4 ms·

I think stress is a normal part of life. Too much stress is harmful, but too little stress is like living in zero gravity: we aren't built for it, and we start

by dkarl 4y ago

I think stress is a normal part of life. Too much stress is harmful, but too little stress is like living in zero gravity: we aren't built for it, and we start to deteriorate. But suppose you disagree. Let's think about it differently: maybe stress isn't inevitable at work, but being faced with a problem that you can't easily solve is. A candidate needs to be able to deal with that situation, so it's fair to expose them to it in an interview. If they feel a certain amount of stress in that situation, then they need to cope with that amount of stress without being paralyzed by it, and without taking it out on the people around them. If a candidate experiences an unhealthy amount of stress when faced with a situation that is a normal part of the job duties, maybe it's not the right job for them.

erikerikson 4y ago
Stress is part of life and most software jobs have times of it though that should be an exception. I agree a sense of tendencies under stress should be observed. In a sense you make my point for me. Interviews are sufficiently high stakes to be inherently stressful and there are always many unknowns in them. I think the interviewers very important job is to establish psychological safety in the interview even while exposing candidates to additional unknowns and difficult problems to solve. Think of it this way... Taking an adversarial approach provides headwinds, being supportive may get the whole interviewer pool further in the problems and better stimulates the supportive environment of a good office culture and environment. Remember that candidates are interviewing with you too and you can better communicate the environment and get a better read of how they would participate when you better simulate the reality.
- dkarl 4y ago
  Software developers are protected by their managers and, to the extent possible, exposed to limited and controlled stressors. I wouldn't say that getting assignments of limited and predictable difficulty is realistic, though, no matter how hard a manager tries. Even a junior dev will get tasks that turn out to be a lot harder than anybody anticipated, so it's reasonable to want to see how they respond. The only way to do that is to keep turning up the difficulty in the interview until they struggle. As for managers of software developers, that feels like an entirely different beast to me. Managers have to be ready to be exposed to arbitrary and unlimited stressors, up to and including existential threats to the company or to their position, and they not only have to manage their own reactions to those stressors, they have to be mindful of their reports' stress at the same time. A manager needs to be able, on their own, to put events at work or in an interview into perspective and not turn toxic. I've helped interview managers, but I have never helped plan the interview as a whole, so I don't know what reasonable limits are.

by dkarl 4y ago

erikerikson 4y ago

Stress is part of life and most software jobs have times of it though that should be an exception. I agree a sense of tendencies under stress should be observed. In a sense you make my point for me. Interviews are sufficiently high stakes to be inherently stressful and there are always many unknowns in them. I think the interviewers very important job is to establish psychological safety in the interview even while exposing candidates to additional unknowns and difficult problems to solve. Think of it this way... Taking an adversarial approach provides headwinds, being supportive may get the whole interviewer pool further in the problems and better stimulates the supportive environment of a good office culture and environment. Remember that candidates are interviewing with you too and you can better communicate the environment and get a better read of how they would participate when you better simulate the reality.

dkarl 4y ago
Software developers are protected by their managers and, to the extent possible, exposed to limited and controlled stressors. I wouldn't say that getting assignments of limited and predictable difficulty is realistic, though, no matter how hard a manager tries. Even a junior dev will get tasks that turn out to be a lot harder than anybody anticipated, so it's reasonable to want to see how they respond. The only way to do that is to keep turning up the difficulty in the interview until they struggle. As for managers of software developers, that feels like an entirely different beast to me. Managers have to be ready to be exposed to arbitrary and unlimited stressors, up to and including existential threats to the company or to their position, and they not only have to manage their own reactions to those stressors, they have to be mindful of their reports' stress at the same time. A manager needs to be able, on their own, to put events at work or in an interview into perspective and not turn toxic. I've helped interview managers, but I have never helped plan the interview as a whole, so I don't know what reasonable limits are.