Effective Work Sample Exercises for Engineering Team Lead Candidates

Engineering Team Leads serve as the critical bridge between technical execution and strategic leadership within an organization. They not only need to possess strong technical expertise but must also excel in people management, project coordination, and cross-functional collaboration. The effectiveness of an Engineering Team Lead can significantly impact team productivity, innovation, and overall project success.

Traditional interviews often fail to reveal how candidates will actually perform in this multifaceted role. While resumes and behavioral questions provide some insights, they don't demonstrate how candidates will handle real-world engineering leadership challenges. This is where well-designed work samples become invaluable in the hiring process.

Work samples for Engineering Team Lead candidates should evaluate both technical acumen and leadership capabilities. By observing candidates in action—making decisions, providing feedback, solving problems, and communicating complex ideas—hiring managers can gain much deeper insights into their potential performance than through conventional interviews alone.

The following four exercises are specifically designed to assess the critical competencies required for successful engineering leadership. Each activity simulates real-world scenarios that Engineering Team Leads encounter regularly, providing a window into how candidates approach technical challenges, manage team dynamics, and drive project success. By incorporating these exercises into your interview process, you'll be better equipped to identify candidates who can truly excel in this pivotal role.

Activity #1: Code Review and Feedback Session

This exercise evaluates a candidate's technical knowledge, attention to detail, and ability to provide constructive feedback—essential skills for guiding and developing engineering team members. Effective code reviews are fundamental to maintaining code quality and fostering continuous improvement within engineering teams. This activity reveals how candidates balance technical standards with interpersonal coaching.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a code sample (approximately 100-200 lines) in a relevant programming language that contains various issues: bugs, inefficiencies, security vulnerabilities, and style inconsistencies.
• The code should be complex enough to be challenging but not so specialized that only someone with niche expertise could review it.
• Provide the candidate with the code sample and any necessary context about its purpose and requirements 24 hours before the interview.
• Assign a junior engineer or have an interviewer role-play as a junior team member who wrote the code.
• Allow 20-25 minutes for the review session.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided code sample before the interview, identifying technical issues, potential improvements, and questions.
• During the interview, conduct a code review meeting with the "junior engineer" who supposedly wrote the code.
• Provide constructive feedback on the code, explaining the issues you've identified and suggesting improvements.
• Balance technical correctness with mentorship—focus on teaching and guiding rather than simply pointing out errors.
• Prioritize which issues should be addressed first and explain your reasoning.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the code review, the interviewer should provide feedback on one aspect the candidate handled well (e.g., technical accuracy, communication style) and one area for improvement (e.g., missed a critical issue, feedback delivery).
• Give the candidate 5 minutes to reflect and then conduct a brief follow-up discussion addressing the improvement area, demonstrating their ability to adapt their approach.

Activity #2: Project Planning and Resource Allocation

This exercise assesses a candidate's ability to plan projects strategically, allocate resources effectively, and make trade-off decisions—critical skills for engineering leadership. Project planning requires balancing technical requirements with business priorities while optimizing team resources and capabilities. This activity reveals how candidates approach complex planning challenges with multiple constraints.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a scenario describing a new engineering project with clear business objectives, technical requirements, and constraints.
• Include details about available team resources (e.g., 4 senior engineers, 3 junior engineers with specific skill sets).
• Provide information about competing priorities and potential risks.
• Prepare a template for the candidate to fill out, including sections for timeline, resource allocation, risk assessment, and milestone planning.
• Allow 30-35 minutes for this exercise.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the project scenario and available resources.
• Create a high-level project plan that includes:
• Project timeline with key milestones
• Resource allocation (who works on what and when)
• Identification of potential risks and mitigation strategies
• Technical approach and architecture decisions
• Dependencies and critical path
• Be prepared to explain your rationale for decisions, especially regarding trade-offs between speed, quality, and resource constraints.
• Consider how you would handle potential scope changes or unexpected challenges.

Feedback Mechanism:

• The interviewer should provide feedback on one strength in the candidate's plan (e.g., thoughtful risk assessment, efficient resource allocation) and one area that could be improved (e.g., unrealistic timeline, overlooked dependency).
• Give the candidate 10 minutes to revise the specific portion of their plan that needs improvement, demonstrating their adaptability and receptiveness to feedback.

Activity #3: Technical Incident Response Simulation

This exercise evaluates a candidate's problem-solving abilities under pressure, technical troubleshooting skills, and leadership during crisis situations. Engineering leaders must effectively guide their teams through technical incidents while maintaining clear communication with stakeholders. This activity reveals how candidates balance technical investigation with team coordination and stakeholder management.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a scenario describing a critical production incident (e.g., service outage, data issue, security breach) with relevant technical details.
• Prepare supporting materials such as error logs, monitoring dashboards, or system architecture diagrams.
• Assemble a panel of 2-3 interviewers to role-play as team members with different expertise (e.g., backend engineer, DevOps specialist).
• Designate one interviewer to play a non-technical stakeholder (e.g., product manager, executive) who will periodically ask for updates.
• Allow 25-30 minutes for the simulation.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the incident details and supporting materials.
• Lead the response team (role-played by interviewers) through the incident investigation and resolution process.
• Delegate tasks appropriately based on team members' expertise.
• Make decisions about prioritization and approach.
• Communicate clearly with both technical team members and non-technical stakeholders.
• Document key findings and next steps.
• Develop a preliminary plan for preventing similar incidents in the future.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the simulation, interviewers should provide feedback on one aspect the candidate handled effectively (e.g., methodical troubleshooting, clear communication) and one area for improvement (e.g., missed a critical investigation path, didn't effectively utilize team expertise).
• Give the candidate 5-7 minutes to explain how they would adjust their approach based on the feedback, demonstrating their ability to learn and adapt.

Activity #4: Cross-Functional Requirements Clarification

This exercise assesses a candidate's ability to bridge technical and business perspectives, ask clarifying questions, and translate ambiguous requirements into actionable engineering tasks. Engineering Team Leads frequently serve as translators between product/business stakeholders and engineering teams. This activity reveals how candidates handle ambiguity and ensure alignment between business needs and technical implementation.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a vague or incomplete product requirement document for a new feature or system.
• Include some business context and high-level objectives, but leave technical details, edge cases, and some requirements intentionally ambiguous.
• Assign an interviewer to role-play as a product manager who has a clear vision but lacks technical expertise.
• Prepare the "product manager" with answers to potential questions and some business constraints (e.g., timeline, budget, priorities).
• Allow 20-25 minutes for the exercise.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the requirements document.
• Lead a requirements clarification meeting with the "product manager."
• Ask thoughtful questions to uncover hidden requirements, constraints, and edge cases.
• Propose technical approaches and explain trade-offs in non-technical terms.
• Document the clarified requirements and next steps.
• Create a brief outline of how you would break down the work for your engineering team.
• Identify potential technical challenges or risks that should be communicated back to stakeholders.

Feedback Mechanism:

• The interviewer should provide feedback on one strength in the candidate's approach (e.g., effective questioning technique, clear technical explanations) and one area for improvement (e.g., missed important clarifications, didn't effectively translate technical concepts).
• Give the candidate 5 minutes to address the improvement area by either asking additional questions or refining their technical approach based on the feedback.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should we allocate for these work sample exercises?

Each exercise is designed to take 20-35 minutes, including the feedback and improvement portion. We recommend scheduling at least 45 minutes per exercise to allow for setup, instructions, and buffer time. If you're incorporating multiple exercises into your interview process, consider spreading them across different interview sessions to prevent candidate fatigue.

Should we use all four exercises for every Engineering Team Lead candidate?

Not necessarily. Select the exercises that best align with the specific requirements of your Engineering Team Lead position. For instance, if the role heavily emphasizes mentoring junior engineers, prioritize the Code Review exercise. If incident management is critical, focus on the Technical Incident Response Simulation. Using 2-3 targeted exercises is often more effective than trying to cover all areas.

How should we evaluate candidates' performance on these exercises?

Create a structured scorecard for each exercise that assesses both technical competencies (e.g., technical accuracy, problem-solving approach) and leadership skills (e.g., communication clarity, feedback delivery, decision-making). Have multiple interviewers evaluate the candidate independently before discussing their observations to minimize bias. Look for candidates who demonstrate adaptability and receptiveness to feedback during the improvement portion.

Can these exercises be conducted remotely?

Yes, all these exercises can be adapted for remote interviews using video conferencing and collaborative tools. For the Code Review exercise, use a code sharing platform. For Project Planning, provide digital templates. For the Incident Response and Requirements Clarification exercises, virtual whiteboards can facilitate collaboration. Ensure all participants have access to necessary materials and clear instructions for using the remote tools.

How much preparation should we expect from candidates?

For exercises requiring pre-work (like the Code Review), provide materials 24-48 hours in advance. Be respectful of candidates' time by keeping pre-work requirements reasonable (1-2 hours maximum). For exercises conducted entirely during the interview, allow a few minutes at the beginning for candidates to review materials and gather their thoughts. Remember that the goal is to assess how candidates would perform in the actual role, not how much time they can dedicate to interview preparation.

Should we customize these exercises for different engineering disciplines?

Yes, tailor the technical content of these exercises to match your specific engineering domain. For a frontend engineering team, use frontend code and technologies in the Code Review. For a data engineering team, create scenarios involving data pipelines and analytics. The leadership and communication aspects of the exercises remain valuable across disciplines, but the technical context should reflect your team's actual work.

Finding the right Engineering Team Lead is crucial for building high-performing engineering teams that deliver exceptional results. By incorporating these practical work sample exercises into your interview process, you can move beyond traditional question-and-answer formats to observe how candidates actually approach the complex challenges of engineering leadership.

These exercises provide valuable insights into candidates' technical judgment, leadership style, communication skills, and problem-solving approaches—all critical factors for success in this pivotal role. Remember that the best candidates may not perform perfectly in every exercise, but they will demonstrate strong reasoning, adaptability, and receptiveness to feedback.

For more resources to enhance your hiring process, check out Yardstick's suite of AI-powered tools, including our AI Job Description Generator, AI Interview Question Generator, and AI Interview Guide Generator. You can also explore our comprehensive Engineering Team Lead job description for additional insights into this critical role.

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