3 ms·

If I asked a vague question to a candidate I wouldn't be surprised to get a vague response, which is why I don't ask vague questions. No, I don't have any mass

by Kranar 6y ago

If I asked a vague question to a candidate I wouldn't be surprised to get a vague response, which is why I don't ask vague questions. No, I don't have any massive refactors, massive reorgs, massive anything for that matter. As I said the question presumes a degree of drama that just doesn't exist either at my company or most fairly well established companies I know about. As surprising as this may seem, there are a lot of companies out there that are not undergoing massive or dramatic change. Should there be? >"What's your biggest weakness?" Exactly, I consider a question like what's your biggest weakness to be completely worthless. Do people still ask that with a straight face?

darkerside 6y ago
When I get a vague question on an interview, it's an opportunity to answer the interpretation of the question that puts me in the best light. It's generous. Failing that question is a little sad, really. It's ok if you don't have "big" problems. Pick a little one. It's all relative anyway. If you can't speak candidly about some of the problems your company faces, you are naive, lazy, or dishonest.
- Kranar 6y ago
  I cant answer that question honestly, but I don't accept your accusation that I am therefore lazy, dishonest or naive. As a candidate when you ask a vague question to a company, you are inviting them to BS you and that's what you'll get as a result of it. I don't wish to spend time during the interview BSing people about my work culture, so either I am one of those things you mentioned, or that question isn't really a good way to get to know my company's culture, or the culture of many other companies. My advice is to ask specific questions to a company; how much overtime have developers worked in the past year? Is it compensated? How big are the various teams at the company? How is performance measured and how can I ensure that I am progressing in my career? How much time and money can developers spend on self-improvement, training, conferences, etc... How frequently do people get to work from home? Once details about your current compensation have been disclosed, ask about how future compensation works, are raised given out yearly? On what basis? Those questions are tangible and are much more likely to get an actual answer instead of asking the moral equivalent of "What's your biggest flaw that keeps you up at night?" I think jumping to the conclusion you did about me is poor form and overly judgmental off of very little information, but that said people can come to their own conclusion on the matter.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - hitekker 6y ago
    I think there's more truth to the GP's comment than you realize.
    - Kranar 6y ago
      Speaking of dishonesty, you made this same post and when it got downvoted to be barely visible you deleted it only to repost it again. That's pretty shameful in and of itself.
      - hitekker 6y ago
        I'm sorry my original comment hurt you. For what it's worth, I deleted the original after I realized it was indeed too sharp. I wrote the new comment to be nicer.
  - darkerside 6y ago
    I agree my concluding statement should not have been personal but directed at the action. I apologize for that. I think my broader point stands. You can argue that a question is philosophically moot because of dimensionality, or you can steer the conversation in a productive direction.
void_mint 6y ago
> As surprising as this may seem, there are a lot of companies out there that are not undergoing massive or dramatic change. By definition, every company that exists has a "biggest" problem internally. That is the point of the question. To say "Nope, no problems here", is either a bold-faced lie or a level of oblivious-ness that would signal to a candidate to steer clear. Nobody's demanding to hear about all the skeletons. Acknowledging that every business has problems and could improve is not an admission of guilt. "Things are generally pretty good but moving to Salesforce has caused some frustrations that we're working through" is not"massive or dramatic change" and still satisfies the question.
- Kranar 6y ago
  >By definition, every company that exists has a "biggest" problem internally. This is absolutely false. Problems are not all measured along the same axis so that two problems can be directly compared to each other. If I have one problem related to customer acquisition, and another problem related to legal/regulatory issues, they are both problems but neither of them has to be bigger than the other. Furthermore saying I don't have a singular biggest problem that keeps me up at night isn't the same thing as saying I have no problems whatsoever. Every business has many problems they are working on along many dimensions: legal, sales, development, hiring, accounting, you name it... they are all important and separate problems. Usually if one area of the company has such a big problem compared to the others that it can be considered the "biggest" problem then it's a sign of a poorly managed company. Most decently sized and well managed companies do not face such single-dimensional or dramatic issues. Problems manifest themselves locally and are dealt with locally in a fairly boring/undramatic manner. >Things are generally pretty good but moving to Salesforce has caused some frustrations that we're working through Exactly, it's an answer that satisfies the question and says absolutely nothing to the candidate. I could give you some other menial answer "Yeah things are good but the biggest problem right now is integrating our build system with a new platform we're targetting..." Satisfies the question and really tells you nothing of value. Instead I'd suggest asking questions that can't be satisfied superficially and that actually reveal valuable information. Spend your time on tangible questions that can be used to make a concrete decision about whether you want to work there... clarify details about work conditions, work hours, compensation, career progression, management structure, meetings, those things matter and are reveal facets of a company's culture. Knowing a company is moving to Salesforce or some other BS a company says about itself is not going to tell you anything worth knowing, it just wastes time for the both of us.

by Kranar 6y ago

darkerside 6y ago

When I get a vague question on an interview, it's an opportunity to answer the interpretation of the question that puts me in the best light. It's generous. Failing that question is a little sad, really. It's ok if you don't have "big" problems. Pick a little one. It's all relative anyway. If you can't speak candidly about some of the problems your company faces, you are naive, lazy, or dishonest.

Kranar 6y ago
I cant answer that question honestly, but I don't accept your accusation that I am therefore lazy, dishonest or naive. As a candidate when you ask a vague question to a company, you are inviting them to BS you and that's what you'll get as a result of it. I don't wish to spend time during the interview BSing people about my work culture, so either I am one of those things you mentioned, or that question isn't really a good way to get to know my company's culture, or the culture of many other companies. My advice is to ask specific questions to a company; how much overtime have developers worked in the past year? Is it compensated? How big are the various teams at the company? How is performance measured and how can I ensure that I am progressing in my career? How much time and money can developers spend on self-improvement, training, conferences, etc... How frequently do people get to work from home? Once details about your current compensation have been disclosed, ask about how future compensation works, are raised given out yearly? On what basis? Those questions are tangible and are much more likely to get an actual answer instead of asking the moral equivalent of "What's your biggest flaw that keeps you up at night?" I think jumping to the conclusion you did about me is poor form and overly judgmental off of very little information, but that said people can come to their own conclusion on the matter.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- hitekker 6y ago
  I think there's more truth to the GP's comment than you realize.
  - Kranar 6y ago
    Speaking of dishonesty, you made this same post and when it got downvoted to be barely visible you deleted it only to repost it again. That's pretty shameful in and of itself.
    - hitekker 6y ago
      I'm sorry my original comment hurt you. For what it's worth, I deleted the original after I realized it was indeed too sharp. I wrote the new comment to be nicer.
- darkerside 6y ago
  I agree my concluding statement should not have been personal but directed at the action. I apologize for that. I think my broader point stands. You can argue that a question is philosophically moot because of dimensionality, or you can steer the conversation in a productive direction.

void_mint 6y ago

> As surprising as this may seem, there are a lot of companies out there that are not undergoing massive or dramatic change. By definition, every company that exists has a "biggest" problem internally. That is the point of the question. To say "Nope, no problems here", is either a bold-faced lie or a level of oblivious-ness that would signal to a candidate to steer clear. Nobody's demanding to hear about all the skeletons. Acknowledging that every business has problems and could improve is not an admission of guilt. "Things are generally pretty good but moving to Salesforce has caused some frustrations that we're working through" is not"massive or dramatic change" and still satisfies the question.

Kranar 6y ago
>By definition, every company that exists has a "biggest" problem internally. This is absolutely false. Problems are not all measured along the same axis so that two problems can be directly compared to each other. If I have one problem related to customer acquisition, and another problem related to legal/regulatory issues, they are both problems but neither of them has to be bigger than the other. Furthermore saying I don't have a singular biggest problem that keeps me up at night isn't the same thing as saying I have no problems whatsoever. Every business has many problems they are working on along many dimensions: legal, sales, development, hiring, accounting, you name it... they are all important and separate problems. Usually if one area of the company has such a big problem compared to the others that it can be considered the "biggest" problem then it's a sign of a poorly managed company. Most decently sized and well managed companies do not face such single-dimensional or dramatic issues. Problems manifest themselves locally and are dealt with locally in a fairly boring/undramatic manner. >Things are generally pretty good but moving to Salesforce has caused some frustrations that we're working through Exactly, it's an answer that satisfies the question and says absolutely nothing to the candidate. I could give you some other menial answer "Yeah things are good but the biggest problem right now is integrating our build system with a new platform we're targetting..." Satisfies the question and really tells you nothing of value. Instead I'd suggest asking questions that can't be satisfied superficially and that actually reveal valuable information. Spend your time on tangible questions that can be used to make a concrete decision about whether you want to work there... clarify details about work conditions, work hours, compensation, career progression, management structure, meetings, those things matter and are reveal facets of a company's culture. Knowing a company is moving to Salesforce or some other BS a company says about itself is not going to tell you anything worth knowing, it just wastes time for the both of us.