5 ms·

Why did the author consider this an "interview gone wrong"? What was "wrong" about?

by Buttons840 2y ago

necovek 2y ago
Interviewer made a mistake and confused/sidetracked a candidate in a short interview.
- Buttons840 2y ago
  The interviewer made no mistake though, they made an observation; they were confused by the boolean expression. The candidate said they understood the interviewers concerns and was also confused, and didn't have an immediate answer. This is all normal and healthy, and something you'd commonly see in healthy and competent development teams. The only thing I see that's wrong is that the interviewer thinks something went wrong.
  - necovek 2y ago
    Mistake: > ...the statement even though logical, is not technically right because if we start from the left cell[0][0] == cell[1][1] would evaluate to True and then True == cell[2][2] would evaluate to False given that the cell contains a char. Interviewer seemed confident ("is not technically right") which confused the candidate: > I told the candidate about the same and he agreed but he was confused at the same time Candidates are already in a high stress situation, you don't want to add to it unless you really know what you are doing (i.e. you are specifically looking for deep language mastery). Interviewer has correctly realized they've done this and learned from it: kudos to them even if too late for this candidate :)
  - wiseowise 2y ago
    Interviewer made a mistake, stop rationalizing.
    - Buttons840 2y ago
      But is it "wrong" to make a mistake?
      - necovek 2y ago
        You said earlier: > The interviewer made no mistake though So is it wrong to admit that you made a mistake? :) And no, it's ok to make mistakes, but it is even better if we admit to them and learn from them (and the faster we do that, the better it is).
- blitzar 2y ago
  If the interviewer is a good interviewer - they inadvertently gave the candidate an oportunity to demonstrate a range of skills. An outstanding candidate when questioned would mention that in most languages this evalates to that, but in python it evaluates to this, and offer an alternate method chaining and's on the spot in response to the confustion. If they are a bad interviewer - they would allow their ego to derail the interview.
  - necovek 2y ago
    An outstanding candidate might be an average candidate in a wrong setting. With my last job, I fumbled an easy question for me that I usually wouldn't, but it was a 10pm interview after I got up at 4am that morning and have almost fallen asleep when putting my kids to sleep at 9pm. I got the job (and then got promoted twice in 18 months), but if interviewer "inadvertently" confused me on top of my mental state, it might have been game over for me (and them, since I turned out to be an "outstanding" candidate).
Retr0id 2y ago
everyone knows the purpose of an interview is to prove that the interviewer knows more than the interviewee, thus the interview failed

Why did the author consider this an "interview gone wrong"? What was "wrong" about?

necovek 2y ago

Interviewer made a mistake and confused/sidetracked a candidate in a short interview.

Buttons840 2y ago
The interviewer made no mistake though, they made an observation; they were confused by the boolean expression. The candidate said they understood the interviewers concerns and was also confused, and didn't have an immediate answer. This is all normal and healthy, and something you'd commonly see in healthy and competent development teams. The only thing I see that's wrong is that the interviewer thinks something went wrong.
- necovek 2y ago
  Mistake: > ...the statement even though logical, is not technically right because if we start from the left cell[0][0] == cell[1][1] would evaluate to True and then True == cell[2][2] would evaluate to False given that the cell contains a char. Interviewer seemed confident ("is not technically right") which confused the candidate: > I told the candidate about the same and he agreed but he was confused at the same time Candidates are already in a high stress situation, you don't want to add to it unless you really know what you are doing (i.e. you are specifically looking for deep language mastery). Interviewer has correctly realized they've done this and learned from it: kudos to them even if too late for this candidate :)
- wiseowise 2y ago
  Interviewer made a mistake, stop rationalizing.
  - Buttons840 2y ago
    But is it "wrong" to make a mistake?
    - necovek 2y ago
      You said earlier: > The interviewer made no mistake though So is it wrong to admit that you made a mistake? :) And no, it's ok to make mistakes, but it is even better if we admit to them and learn from them (and the faster we do that, the better it is).
blitzar 2y ago
If the interviewer is a good interviewer - they inadvertently gave the candidate an oportunity to demonstrate a range of skills. An outstanding candidate when questioned would mention that in most languages this evalates to that, but in python it evaluates to this, and offer an alternate method chaining and's on the spot in response to the confustion. If they are a bad interviewer - they would allow their ego to derail the interview.
- necovek 2y ago
  An outstanding candidate might be an average candidate in a wrong setting. With my last job, I fumbled an easy question for me that I usually wouldn't, but it was a 10pm interview after I got up at 4am that morning and have almost fallen asleep when putting my kids to sleep at 9pm. I got the job (and then got promoted twice in 18 months), but if interviewer "inadvertently" confused me on top of my mental state, it might have been game over for me (and them, since I turned out to be an "outstanding" candidate).

Retr0id 2y ago

everyone knows the purpose of an interview is to prove that the interviewer knows more than the interviewee, thus the interview failed