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I totally agree, so how can we interview for this?

Madmallard 9y ago
It's basically "what big projects have you done a ton of work on". Have them design something not straight forward or posted online in front of you as well.
innocentoldguy 9y ago
Please no! Tech interviews are already steaming hours of worthless horse shit as they are.
- droidist2 9y ago
  I think they meant improving interviews by testing for this instead of algorithmic brain teasers on a whiteboard.
  - innocentoldguy 9y ago
    I did not read that into the original comment, but if the OP's suggestion is to rid the interview process of dumbass brainteasers and whiteboard questions, then I'm all for it.
codingdave 9y ago
You need to ask questions that let them show off their full understanding of a system. People without organization skills will focus on one area and not explain the whole. My favorite is to have someone explain to me what happens when a browser makes a HTTP request to a web URL, which has <insert framework and DB here>. Network guys will tell you all about the request and response, web developers will focus on the front end, devOps will tell you how all the pieces communicate, etc. My expectation is for someone to at least be able to give a high level of all those things, while also having detailed knowledge of some specific areas... and seeing how they choose to answer such an open-ended question tells you quite a bit about where their focus and attention lies.
- innocentoldguy 9y ago
  Personally, I would answer that question by telling you how the HTTP protocol works because, in my mind, that's what you're asking for. If you're going to ask that question, I think you need to be more clear about what you're looking for. I don't think there is any value in interviewers being intentionally vague in order to test if a candidate can guess what they're thinking.
  - leesec 9y ago
    Or you could just ask them to specify like, "did you mean explain x or y?".
    - innocentoldguy 9y ago
      I do. That wasn’t my point, however.
  - codingdave 9y ago
    You presume I want a specific answer -- I don't. I want to know how they think about a system. In your case, you laser-focused in on 'HTTP'. OK, that tells me a bit about how you think. If you were to say the question was too vague, that also would tell me how you think. If you were to ask for more clarification, that might be a really good first response. There is no right or wrong answer. Interviewers don't always seek specific answers. I'd argue that the best interviewers never seek specific answers, they ask questions that help us learn who you are.

It's basically "what big projects have you done a ton of work on". Have them design something not straight forward or posted online in front of you as well.

innocentoldguy 9y ago

Please no! Tech interviews are already steaming hours of worthless horse shit as they are.

droidist2 9y ago
I think they meant improving interviews by testing for this instead of algorithmic brain teasers on a whiteboard.
- innocentoldguy 9y ago
  I did not read that into the original comment, but if the OP's suggestion is to rid the interview process of dumbass brainteasers and whiteboard questions, then I'm all for it.

codingdave 9y ago

You need to ask questions that let them show off their full understanding of a system. People without organization skills will focus on one area and not explain the whole. My favorite is to have someone explain to me what happens when a browser makes a HTTP request to a web URL, which has <insert framework and DB here>. Network guys will tell you all about the request and response, web developers will focus on the front end, devOps will tell you how all the pieces communicate, etc. My expectation is for someone to at least be able to give a high level of all those things, while also having detailed knowledge of some specific areas... and seeing how they choose to answer such an open-ended question tells you quite a bit about where their focus and attention lies.

innocentoldguy 9y ago
Personally, I would answer that question by telling you how the HTTP protocol works because, in my mind, that's what you're asking for. If you're going to ask that question, I think you need to be more clear about what you're looking for. I don't think there is any value in interviewers being intentionally vague in order to test if a candidate can guess what they're thinking.
- leesec 9y ago
  Or you could just ask them to specify like, "did you mean explain x or y?".
  - innocentoldguy 9y ago
    I do. That wasn’t my point, however.
- codingdave 9y ago
  You presume I want a specific answer -- I don't. I want to know how they think about a system. In your case, you laser-focused in on 'HTTP'. OK, that tells me a bit about how you think. If you were to say the question was too vague, that also would tell me how you think. If you were to ask for more clarification, that might be a really good first response. There is no right or wrong answer. Interviewers don't always seek specific answers. I'd argue that the best interviewers never seek specific answers, they ask questions that help us learn who you are.