How would you prepare to make a presentation to a business manager who has asked for your recommendation between two technologies?
One of the key roles a senior staff engineer plays is to help business leaders make technology decisions. While the business leader may know how technology works, they depend on you to provide recommendations about new and contemporary technology. This is based on your knowledge of the technology and your understanding of their business practices, current technologies, and staff's technical capabilities. The interviewer asks you this question to understand the criteria you use and the process you go through to develop your recommendations.
"When asked to make a recommendation for a business unit about the technology they should adopt, the first thing I do is to gain an in-depth understanding of their business practices. I need to understand their objectives, how they go about achieving these, the type of data they work with, and the tools they use. Once I understand this, I can then select the technology which will help them achieve their goals. I present my recommendation to the business unit leader in clear, non-technical terms focusing on the benefits the technology delivers rather than its features. Of course, I am prepared to answer any questions they have about how the technology functions."
