Hiring Questions

On this page, I answer a some questions that are frequently asked by recruiters during interviews, hoping that it will help jumpstart our conversation, improve clarity and potentially save us some time.

What is your experience?

I have been a professional software developer since 2006.

I have 10 years of experience working on the backend with Ruby on Rails, and I have recently been working full-stack with React & TypeScript for about 2 years.

What's your current situation?

I am mainly looking for freelance projects. If you are interested in hiring me as an employee, please hire me as a freelancer for a short-term project to see if we're a good match.

As of 21 August 2024, I can commit for up to 4 days a week and I might be available on the same day.

Do you prefer working remotely or on-site?

I would prefer mostly remote work, with 1-2 days of on-site work per week, which is possible in Berlin.

What kind of companies or projects are you interested in?

I would like to work on projects where I can create real value, like using technology to make people's lives easier, more productive or more enjoyable.

I am not interested in projects that are purely about making money or are geared towards exploiting people.

What are you looking for in a company?

I'm looking for a company with a friendly atmosphere where people treat each other with kindness, value honesty and are focused on collaborating towards the team's goals.

It's also important to me that I can work on projects that are meaningful and have a positive impact on people's lives.

A commitment to high code quality is also important, as it is essential for long-term maintainability and project success.

Red flags: speaking aggressively, personal attacks, unreasonable expectations, micromanagement, or not being open to feedback or ideas.

Green flags: people are open about their mistakes, anyone can share their ideas freely, people are supportive and helpful, there is a high level of autonomy and trust, the code is reasonably clean and well-structured.

What are some of your achievements that you are proud of?

At one company, I took on the responsibility of maintaining a Ruby on Rails application that was initially built as a proof of concept. I added test coverage, improved the code quality, added new features, integrated it with various systems, and prepared it for the increases in traffic associated with big releases.

I joined an early stage startup and took on the key role of leading a small team of developers in rebuilding a system following the inital MVP, to improve scalability and maintainability. Furthermore, I was responsible for leading architecture decisions, ensuring high code quality ("one of the best Ruby on Rails codebases I have seen" - an external reviewer), and interviewing and mentoring new developers. In one instance, I applied the event-sourcing pattern to improve performance issues caused by high concurrency. The startup was eventually acquired.

In several cases, I have been able to find a solution to a problem that other developers were struggling with.

In many other cases, I have been able to help companies improve the code quality, make architecture decisions, improve performance, integrate with other systems, and fix difficult issues.

What are your strengths?

I am good at finding solutions to difficult problems and building systems that are easy to understand, maintain, and extend.

I also have experience balancing the need to deliver features quickly and maintaining high code quality for long-term productivity.

I am a dependable team player and always happy to help a colleague.

I care about how my work creates real value for the users, and consider how my decisions will benefit the project in the long run.

I communicate clearly and honestly, and I'm always looking for ways to improve.

What are your weaknesses?

I can get nervous in interviews or in front of a large audience.

I'm not great at multitasking or working under sustained stress, I do my best work when I have enough time and can focus on one task without many interruptions.

Sometimes I can be too critical and have a tendency for perfectionism, although I make an effort to be kind to others and myself.

How can I contact you?

Go to the homepage, where you will find a contact form and a link to Calendly, where you can book a call.