great outcome.
• Empathy. You understand others’ viewpoints and recognize their perspectives when interacting with them. You use this emotional awareness to make progress.

What this might look like IRL

Early Career: You team up with experienced engineers and experts to complete tasks. You should be able to handle little disagreements or issues that come up.

Mid to Senior Level: You improve the team directly and through influence. You can help find direction for the team and resolve conflicts between teammates on significant decisions.

Principal/Staff Level:  You should be able to iterate with the organization's overall direction in mind. You can help different teams resolve disagreements and make significant changes by getting the best out of everyone around you.

Take ownership

An example of this question would be, “Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond in your role.” Companies want to know that you do more than the bare minimum. They want you to be enthusiastic and passionate about your work and take pride in performing your responsibilities well.

They’ll look for these qualities specifically:

• Personal responsibility. You tie loose ends or fill in gaps that others didn’t consider. 
• Leadership. You independently navigate ambiguous and challenging work. You seek advice but not hand-holding.

What this might look like IRL

Early Career: After starting a project, make sure it keeps going smoothly. Work on improving the small parts you're responsible for.

Mid to Senior Level: Come up with ideas to make your team work better and upgrade/scale systems.

Principal/Staff Level: Offer ideas that could change the whole organization for the better. Bring in new practices to improve systems and processes.

Prioritize impact

For questions like, “Tell me about a time when you solved a complex problem with a simple solution,” you want to show that you understand the importance of your contributions and align your efforts with the organization's expectations. Essentially, companies want people who can make a significant difference, leveraging their skills and knowledge to drive progress and innovation at every level of their careers.

They’ll look for these qualities specifically:

• Contribution magnitude. The difference you make matches what's expected of you.
• Contribution scale. You make a big difference, touching many things or people directly or indirectly.

What this might look like IRL

Early Career: Finish your daily tasks, solve your own problems, fix issues, and manage routine jobs. Be able to work well on your own and make a positive impact in your immediate area.

Mid to Senior Level: Work on big projects that matter, solve fundamental problems, help your colleagues grow, and focus on making things better for customers. Your work should significantly benefit the team or project.

Principal/Staff Level: Manage complex challenges, offer guidance in your area of expertise, influence the direction of the whole organization, and multiply your impact by working effectively with others. Your actions should lead to significant improvements or changes at the organizational level.

How this plays out in an interview

As you gain experience, demonstrating positive traits, or "green flags," becomes increasingly important. For early-career positions, missing some green flags due to lack of exposure is okay. However, no matter what level you are, the absence of any positive signals is damaging. Avoiding "red flags" or negative signals is critical at every stage. 

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