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i literally am the inventor of this question. it's an awful question.

• gnabgib 2y ago
  You are! Amazing, I was asking it before you were a on HN. I guess I would have though you'd mention it before? https://hn.algolia.com/?&query=Describe%20user%3Ajiveturkey&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?&query=Describe%20user%3Ajiveturkey&...
  • youngtaff 2y ago
    I started asking it over 25yrs ago… Never specified the level of detail I wanted but left it open to the candidate…depending on where they went it leaves plenty of room for follow on questions to probe their knowledge
    • jiveturkey 2y ago
      Yes. I invented this question approx 25-26 years ago. At the time it was a pretty fair question. Today it's a trivia knowledge kind of question. You will be "impressed" by a candidate that can use up the entire interview (very possible) answering it, but that proves nothing about the candidate. Unless of course the job is writing system documentation based on personal knowledge only.
  • jiveturkey 2y ago
    i change my HN identity once in a while. this is the longest run for me.