10 ms·

When I was interviewing candidates at IBM, I came up with a process I was really happy with. It started with a coding challenge involving several public APIs, i

When I was interviewing candidates at IBM, I came up with a process I was really happy with. It started with a coding challenge involving several public APIs, in fact the same coding challenge that was given to me when I interviewed there. What I added: 1. Instead of asking "do you have any questions for me?" at the very end, we started with that general discussion. 2. A few days ahead, I emailed the candidate the problem and said they are welcome to do it as a take home problem or we could work on it together. I let them know that if they did it ahead of time, we would do a code review and I would ask them about their design and coding choices. Or if they wanted to work on it together, they should consider it a pair programming session where I would be their colleague and advisor. Not some adversarial thing! 3. This the innovation I am proud of: a segment at the beginning of the interview called "teach me something". In my email I asked the candidate to think of something they would like to teach me about. I encouraged them to pick a topic unrelated to our work, or it could be programming related if they preferred that. Candidates taught me things like: • How to choose colors of paint to mix that will get the shade you want. • How someone who is bilingual thinks about different topics in their different languages. • How the paper bill handler in an ATM works. • How to cook pork belly in an air fryer without the skin flying off (the trick is punching holes in the skin with toothpicks). I listed these in more recent emails as examples of fun topics to teach me about. And I mentioned that if I were asked this question, I might talk about how to tune a harmonica, and why a harmonica player would want to do that This was fun for me and the candidate. It helped put them at ease by letting them shine as the expert in some area they had a special interest in.

asalahli 2y ago
Love the 3rd point! I might start using that in my future interviews
- Stratoscope 2y ago
  Please report back when you do! I don't remember how I came up with the idea. Maybe I just like learning things. One candidate even wrote after their interview, "that was fun!" Have you ever had a candidate say that? This was the moment when I realized I might be on to something. :-) Interviews are too often an adversarial thing: "Are you good enough for us?" But the real question is would we enjoy working together and build great things! People talk about "signal" in an interview. Someone who has an interest they are passionate and curious about and likes to share it with others? That's a pretty strong signal to me. Even if it has nothing to do with "coding".
  - neilv 2y ago
    If this became popular, wouldn't people start rehearsing for it like they do Leetcode interviews, and it would be become another performance that people focus on and optimize for, rather than on the skills for the job?
    - danesparza 2y ago
      Rehearsing how to teach something is not a bad thing. And I'm sure you're going to get different questions about different aspects of the things you're trying to teach from different interviewers. The wonderful thing about this is that it models trying to teach a concept to a fellow coworker. How you handle the questions during the teaching time says a lot about the candidate.
      - michaelt 2y ago
        But would this train people to teach well? Or would it train people to choose topics very carefully, such that a little teaching skill goes a long way? It's not like the interviewer getting a lesson in tuning a harmonica is going to bust out a harmonica and start putting his newfound knowledge to work, or revisit the subject in 6 months to see if he's retained the knowledge, or bring in a panel of harmonica tuning experts to check there weren't any major gaps or mistakes in the lesson.
        descendant 2y ago
        I think the lesson to be learned from the parent comment is to put candidates at ease and let them express their interests. I think it doesn't matter if you chose to use "teach me something" specifically. However, it does matter how to try to be accommodating towards the candidate either by asking about their hobbies, some recent news any fond memory/project etc.
        Stratoscope 2y ago
        I forgot to include something important in my initial comment. In my introductory email, I explained that the "teach me" segment is completely optional. If someone didn't want to do it, that's fine and wouldn't be held against them. In practice, I think one person out of 20 chose not to do it. And if they weren't a great teacher, that was fine too! The purpose of the segment is to give the candidate a chance, if they want, to shine at something they are interested in, and help put them at ease by letting them start out being the expert.
vanceism7_ 2y ago
That sounds really cool. I wish I was running into more job interviews like the one you describe. The adversarial interviewing really hurts the entire feel of the process
- ddingus 2y ago
  Man, I really hate it! I can't fathom how making the whole process being all hostile makes any real sense! We all want that great person to show up and really help, not just cope or put up a facade to survive. Yet, that is exactly what happens. People that other people expect to bond with get put through the wringer.... Seems counterproductive to me.
- palata 2y ago
  > The adversarial interviewing really hurts the entire feel of the process Agreed. I have been through technical interviews where at the end, my feeling as a candidate was "I don't want to work with this asshole".
radium_raven 2y ago
> In my email I encouraged the candidate to teach me something unrelated to our work, or programming related if they preferred that. What if I decide to teach you something about the Quran and you don't hire me? Perhaps this is just urban legend but from the stories I've heard hiring for FAANG-type companies there are people out there interviewing with their only goal being baiting you into a topic they can sue you over. Worst instance I have heard of is when an interviewer asked about the books the candidate liked to read (since the candidate said they're an avid reader in their resume) and he just said that he liked to read the Bible. After not getting hired for failing the interviews he accused the company of religious discrimination. I'm by no means an expert in US law and don't know the people this happened to directly so maybe it's just one big fantasy story but it doesn't seem that far fetched that - If you are a rich corporation then people will look to bait you into a lawsuit - If you give software engineers (or any non-lawyers) free rein on how to conduct interviews then some of them can be baited into a situation that the company could be sued over way more easily than a rigid leetcode interview I think nothing came of the fellow who liked reading the Bible but I would imagine the legal department has a say in what kind of interview process a rich company can and can not use.
- baoluofu 2y ago
  I have found that if you tighten the parameters a bit, you can still get all the benefit of what this question is asking for. For example, teach me the rules of a sport, board game etc. You still get to see if they can present a coherent explanation of something relatively complex, but you can avoid these potentially dangerous topics.
- freilanzer 2y ago
  > What if I decide to teach you something about the Quran and you don't hire me? Simple, don't pick subjects, such as religion, sexuality, etc. It's not that deep.
  - red-iron-pine 2y ago
    and like you said it's not that deep. pick something light. a candidate that pulls the religious thing now is one that's going to drag their crazy shit into the office later. or complete misread the room / culture now, and in the future. like it's a technical job interview, talk about something vague technical, even if it's just how the convection settings work in your oven.
biztos 2y ago
What, what? Harmonicas are tunable? TIL...
- Stratoscope 2y ago
  Oh yes, they are! You just need a small file, like a point file. Any gasheads remember those? And a single edge razor blade or the like to lift the reed. To raise the pitch, you file the end of the reed, making it lighter so it vibrates faster. To lower the pitch, you file near the attached end of the reed. I am not sure on the physics of this and would appreciate anyone's insight. The specific tuning I've done many times is to convert a standard diatonic harp (the Richter tuning) to what is now called the Melody Maker tuning. The Richter tuning was apparently designed for "campfire songs". You could just "blow, man, blow" and all the chords would sound OK. Later, blues musicians discovered that you could emphasize the draw notes, the ones that are easy to bend to a flat note to get that bluesy sound. This is called "cross harp". For example, in a song in G you would use a C harp instead of one tuned in G. The problem with cross harp is that the 7th is a minor 7th and you have no way to raise it up to a major 7th if that would fit your song. And the 2nd is completely missing! In fact you just have the tonic (G in this case) on both the draw and blow notes where you might hope to hit the 2nd (A). There is no A in this scale, only the G twice. To imagine a song where this may be a problem, think of the first three notes of the Beatles song All My Loving. It starts with 3-2-1. Oops, I ain't got the 2. Just the 1 twice. This is where the file comes in. You raise the blow 1st to a major 2nd. And you raise the minor 7th to a major 7th in both octaves. Now you have a harp with that bluesy sound we all love, but in a major scale!
  - cshimmin 2y ago
    Re: lower pitch, I'd hazard a guess that you're basically reducing the restoring force, so the resonant frequency goes down. Think of the attachment point as a bunch of springs in parallel; you snip a few of them and the overall spring constant is reduced. Or another way to think of it: Imagine you had a reed of a given width and then added mass to the end by making it wider at the non-attached end. You'd expect the frequency to go down.
rvba 2y ago
This post is some unintentional satire how IBM operates (nobody invents anything in IBM anymore). The opening question is a copy of what was done before (probably by someone who doenst work at IBM anymore) and all the new stuff is stolen from outsiders.
- Stratoscope 2y ago
  Seriously? I can assure you with 100% certainty that the most important point - "teach me something" - was entirely my own innovation. I am tempted to take some offense at your comment. But I have to assume that you mean well. You are correct that I don't work for IBM any more. What does that have to do with anything?
  - another2another 2y ago
    I'm surprised at the negativity your approach seems to have sparked in a few, but I found it really great, probably very effective as well and will probably start to use it at some point. Thanks for sharing.
    - ddingus 2y ago
      So was I! Frankly, having done similar things, I found their comment here lucid, well thought out and valuable enough to write some things in resonance. My take is the negatives may just be people leaning hard on, "if it seems too good to be true...
    - Stratoscope 2y ago
      Thank you! And please do feel free to use the idea, or change it and make it your own. The great thing is that it starts the interview with the candidate being the expert at something, and I am their student.
roenxi 2y ago
(3) is biasing the process strongly in favour of people who spin a good story. If you're looking for a certain team culture then OK but this is going to neatly screen out anyone who just wants to do their job well and doesn't particularly know how to sell the extra-curriculars they have.
- cupofjoakim 2y ago
  Specifically for engineering I think it could work if you really press on that it's about teaching something. A core part in an engineering team is to walk eachother through concepts, so judging how you can explain concepts to someone is actually a good thing i believe?
- DrNosferatu 2y ago
  People were free to teach something in programming.
- sbarre 2y ago
  That person can teach OP something about code then? They said it doesn't have to be work-related, but it can be. I don't know that many programmer/developer jobs where you can just put your headphones on and code without ever talking to another person. Being able to explain/teach your work is part of "doing the job well" for a developer (IMO).
  - roenxi 2y ago
    Sure, they can do that. Then the average interviewer is going to recommend hiring the person who was the best at spinning a good story rather than the person who has the clearest explanation (which might easily come across as boring or simplistic). The problem here isn't getting through the interview; it is what the interviewer does next in the hiring pipeline.
    - redsaz 2y ago
      How should you conduct the interview, then, if: ... Classic interviewing techniques of "explain how X algo works" or "write code to solve Y" will unfairly bias against interviewees that don't test well under pressure, but would otherwise be a good coworker. ... "Teach me something interesting to you" or "tell me stories about past experiences" will unfairly bias against interviewees that are shy, soft spoken, or are mildly socially awkward, but would otherwise be a good coworker. Given the above awareness of where bias can emerge, how should the interview be done in order to get a candidate that knows what they're doing, and works well with the rest of the team? Other comments mention relying more on recruiters and referrals, but that isn't always an option.
DrNosferatu 2y ago
Really nice! I wish more bosses were like you.
- Stratoscope 2y ago
  Well thank you! I wasn't the boss, just a team member who helped out with interviews. I am grateful that so many people in this thread found the ideas useful.
snickerer 2y ago
I immediately want to learn about all these cool things you listed. I work as a developer and as an interviewer (both freelance). Now I want to integrate your point 3. into my interviews, but not to choose better candidates, just to learn new stuff I never thought about before. It is your fault that I see now this risk in my professional life, coming at me. I could get addicted to "teach me something". 'Hey candidate, we have 90 minutes. Just forget about that programming nonsense and teach me cool stuff'
herval 2y ago
very thoughtful idea!
martypitt 2y ago
Kudos to you - this sounds like a fantastic interview format. I especially like that you're prepping them very clearly in advance, giving them every opportunity to succeed, and clearly setting a tone of collaboration. In person design and coding challenges are a pressure cooker, and not real-world. However, giving people the choice, seems like a great way to achieve the balance. Honestly, I'm really just commenting here so that this shows up in my history, so I can borrow heavily from this format next time I need to interview! :) Thanks again for sharing.
chucksmash 2y ago
"Teach me something" is how the test prep companies would interview instructors. Same idea—have a candidate explain a topic they are totally comfortable with—but they were more focused how engaging the lesson was, how the candidate handled questions they didn't expect, etc. moreso than I expect you would if you use this in a IC coding interview. It's a neat idea though, I can imagine lots of different ways it would be handy.
ddingus 2y ago
I spent a decade and change doing adult instruction in CAD. Early on, many were still transitioning off 2d hand drawings. Boy, was that an art! I got to do a few the very old school way and have serious respect for the people who can produce a complex assembly drawing that way. Same for many shapes that may feature compound curves, for example. But I digress! Asking them what they wanted or would teach me was very illuminating and frankly, fun all around! I was brought a variety of subjects and not a single one was dull! Seems I had experiences similar to yours. One of my questions was influenced by someone who I respected highly asking, "what books are on your shelf at home?" This one almost always brought out something about the candidate I would have had no clue about otherwise. As time advanced, it became more about titles because fewer people maintain a physical book shelf!
rrrx3 2y ago
I love this. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to steal it for when I am back in the saddle interviewing folks. We need much more of this and a lot less of the adversarial BS.
- Stratoscope 2y ago
  Please do! If you ever want to talk about some of the details, you know where to find me.
chipsrafferty 2y ago
Are you still interviewing?
- Stratoscope 2y ago
  I am! But I am now on the other side of the virtual table. IBM conducted a mass layoff a few months ago, and as our little team lost our only customer at the time (this is public information), many of us were let go. Ah well. One door closes, another opens. If anyone out there is curious about "who is this guy with the strange and interesting ideas about interviewing", you can find my LinkedIn and other contact info in my HN profile.

asalahli 2y ago

Love the 3rd point! I might start using that in my future interviews

Stratoscope 2y ago
Please report back when you do! I don't remember how I came up with the idea. Maybe I just like learning things. One candidate even wrote after their interview, "that was fun!" Have you ever had a candidate say that? This was the moment when I realized I might be on to something. :-) Interviews are too often an adversarial thing: "Are you good enough for us?" But the real question is would we enjoy working together and build great things! People talk about "signal" in an interview. Someone who has an interest they are passionate and curious about and likes to share it with others? That's a pretty strong signal to me. Even if it has nothing to do with "coding".
- neilv 2y ago
  If this became popular, wouldn't people start rehearsing for it like they do Leetcode interviews, and it would be become another performance that people focus on and optimize for, rather than on the skills for the job?
  - danesparza 2y ago
    Rehearsing how to teach something is not a bad thing. And I'm sure you're going to get different questions about different aspects of the things you're trying to teach from different interviewers. The wonderful thing about this is that it models trying to teach a concept to a fellow coworker. How you handle the questions during the teaching time says a lot about the candidate.
    - michaelt 2y ago
      But would this train people to teach well? Or would it train people to choose topics very carefully, such that a little teaching skill goes a long way? It's not like the interviewer getting a lesson in tuning a harmonica is going to bust out a harmonica and start putting his newfound knowledge to work, or revisit the subject in 6 months to see if he's retained the knowledge, or bring in a panel of harmonica tuning experts to check there weren't any major gaps or mistakes in the lesson.
      - descendant 2y ago
        I think the lesson to be learned from the parent comment is to put candidates at ease and let them express their interests. I think it doesn't matter if you chose to use "teach me something" specifically. However, it does matter how to try to be accommodating towards the candidate either by asking about their hobbies, some recent news any fond memory/project etc.
      - Stratoscope 2y ago
        I forgot to include something important in my initial comment. In my introductory email, I explained that the "teach me" segment is completely optional. If someone didn't want to do it, that's fine and wouldn't be held against them. In practice, I think one person out of 20 chose not to do it. And if they weren't a great teacher, that was fine too! The purpose of the segment is to give the candidate a chance, if they want, to shine at something they are interested in, and help put them at ease by letting them start out being the expert.

vanceism7_ 2y ago

That sounds really cool. I wish I was running into more job interviews like the one you describe. The adversarial interviewing really hurts the entire feel of the process

ddingus 2y ago
Man, I really hate it! I can't fathom how making the whole process being all hostile makes any real sense! We all want that great person to show up and really help, not just cope or put up a facade to survive. Yet, that is exactly what happens. People that other people expect to bond with get put through the wringer.... Seems counterproductive to me.
palata 2y ago
> The adversarial interviewing really hurts the entire feel of the process Agreed. I have been through technical interviews where at the end, my feeling as a candidate was "I don't want to work with this asshole".

radium_raven 2y ago

> In my email I encouraged the candidate to teach me something unrelated to our work, or programming related if they preferred that. What if I decide to teach you something about the Quran and you don't hire me? Perhaps this is just urban legend but from the stories I've heard hiring for FAANG-type companies there are people out there interviewing with their only goal being baiting you into a topic they can sue you over. Worst instance I have heard of is when an interviewer asked about the books the candidate liked to read (since the candidate said they're an avid reader in their resume) and he just said that he liked to read the Bible. After not getting hired for failing the interviews he accused the company of religious discrimination. I'm by no means an expert in US law and don't know the people this happened to directly so maybe it's just one big fantasy story but it doesn't seem that far fetched that - If you are a rich corporation then people will look to bait you into a lawsuit - If you give software engineers (or any non-lawyers) free rein on how to conduct interviews then some of them can be baited into a situation that the company could be sued over way more easily than a rigid leetcode interview I think nothing came of the fellow who liked reading the Bible but I would imagine the legal department has a say in what kind of interview process a rich company can and can not use.

baoluofu 2y ago
I have found that if you tighten the parameters a bit, you can still get all the benefit of what this question is asking for. For example, teach me the rules of a sport, board game etc. You still get to see if they can present a coherent explanation of something relatively complex, but you can avoid these potentially dangerous topics.
freilanzer 2y ago
> What if I decide to teach you something about the Quran and you don't hire me? Simple, don't pick subjects, such as religion, sexuality, etc. It's not that deep.
- red-iron-pine 2y ago
  and like you said it's not that deep. pick something light. a candidate that pulls the religious thing now is one that's going to drag their crazy shit into the office later. or complete misread the room / culture now, and in the future. like it's a technical job interview, talk about something vague technical, even if it's just how the convection settings work in your oven.

biztos 2y ago

What, what? Harmonicas are tunable? TIL...

Stratoscope 2y ago
Oh yes, they are! You just need a small file, like a point file. Any gasheads remember those? And a single edge razor blade or the like to lift the reed. To raise the pitch, you file the end of the reed, making it lighter so it vibrates faster. To lower the pitch, you file near the attached end of the reed. I am not sure on the physics of this and would appreciate anyone's insight. The specific tuning I've done many times is to convert a standard diatonic harp (the Richter tuning) to what is now called the Melody Maker tuning. The Richter tuning was apparently designed for "campfire songs". You could just "blow, man, blow" and all the chords would sound OK. Later, blues musicians discovered that you could emphasize the draw notes, the ones that are easy to bend to a flat note to get that bluesy sound. This is called "cross harp". For example, in a song in G you would use a C harp instead of one tuned in G. The problem with cross harp is that the 7th is a minor 7th and you have no way to raise it up to a major 7th if that would fit your song. And the 2nd is completely missing! In fact you just have the tonic (G in this case) on both the draw and blow notes where you might hope to hit the 2nd (A). There is no A in this scale, only the G twice. To imagine a song where this may be a problem, think of the first three notes of the Beatles song All My Loving. It starts with 3-2-1. Oops, I ain't got the 2. Just the 1 twice. This is where the file comes in. You raise the blow 1st to a major 2nd. And you raise the minor 7th to a major 7th in both octaves. Now you have a harp with that bluesy sound we all love, but in a major scale!
- cshimmin 2y ago
  Re: lower pitch, I'd hazard a guess that you're basically reducing the restoring force, so the resonant frequency goes down. Think of the attachment point as a bunch of springs in parallel; you snip a few of them and the overall spring constant is reduced. Or another way to think of it: Imagine you had a reed of a given width and then added mass to the end by making it wider at the non-attached end. You'd expect the frequency to go down.

rvba 2y ago

This post is some unintentional satire how IBM operates (nobody invents anything in IBM anymore). The opening question is a copy of what was done before (probably by someone who doenst work at IBM anymore) and all the new stuff is stolen from outsiders.

Stratoscope 2y ago
Seriously? I can assure you with 100% certainty that the most important point - "teach me something" - was entirely my own innovation. I am tempted to take some offense at your comment. But I have to assume that you mean well. You are correct that I don't work for IBM any more. What does that have to do with anything?
- another2another 2y ago
  I'm surprised at the negativity your approach seems to have sparked in a few, but I found it really great, probably very effective as well and will probably start to use it at some point. Thanks for sharing.
  - ddingus 2y ago
    So was I! Frankly, having done similar things, I found their comment here lucid, well thought out and valuable enough to write some things in resonance. My take is the negatives may just be people leaning hard on, "if it seems too good to be true...
  - Stratoscope 2y ago
    Thank you! And please do feel free to use the idea, or change it and make it your own. The great thing is that it starts the interview with the candidate being the expert at something, and I am their student.

roenxi 2y ago

(3) is biasing the process strongly in favour of people who spin a good story. If you're looking for a certain team culture then OK but this is going to neatly screen out anyone who just wants to do their job well and doesn't particularly know how to sell the extra-curriculars they have.

cupofjoakim 2y ago
Specifically for engineering I think it could work if you really press on that it's about teaching something. A core part in an engineering team is to walk eachother through concepts, so judging how you can explain concepts to someone is actually a good thing i believe?
DrNosferatu 2y ago
People were free to teach something in programming.
sbarre 2y ago
That person can teach OP something about code then? They said it doesn't have to be work-related, but it can be. I don't know that many programmer/developer jobs where you can just put your headphones on and code without ever talking to another person. Being able to explain/teach your work is part of "doing the job well" for a developer (IMO).
- roenxi 2y ago
  Sure, they can do that. Then the average interviewer is going to recommend hiring the person who was the best at spinning a good story rather than the person who has the clearest explanation (which might easily come across as boring or simplistic). The problem here isn't getting through the interview; it is what the interviewer does next in the hiring pipeline.
  - redsaz 2y ago
    How should you conduct the interview, then, if: ... Classic interviewing techniques of "explain how X algo works" or "write code to solve Y" will unfairly bias against interviewees that don't test well under pressure, but would otherwise be a good coworker. ... "Teach me something interesting to you" or "tell me stories about past experiences" will unfairly bias against interviewees that are shy, soft spoken, or are mildly socially awkward, but would otherwise be a good coworker. Given the above awareness of where bias can emerge, how should the interview be done in order to get a candidate that knows what they're doing, and works well with the rest of the team? Other comments mention relying more on recruiters and referrals, but that isn't always an option.

DrNosferatu 2y ago

Really nice! I wish more bosses were like you.

Stratoscope 2y ago
Well thank you! I wasn't the boss, just a team member who helped out with interviews. I am grateful that so many people in this thread found the ideas useful.

snickerer 2y ago

I immediately want to learn about all these cool things you listed. I work as a developer and as an interviewer (both freelance). Now I want to integrate your point 3. into my interviews, but not to choose better candidates, just to learn new stuff I never thought about before. It is your fault that I see now this risk in my professional life, coming at me. I could get addicted to "teach me something". 'Hey candidate, we have 90 minutes. Just forget about that programming nonsense and teach me cool stuff'

herval 2y ago

very thoughtful idea!

martypitt 2y ago

Kudos to you - this sounds like a fantastic interview format. I especially like that you're prepping them very clearly in advance, giving them every opportunity to succeed, and clearly setting a tone of collaboration. In person design and coding challenges are a pressure cooker, and not real-world. However, giving people the choice, seems like a great way to achieve the balance. Honestly, I'm really just commenting here so that this shows up in my history, so I can borrow heavily from this format next time I need to interview! :) Thanks again for sharing.

chucksmash 2y ago

"Teach me something" is how the test prep companies would interview instructors. Same idea—have a candidate explain a topic they are totally comfortable with—but they were more focused how engaging the lesson was, how the candidate handled questions they didn't expect, etc. moreso than I expect you would if you use this in a IC coding interview. It's a neat idea though, I can imagine lots of different ways it would be handy.

ddingus 2y ago

I spent a decade and change doing adult instruction in CAD. Early on, many were still transitioning off 2d hand drawings. Boy, was that an art! I got to do a few the very old school way and have serious respect for the people who can produce a complex assembly drawing that way. Same for many shapes that may feature compound curves, for example. But I digress! Asking them what they wanted or would teach me was very illuminating and frankly, fun all around! I was brought a variety of subjects and not a single one was dull! Seems I had experiences similar to yours. One of my questions was influenced by someone who I respected highly asking, "what books are on your shelf at home?" This one almost always brought out something about the candidate I would have had no clue about otherwise. As time advanced, it became more about titles because fewer people maintain a physical book shelf!

rrrx3 2y ago

I love this. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to steal it for when I am back in the saddle interviewing folks. We need much more of this and a lot less of the adversarial BS.

Stratoscope 2y ago
Please do! If you ever want to talk about some of the details, you know where to find me.

chipsrafferty 2y ago

Are you still interviewing?

Stratoscope 2y ago
I am! But I am now on the other side of the virtual table. IBM conducted a mass layoff a few months ago, and as our little team lost our only customer at the time (this is public information), many of us were let go. Ah well. One door closes, another opens. If anyone out there is curious about "who is this guy with the strange and interesting ideas about interviewing", you can find my LinkedIn and other contact info in my HN profile.