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This was an internship interview over a decade ago. Nothing wrong with a brain teaser interview question under those circumstances. What would you rather ask an

This was an internship interview over a decade ago. Nothing wrong with a brain teaser interview question under those circumstances. What would you rather ask an internship candidate? They don’t have work experience or real world skills.

Waterluvian 2mo ago
I’d be unsurprised if an interviewer who thinks that trivia isn’t a goofy waste of time also believes that young people don’t have real world skills. But a good interviewer would probably spend time getting to know the candidate’s character. Something I’ve learned from years of mentoring teens and raising kids is that there are qualities you cannot teach, and they’re enormously more valuable than any technical skills. I’m confident I can teach just about anyone any of the skills Microsoft employees find themselves milling away at. But I can’t teach that fire a 10th grader has where they go home and spend their entire weekend figuring out how to make their idea work in Java, even though they barely understand programming, and then swarm you at the door next week to proudly show it. That’s the kind of quality you seek to find in an interview. All the other stuff can be taught to anyone.
- jameshart 2mo ago
  Doesn’t “enthusiasm to try and tackle somewhat abstract puzzling questions” act as a reasonable proxy for some of those attributes?
  - ThrowawayR2 2mo ago
    It does; the old school hackers, the people who built the computer and software industry, loved logic puzzles / brainteasers and elegant, high performance solutions to coding challenges. Most of the pushback is from dull corporate programmers (no shame in that, so am I) who want to claim that they are hackers for the clout but aren't. Ironic that a site named Hacker News is almost entirely devoid of true hackers.
    - Waterluvian 2mo ago
      “true hackers” Yikes. I’m not sure a rebuttal is even needed for a comment that’s just so lost in its own limited view of things.
tyre 2mo ago
I was interviewing interns before this, starting in 2013 or so. There are plenty of more useful questions you can ask. Tell me about a project you’ve worked on, then many follow ups, for example. Asking about group project dynamics or something they’re passionate about and involved with. Ask why they’re applying for this role, ask about difficult conversations or things they’re proud of. Ask about decisions they would do differently if they could go back and why. There are tons of ways to glean actually relevant information in an interview.
- jameshart 2mo ago
  The answers to this questions will tell you whether the candidate is a good storyteller, whether they have been lucky or unlucky in group project assignments, and whether they can spin experiences as self promotion. Those are broadly interesting behavioral signals but very subjective, and possibly less relevant than ‘do they enjoy figuring out puzzles that they don’t really understand the significance or relevance of?’

Waterluvian 2mo ago

I’d be unsurprised if an interviewer who thinks that trivia isn’t a goofy waste of time also believes that young people don’t have real world skills. But a good interviewer would probably spend time getting to know the candidate’s character. Something I’ve learned from years of mentoring teens and raising kids is that there are qualities you cannot teach, and they’re enormously more valuable than any technical skills. I’m confident I can teach just about anyone any of the skills Microsoft employees find themselves milling away at. But I can’t teach that fire a 10th grader has where they go home and spend their entire weekend figuring out how to make their idea work in Java, even though they barely understand programming, and then swarm you at the door next week to proudly show it. That’s the kind of quality you seek to find in an interview. All the other stuff can be taught to anyone.

jameshart 2mo ago
Doesn’t “enthusiasm to try and tackle somewhat abstract puzzling questions” act as a reasonable proxy for some of those attributes?
- ThrowawayR2 2mo ago
  It does; the old school hackers, the people who built the computer and software industry, loved logic puzzles / brainteasers and elegant, high performance solutions to coding challenges. Most of the pushback is from dull corporate programmers (no shame in that, so am I) who want to claim that they are hackers for the clout but aren't. Ironic that a site named Hacker News is almost entirely devoid of true hackers.
  - Waterluvian 2mo ago
    “true hackers” Yikes. I’m not sure a rebuttal is even needed for a comment that’s just so lost in its own limited view of things.

tyre 2mo ago

I was interviewing interns before this, starting in 2013 or so. There are plenty of more useful questions you can ask. Tell me about a project you’ve worked on, then many follow ups, for example. Asking about group project dynamics or something they’re passionate about and involved with. Ask why they’re applying for this role, ask about difficult conversations or things they’re proud of. Ask about decisions they would do differently if they could go back and why. There are tons of ways to glean actually relevant information in an interview.

jameshart 2mo ago
The answers to this questions will tell you whether the candidate is a good storyteller, whether they have been lucky or unlucky in group project assignments, and whether they can spin experiences as self promotion. Those are broadly interesting behavioral signals but very subjective, and possibly less relevant than ‘do they enjoy figuring out puzzles that they don’t really understand the significance or relevance of?’