What Hiring Managers Look for in Software Engineers

Let me tell you something that might be uncomfortable: being a great coder is not enough to get hired at a top company. It is necessary, sure. But it is table stakes. It gets you into the conversation. It doesn't get you the offer.

After sitting on the interviewer side of this process for a very long time, here is what actually moves the needle.

The Things That Actually Differentiate Candidates

How You Approach Problems

I care less about whether you find the optimal solution and more about how you get there. Do you ask clarifying questions before writing code? Do you consider multiple approaches? Do you recover well when you go down a wrong path, or do you panic?

I once interviewed a candidate who picked the wrong approach initially, realized it after about 10 minutes, and said: "Actually, I think there is a better way. Let me back up." She calmly pivoted, explained why the new approach was better, and solved it. I gave her a strong hire. Compare that to candidates who pick the wrong approach and just plow forward stubbornly until time runs out.

How You Communicate

Can I follow your thinking? Do you think out loud so I can see your reasoning, or do you go silent for long stretches and then present a fully formed solution? (The second approach makes it very hard for me to give you credit for your thought process in my write-up.)

Strong candidates narrate their thinking naturally. "I am going to try a hash map here because I need O(1) lookups..." Not as a performance. Just as a way of including me in their reasoning.

Technical Depth *and* Breadth

Depth means you can go beyond surface-level answers. If you say you have worked with Kafka, I might ask how it handles partitioning or what happens when a consumer falls behind. Can you answer, or does your knowledge stop at "I used it"?

Breadth means you understand how systems fit together. You don't need to be an expert in every technology, but you should understand the fundamental trade-offs in database design, caching, distributed systems, and API architecture.

Collaboration Signals

Even in a technical interview, I am watching for this. Do you engage with my hints? Do you build on suggestions or get defensive? Do you acknowledge when you are stuck instead of pretending? The candidates who treat the interview like a collaborative conversation consistently score higher than the ones who treat it like a test they need to pass alone.

Ownership Mentality

Do your stories show you identifying and driving solutions, or do they position you as someone who executes what they are told? Both are fine at certain career stages, but for mid-level and above, I want to see initiative.

Growth Trajectory

Where are you heading? Are you someone who has been growing in scope and impact, or have you been doing roughly the same work at the same level for years? A three-year engineer who has worked on genuinely complex problems can be more compelling than a ten-year engineer who has essentially repeated the same year of experience multiple times.

What Matters Less Than You Think

Whether you memorized the solution. I can tell. And a memorized solution with no real understanding crumbles under follow-up questions.

Perfection. Making a mistake and recovering gracefully is actually more impressive than a flawless performance. It shows me how you handle real-world situations where things go wrong.

Company names on your resume. Brand names might get you the phone screen, but they don't matter once you are in the interview room. Your performance is your performance.

What I Wish More Candidates Knew

The engineers who get the strongest recommendations aren't necessarily the most technically gifted. They are the ones who communicate clearly, approach problems with structure, collaborate naturally, and clearly own their work and its outcomes. Technical skill is the entry fee. These human dimensions are what separate a "hire" from a "strong hire."

About Me

Nimesh Patel is an engineering leader and career coach with more than 20 years of experience building cloud-native systems and leading engineering teams. He has conducted over 650 interviews across engineering, management, and executive roles and provides interview coaching and career mentorship through ScaleYourCareer. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

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