Register for our webinar

How to Nail your next Technical Interview

1 hour
Loading...
1
Enter details
2
Select webinar slot
*Invalid Name
*Invalid Name
By sharing your contact details, you agree to our privacy policy.
Step 1
Step 2
Congratulations!
You have registered for our webinar
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
1
Enter details
2
Select webinar slot
*All webinar slots are in the Asia/Kolkata timezone
Step 1
Step 2
Confirmed
You are scheduled with Interview Kickstart.
Redirecting...
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
close-icon
Iks white logo

You may be missing out on a 66.5% salary hike*

Nick Camilleri

Head of Career Skills Development & Coaching
*Based on past data of successful IK students
Iks white logo
Help us know you better!

How many years of coding experience do you have?

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Iks white logo

FREE course on 'Sorting Algorithms' by Omkar Deshpande (Stanford PhD, Head of Curriculum, IK)

Thank you! Please check your inbox for the course details.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Our June 2021 cohorts are filling up quickly. Join our free webinar to Uplevel your career
close

10 Key Behavioral Skills Required to Land a $500k Tech Job

Posted on 
November 17, 2021
|
by 
Vartika Rai
The fast well prepared banner
About The Author!
Vartika Rai
Vartika Rai
Product Manager at Interview Kickstart | Ex-Microsoft | IIT Hyderabad | ML/Data Science Enthusiast. Works with industry experts to help working professionals successfully prepare and ace interviews at FAANG+ and top tech companies

If you’re looking to uplevel your career and land a $500k tech job, you should know that working on your behavioral skills is equally important as your tech skills. Depending on the role, in some cases, soft skills may carry more weight than technical skills.

To learn about the technical skills and qualifications required for a high-paying tech job, we recommend you to read Qualifications and Tech Skills Required to Land a $500k Tech Job before reading this article. 

At a higher level, you’re compensated not only for your technical expertise but also for your interpersonal skills. At junior and mid-level positions, engineers function to complete individual tasks or manage individual projects or small to mid-sized teams. They focus on solving defined problems through technological expertise. 

However, at senior levels, engineers work to identify business opportunities and create a company-wide impact. They move from single to multiple projects, influence technical strategy, and work with large teams to achieve business goals.

At senior levels, people and behavioral skills are more important than technical skills. These are must-have competencies to secure a high-paying, senior position. 

Key behavioral skills you should build are:

  1. Communication
  2. Leadership
  3. Mentorship
  4. Critical/Analytical Thinking
  5. Strategic Thinking
  6. Problem-Solving Abilities
  7. Organizational Skills
  8. Time Management
  9. Resourcefulness
  10. Project Management

1. Communication

Engineers tend to focus on technologies and function as individual contributors executing individual tasks. This does not offer scope to develop interpersonal skills, such as communication.

However, communication skills are a crucial requirement to progress into and function at senior levels. Senior engineers have to communicate with multiple stakeholders and their teams to achieve results. Understanding requirements, conveying ideas, presenting outcomes, assisting teams, resolving issues, etc., all involve different forms of communication. 

Therefore, improving your communication skills verbal, written, and listening can give you a competitive advantage in securing a high-paying position. 

2. Leadership

To advance to a management or specialized individual contributor role, leading or influencing people is a core skill. To position yourself as a leader, you should be able to leverage technical expertise and strong people management skills to develop trust with people beyond your team.

Scalability is an important aspect of business operations at most leading tech companies. Companies are always keen on engineers who can lead large-scale initiatives, i.e., take ownership, accountability, and responsibility of large teams and projects. 

Leadership is imperative to achieving project and business goals and is a highly valued skill at all tech companies.

3. Mentorship

At a senior level, you’re expected to not only manage but also nurture talent. You create real value for a company by sharing your skills and knowledge. By mentoring, training, and enabling others, you improve the quality of talent at a company. This improves overall team performances for better results, helping companies stay competitive.

4. Critical/Analytical Thinking

To provide technical direction and lead major projects, you should be able to analyze complex information and problems to determine optimal solutions. This includes the ability to think on your feet and function as a critical resource, especially in a crisis. 

You should understand the nuances of processes and systems and identify ways to fix issues and improve efficiency.

5. Strategic Thinking

In the tech world, innovation drives profitability. Strategic thinking in the tech industry requires an innovative mindset — an aspect FAANG and leading tech companies worldwide thrive on.

At a senior level, engineers command high compensations for their expertise in managing ongoing projects and their ability to anticipate problems and identify opportunities. Coupled with strong critical and analytical thinking skills, strategizing and seeing the bigger picture are highly valued skills by tech organizations functioning in a very competitive industry. 

6. Problem-Solving Abilities

Top tech companies place a lot of value on engineers with strong problem-solving abilities

At senior levels, you’ll be expected to bway to prepare for tech interviews at FAANG+ companiesreak down complex problems into resolvable tasks. This requires a fair bit of creative thinking, technical expertise, and hands-on experience. 

To develop strong problem-solving skills, gain experience handling different types of projects. This will familiarize you with different situations and issues and how to solve them. 

Companies prefer engineers with deep experience since they are bound to have encountered lots of challenges and failures, making them adept at dealing with and solving problems. They can easily replicate past learnings to resolve problems quickly. 

7. Organizational Skills

Strong organizational skills are essential to proper time management, smooth functioning of operations, and productivity. This involves multiple skills such as planning, decision-making, multi-tasking, prioritization, delegation, etc. 

While many engineers are adept at functioning expertly within prescribed frameworks, not everyone develops the organizational skills required to run large-scale, complex systems and processes that drive value for organizations, making it a skill worth pursuing.

8. Time Management

Leading multiple teams or projects simultaneously, collaborating with multiple stakeholders, and directing tasks to achieve set goals, requires strong time management skills

At senior levels, your deliverables have a real business impact. Time efficiencies can positively impact earnings and profitability. The ability to manage timelines and deadlines is a highly valued skill for senior tech positions.

9. Resourcefulness

Resourcefulness is about being able to achieve outcomes with available resources as well as identifying new technologies or resources to achieve goals. Your experience should speak of your understanding of the latest trends and developments to help you achieve goals efficiently and effectively. 

At a senior level, you will be required to work proactively and chart a course of action in the face of uncertainty.

10. Project Management

Another core competency requirement at senior levels, project management, involves initiating, planning, detailing, and controlling projects from conceptualization to delivery. 

It involves a range of responsibilities such as creating roadmaps, goal-setting, negotiating, budgeting, monitoring, risk management, etc.

Project management skills are especially in demand at leading tech companies. FAANG companies run multiple businesses and products simultaneously, and senior-level engineers are expected to manage competing priorities.

Showcasing these 10 behavioral traits will take you a long way in your tech career.

This article is an excerpt from The Ultimate Guide on How to Land a $500k Tech Job, an ebook where we’ve covered everything you need to know to plan your prep and bag that $500k job:

  • Discover the most effective ways to land a $500k tech job
  • Learn about the skills and attributes needed for a $500k tech job
  • Uplevel to a $500k tech job with proven tech interview prep techniques

You can download the FREE ebook here!

Ready to Uplevel Your Career?

If you want to polish your tech, behavioral, and interviewing skills, register for Interview Kickstart’s FREE webinar to understand the best way to prepare for tech interviews at FAANG+ companies. IK is the gold standard in tech interview prep. Our programs include a comprehensive curriculum, unmatched teaching methods, FAANG+ instructors, and career coaching to help you nail your next tech interview.

We’ve trained thousands of engineers to land dream offers at the biggest companies, including Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Netflix, among others. Check out some reviews to know more.
Sign up now to uplevel your career!

Last updated on: 
September 22, 2023
AUTHOR

Vartika Rai

Product Manager at Interview Kickstart | Ex-Microsoft | IIIT Hyderabad | ML/Data Science Enthusiast. Working with industry experts to help working professionals successfully prepare and ace interviews at FAANG+ and top tech companies

Attend our Free Webinar on How to Nail Your Next Technical Interview

Square

Worried About Failing Tech Interviews?

Attend our webinar on
"How to nail your next tech interview" and learn

Ryan-image
Hosted By
Ryan Valles
Founder, Interview Kickstart
blue tick
Our tried & tested strategy for cracking interviews
blue tick
How FAANG hiring process works
blue tick
The 4 areas you must prepare for
blue tick
How you can accelerate your learnings
Register for Webinar

Recent Articles

No items found.