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What kind of business just has a static set of 6TiB data that people are loading on their laptops. You tricked candidates with your nonsensical scenario. Hate

What kind of business just has a static set of 6TiB data that people are loading on their laptops. You tricked candidates with your nonsensical scenario. Hate smartass interviewers like this that are trying some gotcha to feel smug about themselves. Most candidates don't feel comfortable telling ppl 'just load on your laptops' even if they think thats sensible. They want to present a 'professional solution', esp when you tricked them with the word 'stack'. which is how most of them prbly perceived your trick question. This comment is so infuriating to me. Why be assholes to each other when world is already full of them.

tomrod 2y ago
I disagree with your take. Your surly rejoinder aside, the parent commenter identifies an area where senior level knowledge and process appropriately assess a problem. Not every job interview is satisfying checklist of prior experience or training, but rather assessing how well that skillset will fit the needed domain. In my view, it's an appropriate question.
- apwell23 2y ago
  What did you gather as 'needed domain' from that comment. 'needed domain' is often implicit, its not a blank slate. candidates assume all sorts of 'needed domain' even before the interview starts, if i am interviewing at bank I wouldn't suggest 'load it on your laptops' as my 'stack'. OP even mentioned that it his favorite 'tricky question' . It would def trick me because they used the word 'stack' which has specific meaning in the industry. There are even websites dedicated to 'stack's https://stackshare.io/instacart/instacart https://stackshare.io/instacart/instacart
yxwvut 2y ago
Well put. Whoever asked this question is undoubtedly a nightmare to work with. Your data is the engine that drives your business and its margin improvements, so why hamstring yourself with a 'clever' cost saving but ultimately unwieldy solution that makes it harder to draw insight (or build models/pipelines) from? Penny wise and pound foolish, plus a dash of NIH syndrome. When you're the only company doing something a particular way (and you're not Amazon-scale), you're probably not as clever as you think.
marcosdumay 2y ago
> What kind of business just has a static set of 6TiB data that people are loading on their laptops. Most business have static sets of data that people load on their PCs. (Why do you assume laptops?) The only weird part of that question is that 6TiB is so big it's not realistic.
pizzafeelsright 2y ago
Big data companies or those that work with lots of data. The largest dataset I worked with was about 60TB While that didn't fit in ram most people would just load the sample data into the cluster when I told them it would be faster to load 5% locally and work off that.
gen220 2y ago
Maybe you don't realize, but a well-done interview isn't a test, it's a conversation. You can absolutely ask clarifying questions to help shape your answer (this is something I always remind people of in interviews, personally, before and after giving the question). You don't get extra credit points for mind-reading, if anything you get more esteem for requirements-gathering, which would lead you towards either a professional solution or a laptop solution: whichever fits the business needs. It might be a totally unreasonable question if it's provided context-free as a form on a screen, but it is a perfectly reasonable conversation-starter in an interview.

tomrod 2y ago

I disagree with your take. Your surly rejoinder aside, the parent commenter identifies an area where senior level knowledge and process appropriately assess a problem. Not every job interview is satisfying checklist of prior experience or training, but rather assessing how well that skillset will fit the needed domain. In my view, it's an appropriate question.

apwell23 2y ago
What did you gather as 'needed domain' from that comment. 'needed domain' is often implicit, its not a blank slate. candidates assume all sorts of 'needed domain' even before the interview starts, if i am interviewing at bank I wouldn't suggest 'load it on your laptops' as my 'stack'. OP even mentioned that it his favorite 'tricky question' . It would def trick me because they used the word 'stack' which has specific meaning in the industry. There are even websites dedicated to 'stack's https://stackshare.io/instacart/instacart https://stackshare.io/instacart/instacart

yxwvut 2y ago

Well put. Whoever asked this question is undoubtedly a nightmare to work with. Your data is the engine that drives your business and its margin improvements, so why hamstring yourself with a 'clever' cost saving but ultimately unwieldy solution that makes it harder to draw insight (or build models/pipelines) from? Penny wise and pound foolish, plus a dash of NIH syndrome. When you're the only company doing something a particular way (and you're not Amazon-scale), you're probably not as clever as you think.

marcosdumay 2y ago

> What kind of business just has a static set of 6TiB data that people are loading on their laptops. Most business have static sets of data that people load on their PCs. (Why do you assume laptops?) The only weird part of that question is that 6TiB is so big it's not realistic.

pizzafeelsright 2y ago

Big data companies or those that work with lots of data. The largest dataset I worked with was about 60TB While that didn't fit in ram most people would just load the sample data into the cluster when I told them it would be faster to load 5% locally and work off that.

gen220 2y ago

Maybe you don't realize, but a well-done interview isn't a test, it's a conversation. You can absolutely ask clarifying questions to help shape your answer (this is something I always remind people of in interviews, personally, before and after giving the question). You don't get extra credit points for mind-reading, if anything you get more esteem for requirements-gathering, which would lead you towards either a professional solution or a laptop solution: whichever fits the business needs. It might be a totally unreasonable question if it's provided context-free as a form on a screen, but it is a perfectly reasonable conversation-starter in an interview.