Interview - What questions asked by Project Managers

Question

Hello everybody,

Been for an interview in regards to ETL Developer (Microsoft Toolset / SQL BI suite) - been success through technical interview - reference check done - all good.

As the PM was not there during interview period, he wants to have another interview before finalising something.

What normally PM interview questions are ? again do they dive into technical or dive into Project Management skills questions.

Any sample questions will be helpful.

Thanks

Answer 1

There are no "official" PM questions.

However I can imagine he may be more interested in checking you non-technical skills since you have already passed the technical challenge. Things like:

• Your social skills, how do you work in a team
• Why you are leaving your previous employment
• If you have experience working with customers
• How you plan your work and estimate time
• What are your career goals
• Things you'd like to work on, things you'd rather avoid
• If you have yourself management skills and inclination
• if you can provide mentoring and help to less experienced members of the team
• If you can look beyond the code and see the big picture
• If you're a pragmatic type rather than an Architecture astronaut
• How do you deal with failure

• How do you take critics

• If you spend your working hours answering questions on SO

Basically, all those things he needs to know to assess your success in your future role.

Answer 2

As from my experience PM's don't ask much technical questions, so I totally agree with New in town. The questions I'm not really comfortable are similar to these:

• Three pros
• Three cons

Answer 3

The PM may be looking for 'cultural fit' or to gauge your 'soft skills'. Either way, I think it's quite unusual that a PM has the final say in hiring. My guess is that he wants to feel important so management have said he can interview you.

My advice is relax, don't take it too seriously and try to come across a likable person. If the PM has a big ego (usually) ask him/her questions about themselves & look interested in the response, steer the conversation away from official business & onto topic like sports.

Answer 4

Have ready in the forefront of your mind some examples of projects you have worked on so that you can talk about your experiences comfortably at length.

Specifically you will want to include and consider projects where you:

• Had to overcome obstacles.
• Had to work under pressure and how you coped.
• What was your most successful project and why?
• What was the most difficult/demanding project you had to work on etc.

Answer 5

Questions around the methodology used and how good are your estimating skills may be a couple of things I could see questions around. For example, how versed are you in using what we use here? What weaknesses do you know of it? What strengths do you see in it? That kind of thing.