One major challenge in software engineering interviews is skills bias, where interviewers evaluate candidates based on their own expertise rather than the role's actual needs. For example, a backend-focused interviewer might overemphasize backend skills, even when front-end or mobile development is more critical. This can lead to unfair assessments and missed opportunities.
By allowing skills bias to influence hiring, companies lose the chance to build diverse teams with varied approaches to problem-solving. Diverse teams bring fresh ideas and work more effectively, while teams with similar skills and backgrounds may struggle to find new solutions or different ways of thinking.
Why Does Skills Bias Happen?
Bias during interviews can manifest for several reasons, but skills bias often stems from:
Anchoring on personal strengths: An interviewer might unconsciously value their own skills over those needed for the role. This can lead to an imbalanced focus on specific technologies or methodologies that aren't necessarily the best fit for the job at hand.
Narrow evaluation criteria: Interviewers sometimes use their own expertise as a lens to assess candidates. If their background is in backend, DevOps, or cloud infrastructure, they may place more importance on those areas, overlooking crucial skills like front-end development or mobile expertise.
Misalignment between interviewer and role needs: If the interviewer doesn’t fully understand the scope of the role they're hiring for, they might default to evaluating based on their own competencies rather than the role's requirements.
Real-World Example of Skills Bias
Several years ago, I interviewed for roles that required a balanced full-stack skill set in web development. While I have strengths in front-end web and mobile development, the interviews primarily focused on traditional backend technologies, cloud infrastructure, and DevOps.
Although the roles called for a generalist with both front-end and back-end expertise, much of the discussion centered around backend architecture and cloud services. As a result, there was less emphasis on the front-end frameworks and mobile development skills that were equally important for the position.
This kind of skills bias can be detrimental, as it may prevent candidates from demonstrating their full range of abilities. It also risks companies missing out on the right talent by overvaluing certain skill sets at the expense of others that are critical for the job.
How to Mitigate Skills Bias
Mitigating skills bias requires a proactive and structured approach from both interviewers and organizations. As an engineering leader, it’s crucial to implement strategies that ensure a fair and comprehensive assessment of candidates' abilities. Here are some effective ways to reduce the impact of skills bias:
1. Align Interviews with Role Requirements
Ensure that the interview process reflects the actual needs of the role. For a full-stack engineering role, interview questions should balance between front-end, back-end, and possibly mobile or cloud skills, depending on the job description.
2. Involve Interviewers from Different Disciplines
Incorporating multiple interviewers with different areas of expertise helps provide a more well-rounded evaluation. A front-end expert could focus on client-side development, while a back-end or DevOps engineer could evaluate server-side skills. This creates a more balanced and fair interview process.
3. Structured Interviews and Role-Specific Evaluation Criteria
To avoid bias, develop a structured interview framework that outlines specific skills and competencies required for the role. All interviewers should assess candidates based on this agreed-upon framework rather than their own preferences or specialties.
4. Training to Identify and Avoid Skills Bias
Organizations should train interviewers to recognize and address their own biases, including skills bias. Regular training on fair interviewing practices can help ensure candidates are evaluated objectively and based on the actual needs of the position.
Conclusion
Skills bias is a subtle but significant problem in software engineering interviews. When interviewers prioritize their own strengths over the skills required for the role, they may inadvertently reject highly capable candidates. By acknowledging and addressing this bias through better interview alignment, diverse interview panels, and structured evaluation criteria, companies can not only improve their hiring outcomes but also foster more balanced and high-performing engineering teams.
The best teams are diverse - not just in background, but in skills and perspectives - enabling them to solve problems more creatively and innovate more effectively. Addressing skills bias is a critical step toward building these kinds of teams.
