5 ms·

I am a VP at a medium size company and I do plenty of interviews. I usually talk about what people are interested in and then ask one question: "You are in fro

I am a VP at a medium size company and I do plenty of interviews. I usually talk about what people are interested in and then ask one question: "You are in front of PC/Mac/Mobile screen, type www.cnn.com into browser, and press enter. A fraction of a second images show up on the screen... How? What happened? Tell me all you can from key press interrupts to underwater fiber cables". This question never failed me. It always shows how deep does one go in their computer science adventures.

ionforce 10y ago
This isn't the first time I've heard of this. I like the sound of it.
shade23 10y ago
I was thinking of an answer for this right now.And I realise that every sentence of my answer could possibly contain the word Google in it.And it would still be right.
jerich 10y ago
Wow. What a great question! I found that I was sitting here answering it to myself. After starting down a rabbit-hole on how the browser would probably need to do some GPU initialization, I realized how much fun I'd have talking through this with someone in an interview. "Let's see, I guess the wifi radio is going to have to do an RSSI measurement..." It actually gave me goosebumps when I realized that I was so caught up in it and how excited I was getting.
- kragniz 10y ago
  https://github.com/alex/what-happens-when https://github.com/alex/what-happens-when
sinker 10y ago
I read jerich's response and thought he was sarcastic in his praise. Are you serious? This is your one interview question? Do you realize this is the kind of thing the Sahat was writing against? Instead of actually asking them about their relevant skills, experience, and capability you think it's fit to judge a candidate on what amounts to curious information on how a computer works. Is that what you're hiring for? Someone who's spent more time reading wikipedia articles than actually coding? We're in the business of creating things, not harvesting trivia. Yes it doesn't matter if someone's written and maintained code, documentation, tests, and has collaborated with dozens of other individuals for a repository used by thousands. All you need is to do is ask him your pet trivia question. It always shows how deep does one go in their computer science adventures. Knowing about the adventure of one electric signal from keyboard to underwater fiber cable has nothing to do with computer science. By your own words, you're testing for the completely wrong thing. I am a VP at a medium size company and I do plenty of interviews Here's a secret then. The candidate, whoever he or she is, will always try to answer your question. In fact, they'll try to satisfy whatever problem you put them up to. "What's your favorite method of tying shoelaces?" "How many golf balls can you fit between the earth and the moon?" "What do you do for fun?" The candidate will take their time and rack their brains trying to provide an answer to please you. Some will give a good answer and some will give a bad one, but that doesn't mean your interview question is a good one.

ionforce 10y ago

This isn't the first time I've heard of this. I like the sound of it.

shade23 10y ago

I was thinking of an answer for this right now.And I realise that every sentence of my answer could possibly contain the word Google in it.And it would still be right.

jerich 10y ago

Wow. What a great question! I found that I was sitting here answering it to myself. After starting down a rabbit-hole on how the browser would probably need to do some GPU initialization, I realized how much fun I'd have talking through this with someone in an interview. "Let's see, I guess the wifi radio is going to have to do an RSSI measurement..." It actually gave me goosebumps when I realized that I was so caught up in it and how excited I was getting.

kragniz 10y ago
https://github.com/alex/what-happens-when https://github.com/alex/what-happens-when

sinker 10y ago

I read jerich's response and thought he was sarcastic in his praise. Are you serious? This is your one interview question? Do you realize this is the kind of thing the Sahat was writing against? Instead of actually asking them about their relevant skills, experience, and capability you think it's fit to judge a candidate on what amounts to curious information on how a computer works. Is that what you're hiring for? Someone who's spent more time reading wikipedia articles than actually coding? We're in the business of creating things, not harvesting trivia. Yes it doesn't matter if someone's written and maintained code, documentation, tests, and has collaborated with dozens of other individuals for a repository used by thousands. All you need is to do is ask him your pet trivia question. It always shows how deep does one go in their computer science adventures. Knowing about the adventure of one electric signal from keyboard to underwater fiber cable has nothing to do with computer science. By your own words, you're testing for the completely wrong thing. I am a VP at a medium size company and I do plenty of interviews Here's a secret then. The candidate, whoever he or she is, will always try to answer your question. In fact, they'll try to satisfy whatever problem you put them up to. "What's your favorite method of tying shoelaces?" "How many golf balls can you fit between the earth and the moon?" "What do you do for fun?" The candidate will take their time and rack their brains trying to provide an answer to please you. Some will give a good answer and some will give a bad one, but that doesn't mean your interview question is a good one.