Last night I was coaching my wife on being interviewed for a new job. So far in her life, she has been a career student. But as she finishes up her PhD, she has a myriad of opportunities. She’s a little nervous about her first interview later this month, so she asked me what kind of questions are typically asked. I’m often involved in interviewing new employees at Twelve Horses, so I went over a couple of the most cliche questions: “What is your biggest strength?” and “What is your biggest weakness?” I haven’t been interviewed in over 7 years, so this got me thinking about my own strength and weaknesses.
Strength
I think my biggest strength is the ability to go in as business development and win over the techies. Whether they are hard code system analysts or network engineers, I can speak their speak and gain their trust. It’s easy to articulate to marketers but it’s a skill to articulate to geeks.
Weakness
I am a natural pessimist. This isn’t by choice and I’m not sure where it comes from, but it’s there. I can get very excited by new technologies and very passionate about things I’m interested in, but I’ve noticed my first reaction to most new ideas is pessimism.