5 ms·

15 years ago, one of the "soft questions" I liked to ask in phone interviews was "If I were to look at your bookshelf right now, what books would I see there?"

15 years ago, one of the "soft questions" I liked to ask in phone interviews was "If I were to look at your bookshelf right now, what books would I see there?" Nowadays, I keep nearly all my books electronically; I still have a sizable bookshelf, but the books are gathering dust.

bcrosby95 7y ago
I don't like electronic technical books. I find it too hard to find what I'm looking for in them. I find it's hard to beat being able to quickly flip through a physical book.
- pottertheotter 7y ago
  I even like to print out a lot of technical documentation. For instance, I’ve printed the Tutorial from the Python documentation, as well as the regular expressions module. It was really handy to be able to look through it wherever I wanted, mark it up, and reference it easily. One of my biggest gripes is when documentation does not have a PDF.
- mhh__ 7y ago
  On the one hand, I prefer the feel of a physical book but I find myself reading them less because I can't read them quite as easily for fun (i.e. trying reading Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler while lying down without breaking your nose or arms)
- saagarjha 7y ago
  On the other hand, I enjoy having electronic versions of technical books because I can search for things in them.
  - _frkl 7y ago
    Yes, plus you often get updates nowadays, which, depending on the domain of the book, can be pretty important.
- Hendrikto 7y ago
  > I find it too hard to find what I'm looking for in them. That’s how I feel about physical books… > I find it's hard to beat being able to quickly flip through a physical book. I find it hard to beat Ctrl+F.
DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
When conducting interviews in the U.S., I'm very careful when asking soft questions like that. If a candidate's answer included a book that touched on a topic from some legally-protected class (e.g., race, religion, or sexuality) and that person didn't get hired, it could be one more piece of ammunition in a hiring-discrimination lawsuit. (I do wonder if I'm being overly cautious on this.) I'd probably rework the question to something like, "Have you found any good books, websites, etc. that you've found useful for growing the skills this position requires?"
- randomdude402 7y ago
  Not to sound like a jerk, but that sounds a little paranoid to me.
  - eyjafjallajokul 7y ago
    You’re entitled to your opinion, but what GP is saying is factually correct.
  - DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
    Not offense taken. It's hard to know if it's overly cautious or not. Company legal and HR advice seems very conservative considering how rarely I hear about such lawsuits actually happening. But I'm hiring on behalf of the company, so I let the people above me choose their risk tolerance.
    - ipnon 7y ago
      It's their job to be defensive. Given the low frequency of incidents, it can appear paranoid because they appear to be defending against something that never happens from a individual point of view.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
acwan93 7y ago
I too would much prefer to read a paper book, but after going through a major move between metro areas I realized how many of these physical books just spent most of their time sitting there, unused.
cousin_it 7y ago
I so dislike questions like that. In my opinion, a job interview shouldn't attempt to judge someone as a whole person. It should measure their ability to perform the job, nothing more. If a lizard showed up and demonstrated that it can perform the job, I'd hire the lizard.
- mk89 7y ago
  Yes and no. Such a question tells whether, how and what the person is learning. Lots of people can do the job. Is this person a learner? And what kind of learner. Learn on the job? Learn in your free time? And what does this person like to learn?
  - cousin_it 7y ago
    Giving someone a work task and seeing if they can complete it is unbiased and non gameable. Using kitchen psychology to deduce "are they a learner" gives your biases a free pass and is super gameable once candidates catch on.
    - winrid 7y ago
      You can game the work task too right? Someone posts the question on glassdoor before you realize... Here's the thing though. I don't want to work with an engineer who hasn't read anything technical in the last year. Don't care how good of a problem solver they are, if they don't teach themselves things they probably aren't very passionate about the profession.
      - cousin_it 7y ago
        I think as a society, we shouldn't require people to be passionate about their jobs to put food on the table. Jobs should be just jobs. The days when the internet was a beacon of light are long gone, today expecting "passion" about CRUD apps or ad-tech is just fake corporate mentality.
        7y ago

bcrosby95 7y ago

I don't like electronic technical books. I find it too hard to find what I'm looking for in them. I find it's hard to beat being able to quickly flip through a physical book.

pottertheotter 7y ago
I even like to print out a lot of technical documentation. For instance, I’ve printed the Tutorial from the Python documentation, as well as the regular expressions module. It was really handy to be able to look through it wherever I wanted, mark it up, and reference it easily. One of my biggest gripes is when documentation does not have a PDF.
mhh__ 7y ago
On the one hand, I prefer the feel of a physical book but I find myself reading them less because I can't read them quite as easily for fun (i.e. trying reading Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler while lying down without breaking your nose or arms)
saagarjha 7y ago
On the other hand, I enjoy having electronic versions of technical books because I can search for things in them.
- _frkl 7y ago
  Yes, plus you often get updates nowadays, which, depending on the domain of the book, can be pretty important.
Hendrikto 7y ago
> I find it too hard to find what I'm looking for in them. That’s how I feel about physical books… > I find it's hard to beat being able to quickly flip through a physical book. I find it hard to beat Ctrl+F.

DoofusOfDeath 7y ago

When conducting interviews in the U.S., I'm very careful when asking soft questions like that. If a candidate's answer included a book that touched on a topic from some legally-protected class (e.g., race, religion, or sexuality) and that person didn't get hired, it could be one more piece of ammunition in a hiring-discrimination lawsuit. (I do wonder if I'm being overly cautious on this.) I'd probably rework the question to something like, "Have you found any good books, websites, etc. that you've found useful for growing the skills this position requires?"

randomdude402 7y ago
Not to sound like a jerk, but that sounds a little paranoid to me.
- eyjafjallajokul 7y ago
  You’re entitled to your opinion, but what GP is saying is factually correct.
- DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
  Not offense taken. It's hard to know if it's overly cautious or not. Company legal and HR advice seems very conservative considering how rarely I hear about such lawsuits actually happening. But I'm hiring on behalf of the company, so I let the people above me choose their risk tolerance.
  - ipnon 7y ago
    It's their job to be defensive. Given the low frequency of incidents, it can appear paranoid because they appear to be defending against something that never happens from a individual point of view.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

acwan93 7y ago

I too would much prefer to read a paper book, but after going through a major move between metro areas I realized how many of these physical books just spent most of their time sitting there, unused.

cousin_it 7y ago

I so dislike questions like that. In my opinion, a job interview shouldn't attempt to judge someone as a whole person. It should measure their ability to perform the job, nothing more. If a lizard showed up and demonstrated that it can perform the job, I'd hire the lizard.

mk89 7y ago
Yes and no. Such a question tells whether, how and what the person is learning. Lots of people can do the job. Is this person a learner? And what kind of learner. Learn on the job? Learn in your free time? And what does this person like to learn?
- cousin_it 7y ago
  Giving someone a work task and seeing if they can complete it is unbiased and non gameable. Using kitchen psychology to deduce "are they a learner" gives your biases a free pass and is super gameable once candidates catch on.
  - winrid 7y ago
    You can game the work task too right? Someone posts the question on glassdoor before you realize... Here's the thing though. I don't want to work with an engineer who hasn't read anything technical in the last year. Don't care how good of a problem solver they are, if they don't teach themselves things they probably aren't very passionate about the profession.
    - cousin_it 7y ago
      I think as a society, we shouldn't require people to be passionate about their jobs to put food on the table. Jobs should be just jobs. The days when the internet was a beacon of light are long gone, today expecting "passion" about CRUD apps or ad-tech is just fake corporate mentality.
      - 7y ago