Bright Network Task List Initial Call

Before the Interview

Research Tasks

• Review Bright Network’s mission statement and core values (Growth Mindset, Will to Win, Trusted to Deliver)
• Research recent company news and achievements (international expansion, awards, partnerships)
• Explore Bright Network’s products, especially the Talent Tracker platform
• Review the job description thoroughly, highlighting key requirements and responsibilities
• Identify specific examples from your experience that align with the job requirements

Personal Preparation

• Prepare a concise 2-3 minute introduction about yourself and your career journey
• Create a list of your key achievements that are relevant to the Senior Software Engineer role
• Practice explaining your transition between roles and career decisions
• Prepare to discuss your experience with TypeScript, React, AWS, and Node.js
• Identify specific examples of leading technical initiatives or mentoring junior developers
• Rehearse your explanation of why you’re interested in Bright Network specifically
• Practice articulating how your skills and experience match their requirements

Technical Overview Preparation

• Prepare brief examples of your experience with:
• TypeScript and React development
• Node.js-based systems
• AWS and cloud infrastructure
• System architecture and design
• Leading technical projects
• Be ready to discuss your approach to technical challenges at a high level
• Prepare to explain your experience with design systems and frontend architecture

Questions to Prepare

• Prepare 5-7 thoughtful questions about:
• The Tech & Product team structure and collaboration
• Current technical challenges the team is facing
• The development process and methodologies
• Growth opportunities within the company
• Next steps in the interview process
• Ensure questions demonstrate your research and genuine interest in the role

Logistics

• Test your Zoom setup (camera, microphone, lighting, background)
• Prepare a quiet, professional environment for the call
• Have a copy of your resume/CV readily available
• Keep a notepad and pen handy for taking notes
• Set up calendar reminders for the interview (at least 24 hours and 1 hour before)
• Plan to join the call 5-10 minutes early

During the Interview

Communication Strategies

• Listen actively and take brief notes on key points
• Speak clearly and concisely, avoiding technical jargon unless appropriate
• Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) when giving examples
• Connect your answers back to the job requirements when possible
• Be authentic and show enthusiasm for the role and company
• Ask for clarification if a question is unclear

Key Points to Emphasize

• Your experience with technologies mentioned in the job description
• Your leadership and mentoring experience
• Your alignment with Bright Network’s values
• Your interest in their mission of connecting talent with opportunities
• Your ability to work in a collaborative, “no egos” environment
• Your data-driven approach to decision-making

Examples → Job Requirements

• I’ve built a design sysrem with shadcn, so I have experience with that
• I’ve led projects and collaborated with internal stakeholders, and other devs to achieve outcomes → Web App, Admin Panel
• I have worked with React, Typescript, Tanstack Router (Start) and implemented them in both FE applications - Exactly what tyhey use
• I mentored junior devs
• I am comfortable working on both, backend and frontend → Web App, Admin Panel
• I am ambitious, forward thinking, like a challenge
• I like data-driven environments and user centric polaces

Tracker Product

• Help businesses to target right people by using data
• Help to distribute ads that are served to relevant members
• They leverage AI to analyse the data and automatically reach out to people that might be the right fit
• Target: Young people/graduates
• A tool to analyse competition
• Thoughts: Essentially, something like Linkedin, but automated?
• Thoughts: Marketing tool for HR? Reminds me of Google Analytics a bit, but for HR

Q&As

Introduction

• I’m Oskar
• Self taught developer with 3+ years of experience
• Full stack, a bit more front-end leaning, but capable of working of both ends
• I have experience with Typescript, React, AWS, TanStack Stack, Shadcn, Tailwind
• Worked for Pfida - finance company with ethical mortgages and financing, the team size, what I was responsible for (Frontend Architectures, mentoring, application improvements and developer experience improvements)
• Mention 3 core projects (Design System, Web App, Admin Panel, White Labelling)
• Mention ANS
• Mention technologies (React, React Native)
• Applications that were wrappers on top of Microsoft products with React or React Native
• Why I left my previous role Common Q&A > 7. Why did you leave your previous job?
  Why do you want to work here
• Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not resonated with me. I see this company as a palce that creates oopiortunities for diverse talents, from all different walks of life. I would want to work somewhere that’s essentially trying to help people to be successful.
• You are clearly trying to be a leader and innovator in this sector and you are clearly doing something right. This is the value I care about when choosing the place to work, as I am a hard working and ambitious person myself.
• Data Driven and user-centric design
• Great engineering culture, which is refreshing and quite a lot of companies undervalue it
• You are clearly doing something right if you beat big names like Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Airbnb
• My values align with yours
  • Growth mindset
  • self improvement
  • being open for feedback
  • listening to others
  • being committed and ambitious
  • Being honest about making mistakes
  • Not much red tape, which drives innovation
  • You care about balance between pragmatism and ambitious objectives
• Your stack and my experience perfectly aligns with what you need. I worked with Tanstack Router (Tanstack Start is based on this), Shadcn, Tailwind, AWS, Terraform. I might not have experience with Elasticsearch or GraphQL, but I understand the concepts and I am sure that I can get up to speed pretty quickly, as you can probably tell based on my CV and the breath of experience within a short period of time.
• Based on what I read about you, you care about your empoyees
• You’ve got office in Edinburgh, and I love edinburgh, so I would be able to visit this city more often :)

What is your technical background

• I have worked on both ends (Frontend and Backend)
• I have commercial exprience with AWS, Terraform, React, Tanstack Router, Tanstack Query, PostgreSQL, Design Systems
• I have built a design system with Shadcn, Tailwind in my previous role, which was a huge success for the company and made development of applications much more efficient
• I have non-commercial experience with Vercel AI SDK, Prisma
• I don’t have much experience with GraphQL and Elasticsearch, but I understand the principles of it, how it works and when to use it, so I am sure I will get up to speed with it pretty fast

What is your non-technical background

• I have mentored junior developers
• I have managed end-to-end development of software, collaborated with a designer, internal stakeholders (Finance, Legal, Execs) to achieve the goals and understand their requirements
• I helped the business to unblock revenue by building white labelled application and letting other banks to use their software and services
• I helped the business to fix a problematic application that had loads of bugs, had security issues (data, passwords, UX, customers had no confidence when using the application that it is useful), which improved the usability, more customers started using it and it looked and felt so much better
• Improved cross functional team collaboration (ephemeral environments)
• Improved collaboration within the team by implementing backend-for-frontend
• I was responsible for front-end architecture of the whole team, making decisions about the tools and so on (that was collaborative, but I did drive this culture of team wide decision making). All decisions that were made improved DX, and were using cutting-edge technologies
• I did drive a culture where people share the knowledge with each other via documentation of incidents and changes they tried to make

What are your aspirations

• I am a fast learner and ambitious
• Within 5 years, I would like to become a Staff Engineer where I can
  • be involved in setting the architectural vision and standards
  • mentor others and helping them to become better at their job
  • Be the bridge between the business and tech (which I have already done it)

Have you got Growth Mindset?

• I see a challenge as an opportunity to grow
• Examples:
  • White-labelling
  • fixing customer facing app
• I do courses or play with different technologies to understand their pros/cons and use cases
• My CV demonstrates that I am that kind of person (I’ve done loads)

Have you got Will to Win?

• I always push myself to exceed expectations
• Example:
  • Tight deadline for white labelling application which I had not idea what to do and how initially. Collaborated with Architect and Head of Engineering on it. It allowed the business to open a new revenue stream

Are you trusted to deliver

• I think I am and I have shown that in my previous role
• I approach each proejct with a clear plan and try to understand the outcome that needs to be achieved.
• I collaborated with internal stakeholders and ensured that they are being kept up to date with the state of the project
• I led a few projects at pfida, and most of them were quite successful, even though I made a few mistakes here and there
• Examples:
  • I approch each
  • Working on Design system and aligning with design team while working on other dev projects

Questions

• Would you be able to tell me more about the project that I would be involved in if I would get the job? Specifically the AI one (if you can).
• “I’m impressed by Bright Network’s mission to connect talent with opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have access to. Could you share more about how the Tech & Product team specifically contributes to this mission through the platforms you’re building?”
• “I noticed that Bright Network recently expanded into the German market. How has this international growth impacted the technical challenges and opportunities for the engineering team?”
• “The job description mentions a new AI-driven project using Vercel AI SDK and other technologies. Without revealing confidential details, could you share more about the vision for AI within Bright Network’s product ecosystem?”
• “I’m particularly drawn to Bright Network’s ‘no egos’ culture and focus on psychological safety. Could you share examples of how this manifests in the day-to-day work of the Tech & Product team?”
• “What would success look like for this Senior Software Engineer role in the first 6-12 months? What specific challenges or projects would you expect the person in this role to tackle?”
• Can you tell me more about the next steps?

After the Interview

Follow-up Actions

• Send a thank-you email within 24 hours

• Reference specific points from the conversation in your follow-up

• Connect with the interviewer on LinkedIn (if appropriate)

• Reflect on the interview and note areas for improvement

• Research any topics or technologies mentioned that you’re less familiar with

• Begin preparing for the technical test based on insights gained

• Follow up if you haven’t heard back within the timeframe they provided

Notes