An Interviewer’s Perspective Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash You’re nervous. The phone interview is about to start. This could be your one chance to get the job you’ve wanted - at least until next year. It all comes down to this – 45 minutes of proving your problem solving and coding skills. Suddenly the phone rings. You pick up and feel your heart beating. After some quick pleasantries, the interviewer pastes the first question into your shared coding environment, and starts explaining the problem. …

10 Power Sources and Influencing Techniques You Should Know Photo by Miguel Henriques on Unsplash A few months ago, I took a class at Facebook, taught to employees who need to influence others to be effective in their job. The topic of influencing others is not often talked about. It feels a bit shady. Like you’re trying to manipulate people and get your own way. But people influence others all the time. …

Here’s the Story of How We Built “Uber for Photographers” Photo by slon_dot_pics from Pexels In late November 2017, I met up with an old school friend, Ali Sarraf, for dinner in London. We’d both studied Computer Science at university and had been working on different startups. I’d recently stopped working on Tripr, a social app to connect travelers crossing paths on their trips. And Ali had recently stopped working on his startup too. …

What Really Drives Entrepreneurs? I work at Facebook as a software engineer but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what drives people to start their own startups. I have friends with good jobs at big tech companies that pay extremely well. But they are still obsessed with the idea of doing a startup. I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t empathize with them. I’ve had side hustles ever since I started secondary school, whether it was freelance web development, dropshipping or affiliate marketing. …

As a manager you can make people miserable in the workplace. Here’s how to make them happy and productive. Recently, my team at Facebook was joined by an intern who I’m managing for 12 weeks. As a new manager I had to take a class on how to manage people well. I was excited to take the class as I’ve been on the receiving end of bad management a few times throughout my career. …