6 ms·

Looks like it's common thing in interviews too. Even recruiters will tell you: "never say you don't know the answer, try...". Not sure about the others, but if

by zenlot 7y ago

Looks like it's common thing in interviews too. Even recruiters will tell you: "never say you don't know the answer, try...". Not sure about the others, but if I don't know something I go and do my reading/digging in, instead of trying to guess it or bluff it, not sure why it has to be different in any other situations.

ravenstine 7y ago
I generally see that sort of questioning as a red flag, but I understand why they want candidates to guess; they want you to speculate because it may reveal more about your knowledge base and experience. It's still lousy for them to not take "I don't know" for an answer, and I probably wouldn't return their calls.
chongli 7y ago
instead of trying to guess it or bluff it, not sure why it has to be different Because when you're being interviewed, you're not always dealing with another engineer. If you're being interviewed by a non-technical person with a business degree, then you are dealing with a person who is used to guessing/bluffing their way through things, rather than sitting down to the hard task of problem solving. This may not be true of all business people, but it's quite common to those who might say they hated math in school. Math, and the sciences that heavily lean on it, are the only subjects where you can't get very far by bluffing or guessing.
- gumby 7y ago
  I hate the “business people are idiots” trope but in this case the comment is right on. Maths is no panacea but it is a tool of rigorous thinking. A certain kind of bluffing and even self-deception (people think this business idea is crazy but it’s not) is can be quite useful when it’s part of a rigorous framework.
namelosw 7y ago
When I interview other people, I usually ask one question that is really hard for the candidate. I don't expect an answer, I just expect the candidate would give an honest answer. Then I'm always surprised there are so many people willing to take some random guess and stretch it hard, until some Socratic questioning let them falls into paradox.
- blotter_paper 7y ago
  Roughly speaking, what do you think your honest-answer/bluff ratio is? Also, and I understand completely if you don't want to share your magic toolbox of secret interview questions, would you mind sharing an example of the sort of question you'd use here?
- ryanjshaw 7y ago
  I can think of at least two reasons why. The first is that the candidate doesn't realise they are hitting their intellectual limits. The second is that the candidate does realise the question is difficult, but doesn't know if you know the question is difficult. As a result, the second type of candidate has to decide whether to enter into a debate with the interviewer (and risk losing the job opportunity if the interviewer turns out to be ignorant), or try to appease them with a best-guess answer. If the candidate is desperate for a job, they might choose the appeasement option. You have no way of knowing if your candidate falls into the first or second bucket because interviews involve power asymmetry. In my opinion, this type of questioning is counterproductive -- you're looking for honest people by being dishonest.
  - s_m_t 7y ago
    Another reason: People might not necessarily know what they don't know right off the top of their head. So if you ask them something and they don't know the answer, they won't even necessarily know whether they don't know the answer because it is an embarrassing gap in their knowledge or if the question is hard. The only thing they might know for sure is that they don't know the answer. Honestly, trying to bullshit your way towards an answer isn't a bad strategy in this circumstance.
maxxxxx 7y ago
In an interview I like to hear "I don't know but let me try" if the person doesn't know an algorithm for example. Some people stop if they don't know the text book answer outright whereas others try to work through an unknown issue and come up with a solution after some time or at least get closer to one. I much prefer the latter. However, I agree in corporate meetings it's common to give a five minute weasel word discourse devoid of any real content instead of saying "I have no clue".
- wjossey 7y ago
  I mentor a lot of people looking to find new jobs, and one of the things I encourage them to do is related to this phrasing. When someone asks you, "Have you ever programmed in X language", or "Have you ever used Y technology", I encourage them to not just stop at "No, I haven't", but rather go- "No, I haven't worked with that language, but it's a fairly similar language to Q, so I'm familiar with a lot of the design patterns you use when programming in that type of language. I'll need to pick up the syntax and learn from the team how you use the language, but I'm confident I can pick it up." So, that's how to respond to it as an interviewee. If you're a company and you're interviewing candidates, you're likely bouncing good prospects who aren't good at interviewing because you're asking the question too close-ended. A better question is: "At Acme Corp, we tend to use Scala whenever possible. What has been your experience so far in your career with programming in functional languages such as Scheme, Lisp, Scala, etc.?" Instead of getting a binary answer, Yes / No, you're now asking an open-ended question that gives the interviewee an opportunity to share their experience, rather than feel gutted because they lack direct experience in X. Some people don't need to be asked questions in this format, but some people take questions very literally and won't elaborate despite having a totally reasonable response.
village-idiot 7y ago
Either those recruiters are fools, or I interview candidates in a very unusual way. For me, failing to admit when you’ve run out of knowledge is a huge red flag.
replyguy912 7y ago
There's a parallel that every consultant or salesperson should use when a client asks for "super-specialized feature X" in their gp-product: reframe what they're asking for in a way your product can address the underlying need without committing to adding the specific workflow they ask for!

by zenlot 7y ago

ravenstine 7y ago

I generally see that sort of questioning as a red flag, but I understand why they want candidates to guess; they want you to speculate because it may reveal more about your knowledge base and experience. It's still lousy for them to not take "I don't know" for an answer, and I probably wouldn't return their calls.

chongli 7y ago

instead of trying to guess it or bluff it, not sure why it has to be different Because when you're being interviewed, you're not always dealing with another engineer. If you're being interviewed by a non-technical person with a business degree, then you are dealing with a person who is used to guessing/bluffing their way through things, rather than sitting down to the hard task of problem solving. This may not be true of all business people, but it's quite common to those who might say they hated math in school. Math, and the sciences that heavily lean on it, are the only subjects where you can't get very far by bluffing or guessing.

gumby 7y ago
I hate the “business people are idiots” trope but in this case the comment is right on. Maths is no panacea but it is a tool of rigorous thinking. A certain kind of bluffing and even self-deception (people think this business idea is crazy but it’s not) is can be quite useful when it’s part of a rigorous framework.

namelosw 7y ago

When I interview other people, I usually ask one question that is really hard for the candidate. I don't expect an answer, I just expect the candidate would give an honest answer. Then I'm always surprised there are so many people willing to take some random guess and stretch it hard, until some Socratic questioning let them falls into paradox.

blotter_paper 7y ago
Roughly speaking, what do you think your honest-answer/bluff ratio is? Also, and I understand completely if you don't want to share your magic toolbox of secret interview questions, would you mind sharing an example of the sort of question you'd use here?
ryanjshaw 7y ago
I can think of at least two reasons why. The first is that the candidate doesn't realise they are hitting their intellectual limits. The second is that the candidate does realise the question is difficult, but doesn't know if you know the question is difficult. As a result, the second type of candidate has to decide whether to enter into a debate with the interviewer (and risk losing the job opportunity if the interviewer turns out to be ignorant), or try to appease them with a best-guess answer. If the candidate is desperate for a job, they might choose the appeasement option. You have no way of knowing if your candidate falls into the first or second bucket because interviews involve power asymmetry. In my opinion, this type of questioning is counterproductive -- you're looking for honest people by being dishonest.
- s_m_t 7y ago
  Another reason: People might not necessarily know what they don't know right off the top of their head. So if you ask them something and they don't know the answer, they won't even necessarily know whether they don't know the answer because it is an embarrassing gap in their knowledge or if the question is hard. The only thing they might know for sure is that they don't know the answer. Honestly, trying to bullshit your way towards an answer isn't a bad strategy in this circumstance.

maxxxxx 7y ago

In an interview I like to hear "I don't know but let me try" if the person doesn't know an algorithm for example. Some people stop if they don't know the text book answer outright whereas others try to work through an unknown issue and come up with a solution after some time or at least get closer to one. I much prefer the latter. However, I agree in corporate meetings it's common to give a five minute weasel word discourse devoid of any real content instead of saying "I have no clue".

wjossey 7y ago
I mentor a lot of people looking to find new jobs, and one of the things I encourage them to do is related to this phrasing. When someone asks you, "Have you ever programmed in X language", or "Have you ever used Y technology", I encourage them to not just stop at "No, I haven't", but rather go- "No, I haven't worked with that language, but it's a fairly similar language to Q, so I'm familiar with a lot of the design patterns you use when programming in that type of language. I'll need to pick up the syntax and learn from the team how you use the language, but I'm confident I can pick it up." So, that's how to respond to it as an interviewee. If you're a company and you're interviewing candidates, you're likely bouncing good prospects who aren't good at interviewing because you're asking the question too close-ended. A better question is: "At Acme Corp, we tend to use Scala whenever possible. What has been your experience so far in your career with programming in functional languages such as Scheme, Lisp, Scala, etc.?" Instead of getting a binary answer, Yes / No, you're now asking an open-ended question that gives the interviewee an opportunity to share their experience, rather than feel gutted because they lack direct experience in X. Some people don't need to be asked questions in this format, but some people take questions very literally and won't elaborate despite having a totally reasonable response.

village-idiot 7y ago

Either those recruiters are fools, or I interview candidates in a very unusual way. For me, failing to admit when you’ve run out of knowledge is a huge red flag.

replyguy912 7y ago

There's a parallel that every consultant or salesperson should use when a client asks for "super-specialized feature X" in their gp-product: reframe what they're asking for in a way your product can address the underlying need without committing to adding the specific workflow they ask for!