I created this Playbook to be a living resource for the tech community. Think of me as an empathetic partner and guide, leveraging my experience to help you navigate the complexities of a high-growth career.

The “Easy Factor” Philosophy

Whether you’re writing a resume or leading a team, my guiding principle is simple: Make it easy for people to see your value. Recruiters and executives are busy; they won’t dig for your impact. This Playbook is designed to help you hand it to them on a silver platter.

What’s Inside the Playbook?

I’ve organized these resources into curated Collections so you can find exactly what you need:

• The Interview Collection: This is your technical and behavioral “Field Guide.” It includes my foundational [9 Step Roadmap Series] designed to help you master behavioral interviews, the evolved [STAR(L) Framework], and strategies to optimize your [Resume for Maximum Impact].
• The Mental Health Collection: A safe space for discussing the internal hurdles of a tech career. I share strategies for navigating imposter syndrome, anxiety, and stress. This collection focuses on treating these not as “bugs” to be fixed, but as conditions to coexist with while still delivering high-level impact.
• The Communication Collection: Starting with my [Feedback Model], I am building a series of guides on the “human” side of tech—because technical skills land the job, but communication skills build the career.
• The Resource Collection: My vetted [Tech Career Toolkit], featuring the books and tools I recommend to my own coaching clients (and how to use them effectively).

A Holistic Approach: More Than Just Tactical Guidelines

I designed this Playbook to be more than just a series of robotic steps to follow. It is a collaborative space where we work together to build a career that is both high-impact and sustainable. My approach is rooted in “Google-caliber” strategic thinking. It is always tempered with the understanding that we are human beings first and engineers second.

• Sharing My Former Hiring Manager Perspective: To truly stand out in a competitive market, you need to understand the view from the other side of the screen. As a former hiring manager, including at Google, I don’t just coach you on how to answer questions. I help you understand what leadership is actually looking for. Sprinkled throughout this career playbook, you’ll see hiring manager insights which will give a sense how working with a former hiring manager gives you a leg up.
  

  

  Hiring Manager Perspective

  When we discuss your job search or interview prep, I bring a hiring manager’s perspective to every session.

• A Commitment to Your Well-Being: Having navigated the intense pressures of high-growth tech myself, I know that things like imposter syndrome, anxiety, and burnout aren’t “bugs” to be fixed, but rather “features” we learn to co-exist with compassionately. You will see Well-Being Reminders throughout the Playbook—these are invitations for us to pause and ensure you are taking care of yourself while you strive for excellence.
  

  

  Well-Being Reminder

  Reminder to take a minute to take care of yourselves.

• Leveraging AI Responsibly: We are navigating the AI revolution together, and I believe we’d be foolish not to leverage these tools appropriately. With my AI Polish reminders, I’ll show you how to use AI to amplify your own unique thoughts and polish your results. However, we always start with a human-in-the-loop approach—using “Reality Checks” to guard against hallucinations and ensure your work remains authentic and accurate.

  

  AI Polish

  Remember to always start with your own thoughts. Then use AI to polish the results.

  

  AI Reality Check

  AI hallucinates! Never accept the output with reviewing it first.

Let’s Build Your Path Together

I’ve written these strategies for the ambitious IC aiming for management, the new EM feeling underwater, the job hunter battling a tough market and the anxiety that often comes with it, and the veteran leader who wants to get better at their craft while managing the stress of high-stakes environments.

Explore the Playbook, use the frameworks, and when you’re ready for a personalized strategy session—whether for a high-stakes interview or a complex performance cycle— let’s chat.  

The post Welcome To My Career Playbook appeared first on Lee Newman's Career Playbook.

Knowing which one you’re walking into is the best way to lower your heart rate and sharpen your prep. Let’s break down the landscape.

1. The “Traditional” Algorithmic Interview

This is the classic Cracking the Coding Interview style. You’re given a problem statement and asked to write a function to solve it on a whiteboard or a shared editor.

• What they’re testing: Your grasp of data structures, algorithms, and how you communicate your thought process under pressure.
• Pro-Tip: Don’t just jump into the code. Talk through your brute-force solution first, then optimize if you have time.

2. The “Code Review” Interview

Instead of writing code, you’re given a Pull Request (PR) and asked to review it. You’ll walk the interviewer through your comments and suggestions.

• What they’re testing: Your attention to detail, your knowledge of best practices, and—most importantly—your “soft skills” in how you give feedback to teammates.

3. The “Refactor” Interview

You’re handed a snippet of “bad” code—usually bug-ridden and poorly structured—and asked to make it better. You’ll have to “forensically” determine what the code is supposed to do before you can fix it.

• What they’re testing: Your ability to read other people’s code (a massive part of the actual job) and your sense of “clean code” principles.

4. The “Fill in the Blanks” Interview

In this setup, you’re given a large block of code with specific chunks missing. You have to use the surrounding context to determine what’s missing and complete the logic.

• What they’re testing: Your ability to navigate a larger codebase quickly and understand existing patterns without being given the full manual.

5. The “AI Assisted” Interview

This is a relatively new set up and is evolving quickly. I would expect more companies to start to adopt / offer this type of interview as it aligns with the direction of the industry as a whole.  From what I’ve heard so far, candidates are getting these types of interviews at Meta, LinkedIn, and Microsoft.

• What they’re testing: Your engineering judgment when utilizing generative AI. These can be in the form of:
  • Build Exercise: You’re given a prod spec and must use AI to build a functioning app.
  • Debugging / Comprehension: You’re dropped into a likely unfamiliar IDE.  You’re then asked to debug failing test cases and asked to add new features.

  

  AI Reality Check

  If this type of interview shows up on your loop, be sure to get specifics from your recruiter on the interview set up and expectations.

Which One Are You Facing?

The biggest mistake candidates make is preparing for Type 1 when the company actually tests for Type 3. When you get that initial call from the recruiter, don’t be afraid to ask: “Can you tell me more about the format of the coding session? Is it algorithmic, or is it more focused on refactoring and code review?”

Need to sharpen your skills? Knowing the format is half the battle; performing in it is the other half. If you’d like to set up a mock interview—whether it’s a traditional coding challenge or a deep-dive code review—let’s chat. We can simulate the exact environment you’re walking into.

The post The 5 Types of Coding Interviews: A Field Guide appeared first on Lee Newman's Career Playbook.

This is Part 9 of my 9-part series: The Behavioral Interview Game Plan. [View the Full Series Roadmap]

We’ve done the heavy lifting together. We’ve analyzed the job, mapped out your wins, and built your “Super-Stories” using the STAR(L) method. Now comes the part that truly brings it all together: Practice.

It might feel a little silly at first, but practicing out loud is the best way to move from being “prepared” to being “fluent.”

My Favorite Way to Practice

1. Talk to the Mirror: Stand in front of a mirror and tell your stories out loud. Hearing the words come out of your mouth helps you catch awkward phrasing and find a more natural rhythm. I often find myself making small edits to my stories just by hearing how they sound.
2. The “Power Through” Rule: If you get tripped up while practicing, don’t start over. In a real interview, you won’t have the luxury of a “do-over.” If you stumble, take a breath, find your place, and keep going. Rehearsing how to recover is just as important as rehearsing the story itself.

   

   Well-Being Reminder

   Are you freezing up with practicing? Does your heart beat go through the roof? For more on quieting that voice and finding grounding, visit my mental health support series.

3. Run the Checklist: Once you feel comfortable with your stories, go back to the checklist we built here. Methodically run through each attribute and tell the story that proves it. Yes, it might feel a little repetitive if one Super-Story covers five different points—but that’s exactly the point of practice!
4. Automated Interviewing:With the right prompting you can use your favorite LLM to interview you.

   

   AI Polish

   After you’ve got your AI context set up, ask your LLM to interview you. Use this as a more dynamic way of practicing where you are being asked questions vs reading a list of attributes that, by this point, are mapped cleanly in your mind to a super-story.

   

   AI Reality Check

   The feedback from the LLM may not be very accurate. Ensure the feedback is valid before making any changes to your stories.

You’ve Got This

By the time you finish this process, you won’t be reading from a script. You’ll be sharing your genuine career wins with a future peer. You’ll be able to focus on the person sitting across from you (or on the other side of the screen) because you already know that your experience is valuable and your stories are ready.

I hope you’ve found this series helpful as you prepare for your next big step. I’m always here to cheer you on, so please feel free to reach out with any questions or feedback.

Happy practicing!

Lee

If you’re ready to take your preparation to the next level with 1-on-1 feedback, let’s chat. I specialize in behavioral interview coaching for tech to ensure you walk into that room feeling confident and ready to land the offer.

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