The Tech Interview Behind the Scenes: Dimitar Vasilev

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

"Avoid including false information in your CV—it’s the primary source we rely on.", advises Dimitar Vasilev, Managing Partner at Cleverix llc & QA Tech Consultant.

Tell us more about your career path.

I started my career in 2011 as a Junior QA specialist and quickly was involved in a variety of projects, technologies, and teams, which I consider a great advantage early in my career. After earning several certifications and completing various training I soon transitioned into Automated Testing, which I still find fascinating. Over the years, I climbed the career ladder, moving from Tech QA Lead to QA Manager, where I managed a team of 20+ people. Additionally, I have been actively involved in training people and helping them start their careers in IT. Currently, my focus is on Cleverix, particularly on the QA department within the company.

I am also a QA Tech expert and consultant, because I love my profession and don’t want to "rust" technically, though I have less and less time for it.

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

Of course. I've been through many interviews over the years, and there are some that have left a mark on me—both positive and negative ones. :))

One interesting case I had was when I provided a solution to a problem that the interviewers had never seen before, and they were left stunned. Apparently, they were expecting a standard answer and weren't prepared to discuss something different.

P.S. I actually received an offer from that company.

I've also had "interesting" situations where the interviewer didn't know the answer to the question he was asking.

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

Over the years, I’ve realized that a key skill, which consistently proves to be a driving force in the development and performance of candidates, is PROACTIVENESS.

It might sound cliché, but they also need to be CURIOUS and approach tasks with the mindset that there’s always room for improvement, and that their approach/solution might not always be the best! After all, in our profession (QA), we are striving for quality.

I would also add RATIONALITY and LOGICAL thinking—very important qualities for a successful QA.

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

I have specific tasks and questions that I ask based on the candidates’ seniority, but I also try to guide the interview in a direction tailored to the specifics of their experience.

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

They are important, because a candidate who answers interview questions with one-word responses doesn't make a good impression. In my opinion, interviews are a discussion, not just an exam. Strong communication skills are crucial for teamwork—after all, the candidate will be working with people and a lack of good communication would be a problem. The QA profession requires collaboration with every member of a technical team. At the core of the position is effective communication and a positive approach to everyone.

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

I really care about it. It's important for the candidate to fit into the team and the company. After all, managing a team, I’ve faced challenges when a person has significant cultural differences from the others, which creates confusion. This leads to a series of challenges in team dynamics, and isn’t that the most important thing? - Everyone should feel comfortable and there shouldn't be any tension in the workplace.

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

For preparation, I would say it's always helpful for candidates to deep dive and research the company they are applying to.

Regarding the interview itself, I advise candidates not to "cram" answers to questions. Also they should avoid Googling questions during the interview — I’ve seen that happen quite a few times — or at least not read the first result on Google, haha! :)

In my opinion, it's perfectly normal for a candidate not to know the answer to every question, and that's OK.

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

Nowadays everything is just a click away. There are tutorials and courses for everything. If you use AI prompts correctly, they can also be a great help if you want to learn a specific technology.

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

The best interviews are those in which it becomes clear very quickly that this is the right candidate. The way they behave, communicate and respond, as well as their mindset, have signaled to me within the first five minutes that this is the candidate I’m looking for. My intuition has never let me down and to this day I still work with some of these individuals. 

On the other hand, I would categorize the worst interviews as those where the candidate behaves arrogantly, with an attitude of "I'm the greatest and I know everything."

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?

I always ask theoretical questions, but mainly focus on practical or situational questions to assess how the candidate would approach a given situation because the approach is crucial. 

I use tasks without a definitive answer that reveal how they think, such as: "How would you test that an ATM is working correctly?"

For candidates with more experience, I certainly focus on the domain they come from or the technologies they have used to understand how deeply they have delved into the subject matter.

What would you like candidates to know about the interview process at your company? What could help them prepare?

At Cleverix, we conduct a standard two-stage interview process — one for assessing communication and, as mentioned earlier, cultural fit, followed by a technical interview. Sometimes, we even combine these two stages into one to streamline the process from interview to offer for the candidate.

Here are some tips I would give to future candidates:

• Don’t focus on memorizing theory; we appreciate that each candidate has had a different career path and we take that into account during the interview.

• Be honest in your answers.

• Avoid including false information in your CV—it’s the primary source we rely on.

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

• I will never forget one interview where the candidate suddenly stood up and left without any explanation. Clearly, he just wasn't interested in the position.

• I also have a story where, after giving a candidate a not-so-complex task, he put his hands on his head and said something related to the mothers ;) He didn’t find a solution to the task— but that probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway.