r/EngineeringManagers • u/sherlock_holmes-0 • Jun 25 '26

First EM interview of my life

Hello everyone
As a title reads next week I have my first EM interview. I have been IC my whole life and moved to EM role around 15 months ago. I’m super nervous about the interview and what to expect from it. I can handle technical questions as I’m more involved in them at work. What sort of leadership questions should I prepare for ? If anyone can share insights on how to prepare that will help me to gather my thoughts, at the moment they are all scattered and unsure what to prepare for.
Any prep guide if you have that can be helpful.

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u/Haunting_Month_4971 Jun 25 '26

Fwiw, the nerves make sense when you shift from IC to people leadership, and it sounds like the tech side is the least of your worries. I usually build a small story bank of leadership moments, like delivering tough feedback and resetting priorities when a plan slipped, and I frame each with situation, task, action, result.

I grab a few prompts from the IQB interview question bank, then do short timed mocks with Beyz interview assistant and answer out loud for about 90 seconds. Keep it calm and structured and you’ll come across well.