The Tech Interview Behind the Scenes: Dimitar Mitev

The Tech Interview Behind the Scenes is an HRLabs series.
Let’s take a look behind the scenes of the technical interview process from the interviewers' perspective.
Our goal is to provide candidates with valuable tips and recommendations directly from professionals who conduct interviews for various technical roles.

“It's not scary to say 'I don't know.'”, shares Dimitar Mitev, Solution Architect at eCollect AG.

Tell us more about your career path.

Most of my career has been in one of the major outsourcing companies in Bulgaria. Contrary to the common opinion about this industry, I have very positive impressions. I had the opportunity to closely observe both small clients and large enterprise companies, to get to know their ways of working and the challenges they face.

Technologically, I started with .NET, later moved into Front End, and now I work entirely with Node.js. What has always helped me grow in my career is the fact that I have no problem being pushed out of my comfort zone—whether in terms of technology or otherwise.

As a candidate, have you had any strange interviews? What about interviews that impressed you?

The strangest interview I’ve ever had was with a company that had a three-step process. The first interview was with HR to assess my motivation. In the second one, I presented a project I had worked on and was proud of—where I literally spent two hours drawing architectural diagrams on a whiteboard and explaining concepts like event sourcing.

For the third interview, they brought in a guy who introduced himself with:

 “Hi, I’m Ivan and I love cats,”

and then started asking me questions that had no real relevance to the previous interview or to the position I was applying for.

There are two interviews that really stood out to me in a positive way. As strange as it may sound, the interview for my current job was one of them. It was a conversation with the CTO where both of us were very open, and the whole thing felt less like a technical quiz and more like a mutual attempt to understand each other and see if I could ask the right questions.

The other one I really liked was in-person, with a laptop in front of me showing some messy code. The first question was:

“Does this even work?”

Honestly, I liked the approach so much that I often use it myself when I conduct interviews.

What skills and qualities do you look for in a candidate? How can a candidate stand out during the interview?

A candidate needs to be a good fit for the team. It’s extremely important that they are adaptable and take a proactive approach.

What questions do you typically ask in technical interviews? Do you have specific tasks or problems that you often use to assess candidates?

I don’t like going into interviews with a set list of questions. I prefer to ask questions based on how the conversation is going and where the comfortable intersection is between my curiosity and the candidate’s nerves.

I enjoy discussing conceptual problems.

Like:

 “What are the downsides of microservices architecture?”

or

“Why JavaScript instead of Go?”

How important are good communication skills for a candidate? How do they impact the overall interview?

Good communication is key for a team to actually deliver value – it’s what lies behind the successful implementation of functionalities. That’s why, for me, it’s extremely important that a candidate can communicate effectively and integrate well within the team.

How important is cultural fit when making a hiring decision? How do you assess whether a candidate will fit well into the team?

I wouldn’t say it plays a key role, but it still matters. During the interview—especially when the candidate starts asking their own questions—certain cultural differences begin to show, and they could potentially become an obstacle.

What are the most common mistakes candidates make during an interview? What advice would you give candidates on how to prepare for an interview?

It's not scary to say 'I don't know.'

A lot of people get nervous and avoid asking clarifying questions, which leads them in the wrong direction—and that’s not the right approach. In a real work situation, they’re likely to do the same, which won’t lead to good results.

What advice would you give to candidates who want to improve their technical skills? Are there any resources you would recommend?

I read a lot of articles on Medium and follow quite a few YouTube channels. Over the years, I’ve built up a feed that keeps me up to date with the latest tech news, and it’s pretty easy to stay on top of trends just by scrolling through my phone. HackerNews also has a cool newsletter.

As a piece of advice, I’d say that focusing on just one technology is not a guaranteed path to success—especially now with the rise of LLMs. Try to combine different areas, for example .NET with Node.js and some DevOps as well.

Share more about the best (or worst) interviews you've conducted.

A couple of years ago, I had a really strange interview—I'm still not sure if it wasn’t with an early version of AI. It was a young guy, a foreigner, not based in Bulgaria, but according to his CV, he had graduated from the Technical University of Sofia as a full-time student. He didn’t speak a single word of Bulgarian—not even “Hello.” He gave perfect answers to all the standard questions, but when asked any follow-up or clarifying questions—nothing.

A good interview feels like a friendly conversation with the candidate, not like a university-style examination.

How do you evaluate a candidate during an interview—based solely on their theoretical knowledge, or is their approach to solving a problem/task more important to you? What other factors do you consider when making a decision?

To evaluate a candidate, I always take 10–15 minutes right after the interview to write down my feedback. I always start with the things I liked about the candidate, and then list the things I didn’t like. That way, I can visually compare the pros and cons of hiring them.

Theoretical knowledge isn’t always the determining factor. There’s no golden formula—it really depends on the specific role, the current state of the team, and what’s needed at that moment.

Sometimes a team needs someone with a strong theoretical background to support the others, and other times what’s needed is a fresh perspective—where analytical thinking is far more important than theory.

What would you like candidates to know about the interview process in your company? What could be helpful for them in their preparation?

To be honest and not to be afraid.

Share a funny story from your experience as an interviewer :)

During one online interview, the candidate spilled coffee on himself, and when he stood up, it turned out he was wearing just underwear and a shirt… but hey, that’s post-COVID times :)