Will a robot replace you?

(Photo credit @franckinjapan)

#TECHTOPIC

So many headlines focus on the theme of ‘robots will take your job’ (aka robophobia). Robots are actually only one form of artificial intelligence (AI), but the term ‘robots’ is often used to represent all forms of automation in everyday discussions. Robots will continue to take over routine, repeatable tasks, leaving humans to do the jobs that only humans can do, like managing and caring for others, interpreting data, and using critical thinking skills to make decisions.

While consumer robotics have succeeded with cleaning robots like iRobot’s Roomba, more complex interactive robots haven’t taken off yet (you may remember the recent death of Jibo). Self-driving cars have proven to be a harder engineering problem so widespread usage is still a pipe dream.

Industrial robotics is where there is huge growth if you look at the vast investments that Amazon has made in warehouse robotics or with the startups trying to democratize robotics for small businesses. Boston Dynamics is sending a robot to start patrolling oil rigs. And last week, robots were deployed to help Chinese hospitals keep up with dispensing medications to patients stricken with coronavirus. Many of these usages of robots reduce dangerous conditions for humans.

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#thenexthotjob

Being a human-robot minder? You could help enable the remote operation and monitoring of vehicles anywhere.

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#searchforextraterrestrialintelligence

Did you ever run the SETI project on your home computer as a kid? (I know I did!)
Maybe we finally contacted someone “out there?” Or maybe it’s just a robot looking for love? Something in Deep Space Is Sending Signals to Earth in Steady 16-Day Cycles

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3 Main Types of Tech Interview Questions

When tech companies interview candidates, they are continually assessing experience vs potential. The challenge for candidates is to demonstrate both of them without overbalancing towards one side or the other.

Let’s dig into defining these three main types of interview questions.

1. Behavioral

   • These questions are aimed at assessing your previous experience. They often begin with the phrases: ‘tell me about a time’ or ‘describe a situation when you…’ or ‘give me an example of a time when you...."‘

   • The goal is to articulate for your interviewer what you have done and how you have done it. Expect clarifying follow-up questions.

   • The best structure to use for your responses is the STAR Method: Situation, Task, Action, Result.

     • Situation: Describe the situation you were in.

     • Task: Tell me about the task or goal you were working to accomplish.

     • Action: Detail the specific actions/steps YOU took in this scenario.

     • Result: Tell me about the results you achieved from this scenario.

   • Sample questions include:

     • Tell me about a time that you used data to make a decision.

     • Describe for me a problem that your team faced and how you led the team to overcome that challenge.

2. Hypothetical

   • Also called situational questions, these are aimed at assessing how you would respond to a situation that you may not have encountered yet. These questions could begin with ‘imagine that you…’

     • Generally, I see these questions aim to evaluate how a candidate might respond to a management scenario (while mini-case questions - below - aim at more quantitative solution development). Some would argue these are all under the same umbrella. (To each her own.)

   • The goal is to demonstrate and verbalize your thought process - and usually, there isn’t one ‘right answer.’ Make sure to show an understanding of the problem and offer a couple potential solutions. You should ask clarifying questions but expect that there may not be additional data for them to offer you (as the interviewer may be mirroring the type of ambiguity you’d face if this challenge came up on the job).

   • Sample questions include:

     • Imagine that you are given a project at Amazon and told to get it done in 2 weeks. You realize it will take 5 weeks. What do you do?

     • Imagine that you are a new product manager at Facebook, and no one agrees with your proposed product improvements. What would you do? What skills would you employ to bring them over to your way of thinking?

3. Mini-Case

   • These are a subset of hypothetical questions, but I find they are distinctive in that you are walking an interviewer through your potential solution to a business problem that involves using estimation & analysis skills.

   • Sample questions include:

     • With our recent spate of mergers & acquisitions, we have a ‘dangling’ business unit that is not obviously aligned to anywhere and we’re not sure what to do with it. How would you approach figuring out a solution?

     • Imagine you are a PM for Amazon Kindle, and you recently found out that there is a delay affecting your product release. The release is planned for holiday sales that brings in 60% of the revenue. How will you solve this problem?

     • Create a framework for determining where Google Cloud Platform should locate its next data center.

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Do you speak data?

(Photo credit @kmuza)

Do you speak data?

As you consider or advance a career in tech, you need to sharpen your data literacy and analytics skills.

• Understand your fluency level with data manipulation.

• Figure out if you are a data translator as they help bridge the gap between data scientists and executive decision-makers.

• Check out these 6 rules from Google for great data design.

• Mastering these skills is critical before progressing to the next level Data/AI skills required for ‘Jobs of Tomorrow,’ according to the World Economic Forum.

Does your team speak data?

You should evaluate the digital dexterity and the data literacy skills of the team/business unit/company that you are joining.

• Don’t assume that your team is data literate simply because it’s a tech firm. You’d be surprised how often everyone needs to build and refresh those skills, mainly because data availability and the tools to manipulate it keep changing!

• Here are two great guides (one from HBR and another from Gartner) on how to boost your team’s data literacy skills. It’s crucial that you understand how tech-literate your team is to help you when launching new initiatives.

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Want personalized career guidance? Take a look at my Career Strategy Session options.