Berlin, Germany
Elman Huseynov
Deputy Engineering Manager at Zalando. Previously Shopify. 10 years building software.
I run technical interviews, hire engineers and lead teams. 100+ interviews run. 10+ engineers hired. 27 markets shipped to.
Worked at
- Zalando
- Shopify
- Scoutbee
Where to go next
You are an engineer
Get ready for the interview that matters
Mock interviews, resume review, offer negotiation and monthly mentorship. You get a scorecard, not encouragement.
Mock interviews, resume, negotiation, mentorship
See servicesYou are hiring
Make your interview loop predict performance
Interviewer training, scorecards and calibration through SmartHiring. Your team keeps the playbook afterwards.
Audits, workshops and interviewer calibration
See SmartHiringYou are a recruiter or an organiser
Hire me, or invite me to speak
Open to leadership and Staff or Principal roles, part-time remote contracts, and conference or meetup talks.
Berlin, open to temporary relocation
See what I am open toWhy me
I sit on the side of the table that decides.
Most interview coaching comes from people who last interviewed years ago. I run loops now, write the scorecards, and argue in the calibration rooms.
- Technical interviews run
- 100+
- Engineers hired
- 10+
- Markets my hiring process covers
- 27
- Years building software
- 10
Services
6 ways to work with me.
Each one has its own page with the price, what is included and who it is not for. No discovery call to find out the number.
Mock interview
DSA, system design, behavioural or culture fit. Real format, real scoring, written feedback.
What it includesResume and LinkedIn review
Your resume and LinkedIn reviewed by someone who screens them, then a call to fix it together.
What it includesOffer negotiation
1 hour on your live offer plus async support until you sign.
What it includesMentorship
4 sessions a month and async support, aimed at 1 outcome you pick.
What it includesTechnical advisory
Architecture, delivery and hiring decisions on retainer for growing teams.
What it includesCore Web Vitals rebuild
Core Web Vitals and technical SEO. This site scores 100 across the board, and I will show you how.
What it includesFounder What I build
I teach this because I keep building it.
7 products, all mine, all shipped outside a day job. 2 teach engineers, 1 hires them, 4 are tools I needed and nobody had built.
AlgoPath
Data structures and algorithms taught through the place each one actually runs. Binary search as git bisect, sliding window as a rate limiter. Solvable in 6 languages.
algopath.proArchitectPath
A 114-step path from an empty machine to a multi-cloud Zero-Trust system, then a War Room track that reproduces real outages in miniature. English and Russian.
elman.groupSmartHiring
Interviewer training for scaling teams. Audits, workshops and calibration, so the hiring bar travels with the team.
smarthiring.techAgentic CMS
A WordPress alternative an AI agent can drive. 1 product, 5 native stacks: TypeScript, Laravel, Django, Go and JVM.
elman.groupWordMCPress
Typed, capability-gated WordPress access for AI agents over MCP. 115 abilities across 18 domains, every call checked against WordPress capabilities. User mutation is deliberately absent.
WordPress pluginVocabularify
A desktop app that surfaces a word and its translation every few seconds, in the menu bar or a floating card. Vocabulary grows while you work. No drills.
macOS, Windows, LinuxBerlinArea
A Berlin city guide on a stylised vintage map. Clustered markers, the history behind each place, offline favourites. Built with React Native and Expo.
React Native, in betaSpeaking
Available for talks on hiring, interviews and engineering leadership.
6 prepared talks, from a 20-minute meetup slot to a half-day workshop. Bio, photos and topics are all on 1 page.
Writing
Free, and worth reading.
Why Your Interview Loop Rejects Good Engineers
Unstructured interviews explain about 4% of job performance. Structured ones explain 26%. Here is where the signal leaks…
How to Give Rejected Candidates Feedback That Is Safe and Useful
After careful consideration" tells a candidate nothing. Here is how to give real feedback without creating legal exposure.
The Hidden Job Market Is Mostly Just Referrals
Applying through the portal puts you in a pile of 1,000. Here is what actually moves a CV…
Before you ask
Questions I get every week
Do you offer free calls?
There is a free 15-minute call first, to work out whether a session is worth booking at all. The sessions themselves are paid, and the price is on the page before you book. Companies get a free 20-minute audit call to scope the work.
If you are not looking to pay, that is fine. The blog is free and genuinely useful. Start there.
What makes you qualified to run mock interviews?
I am a Deputy Engineering Manager at Zalando and a former Senior Software Engineer at Shopify. I have run over 100 technical interviews and hired more than 10 engineers.
I also write the performance reviews and sit in calibration. That is the same judgement your loop will be measured against.
Can you refer me to your company?
No. A referral should come from someone who has seen your work, and one paid hour is not that.
What you get instead is an honest read on where you stand against the bar, and what to fix first.
Do you guarantee I will get the offer?
No, and be careful with anyone who does. Interviews have too many variables outside your control.
What I can do is remove the failures that are in your control: unclear communication, missed requirements, and a weak structure under pressure.
Ready to work on this properly?
Mock interviews, resume review, offer negotiation and mentorship for engineers. Hiring audits and interviewer training for teams. Every session is paid, and the price is on the page before you book.