# helloelman.com

> Elman Huseynov, Lead Software Engineer at Zalando, previously Shopify.
> Based in Berlin, Germany. Works online, any timezone.
> For software engineers: mock interviews, resume and LinkedIn reviews,
> career coaching. For companies: websites, MVPs, mobile apps,
> technical SEO audits and fractional CTO work. Book: https://helloelman.com/book/
> Writes about technical interviews, hiring, career levels and web
> performance, from both sides of the table: 100+ interviews run,
> 10+ engineers hired, software shipped to 27 markets.

## Articles

- [AI Coding Interview: Who Allows AI, and How to Prepare](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/ai-coding-interview/): Meta runs a coding round with an AI assistant. Amazon tells candidates not to use one. Ask before the round, then prepare for either.
- [How to Answer "Tell Me About Yourself" in 90 Seconds](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/tell-me-about-yourself-software-engineer/): The first question of most interviews. A 3-part, 90-second answer, and the 4 ways candidates lose the room in the first minute.
- [Questions to Ask the Interviewer, by Round](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/questions-to-ask-the-interviewer/): Ten questions, matched to the person asking. Each one shows how the work runs, and which team you would join.
- [The STAR Method for Software Engineers, Fixed](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/star-method-for-software-engineers/): STAR gets a story out in 2 minutes. It leaves out the 4 things an engineering panel actually scores.
- [47 Behavioral Interview Questions and What They Test](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/behavioral-interview-questions/): The full list, grouped by the 7 things a panel is actually measuring. Prepare the 7 and you have prepared all 47.
- [The Behavioral Interview Answer That Survives the Follow-Ups](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/behavioral-interview-answers/): STAR gets you through the first answer. The follow-ups decide the round, and most people have not prepared for them.
- [The Promotion Packet Nobody Taught You to Write](https://helloelman.com/career-growth/the-promotion-packet/): Your packet is read in a room you are not in, by people who have never seen your work. Here is the structure that survives that.
- [The Engineering Manager Interview Loop, From the Other Side](https://helloelman.com/engineering-leadership/engineering-manager-interview-loop/): The EM loop rejects people with feedback about "scope" that nobody defines. Here is what each round actually scores.
- [From Senior to Staff Engineer: The Path Nobody Writes Down](https://helloelman.com/career-growth/senior-to-staff-engineer/): Staff is a different job with a different unit of output, and that is why good engineers stall at senior for years.
- [How a Hiring Committee Decides Your Offer](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/hiring-committee/): The group that decides your offer never met you. What the hiring committee reads, how it votes, and why borderline packets fail.
- [Phone Interview Questions for Software Engineers](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/phone-interview-questions/): Two calls stand between you and the onsite. What the recruiter asks, what the engineer asks, and what gets people cut at this stage.
- [Job Offer Negotiation: What Is Negotiable Beyond Base Salary](https://helloelman.com/offer-negotiation/job-offer-negotiation/): Base is the hardest line to move and the one everyone fixates on. 14 things that are easier to get and often worth more.
- [Salary Negotiation for Software Engineers](https://helloelman.com/offer-negotiation/software-engineer-salary-negotiation/): What is actually negotiable, what to say when they ask your number first, and why the recruiter is not your opponent.
- [The Manager 1 on 1 That Is Worth Having](https://helloelman.com/engineering-leadership/engineering-manager-1-1/): Most 1:1s are status updates with a nicer name. Here is the structure that surfaces problems while they are still cheap.
- [Your First 90 Days as a New Engineering Manager](https://helloelman.com/engineering-leadership/new-engineering-manager-first-90-days/): Nobody hands new managers the job description. Here is what the first 90 days actually contain, and the mistake almost everyone makes.
- [11 Resume Mistakes That Get Software Engineers Screened Out](https://helloelman.com/resume-branding/resume-mistakes-software-engineers/): Real lines from real engineering resumes, why each one fails a 20-second read, and the rewrite that fixes it.
- [The Software Engineer Resume That Passes ATS and Humans](https://helloelman.com/resume-branding/software-engineer-resume-ats-and-humans/): A hiring manager gives your resume about 20 seconds. The parser gives it none. Here is the structure that survives both.
- [6 Questions That Pin Down System Design Requirements](https://helloelman.com/system-design/system-design-requirements/): The first 8 minutes decide the rest of the round. 6 questions that turn a vague prompt into a problem with numbers.
- [The System Design Interview Playbook](https://helloelman.com/system-design/system-design-interview-playbook/): A procedure you can run on any system design question, minute by minute, and why senior candidates lose this round more than any other.
- [What Interviewers Actually Write on the Scorecard](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/what-interviewers-write-on-the-scorecard/): The written notes decide the round. Here are the lines interviewers actually write, and how to give them something better to record.
- [The FAANG Interview Process: A Complete Guide to Tech Interviews](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/faang-technical-interview-guide/): The recruiter screen, the phone round, the onsite, the debrief, the offer. What each stage measures, who decides, and where candidates lose.
- [Software Engineer Job Search: The Hidden Market Is Referrals](https://helloelman.com/job-search/software-engineering-job-search-unlocking/): Applying through the portal puts you in a pile of 1,000. Here is what actually moves a CV to the top.
- [Software Engineering Mentorship: What a Mentor Can and Cannot Do](https://helloelman.com/career-growth/software-engineering-mentorship/): Mentorship is oversold and often misused. Here is what it actually changes, from someone who has run 100+ technical interviews.
- [How to Prepare for a FAANG Interview in 8 Weeks](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/faang-interviews-preparation/): An 8-week plan, week by week: the loop, 15 patterns, system design out loud, 8 written stories, scored mocks.
- [What a Good Technical Interview Actually Measures](https://helloelman.com/tech-interviews/rethinking-tech-interviews/): Most technical interviews measure the wrong thing. Here is what the research says.

## Services

Prices are on each service page.

- [Mock interviews](https://helloelman.com/services/mock-interviews/): A scored 60-minute DSA, system design, leadership or culture-fit round, with the written scorecard a real panel would fill in. Offer negotiation is an add-on; a full programme adds the resume and LinkedIn.
- [Resume and CV review](https://helloelman.com/services/resume-review/): A written review of your resume plus a 60-minute call to rewrite the weakest parts, delivered within 48 hours.
- [Free ATS resume checker](https://helloelman.com/resume-checker/): A free tool: paste your resume text and get 10 checks on sections, dates, bullets, numbers and keywords against a job description. Runs in the browser, nothing is uploaded.
- [LinkedIn profile optimization](https://helloelman.com/services/linkedin-profile-optimization/): Headline, About and experience rewritten to the words recruiters search, plus a 60-minute call. Can be booked together with the resume review.
- [Software engineer career coaching](https://helloelman.com/services/career-coaching/): For engineers stuck at the same level: a 60-minute session with an interviewer who has run 100+ interviews, then a written roadmap for the next 6 to 12 months within 48 hours.
- [Technical SEO audit and Core Web Vitals](https://helloelman.com/services/seo-optimisation/): A technical SEO audit service on any stack: Core Web Vitals, indexing, schema and crawl errors, ranked by impact, then the fixes if you want them built.
- [MVP, website and mobile app development](https://helloelman.com/services/web-and-app-development/): MVP development for startups, and websites on WordPress, Laravel or Next.js and mobile apps in React Native, built end to end by Elman: scope, build, launch, handover. Technical SEO is included; promotion, backlinks and ads are not offered. Quoted per project after a free 20-minute call.
- [Fractional CTO and technical advisory](https://helloelman.com/services/tech-advisory/): Part-time technical leadership on retainer for teams without a CTO: architecture, delivery and hiring decisions in writing.
- [Speaking](https://helloelman.com/speaking/): Talks on technical hiring, interview design and engineering leadership.
- Booking: https://helloelman.com/book/ opens the calendar. Every paid service starts with a free 15-minute call; companies get a free 20-minute scoping call.

## Portfolio: built by Elman Huseynov (https://helloelman.com/portfolio/)

- [bookingcarbaku.com](https://helloelman.com/portfolio/bookingcarbaku/): Car rental in Baku, 105 cars, WordPress with a hand-written theme in English, Russian, Azerbaijani, Arabic and Turkish. Built, translated and tuned end to end; PageSpeed 96 on mobile and 100 on desktop, 13 September 2026. Live at https://bookingcarbaku.com/.
- [algopath.pro](https://helloelman.com/portfolio/algopath/): Elman's algorithms course: 150 steps in English and Russian, code runs in the browser in 6 languages on WebAssembly, Laravel and React, Stripe billing. Live at https://algopath.pro/.
- [smarthiring.tech](https://helloelman.com/portfolio/smarthiring/): Elman's hiring consultancy: interviewer training, hiring audits and calibration for engineering teams. WordPress, hand-written theme, PageSpeed 98 on mobile, LinkedIn newsletter with 600+ subscribers. Live at https://smarthiring.tech/.
- [BerlinArea](https://helloelman.com/portfolio/berlinarea/): iOS city guide: 127 places in Berlin on a vintage map that works offline, 12 languages, no login, no ads. React Native, Expo, TypeScript, MapLibre. Live on the App Store; page at https://elman.group/berlinarea/.
- [Vocabularify](https://helloelman.com/portfolio/vocabularify/): Language app for desktop and mobile: words drift past while you work, then sentences built only from words already seen. 7 languages, 42 pairs, A1 to C1, 5,400+ lessons and 16,600+ sentences. Electron, React Native, TypeScript; iOS in TestFlight. Page at https://elman.group/vocabularify/.
- [elman.group](https://helloelman.com/portfolio/elman-group/): Elman's company site: the brand page, a list of 12 products and 8 product landing pages with waitlist forms sharing one lead handler. Hand-written HTML, CSS and PHP, no framework, 36 KB front page, Lighthouse performance 100 on mobile (22 September 2026). Live at https://elman.group/.
- [Wizard Chess](https://helloelman.com/portfolio/wizard-chess/): Browser chess in a 3D stone hall: pieces walk to their square, a capturing piece strikes, the captured one breaks into stone. Play the computer (Stockfish, 8 levels) or online with ratings and clocks. Laravel, React, three.js; built by Elman alone, first commit 25 September 2026, live beta 2 October 2026. Free, no ads. 3D piece models by nbauchat, used with permission. Live at https://playwizardchess.com.

## Contact

- Elman Huseynov, Lead Software Engineer, based in Berlin, Germany. All services are online, any timezone.
- Email: contact@elman.group. Booking: https://helloelman.com/book/
- Profiles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/huseyn0w, https://github.com/huseyn0w, https://www.youtube.com/@ElmanTechnology, https://elmantech.substack.com/, https://x.com/huseyn0w, https://cv.helloelman.com/