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Unfortunately, this too will be taken too far. Like the "fake it till you make it" thing. Yes, sometimes it's OK to say "I don't know". But sometimes it's real
by globular-toast 3y ago
Unfortunately, this too will be taken too far. Like the "fake it till you make it" thing.
Yes, sometimes it's OK to say "I don't know". But sometimes it's really not. All people, smart or not, start off in a state of "I don't know". But if it's your job to know then you need to put in the work to make sure you know, or at least know as much as you can. Someone saying "I don't know" doesn't mean they are dumb or smart, it could just mean they are lazy.
On number 2 I just disagree with the definition of smart. A smart person knows when to listen to someone and when not. Should you ignore people with less experience? Of course not. Should you listen to everyone? Of course not!
Smart people definitely suffer from being human, like everyone else, and can become emotionally attached to their ideas etc. I don't think this is a "smart person" trait. But, even so, it is often a very good idea to not buckle to the pressure of fashion and short-term trends. For every story of someone refusing to adapt there is one of someone who was right all along but it took a while for the world to realise.
- api 3y ago"I don't know, yet. Hold on." That's what I look for when I interview people. Definitely not "I know" when they don't, or "I don't know" and a shrug.
- time-less-ness 3y agoI would fail your interview. I assume interviews are for what I do/don't know. So I honestly say what I don't know, and would not offer to find out. Not right then anyway. Unless you make it very clear at the outset of the interview that this is exploratory and we will be working with network connectivity and full access to the world's knowledge. I have sent followups to interviewers on problems that were interesting or deep, but those conversations never turned into anything.
- api 3y agoI'm not looking for someone who can autodidact something on a whiteboard during an interview. That'd be kind of silly unless it's something very small. It's more of an attitude, a desire and willingness and ability to learn stuff you don't know yet or try new things.
- globular-toast 3y agoI don't think the commenter meant to literally look stuff up during an interview. A good interview is more of a conversation than an exam. During that conversation it would be perfectly normal, even expected, for the interviewee (or even interviewer!) to say something like "I would need to check the specifics in the documentation" or "I don't know what X is, but let's assume it's Y". Nobody can possibly hold all the knowledge they'll need in their head at once. A fundamentally important part of any skilled job is being able to adapt, improvise and learn on the job. This is what is being tested, not what you know/don't know.