4 ms·

I got into the habit of answering those questions orally, and then directly asking when was the last time it has been used by the person interviewing. In some

I got into the habit of answering those questions orally, and then directly asking when was the last time it has been used by the person interviewing. In some cases the interviewer didn't quite like it, but most of the times it actually led into interesting discussions (finding questions is hard, what they are trying to gather as info ...). I'm based in Europe though, so YMMV

deminature 7y ago
It's frustrating for the interviewer, because they usually need to photograph your working out to allow others to independently check it later, and insisting on verbally solving a problem denies that.
- officialchicken 7y ago
  I'm not afraid to hire people who challenge and ask great questions. I ask that question all the time. The interviewer should be involved with improving the hiring process, not following the cargo cult of "hiring process". Obviously if that question comes up more often, they might start asking "why are we doing X?" and "does X provide better outcomes?"
  - jlengrand 7y ago
    Amen! Since I've been involved in hiring and recruitment, I stopped seeing interviews as a validation of invalidation of my worth and rather more as a discussion where we are both trying to see if what we have to offer matches what the other needs. Based on this, most of the interviews are not interviews anymore, but open discussions.
pnathan 7y ago
Ha, I'm up front: "this is a synthetic question, which has the purpose of x,y,z". Synthetic questions don't rely on specific tools, or specific problem framings, it can be thought of in isolation. E.g., I usually put a database question on interviews, for the purpose of seeing what and how much the candidate knows about databases. I also like doing a design question regarding handling larger data and doing back of the envelope complexity analyses of the solutions they come up with. I.e., what I expect a colleague to be able to do when we're working at our desks.

deminature 7y ago

It's frustrating for the interviewer, because they usually need to photograph your working out to allow others to independently check it later, and insisting on verbally solving a problem denies that.

officialchicken 7y ago
I'm not afraid to hire people who challenge and ask great questions. I ask that question all the time. The interviewer should be involved with improving the hiring process, not following the cargo cult of "hiring process". Obviously if that question comes up more often, they might start asking "why are we doing X?" and "does X provide better outcomes?"
- jlengrand 7y ago
  Amen! Since I've been involved in hiring and recruitment, I stopped seeing interviews as a validation of invalidation of my worth and rather more as a discussion where we are both trying to see if what we have to offer matches what the other needs. Based on this, most of the interviews are not interviews anymore, but open discussions.

pnathan 7y ago

Ha, I'm up front: "this is a synthetic question, which has the purpose of x,y,z". Synthetic questions don't rely on specific tools, or specific problem framings, it can be thought of in isolation. E.g., I usually put a database question on interviews, for the purpose of seeing what and how much the candidate knows about databases. I also like doing a design question regarding handling larger data and doing back of the envelope complexity analyses of the solutions they come up with. I.e., what I expect a colleague to be able to do when we're working at our desks.