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Something I have rarely seen mentioned: ask the interviewee about the things they claim in their CV. Sure, it takes some prep time, but it makes them feel more

Something I have rarely seen mentioned: ask the interviewee about the things they claim in their CV. Sure, it takes some prep time, but it makes them feel more comfortable, and it also weeds out the bullshitters because even without the deep technical knowledge in that area you can just ask them to talk specifics. If they know their stuff, they will dive into something super detailed. If others did the work and they were just along for the ride, they will gloss over all the details.

hallway_monitor 4y ago
I was so confused the first time this happened. I kept asking about these things they said they'd worked on and could not get any details. Now I understand how many people are able to coast and never contribute meaningfully. These people need to be coached out of the profession.
- higeorge13 4y ago
  This. I ask people to explain in 5 min a technical achievement/contribution they are really proud of, and it’s been crazy to see people who mention all the buzzwords in their cv to not be able to explain anything or dive into the slightest details. People bs-ing in their cvs about their actual experience is one of the factors interview process has become like this.
- janosdebugs 4y ago
  A not insignificant portion of people I meet in IT are freeriders. They just jump on any project that has a high visibility and do minimal, shoddy work on it just to be involved. Quite often these people then also hold fairly high titles in the corporate structure. Some people even manage to transscend companies with this by working on public-facing projects. However, a lot of them will have real problems when switching companies and being faced with a real technical interview as they are severely lacking in technical depth. Ask them about anything deeper than a manager's understanding of the topic and they will waffle on without answering the question. "What security measures did you take in your code?" - is a good question, followed up by a more specific "how did you prevent injection attacks when you did X?" (YMMV). Usually these candidates have no clue what that even is, compared to someone who actually had to deal with the nasty bits of the job the project hoppers can't be asked to deal with.
seti0Cha 4y ago
Yeah, I think there's a surprising amount that can be learned just by having a technical conversation, and it's the interview format that is least likely to cause performance anxiety. That said, I've been snowballed a couple of times by people who could somehow talk exactly like a productive person, yet not produce anything. The huge variety of people is what makes interviewing so hard.

hallway_monitor 4y ago

I was so confused the first time this happened. I kept asking about these things they said they'd worked on and could not get any details. Now I understand how many people are able to coast and never contribute meaningfully. These people need to be coached out of the profession.

higeorge13 4y ago
This. I ask people to explain in 5 min a technical achievement/contribution they are really proud of, and it’s been crazy to see people who mention all the buzzwords in their cv to not be able to explain anything or dive into the slightest details. People bs-ing in their cvs about their actual experience is one of the factors interview process has become like this.
janosdebugs 4y ago
A not insignificant portion of people I meet in IT are freeriders. They just jump on any project that has a high visibility and do minimal, shoddy work on it just to be involved. Quite often these people then also hold fairly high titles in the corporate structure. Some people even manage to transscend companies with this by working on public-facing projects. However, a lot of them will have real problems when switching companies and being faced with a real technical interview as they are severely lacking in technical depth. Ask them about anything deeper than a manager's understanding of the topic and they will waffle on without answering the question. "What security measures did you take in your code?" - is a good question, followed up by a more specific "how did you prevent injection attacks when you did X?" (YMMV). Usually these candidates have no clue what that even is, compared to someone who actually had to deal with the nasty bits of the job the project hoppers can't be asked to deal with.

seti0Cha 4y ago

Yeah, I think there's a surprising amount that can be learned just by having a technical conversation, and it's the interview format that is least likely to cause performance anxiety. That said, I've been snowballed a couple of times by people who could somehow talk exactly like a productive person, yet not produce anything. The huge variety of people is what makes interviewing so hard.