4 ms·

In a good week I work 50 hours. In a bad week, 80 or 90 (or more). In my spare time I have family commitments, play guitar, draw, paint, hike, ride my mountai

In a good week I work 50 hours. In a bad week, 80 or 90 (or more). In my spare time I have family commitments, play guitar, draw, paint, hike, ride my mountain bike, and travel. Ask me that question and I'll probably find a way to wind up politely and leave.

16bytes 12y ago
I love this question and use it as part of my interview deck. It is only part of the deck, however. This question is a great positive indicator, but a terrible negative indicator. That is to say, a person who works on a lot of stuff in their spare time is very likely to be someone I'd like to hire. The reverse isn't true, which is why there are other questions in the deck. I realize that there are great developers who don't have a well populated github profile and dozens of side projects. If I had a candidate that had trouble with the question, I'd expect them to say so. I'm a pretty reasonable person. I would not expect them to try and exit the interview early with little to no indication why.
- greenleafjacob 12y ago
  What if you have side projects that make money, i.e. are "work"? Is that discounted by "non-work, non-school" or by non-work do you mean "not your day job"?
  - gknoy 12y ago
    I imagine many would be hesitant to mention such experience, but I think it would be a great thing to hear about in an interview. If you're interviewing an parallel universe's patio11-equivalent, and they say, "I have been running FlashCardCreator.com since 2001...", and goes on to explain neat things about what she's learned from it, it sounds like that should be a big green flag. Not only is such a person likely to have lots of cross-domain insight, but they clearly have the mojo to deliver working code. If you're worried that they might decide that their work-outside-yours is going to cannibalize their time, they probably have an answer for why you don't need to worry much about that. (After all, they __did__ apply.) I would be surprised if you had to worry about them leaving any more than you would any other developer.
  - 16bytes 12y ago
    It's a completely open-ended question and I word it differently depending on how the interview is going. You can demonstrate passion for technology even if what you talked about was a one-off utility that you wrote for your job. I want to see if your eyes light up when you talk about it.
  - protomyth 12y ago
    I phrase it so it is the "not your day job" version. In the more general sense a better phrasing is "something that wasn't required of you by others". Since I wrapped it in other questions, I got the idea across. If it made money, cool. Just so there was no one saying "you need to do this".
odonnellryan 12y ago
That's fine, but if you work that much are you interviewing at places as well? I couldn't imagine working that often and not enjoying it.
ColinWright 12y ago
I'm sure there are many here who would agree with you, but let me offer an alternative viewpoint. You said: > Ask me that question and I'll probably > find a way to wind up politely and leave. The implication is that rather than opening a dialog with someone to (a) find out why they think that question is relevant, and (b) offer reasons why you'd be a good fit despite not working with code outside your job, you'd simply leave? For me, as a potential employer, that would be a good reason not to want to hire you. It makes you sound like you would not be an easy person to work with. It sounds like if someone came to you with an unreasonable software requirement you would simply shut them down without trying to find a way to deliver something that finds a good balance between what they've asked for, and what can be done. But perhaps that's not the impression you intended. If not, could you expand further?
- gknoy 12y ago
  You have a very good perspective on what an employer would love to hear from someone, regardless of whether they code for fun on the side. However, as an employee, such questions might be highly correlated with past companies that are looking for people who do not have family commitments, or who are willing to do unpaid extra work at home "for fun". As an interviewee, it makes me wonder, even if only fleetingly, "Will I be discriminated against for not being (young+single)?". (Are we even allowed to ask about marital status or age?) Even if such a thing was never your intention, the interviewee might have had prior bad experiences with those who ask such a question, and view cutting the interview short as a way to ensure they don't get mistreated later.
  - ColinWright 12y ago
    In that case, just as an interviewer looks for indications beyond a single question, so should an interviewee. Cutting an interview short because of one indicator seems short-sighted. Surely better would be to use it as one indicator, and then start looking to see if there are more. But I understand the point point of view, I'm just trying to give some balance, and point out that the black/white attitude this suggests is sometimes a clear indication that you are not cut out for a particular position.
- 12y ago
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
pc86 12y ago
> Ask me that question and I'll probably find a way to wind up politely and leave. I'm always confused when I see this sentiment. I only ever see it on HN, and only when someone feels they've been asked a question below their station or that is inherently insulting.
- whyaduck 12y ago
  Neither - just an indicator that we may not be a good match and I'll act accordingly. I have a limited amount of time, and when I'm searching I'm pretty ruthless about controlling the number of interviews I take.
  - pc86 12y ago
    Yes, but it's not like you're going to spend that time saved doing an interview with someone else. I mean you've got the time scheduled, I just think it's rude of either party to cut it short because you're not 100% in love with every aspect of the job (or candidate). The interview is a process, go through it and collect your thoughts and assumptions at the end.
protomyth 12y ago
So, you've never once did any program for your own benefit? Sent in a patch for some project? Programmed something because you thought it would be neat or scratched an itch? I know plenty of carpenters who put in long hours but have used their skills to build a chair or table for themselves. I've never used this as an only question, but I have got better results from people who have used their skills to solve some problem for themselves, but that isn't unique to programming.

16bytes 12y ago

I love this question and use it as part of my interview deck. It is only part of the deck, however. This question is a great positive indicator, but a terrible negative indicator. That is to say, a person who works on a lot of stuff in their spare time is very likely to be someone I'd like to hire. The reverse isn't true, which is why there are other questions in the deck. I realize that there are great developers who don't have a well populated github profile and dozens of side projects. If I had a candidate that had trouble with the question, I'd expect them to say so. I'm a pretty reasonable person. I would not expect them to try and exit the interview early with little to no indication why.

greenleafjacob 12y ago
What if you have side projects that make money, i.e. are "work"? Is that discounted by "non-work, non-school" or by non-work do you mean "not your day job"?
- gknoy 12y ago
  I imagine many would be hesitant to mention such experience, but I think it would be a great thing to hear about in an interview. If you're interviewing an parallel universe's patio11-equivalent, and they say, "I have been running FlashCardCreator.com since 2001...", and goes on to explain neat things about what she's learned from it, it sounds like that should be a big green flag. Not only is such a person likely to have lots of cross-domain insight, but they clearly have the mojo to deliver working code. If you're worried that they might decide that their work-outside-yours is going to cannibalize their time, they probably have an answer for why you don't need to worry much about that. (After all, they __did__ apply.) I would be surprised if you had to worry about them leaving any more than you would any other developer.
- 16bytes 12y ago
  It's a completely open-ended question and I word it differently depending on how the interview is going. You can demonstrate passion for technology even if what you talked about was a one-off utility that you wrote for your job. I want to see if your eyes light up when you talk about it.
- protomyth 12y ago
  I phrase it so it is the "not your day job" version. In the more general sense a better phrasing is "something that wasn't required of you by others". Since I wrapped it in other questions, I got the idea across. If it made money, cool. Just so there was no one saying "you need to do this".

odonnellryan 12y ago

That's fine, but if you work that much are you interviewing at places as well? I couldn't imagine working that often and not enjoying it.

ColinWright 12y ago

I'm sure there are many here who would agree with you, but let me offer an alternative viewpoint. You said: > Ask me that question and I'll probably > find a way to wind up politely and leave. The implication is that rather than opening a dialog with someone to (a) find out why they think that question is relevant, and (b) offer reasons why you'd be a good fit despite not working with code outside your job, you'd simply leave? For me, as a potential employer, that would be a good reason not to want to hire you. It makes you sound like you would not be an easy person to work with. It sounds like if someone came to you with an unreasonable software requirement you would simply shut them down without trying to find a way to deliver something that finds a good balance between what they've asked for, and what can be done. But perhaps that's not the impression you intended. If not, could you expand further?

gknoy 12y ago
You have a very good perspective on what an employer would love to hear from someone, regardless of whether they code for fun on the side. However, as an employee, such questions might be highly correlated with past companies that are looking for people who do not have family commitments, or who are willing to do unpaid extra work at home "for fun". As an interviewee, it makes me wonder, even if only fleetingly, "Will I be discriminated against for not being (young+single)?". (Are we even allowed to ask about marital status or age?) Even if such a thing was never your intention, the interviewee might have had prior bad experiences with those who ask such a question, and view cutting the interview short as a way to ensure they don't get mistreated later.
- ColinWright 12y ago
  In that case, just as an interviewer looks for indications beyond a single question, so should an interviewee. Cutting an interview short because of one indicator seems short-sighted. Surely better would be to use it as one indicator, and then start looking to see if there are more. But I understand the point point of view, I'm just trying to give some balance, and point out that the black/white attitude this suggests is sometimes a clear indication that you are not cut out for a particular position.
12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

pc86 12y ago

> Ask me that question and I'll probably find a way to wind up politely and leave. I'm always confused when I see this sentiment. I only ever see it on HN, and only when someone feels they've been asked a question below their station or that is inherently insulting.

whyaduck 12y ago
Neither - just an indicator that we may not be a good match and I'll act accordingly. I have a limited amount of time, and when I'm searching I'm pretty ruthless about controlling the number of interviews I take.
- pc86 12y ago
  Yes, but it's not like you're going to spend that time saved doing an interview with someone else. I mean you've got the time scheduled, I just think it's rude of either party to cut it short because you're not 100% in love with every aspect of the job (or candidate). The interview is a process, go through it and collect your thoughts and assumptions at the end.

protomyth 12y ago

So, you've never once did any program for your own benefit? Sent in a patch for some project? Programmed something because you thought it would be neat or scratched an itch? I know plenty of carpenters who put in long hours but have used their skills to build a chair or table for themselves. I've never used this as an only question, but I have got better results from people who have used their skills to solve some problem for themselves, but that isn't unique to programming.