- Why do you want to be a technical project manager?
- What made you want to apply for this position?
- What is a weakness you have with project management?
- What kind of leadership qualities do you possess?
- What do you like most about technical project management?
Senior executives and HR managers recognize project management as indispensable to business success. They know that skilled and credentialed project managers are among their most valuable resources.
The Project Management Institute reports in a survey that in the U.S., over $122 million gets wasted for every $1 billion invested due to poor project performance. When it comes to hiring certified project managers, things get a little tricky, and candidates are reviewed in several ways.
Will the candidate fit into the culture of the organization? Will the candidate get along with other team members and lead them effectively? Will the candidate deliver on the project goals on time?
TECHNICAL MANAGER Interview Questions & Answers! (How to Pass a Technical Management Job Interview!)
Can you share your insights on selecting the perfect IT support candidate?
Demonstrates the candidates experience in hiring suitable employees.
New technology is introduced and non-IT staff are resistant. How do you respond?
Assesses communication and problem-solving skills, as well as motivational skills.
Interview Questions for Technical Managers:
Shows the candidates potential and the extent of their industry experience.
“We’re a young and rapidly growing team within a huge company, so we think of ourselves as a “startup in the enterprise” with the way we hire talent. This questions gives us a chance to see how well the candidates’ passions align with their career goals, which is important when you’re developing the collaborative and winning culture found in startup type environments.” Miguel Quiroga, Head of Digital at Verizon Fios
10. Tell me about some of the more interesting or difficult problems youve been working on the past few years.
9. Which of your managers gets the best results and most value out of you and why?
5. How did you first learn to program and what was the first thing you built?
“Having a side project is a great indicator that the candidate loves to code and is passionate about writing software he or she is proud of. Furthermore, the code for a side project is often hosted on a public repository which I can browse to get another data point on the quality of code the candidate has written.” – Brian Pugh, Vice President of Engineering for Lucid Software
How would you prioritize the following work?
One of the key responsibilities of an engineering manager is to prioritize and schedule the tasks needed to build a product or service. They need to prioritize feature development, bug fixes, and refactoring technical debt or legacy code.
Good engineering managers know how to prioritize tasks based on how well they meet business objectives and based on the time, effort, and cost involved. Great engineering managers know how to ask the right questions to help with prioritization.
Ask this prioritization question with a list of 2-3 sample features, bug fixes, and other supporting tasks. It is also a good opening to lead into other questions.
Here is an example list of tasks:
With this list, you can then ask the candidate “How would you prioritize those tasks?” The engineering manager candidate should ask probing questions about the background context of the tasks, the priorities of the team, and the organization.
They should ask about business goals and about the level of urgency of the tasks. For instance, fixing a bug with concurrency in the server code could be very important as it blocks the sales team from demoing the product to a client, or it could be impacting thousands of customers.
If an engineering manager job candidate does not ask too many probing questions, this could indicate a lack of experience. However, if instead of asking probing questions they start to explain their choices, this could show confidence. It’s up to you how to interpret this during the interview.
How do you define an ideal project?Â
This question, being one of the most important project management interview questions, intends to know the type of projects you would like to take up. By answering this question honestly, you open up an opportunity to manage projects that excite you or those in which you can excel. Your answer should include multiple points such as whether you like to work as part of a team or alone, the kind of deadlines you prefer, whether you are interested in innovative and creative projects or not, and more.Â
FAQ
What questions should I ask a technical manager?
- When you don’t know the answer to something, what is the first thing that you do? …
- If you could design your dream job, what would it look like? …
- Can you tell me about a side project you’ve worked on (outside of school or work) in the past year or so?
What questions should I ask in a technical interview?
- How does your team approach problems? …
- How has this position evolved, and how might the responsibilities change moving forward? …
- Technical capabilities aside, what soft skills would make someone successful in this role?
What makes a good technical manager?
How do I clear my technical manager interview?
