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This is just my opinion, but If you're asking questions that can be found in "interview prep books" you're doing it wrong. Why not just ask questions that can b

by kenrikm 11y ago

This is just my opinion, but If you're asking questions that can be found in "interview prep books" you're doing it wrong. Why not just ask questions that can be found by you know.. actually having experience developing software?

eranation 11y ago
I do that too, but this type of questions serve two purposes. If they know it, I know that they do research before they approach a project, see what was done before, and take life seriously. Also it shows that they can learn something and actually implement it. Unless they memorized the solution, I can learn if they can actually code, not just talk. Second if someone didn't know that question, it still shows how they think and behave. I usually leave these to the end, but it's not always easy to come up with experience related questions that differentiate good candidates from great candidates. Think of it this way, most of the day you don't need the skills tested in the interview, just like in college usually you don't need the stuff they test in SATs, right? You still need to find the right candidate somehow. Asking them about more practical / knowledge based questions is much harder. People come from different backgrounds. Also most people will know well basic software engineering questions. I'm left off with basic CS stuff (data structures and algorithms) to really find the difference point. My experience shows that great SEs will know to answer, not so great ones, won't. No explanation why. Perhaps great ones want to learn more than they need for their job. Good ones just do their jobs well. But when something new comes, or if they need to improve a slow algorithm, they give it up. Seen it happen many times to great "craftsmen" they can code CRUD and UI very well, but they can write an algorithm out of a paper bag. Sometimes this is exactly what I am looking for in a candidate. Depends on the role.

by kenrikm 11y ago

eranation 11y ago

I do that too, but this type of questions serve two purposes. If they know it, I know that they do research before they approach a project, see what was done before, and take life seriously. Also it shows that they can learn something and actually implement it. Unless they memorized the solution, I can learn if they can actually code, not just talk. Second if someone didn't know that question, it still shows how they think and behave. I usually leave these to the end, but it's not always easy to come up with experience related questions that differentiate good candidates from great candidates. Think of it this way, most of the day you don't need the skills tested in the interview, just like in college usually you don't need the stuff they test in SATs, right? You still need to find the right candidate somehow. Asking them about more practical / knowledge based questions is much harder. People come from different backgrounds. Also most people will know well basic software engineering questions. I'm left off with basic CS stuff (data structures and algorithms) to really find the difference point. My experience shows that great SEs will know to answer, not so great ones, won't. No explanation why. Perhaps great ones want to learn more than they need for their job. Good ones just do their jobs well. But when something new comes, or if they need to improve a slow algorithm, they give it up. Seen it happen many times to great "craftsmen" they can code CRUD and UI very well, but they can write an algorithm out of a paper bag. Sometimes this is exactly what I am looking for in a candidate. Depends on the role.