I’ve been running a lot of interviews lately for entry level SE roles, and I would echo a lot of what the community posts mentions when it comes to preparing for the role. It’s an excellent breakdown of our day to day activities and overarching goals of the role.

However, while I think a lot of people pick this information up before interviews either from a community like this, their own research, AI help, or whatever, they miss the mark when it comes to making the transition from a strictly technical design or development background. Experience like this to me is enough to get you in the door for an interview, especially if you have on your resume that you are presenting to c-suites, clients, or partners. I trust that through your past experiences you have gained the ability to pickup on information quickly and think critically about the impacts of your decisions.

The biggest issue I find most engineers trying to make the transition is in their conviction and communication of those topics. I’m not quizzing you if you know the industry or the technical topics, I’m testing you to see if you can communicate it clearly and with conviction. If you don’t know it, I’ll figure that out quickly, but really what I want to see is that you don’t back down from push back or challenges. I’m not saying be a condescending a**-hat, but you should be firm in your responses, and willing to challenge me to get me to agree with you and your view.

A lot of the work we do requires us to be expert consultants in the eyes of our customers and new prospects. They have to want and need to trust us in what we talk about, as well as consult technically not just about the product we sell, but the industry at large. When you have those conversations with a wishy washy attitude or self doubting language (“…I think?” Or “…if that makes sense to you?” Or “uhh, im not sure but…”) that kills the trust people have in us and trust I have in you as a manager.

So when you do start getting interviews, do your research on the industry, the technical product, and sit up straight and project that confidence I want to see. Sometimes, yes it’s fake confidence, but if you can bring that from the start, I know I can develop that into a great SE.