Associate Vice President, Engineering at PeopleStrong, where payroll and HR systems run for millions of employees. Before this, 5.5 years at OYO — including two years in Germany with Traum, its vacation-homes business. 10+ years building engineering teams and the systems under them. I've taken 1500+ interviews. SDE1 through SDE3, Engineering Managers, Senior Managers, Principal Engineers, Principal Architects. I've also written the hiring process itself — the competencies, the rounds, the scoring rubric — so I'm not guessing at what panels want. I've been the one writing "does not meet" and defending it in the debrief. What I've learned from that side of the table: strong engineers rarely fail on knowledge. They fail on how they open a system design problem. On describing scale without a single number in it. On saying "we" when the panel needs to hear "I." On never knowing what was actually being scored. Book me for a real mock round — not a friendly chat — honest feedback on why you keep dying at the final stage, or a straight read on whether you're ready for the next level. No motivational fluff. You'll leave with a specific list of what to fix. I don't take sessions from anyone currently interviewing at PeopleStrong.