4 ms·

Excellent! Very well written and expressed. There was an interviewee here today and I heard my boss tell someone to quiz him on big-o notation. I rolled my eye

by csmatt 14y ago

Excellent! Very well written and expressed. There was an interviewee here today and I heard my boss tell someone to quiz him on big-o notation. I rolled my eyes. Yesterday I had an interview that started off with "Tell me a bit about yourself." No direction as to what the interviewer wanted and, the worst part, as soon as I said I was done, he went right into asking me what the difference between "overloading" and "overriding" is. How many years of experience do I need to have for them to stop asking me things like this? Most of my work lately is in JavaScript and Python. I had trouble answering "What's the difference between an abstract class and an interface?" That doesn't necessarily come up in those languages in a distinct way, so I'm out of practice in my vocabulary. I have neat personal projects with source code on github. Do you really need to screen me with a phone interview?

mgkimsal 14y ago
"How many years of experience do I need to have for them to stop asking me things like this?" It will never stop. "Do you really need to screen me with a phone interview?" Meh... I'm kinda split on that part of the process. I understand the frustration, and too often it's wasted time that doesn't gain anything you couldn't get from the CV itself. If done right, it can tell you if the other party is good at verbal communication, which is an important skill in its own right.
deleted 14y ago
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chollida1 14y ago
> Yesterday I had an interview that started off with "Tell me a bit about yourself." To be fair, alot of well meaning interviewers start off that way. It's supposed to be a chance for you to mention all the good things that we may not ask about. In fact that question is so common its a good weeder question; if a person can't blow your socks off with 5 minutes then you can probably predict how the rest of the interview will go. I mean the interviewer basically says to you a golden opportunity to say why they should hire you. If you don't know what to say that pretty much says it all:)
- pekk 14y ago
  Except this kind of demand for a prepared 5-minute self-pitch really tests how much you are confident and good at bullshitting, and not really anything about your skill with anything. A person is not worthless and incapable just because they aren't huge salesmen. No wonder women have trouble getting into this industry and getting ahead, with this kind of macho superior attitude from interviewers
  - chollida1 14y ago
    > No wonder women have trouble getting into this industry and getting ahead, with this kind of macho superior attitude from interviewers Calm down, no on one is having any kind of "macho superior attitude" :) All I said was many interviewers start the interview this way so the interviewee has a softball question that they can use to clam themselves and make a point of anything they want the interviewer to know. And I stand behind what I said, where if a person has a question perfectly teed up for them and they can't tell you why they should be hired then they probably won't do well with any kind of technical interview.
    - pekk 14y ago
      If you don't know why you are interviewing someone, why are you interviewing them? Test coders on how to code, not on how to sell.
- rhizome 14y ago
  if a person can't blow your socks off with 5 minutes then you can probably predict how the rest of the interview will go. Is this really true? I think if you turn it around you wouldn't agree with it so readily: if a person can blow your socks off in 5min, then you can predict how the rest of the interview will go." Well then why have the rest of the interview, or if the rest of the interview is still necessary, why go through the 5min pitch rigamarole? Why not just shave those 5min off the whole interview? Why not send the candidate on their way after they don't do their pitch-intro well? These are all rhetorical questions, but you see how I'm following the logic in your statement. I'm not judging either way, but hey, could it work any worse than the processes elsewhere described? Heck, I wonder how a company would do if they gave the candidate 5min for whatever with the significant coworkers of the position, then take a vote from the interviewers and just hire based on the victors. Interviewers can do culture or technical interactions, doesn't matter, if they feel good about the person then they vote to hire. I guess it's like Speed Dating this way, but still.

by csmatt 14y ago

mgkimsal 14y ago

"How many years of experience do I need to have for them to stop asking me things like this?" It will never stop. "Do you really need to screen me with a phone interview?" Meh... I'm kinda split on that part of the process. I understand the frustration, and too often it's wasted time that doesn't gain anything you couldn't get from the CV itself. If done right, it can tell you if the other party is good at verbal communication, which is an important skill in its own right.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

chollida1 14y ago

> Yesterday I had an interview that started off with "Tell me a bit about yourself." To be fair, alot of well meaning interviewers start off that way. It's supposed to be a chance for you to mention all the good things that we may not ask about. In fact that question is so common its a good weeder question; if a person can't blow your socks off with 5 minutes then you can probably predict how the rest of the interview will go. I mean the interviewer basically says to you a golden opportunity to say why they should hire you. If you don't know what to say that pretty much says it all:)

pekk 14y ago
Except this kind of demand for a prepared 5-minute self-pitch really tests how much you are confident and good at bullshitting, and not really anything about your skill with anything. A person is not worthless and incapable just because they aren't huge salesmen. No wonder women have trouble getting into this industry and getting ahead, with this kind of macho superior attitude from interviewers
- chollida1 14y ago
  > No wonder women have trouble getting into this industry and getting ahead, with this kind of macho superior attitude from interviewers Calm down, no on one is having any kind of "macho superior attitude" :) All I said was many interviewers start the interview this way so the interviewee has a softball question that they can use to clam themselves and make a point of anything they want the interviewer to know. And I stand behind what I said, where if a person has a question perfectly teed up for them and they can't tell you why they should be hired then they probably won't do well with any kind of technical interview.
  - pekk 14y ago
    If you don't know why you are interviewing someone, why are you interviewing them? Test coders on how to code, not on how to sell.
rhizome 14y ago
if a person can't blow your socks off with 5 minutes then you can probably predict how the rest of the interview will go. Is this really true? I think if you turn it around you wouldn't agree with it so readily: if a person can blow your socks off in 5min, then you can predict how the rest of the interview will go." Well then why have the rest of the interview, or if the rest of the interview is still necessary, why go through the 5min pitch rigamarole? Why not just shave those 5min off the whole interview? Why not send the candidate on their way after they don't do their pitch-intro well? These are all rhetorical questions, but you see how I'm following the logic in your statement. I'm not judging either way, but hey, could it work any worse than the processes elsewhere described? Heck, I wonder how a company would do if they gave the candidate 5min for whatever with the significant coworkers of the position, then take a vote from the interviewers and just hire based on the victors. Interviewers can do culture or technical interactions, doesn't matter, if they feel good about the person then they vote to hire. I guess it's like Speed Dating this way, but still.