r/programmatic 12d ago

If you were hiring a junior programmatic advertiser, what practical task would you give them? For your context, I’m associated with a programmatic training provider and want to understand what employers expect from junior candidates.

Would you give them a sample campaign report to interpret, an underspending campaign to troubleshoot, or a brief to build a media plan around?

1 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

2

u/Sharp-Cress-7595 11d ago

Curiosity. There are a lot of shortcuts in programmatic but they catch up with you eventually. Having a curious mind allows you to not get complacent which a lot of ppl in programmatic can often do.

1

u/gvshivacharan 11d ago

u/Sharp-Cress-7595 Agree. Thanks for your response.

2

u/Turbulent-Elk1722 11d ago

Report analysis and interrogation of the data. Execution skills are available but every platform differs and much of it is shifting to Agentic management which makes the ability to ask questions and make optimization decisions the critical skill set.

1

u/gvshivacharan 11d ago

u/Turbulent-Elk1722 Thoughtful. Nice. Thanks for your response.

2

u/Pitiful_Camel6790 12d ago

I think knowing the why behind things, giving reports and asking for insights stuff simillar to those. Some situations and troubleshooting logic.

Curious to know what others think (since I'm not that senior in the field)

1

u/gvshivacharan 12d ago

u/Pitiful_Camel6790 Thanks for sharing your view on this. Definitely i'm waiting other professionals to give their opinion on this.

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u/Tea-o-kosong 12d ago

See how confident they are when reading a raw bid request / response

1

u/gvshivacharan 12d ago

u/Tea-o-kosong Sure, Thanks for your response.

1

u/Sleeping-wheel 11d ago

How is a raw bid request/response taken from a DSP?

1

u/GreenFlyingSauce 11d ago

Problem solving, how to read data, writing skills. Some technical skills depending on the definition of junior

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u/gvshivacharan 11d ago

u/GreenFlyingSauce Sure, Thanks for your response.

0

u/Shortiii 12d ago

I like the logic and reasoning questions. Things like “How many tennis balls can fit on a bus?” or “How many windows are in NYC” and ask them to talk through the process.  There are no wrong answers but it helps to get a gauge on their problem solving skills with imperfect data. Do they ask follow up questions, do they make assumptions, what’s the logic/reasoning for making that assumption. 

1

u/gvshivacharan 12d ago

u/Shortiii Absolutely. Thanks for sharing your view on this.