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He's a developer he should be able to drill down into those fairly easy. Sure if you're just trying to weed out people who aren't actually developers, (or manag

by learc83 11y ago

He's a developer he should be able to drill down into those fairly easy. Sure if you're just trying to weed out people who aren't actually developers, (or managers or whatever the job title is) the question might work. As long as they lie on the first question and say their dream job is whatever job you're offering. The question is bad because it's basically encouraging you to lie--along the lines of "what is your greatest weakness". I'm a developer and I love it, but my dream job would be philanthropic roboticist who designs swarms of robots to build affordable housing for the impoverished, and my dream salary would be $100 billion dollars per year.

ska 11y ago
The question is bad because it's basically encouraging you to lie No, it really isn't. Being unable or unwilling to engage with the question meaningfully is a useful signal in an of itself. But think of this another way around: Sometimes hiring managers are currently trying to fill N positions, with a few more that are opening soon but aren't even posted yet. You may be interviewing for job A when and even better fit, job B, is on offer if you don't play around with this sort of questioning. It's a shame to miss opportunities like that...
- learc83 11y ago
  Do you think "what is your greatest weakness?" encourages you to lie? If you ask "what is your dream job, and your dream salary" you will get a dishonest answer 9 times out of 10. Why encourage dishonesty. Why not just ask "what do you like about being a developer?" Or "describe your ideal developer work environment?" >Sometimes hiring managers are currently trying to fill N positions, with a few more that are opening soon but aren't even posted yet. You may be interviewing for job A when and even better fit, job B, is on offer if you don't play around with this sort of questioning. It's a shame to miss opportunities like that... This question isn't going to help very much with that because almost everyone is going to lie and say their dream job is the job they are interviewing for. And if they don't lie, they're going to say that it's something like billionaire philanthropist, President of the United States, or Batman.
  - nik_0_0 11y ago
    As the author states in the article, there is a limitation of "you start on Monday". This rules out the billionaire philanthropist, POTUS, and batman. What is your dream job given your skills, your resources and ability, that you could operate at within a week.
    - learc83 11y ago
      And yet he says you can set your own salary. I'm pretty sure I could operate just fine on monday as a billionaire philanthropist given that I get to set my own salary. Setting aside hyperbole, I can think of several practical things I'd rather do than what I'm doing now, but I don't do them because they don't pay well, and I enjoy my current profession well enough. If I could set my own salary, I'd like to run a barbecue restaurant, write for a newspaper, make computer games, or build robots. However, none of those pay well enough (or I lack the credentials--and time to get the credentials--to make them pay well enough), so they are relegated to hobbies.
      - wallyhs 11y ago
        The salary isn't the point: > I immediately exclude discussion of company, title, and salary, because these are the things people think they want but can't really affect my decision. > So by stating that these three things, company, title, and salary, are already taken care of, it frees candidates to think about what really matters to them.
        learc83 11y ago
        Salary matters in that it allows you to pick jobs that aren't ordinarily practical. Most people have something else they would be doing if salary weren't a constraint. So the honest answer isn't likely to be a job like the one the candidate is interviewing for, but most people will be dishonest and say that the job they are applying for is their dream job because that's what they think the interviewer wants.
        sheepmullet 11y ago
- cryoshon 11y ago
  Being able to understand when to game the interview question (always, no exceptions, ever-- just remember that faking sincerity and warmth is part of gaming all questions properly) You're engaging with the question by gaming it effectively. After all, they're hiring you for your ability to reconfigure your mind to be a tool for solving whatever task. Gaming questions properly demonstrates a spry mind.
  - simoncion 11y ago
    > Gaming questions properly demonstrates a spry mind. Gaming questions properly demonstrates a willingness to deceive. There exist people who are quite clever and flexible, but entirely unwilling to deceive a potential future co-worker or employer.
- munchbunny 11y ago
  There's an inherent frame of mind disconnect in this question. As long as the interviewer is able to engage with the many frames of mind someone might approach this question with, then it'll work. One possibility: I want my job to look like this, pay in this salary range, I want to learn these things, get better in these areas, build some cool tech, etc. Another possibility: I wouldn't mind getting paid exorbitantly to do whatever I would want if money weren't an issue. However, I could also answer your question as "what job do I realistically think I can get, from an economic supply/demand perspective, while still maximizing my enjoyment of the job?" I inherently think in terms of the second perspective, so my answer may be inherently at a disadvantage because my "ideal" is unrealistic, but then if you wanted the pragmatic version I'm sure I could give you an assessment of my skills and what jobs I think I'm a good fit for, that I would enjoy doing.
chucksmash 11y ago
> but my dream job would be philanthropic roboticist who designs swarms of robots to build affordable housing... Unless you have been curating a very specific set of skills during your spare time, I believe this line of reasoning would be cut off with the "And you are ready to start doing that Monday?" followup. That said, I'm curious because that's a very specific off the cuff answer - is it entirely pie in the sky? Do you have a background in robotics? Are you playing around with it in your spare time?
- learc83 11y ago
  My degree specialization was in embedded systems, and I designed all of the hardware for my current startup. I've also been known to play around with robots. There are plenty of other things I would love to start doing full-time on Monday if I money weren't an issue; start an indie games studio, write a novel, or teach. Instead these are hobbies. I'd say most people have some kind of hobby they'd do full-time if it paid as well as their current job. But these are all hobbies,
- kaybe 11y ago
  What does it even mean in this context to start doing something? In my circles, the first step usually is to review the respective literature and poke it with a stick to see what works. I can't think of anything right now that this would not work with, thus, I'm ready for anything. Nobody said I had to do a good job off the bat.
  - Joof 11y ago
    Pretty much this. Anything I want to do, nobody is qualified to go do it on Monday. But they can start figuring out how to do it.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
paulcole 11y ago
If that's your answer, it's a terrible answer to the question from the linked article. The question asks for: 1) Company 2) Job title and description 3) Salary with the qualification that you're starting on Monday. You just said something silly that doesn't answer the question asked.
- learc83 11y ago
  The question doesn't ask for company, job title, and salary it just asks what you'll do at the job. He says you just tell the company what you want to do, how much they pay you, and the job is yours. The author actually bars discussion of those 3 topics--so you never tell him any of them. That being said, my answer was obviously meant to be snarky. The questions is silly and most people will lie about it. If you are trying to determine whether someone will tell the truth when pressured to lie, it's a good question. If you want to find out how good someone is at bullshitting interviews, it's a good question.

by learc83 11y ago

ska 11y ago

The question is bad because it's basically encouraging you to lie No, it really isn't. Being unable or unwilling to engage with the question meaningfully is a useful signal in an of itself. But think of this another way around: Sometimes hiring managers are currently trying to fill N positions, with a few more that are opening soon but aren't even posted yet. You may be interviewing for job A when and even better fit, job B, is on offer if you don't play around with this sort of questioning. It's a shame to miss opportunities like that...

learc83 11y ago
Do you think "what is your greatest weakness?" encourages you to lie? If you ask "what is your dream job, and your dream salary" you will get a dishonest answer 9 times out of 10. Why encourage dishonesty. Why not just ask "what do you like about being a developer?" Or "describe your ideal developer work environment?" >Sometimes hiring managers are currently trying to fill N positions, with a few more that are opening soon but aren't even posted yet. You may be interviewing for job A when and even better fit, job B, is on offer if you don't play around with this sort of questioning. It's a shame to miss opportunities like that... This question isn't going to help very much with that because almost everyone is going to lie and say their dream job is the job they are interviewing for. And if they don't lie, they're going to say that it's something like billionaire philanthropist, President of the United States, or Batman.
- nik_0_0 11y ago
  As the author states in the article, there is a limitation of "you start on Monday". This rules out the billionaire philanthropist, POTUS, and batman. What is your dream job given your skills, your resources and ability, that you could operate at within a week.
  - learc83 11y ago
    And yet he says you can set your own salary. I'm pretty sure I could operate just fine on monday as a billionaire philanthropist given that I get to set my own salary. Setting aside hyperbole, I can think of several practical things I'd rather do than what I'm doing now, but I don't do them because they don't pay well, and I enjoy my current profession well enough. If I could set my own salary, I'd like to run a barbecue restaurant, write for a newspaper, make computer games, or build robots. However, none of those pay well enough (or I lack the credentials--and time to get the credentials--to make them pay well enough), so they are relegated to hobbies.
    - wallyhs 11y ago
      The salary isn't the point: > I immediately exclude discussion of company, title, and salary, because these are the things people think they want but can't really affect my decision. > So by stating that these three things, company, title, and salary, are already taken care of, it frees candidates to think about what really matters to them.
      - learc83 11y ago
        Salary matters in that it allows you to pick jobs that aren't ordinarily practical. Most people have something else they would be doing if salary weren't a constraint. So the honest answer isn't likely to be a job like the one the candidate is interviewing for, but most people will be dishonest and say that the job they are applying for is their dream job because that's what they think the interviewer wants.
      - sheepmullet 11y ago
cryoshon 11y ago
Being able to understand when to game the interview question (always, no exceptions, ever-- just remember that faking sincerity and warmth is part of gaming all questions properly) You're engaging with the question by gaming it effectively. After all, they're hiring you for your ability to reconfigure your mind to be a tool for solving whatever task. Gaming questions properly demonstrates a spry mind.
- simoncion 11y ago
  > Gaming questions properly demonstrates a spry mind. Gaming questions properly demonstrates a willingness to deceive. There exist people who are quite clever and flexible, but entirely unwilling to deceive a potential future co-worker or employer.
munchbunny 11y ago
There's an inherent frame of mind disconnect in this question. As long as the interviewer is able to engage with the many frames of mind someone might approach this question with, then it'll work. One possibility: I want my job to look like this, pay in this salary range, I want to learn these things, get better in these areas, build some cool tech, etc. Another possibility: I wouldn't mind getting paid exorbitantly to do whatever I would want if money weren't an issue. However, I could also answer your question as "what job do I realistically think I can get, from an economic supply/demand perspective, while still maximizing my enjoyment of the job?" I inherently think in terms of the second perspective, so my answer may be inherently at a disadvantage because my "ideal" is unrealistic, but then if you wanted the pragmatic version I'm sure I could give you an assessment of my skills and what jobs I think I'm a good fit for, that I would enjoy doing.

chucksmash 11y ago

> but my dream job would be philanthropic roboticist who designs swarms of robots to build affordable housing... Unless you have been curating a very specific set of skills during your spare time, I believe this line of reasoning would be cut off with the "And you are ready to start doing that Monday?" followup. That said, I'm curious because that's a very specific off the cuff answer - is it entirely pie in the sky? Do you have a background in robotics? Are you playing around with it in your spare time?

learc83 11y ago
My degree specialization was in embedded systems, and I designed all of the hardware for my current startup. I've also been known to play around with robots. There are plenty of other things I would love to start doing full-time on Monday if I money weren't an issue; start an indie games studio, write a novel, or teach. Instead these are hobbies. I'd say most people have some kind of hobby they'd do full-time if it paid as well as their current job. But these are all hobbies,
kaybe 11y ago
What does it even mean in this context to start doing something? In my circles, the first step usually is to review the respective literature and poke it with a stick to see what works. I can't think of anything right now that this would not work with, thus, I'm ready for anything. Nobody said I had to do a good job off the bat.
- Joof 11y ago
  Pretty much this. Anything I want to do, nobody is qualified to go do it on Monday. But they can start figuring out how to do it.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

paulcole 11y ago

If that's your answer, it's a terrible answer to the question from the linked article. The question asks for: 1) Company 2) Job title and description 3) Salary with the qualification that you're starting on Monday. You just said something silly that doesn't answer the question asked.

learc83 11y ago
The question doesn't ask for company, job title, and salary it just asks what you'll do at the job. He says you just tell the company what you want to do, how much they pay you, and the job is yours. The author actually bars discussion of those 3 topics--so you never tell him any of them. That being said, my answer was obviously meant to be snarky. The questions is silly and most people will lie about it. If you are trying to determine whether someone will tell the truth when pressured to lie, it's a good question. If you want to find out how good someone is at bullshitting interviews, it's a good question.