“Is there anything I didn’t ask that you wish I had?”
I recognize that I’m not perfect at interviewing and want to give people the opportunity to brag about themselves and express something I might have missed.
Ask HN: What is your faviorte interview question?
11–20 of 43 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is your faviorte interview question?
#12This: "There's a feature you and several other co-workers are building. The deadline is 3 days from now. You and 'Co-worker A' are tasked in building a module of that feature. You've already written several classes and tried abstracting some repetitive parts that would allow you to hit the target deadline for the team. However 'Co-worker A' has also worked on those same classes and wrote more methods that are too tig…
This is a very brilliant question. Thank you!
Re: Ask HN: What is your faviorte interview question?
#13This: "There's a feature you and several other co-workers are building. The deadline is 3 days from now. You and 'Co-worker A' are tasked in building a module of that feature. You've already written several classes and tried abstracting some repetitive parts that would allow you to hit the target deadline for the team. However 'Co-worker A' has also worked on those same classes and wrote more methods that are too tig…
give the finger to Mr.A ?
Re: Ask HN: What is your faviorte interview question?
#14I like the YC question: please tell me about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage? In my team I place high value on resourcefulness, and seeing whether people can come up with solutions rather than deferring to their superiors with every difficult situation.
Re: Ask HN: What is your faviorte interview question?
#15I like the YC question: please tell me about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage? In my team I place high value on resourcefulness, and seeing whether people can come up with solutions rather than deferring to their superiors with every difficult situation.
I lie this for computer systems as well, can still show resourcefulness.
Re: Ask HN: What is your faviorte interview question?
#16"What's something that you f*'d up on where you thought you might be fired for it?" Most any engineer or developer above a junior level position should have at least one of these stories. It also gives you the chance to ask what they learned, how they fixed it, what resources they used, what they did to prevent it in the future, etc, etc, etc. It's also a really humbling moment to have to explain one of your failures…
I’ve never been worried about being fired for something. Not everyone makes huge fireable mistakes.
Can just rephrase the question: "tell me about you've made in your career and how you dealt with it"
Re: Ask HN: What is your faviorte interview question?
#17When should tests be written for code? The answer will quickly reveal their methodology and how they approach a project. Generally people don't use tests when prototyping. Some people use tests when things break, others write tests before they code something. Each type of response is appropriate for a specific role or business and that question is good at determining that.
> Each type of response is appropriate for a specific role or business
I feel like answering that testing needs to be appropriate for the use case is the only "correct" answer to this question. If a candidate was overly dogmatic about one form of testing that would raise red flags for me.
Re: Ask HN: What is your faviorte interview question?
#18"What's something that you f*'d up on where you thought you might be fired for it?" Most any engineer or developer above a junior level position should have at least one of these stories. It also gives you the chance to ask what they learned, how they fixed it, what resources they used, what they did to prevent it in the future, etc, etc, etc. It's also a really humbling moment to have to explain one of your failures…
How about the time I broke all internet email for the entire world?
Re: Ask HN: What is your faviorte interview question?
#19I like the YC question: please tell me about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage? In my team I place high value on resourcefulness, and seeing whether people can come up with solutions rather than deferring to their superiors with every difficult situation.
Can you give me some examples?
Would it count if I had walked around the halls of the Pentagon, looking for good stuff that people had left out in the hallway (and therefore presumably excess and no longer wanted on their part), and then moved it to my office?
Or the time that the Team Chief of the Logistics Readiness Center in the National Military Command Center had locked himself out of his own office and didn’t remember the combination, and was supposed to be briefing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in five minutes? All I did was brute-force the combination, but I was able to do it quickly and he wasn’t too late to his briefing.
Examples of the kind of thing you would be looking for would be very useful.
Re: Ask HN: What is your faviorte interview question?
#20My favorite 2 interview questions are
1. "What is the hardest thing you've ever done?"
The answer can be personal or professional. What the candidate accomplished isn't as important as how -- and why. What were the hurdles? What were the roadblocks? Did the candidate seek help? Does the candidate credit the people who helped?
The answer also can provide insight into how the candidate defines "hard," and how their perspective align with the challenges your business faces.
2. "When have you experienced stellar customer service, and how did that change how you deal with customers?"
This question is a great way to see how candidates define "stellar customer service" -- not just as they experience it, but also in the service they expect themselves to provide.