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Maybe im just mediocre but it doesnt seem like a big deal. Sometimes you get a shit teacher and check out. The kind of ass kissing and begging that I saw among

Maybe im just mediocre but it doesnt seem like a big deal. Sometimes you get a shit teacher and check out. The kind of ass kissing and begging that I saw among my peers that got all A's is real alarming

droithomme 7y ago
The grade may or may not be a "big deal" as you mention, but it is certainly and with total absolution, a reasonable thing to ask about. Do you agree?
- dougmwne 7y ago
  I don't agree. Interview time is limited and valuable. Sure, you could ask the candidate about anything thats not illegal to ask. But why waste time on irrelevancies? Asking about a single low grade when the candidate has an otherwise respectable GPA is just wasting a chance to ask a better question. If I saw a junior interviewer do it, I would be tempted to share some ideas of stronger questions to ask in the future. Experience: hundreds of interviews.
  - droithomme 7y ago
    It's not irrelevant to ask about this, it's a very legitimate point to bring up and can be quite productive to do so. Sorry you don't see how that is but clearly you're a bit dense and your company will be failing if it hasn't already done so assuming someone who thinks like you is actually in charge of all hiring as you claim. Do me a favor and pm me your stock ticker so I can short it. As far as interviews and economic value I'm sure I beat you on both metrics by a vast margin. Also pointless and silly, but you try to bring up your "hundreds" of interviews, LOL, sonny boy.
- Bahamut 7y ago
  If it were something worth asking to figure out who is a good hire, maybe - however, it's viewed as irrelevant at most jobs, so why waste precious interviewing time asking about irrelevant grades? It's a waste of time, and thus unreasonable thing to ask about, wasting a candidate's time and the interviewer's time in revealing how little the interviewer knows about effective interviewing.
- pretendscholar 7y ago
  Depends on the relevance of the course to the job.
WalterBright 7y ago
> The kind of ass kissing and begging that I saw among my peers that got all A's My technique was to learn the material :-)
- pretendscholar 7y ago
  I just saw a lot of premed folks that weren't too bright or too dumb that put in a lot of time but would end up close to the grade line and would do anything they could to get up over the top even though they probably deserved a b or a c based on their understanding of the material.
- seattle_spring 7y ago
  If it was like the other students I knew who got 4.0s, the time it took them to go from 3.6 to 4.0 was at the expense of other much more enriching opportunities in life. There's hugely diminishing returns in perfecting ones report card, with regard to actual personal educational growth.
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    I decided early on that my goal was to graduate with honors. I knew how much work that entailed, did that, got the grades, and graduated with honors. I made the right decision, it worked for me. I didn't do any begging or ass kissing, and still had time to enjoy the other pursuits being in college afforded.
- TheCoelacanth 7y ago
  That probably works better at Caltech than at most schools.
goatinaboat 7y ago
The kind of ass kissing and begging that I saw among my peers that got all A's is real alarming I see the same from some new graduates, begging their managers to sign off on something, they don’t seem to understand the difference between an academic grade and work being of a standard to show a customer.

droithomme 7y ago

The grade may or may not be a "big deal" as you mention, but it is certainly and with total absolution, a reasonable thing to ask about. Do you agree?

dougmwne 7y ago
I don't agree. Interview time is limited and valuable. Sure, you could ask the candidate about anything thats not illegal to ask. But why waste time on irrelevancies? Asking about a single low grade when the candidate has an otherwise respectable GPA is just wasting a chance to ask a better question. If I saw a junior interviewer do it, I would be tempted to share some ideas of stronger questions to ask in the future. Experience: hundreds of interviews.
- droithomme 7y ago
  It's not irrelevant to ask about this, it's a very legitimate point to bring up and can be quite productive to do so. Sorry you don't see how that is but clearly you're a bit dense and your company will be failing if it hasn't already done so assuming someone who thinks like you is actually in charge of all hiring as you claim. Do me a favor and pm me your stock ticker so I can short it. As far as interviews and economic value I'm sure I beat you on both metrics by a vast margin. Also pointless and silly, but you try to bring up your "hundreds" of interviews, LOL, sonny boy.
Bahamut 7y ago
If it were something worth asking to figure out who is a good hire, maybe - however, it's viewed as irrelevant at most jobs, so why waste precious interviewing time asking about irrelevant grades? It's a waste of time, and thus unreasonable thing to ask about, wasting a candidate's time and the interviewer's time in revealing how little the interviewer knows about effective interviewing.
pretendscholar 7y ago
Depends on the relevance of the course to the job.

WalterBright 7y ago

> The kind of ass kissing and begging that I saw among my peers that got all A's My technique was to learn the material :-)

pretendscholar 7y ago
I just saw a lot of premed folks that weren't too bright or too dumb that put in a lot of time but would end up close to the grade line and would do anything they could to get up over the top even though they probably deserved a b or a c based on their understanding of the material.
seattle_spring 7y ago
If it was like the other students I knew who got 4.0s, the time it took them to go from 3.6 to 4.0 was at the expense of other much more enriching opportunities in life. There's hugely diminishing returns in perfecting ones report card, with regard to actual personal educational growth.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  I decided early on that my goal was to graduate with honors. I knew how much work that entailed, did that, got the grades, and graduated with honors. I made the right decision, it worked for me. I didn't do any begging or ass kissing, and still had time to enjoy the other pursuits being in college afforded.
TheCoelacanth 7y ago
That probably works better at Caltech than at most schools.

goatinaboat 7y ago

The kind of ass kissing and begging that I saw among my peers that got all A's is real alarming I see the same from some new graduates, begging their managers to sign off on something, they don’t seem to understand the difference between an academic grade and work being of a standard to show a customer.