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Threads Dev Interviews
I am finding developers on Threads and interviewing them, right on Threads. You are welcome to follow along and let me know on Threads if you would like to be interviewed.
Note: The views in these interviews are personal views and do not represent the interviewee’s employer.
“Talk about passion projects as much as past work experiences. This shows how end to end you build and iterate”– via Eleonor Rose (@eleonor.rose) on Threads
Welcome @eleonor.rose, what is the single, most impactful, thing you have done to affect your career?
Hey there 👋🏼 – for me was my shift into the tech industry after moving back into the US, with how dynamic the industry is I got to explore so many different roles leading up to being a PM especially when I worked in antiquated environments like luxury and government – I was hungry for a fast paced environment without all those layers of bureaucracy
For those who do not know, what does PM stand for and what does the role entail?
PM can mean either: Product, Program or Project management. Using our technical background we oversee e2e [end to end]: products, programs and projects discovery, implementation and analysis for iterations. We work cross-functionally with many business stakeholders acting like a maestro in an orchestra (in my mind) – a good pm will understand the lens of the business and customers (users)
A little bit about me. I’m in the Product role at my company in the Infra and Programs side… basically I handle all new infra (software (in-house and enterprise) platforms, integrations, programs that scale across Eng and Tech) I am also a main stakeholder in technical competencies, infra data analysis and TA [Talent Acquisition] optimization. A good perk about this is I get to see a lot of the b2b offerings out there. I do thorough research through discovery but I also check sites like G2 (linked below) to pre-read and assess how the offerings will fit at my company and compare to others g2.com
What prompted your move away from and back to the US?
I moved to Switzerland for love (ex husband) and I left for the same reason (loving myself). A lesson I learned is that you’re never stuck, you can always choose yourself and not feel guilty for outgrowing your situation and dreams in pursuit of a new one
What guidance do you have for someone experiencing anxiety when interviewing for a role in tech?
My take is that you need a happy medium, you don’t want to be seen as too anxious and you also don’t want to be seen as too relaxed. Ask your peers for mock interviews, be prepared with past examples, be open to learning and growth. Pitch yourself as much as you would your project. Know your impact (I’ll get into this later)
For landing a job in big tech, specifically Eng – LeetCode, LeetCode, LeetCode. Be aware you will may take a technical assessment like HackerRank, CodeSignal etc check where you’re leveling at levels.fyi and look at the job description carefully. If possible, check competencies to see where you lie. Impact – how did you or your work impact users (what’s the scope), describe how this solves solutions, automates or enriches. Quantify the impact in bullet points. Have this prepared for the interview loop/cycle
Know that you’ll have a screen, technical assessment, technical interview(s), casual business fit interview and others. This is for folks who are coming blind into a company. Referrals are king, you can skip most the process. Use your network (us here on threads, blind, glassdoor) don’t be afraid to ask for a referral (we’re usually happy to help). Rejection hurts and it will happen a lot, the best of us have been rejected countless times. Also offering i’m here to help for mock interviews or a chat about the process
Talk about passion projects as much as past work experiences. This shows how end to end you build and iterate
Can you list some of your previous roles and how that altered your career?
PM for University Relations & Head of Intern Program (Eng specific) – This role gave me the opportunity to travel across the US to diff universities / college campuses (holding info sessions, fireside chats, interviews) & meet awesome students building amazing things – which kept me up to date w/ new emerging tech and trends
HR Business Partner / M&A Analyst and Investor Relations for luxury travel & retail – I got to travel the world, hone in my data analytics side w/ (comp and financial modeling) and E2E start on big platform implementations (SAP Success Factors & Teams) – this pivoted me into the PM role
PM & Compensation Buisness Parter – this was at Atlassian and I got to flex my comp modeling skills while learning about the infra. I had the opportunity to beta test a bunch of their offerings and became a JQL, Jira and Confluence expert which helped me out tremendously
PM at a Fintech (anti-money laundering, DS, cyber security) company – this is where I found my love for complex data analytics, building dashboards, queries and spreading my “intrinsic motivation” ideals. I did various comp surveys and modeling to help other companies too. My superhero name was Panoply Penople. Early in my career I made a macromedia/Actionscript based “food fight” game to be inside a kids digital camera. Also was a storyboard artist, asset creator and I modeled peoples inventions in Maya using their patents. I have other roles but these have been interesting ones
How is AI impacting the role of a PM?
In my experience and to quell any fears of “ai taking over our jobs” with the advent of ai-tools I’ve been able to deliver and execute faster, generate imagery and charts that align with mine and business vision and apply infra specific tools (chatbot, nlp, automations) that make our lives easier. Not to say that AI isn’t creative, it can help spark creativity in a Jungian sense (lol) but for me, it’s tools that help us be precise, faster and more informed. Thinking of what other GPTs I’d like to make. Maybe one that helps in technical documentation, instructions and playbooks. A story pointing one, Tableau specific one, SQL query one, excel formula one << those have a wealth of knowledge bases to pull from and can be a SSOT GPT for me personally
Can you explain a bit more about GPTs? What are they? Why are they so important?
Yep, GPTs stands for Generative Pre-Training Transformer. Basically a transformer/language model that is pre-trained on a massive amount of data or pre-fed knowledge base, the model is then guided and fine-tuned by specific tasks and actions. The transformer will use LLMs or deep learning models to apply and learn context… hence generating text or images similar to the corpus of data it was trained on. They’re important because: They’re helpful and have many good personal and business focused use cases. They’re exciting and en Vogue, meaning all companies are buying into this technology. We also need to spread awareness, caution and vigilance of the abuse and downsides of technology like this (I’ll link a convo we had). Folks like @iamanneharris @zvonimirfras @firtoz @luokai @thelancecarlson have helped ignite my interest in ai and GPTs and I follow a lot of what they speak on and ask about. I’m greatful for being in this community to learn what I’ve learned so far it’s pretty bomb 🔥
For someone looking to get into tech, what are career paths that you think will still be strong in 5 years?
In no specific order:
- AI/ML specific roles (includes but not limited to Engineers, Data and Applied Scientists, Research, Specialists, PMs/TPMs & Analysts)
- Cybersecurity roles (network security, cryptography, ethical hacking, data and applied scientists, analysts etc.)
- Data Protection / Legal / Privacy – now with the first two above – this will be important
- Sustainable tech (solar, energy, agriculture etc)
- Automomous Vehicles / Robotics / weapons
What question do you wish I would have asked?
Hmm… you asked great ones 🙂 maybe one to ask another interviewee sometime is about why they came to threads and what part do they want to play in this community
*I’ll add that I like being a community builder, collaborating, learning…
