Tepper / CMU Qatar · Undergraduate
70-377 Managing and Assessing Tech Talent and Organizations
Course I built
How to hire, develop, and evaluate technical people using evidence instead of instinct.
A micro-course I developed on managing technical talent: how to interview for technical and data roles, onboard new hires, run technical projects with OKRs, and manage performance. I wrote it for undergraduates, and it ran for the first time at CMU Qatar in Fall 2025.
Topics
- Interviewing for software development roles, including AI-driven assessment
- Interviewing for data and quantitative roles
- Case and behavioral interviews
- Onboarding technical talent: the first ninety days
- Running technical projects and leading an effective team
- Project management with work breakdown structures and OKRs
- Managing performance, promotion, and termination
How the course works
Students sit on both sides of the interview table. In live mock interviews on Zoom they rotate through interviewer, candidate, and observer, using the formats large tech companies use: live coding, data take-homes, case interviews, and behavioral interviews. Candidates may solve the coding problems in a spreadsheet, so business students take part alongside computer science students.
The in-person week in Doha turned to teams and culture. Groups allocated a $120 million fund across twenty proposals, analyzed a Harvard case on a global team at Sun Microsystems, and rescued a failing mobile banking project by cutting its scope and writing recovery OKRs.
How the course developed
I proposed this micro-course to Carnegie Mellon in Qatar in February 2025 and taught it in Fall 2025. Most sessions met on Zoom in the evening, Doha time, and the middle block met in person in Doha over three days. It was open to technical and business students with no prerequisites.
Offerings
- Fall 2025, CMU Qatar
Enrolled students received the materials on Canvas.