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you don't even know what it does enough to say, > I don't really use it but from what I remember... also here's a lot of details about the steps that go into t

you don't even know what it does enough to say, > I don't really use it but from what I remember... also here's a lot of details about the steps that go into the porcelain command git pull. I don't use VS code but I know the difference between the command palette and the sidebar file explorer and could answer a bunch of questions about it. I think the point of the question is to filter out people who aren't curious. Which isn't perfect for the ability of a job candidate to be successful, but does happen to have an incredibly strong correlation.

mech422 3y ago
>>I think the point of the question is to filter out people who aren't curious. I think you're actually filtering on people that are curious about the same things you are. Learning things because you're curious is pretty much a 'free-time' activity. Tech is huge, and with all the stuff to learn - I guarantee I'd learn algorithms and data structures over most other stuff... That doesn't mean I don't like learn, just that I like to learn different stuff from you... As others have pointed out, its easy enough to check the docs for command line tools
- grayhatter 3y ago
  > I think you're actually filtering on people that are curious about the same things you are. Learning things because you're curious is pretty much a 'free-time' activity. Tech is huge, and with all the stuff to learn - I guarantee I'd learn algorithms and data structures over most other stuff... You're right, by the very nature of asking questions that I can think up, I am filtering for a shared knowledge set... But that's kinda the point. There needs to be some shared knowledge set. The person I want to hire needs to be able to talk about more than just data structures. And, unless you've invented one of your own, to me, that seems nothing but rote memorization? How many data structures have you memorized? 1 a week for the past 2 years? and in those last two years, you never used git enough to figure out how to rewrite a commit, nor have an opinion about if you should or shouldn't? > That doesn't mean I don't like learn, just that I like to learn different stuff from you... As others have pointed out, its easy enough to check the docs for command line tools again, for the same reason above, I can look up documentation myself, I don't want to hire someone really good at reading documentation, I need someone who can think, and solve new novel problems... Another of my favorite questions to ask is "what's the first thing you'd do once you found out you were living in a zombie apocalypse?" Nothing to do about tech, but it's a great question to dig into how someone thinks, and if they're able to solve problems they weren't expecting. Just like any interview question worth asking, there's no one right answer. Sure it's great you've memorized every single data structure that exists, and the list of uses that are approved in some text book. But I can read too, that's not impressive, and not a sign of someone who I'd enjoy working with.
kjkjadksj 3y ago
Do you want me to be curious about git or what we are actually doing on the job though? Maybe its different for software engineers where the job is to build tools over use tools. I analyze data, a tool user mainly, and thats where my curiosity is more focused perhaps, also what I am paid for ultimately.
- grayhatter 3y ago
  > Do you want me to be curious about git or what we are actually doing on the job though? I want you to be curious about everything. I have no expectation that you'll know everything, but the desire to know everything in the order in which you choose is a critical quality of engineers that I'm able to respect. > I analyze data, a tool user mainly, and thats where my curiosity is more focused perhaps, also what I am paid for ultimately. Sure, but then why argue about curiosity of a tool you're not likely to encounter, but every single software engineer worth working with has? I don't know enough about data analysis to know what the corresponding tool would be. The closest I could come up with is excel, and I know enough to know that's definitely not it :D

mech422 3y ago

>>I think the point of the question is to filter out people who aren't curious. I think you're actually filtering on people that are curious about the same things you are. Learning things because you're curious is pretty much a 'free-time' activity. Tech is huge, and with all the stuff to learn - I guarantee I'd learn algorithms and data structures over most other stuff... That doesn't mean I don't like learn, just that I like to learn different stuff from you... As others have pointed out, its easy enough to check the docs for command line tools

grayhatter 3y ago
> I think you're actually filtering on people that are curious about the same things you are. Learning things because you're curious is pretty much a 'free-time' activity. Tech is huge, and with all the stuff to learn - I guarantee I'd learn algorithms and data structures over most other stuff... You're right, by the very nature of asking questions that I can think up, I am filtering for a shared knowledge set... But that's kinda the point. There needs to be some shared knowledge set. The person I want to hire needs to be able to talk about more than just data structures. And, unless you've invented one of your own, to me, that seems nothing but rote memorization? How many data structures have you memorized? 1 a week for the past 2 years? and in those last two years, you never used git enough to figure out how to rewrite a commit, nor have an opinion about if you should or shouldn't? > That doesn't mean I don't like learn, just that I like to learn different stuff from you... As others have pointed out, its easy enough to check the docs for command line tools again, for the same reason above, I can look up documentation myself, I don't want to hire someone really good at reading documentation, I need someone who can think, and solve new novel problems... Another of my favorite questions to ask is "what's the first thing you'd do once you found out you were living in a zombie apocalypse?" Nothing to do about tech, but it's a great question to dig into how someone thinks, and if they're able to solve problems they weren't expecting. Just like any interview question worth asking, there's no one right answer. Sure it's great you've memorized every single data structure that exists, and the list of uses that are approved in some text book. But I can read too, that's not impressive, and not a sign of someone who I'd enjoy working with.

kjkjadksj 3y ago

Do you want me to be curious about git or what we are actually doing on the job though? Maybe its different for software engineers where the job is to build tools over use tools. I analyze data, a tool user mainly, and thats where my curiosity is more focused perhaps, also what I am paid for ultimately.

grayhatter 3y ago
> Do you want me to be curious about git or what we are actually doing on the job though? I want you to be curious about everything. I have no expectation that you'll know everything, but the desire to know everything in the order in which you choose is a critical quality of engineers that I'm able to respect. > I analyze data, a tool user mainly, and thats where my curiosity is more focused perhaps, also what I am paid for ultimately. Sure, but then why argue about curiosity of a tool you're not likely to encounter, but every single software engineer worth working with has? I don't know enough about data analysis to know what the corresponding tool would be. The closest I could come up with is excel, and I know enough to know that's definitely not it :D