Don't judge a company by the interviewer though. Most would rather be coding or whatever their real job is, so yes they read canned questions from a textbook.

Don't judge a company by the interviewer though. Most would rather be coding or whatever their real job is, so yes they read canned questions from a textbook. In a way, bad interviewers may be a sign that the work itself is far more interesting! Still, the approach has its advantages. "Listen, I know you'd rather get back to doing whatever you were doing before this. Let me tell you why I'm a good candidate .... ". And then go on having "developer-to-developer" conversation, ask them about their work, talk about your own. Obviously only do this on the canned questions, not the actual technical questions, unless you've already aced a few tech questions and are getting bored. Unless it's a hugely bureaucratic organization, this will probably receive a good review. Another thing I've noticed is that it allows the interviewer to lower their guard as well, so you can usually get some more real "what's great, what sucks about the job", and I've even scored on "what's the pay cap of this position" multiple times.