Asking a candidate's hobbies is a recipe for pure unconscious bias. It immediately hooks into your preconceptions about the type of person you'd expect a snowbo

Asking a candidate's hobbies is a recipe for pure unconscious bias. It immediately hooks into your preconceptions about the type of person you'd expect a snowboarder/surfer/sewing enthusiast/furry/birdwatcher/lego collector/"I don't really have any hobbies besides programming"/whatever to be. There are better ways to get a glimpse at culture fit and creativity. When I was younger and working in game development, I probably got asked about hobbies. Nowadays I'm generally pretty good at directing conversations like that politely back on track. As for mentioning something you want to do with your kids in 5 years? In a job interview? I don't understand it but I suppose some people want to talk about their home lives during job interviews. And thanks for reminding me one of the reasons I left game development. I don't miss having just work/work balance. :-)