The Only Interview Question That Matters • Hacker News Board

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#51

Post by danmaz74 » Sat, Feb 01, 2014, 4:50 PM UTC

jseliger wrote: post #42

danmaz74 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, in my experience, the question works much better when asked in person than in writing. Just seeing the face of the interviewee while you ask the question lets you understand if there is real passion for that kind of job; the answers I get in writing these days (ie by email while screening people) are unfortunately much less telling :(

Just seeing the face of the interviewee while you ask the question lets you understand if there is real passion for that kind of job; Is this deceptively informative? I hate to cite Malcolm Gladwell but I do think Blink shows us that first impressions and fleeting impressions can be dangerous and wrong. What do we think "real passion" is? Does it really show on the face, or do we only think we know? Can being fluster…

To be clear, I don't care what "real passion" really is. I just care about selecting a candidate who is interested in what we work on, and not just for the money.

Interviewing is just a screening process, and of course fluster increases the risk of a false negative, but in that situation I'm much more concerned with false positives, and in that respect: No, watching also the body language for that kind of question isn't deceptively informative; it's much more informative than reading the same answer from a written text.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#52

Post by yummyfajitas » Sat, Feb 01, 2014, 4:53 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #40

I see how this one interview question is expansive and sets up a line of followup questions. I don't see why it's a good question. Presume you get an good answer to the question and every followup question. Now tell me this: how much more do you know about how capable the candidate is of doing the job you're hiring for? And, were these questions the fastest, most accurate way of learning that? I submit: no. "What wer…

I'd also argue that my answer to this question won't actually help you hire me. My biggest accomplishment: I opened the door for [list of people] who then walked through it. It's useless information if you want to hire me - I'm a statistician ("data scientist"), not a guidance counselor.

(Of course, in a real interview I'd have a good answer for what you wanted to hear. I'm just saying that an honest answer would be useless.)

It also biases you against people with many small accomplishments as opposed to one grand one. But people who can handle 20 different small tasks on a schedule are also valuable. Your organization probably needs more of them than me (I'm the one big thing sort of person).

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#53

Post by bowlofpetunias » Sat, Feb 01, 2014, 4:53 PM UTC

I'm 46 years old. You want me to pick one?

I mean, I get it, I use this question regularly as an interviewer, but if you have me on the other side of the table, you're giving me a lot of room to tell you exactly the story you want to hear... Especially if you pull this question out of the bag late in the process, when I you've already given me enough insight in what would impress you.

Like most interview tactics, it's very context sensitive. There is no silver bullet for interviews, and certainly not only one question that matters.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#54

Post by afterburner » Sat, Feb 01, 2014, 5:01 PM UTC

jseliger wrote: post #42

danmaz74 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, in my experience, the question works much better when asked in person than in writing. Just seeing the face of the interviewee while you ask the question lets you understand if there is real passion for that kind of job; the answers I get in writing these days (ie by email while screening people) are unfortunately much less telling :(

Just seeing the face of the interviewee while you ask the question lets you understand if there is real passion for that kind of job; Is this deceptively informative? I hate to cite Malcolm Gladwell but I do think Blink shows us that first impressions and fleeting impressions can be dangerous and wrong. What do we think "real passion" is? Does it really show on the face, or do we only think we know? Can being fluster…

I thought Blink primarily showed how first impressions can be more correct than considered and careful reasoning.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#55

Post by logicallee » Sat, Feb 01, 2014, 5:02 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #47

logicallee wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because some people cap at "I managed to code the most lines of code in June, 2006 among my seven colleagues, even though I was just hired on the tenth of the month and didn't know the code yet. That was quite a month." whereas others cap at, "well, I did manage to build the world's first and largest bitcoin currency exchange and reach volumes of about a million a day before we had to shut down." when you find out th…

So this one interview question allows you to make the decision between hiring someone who has only worked in the profession for a month and hiring someone who wrote a whole bitcoin exchange. Faint praise. The big issue is, what does this style of interviewing do for you with a real-world candidate selection challenge --- say, 3 developers, all similar on paper? There is no reason the best candidate necessarily has th…

You misread my example, no beginner writes a ton of LOC, but yes. I don't think it's faint praise - some hiring managers would manage to find a reason to not hire the second guy, when the first one had been "employee of the month" already and that's good enough for them.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#56

Post by czep » Sat, Feb 01, 2014, 5:09 PM UTC

afterburner wrote: post #54

jseliger wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just seeing the face of the interviewee while you ask the question lets you understand if there is real passion for that kind of job; Is this deceptively informative? I hate to cite Malcolm Gladwell but I do think Blink shows us that first impressions and fleeting impressions can be dangerous and wrong. What do we think "real passion" is? Does it really show on the face, or do we only think we know? Can being fluster…

I thought Blink primarily showed how first impressions can be more correct than considered and careful reasoning.

That was my first impression too.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#57

Post by robbiea » Sat, Feb 01, 2014, 5:13 PM UTC

Bahamut wrote: post #43

eli wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to talk about a lot of things in an interview so the question focuses on one thing... that you get to pick. Agree that this post has a terrible title and making a hire/no hire on one question is insane, but it's a good question.

I disagree - these are the same types of questions you might see on a college application. As far as my experience goes, it's a question that has massive flaws, especially when you deal with people who has an impressive & flexible set of skills/strengths - it selects against some of the very best, since for them, it's difficult to say what is the most significant accomplishment since many accomplishments manifest as…

Why would you want to be less confrontational in an interview? The point is to see if the candidate is good or not, not "let's see how I can ask this question in the nicest way possible so I can get a nice and safe response that the candidate will just read off his / her resume".

The fact is this question weeds out people who truly havent' done anything difficult or unable to communicate their achievements properly. If you have an impressive set of skill / strength, then it should be easy enough for you to pick one.

In my mind the question forces the candidate to show the interviewer his / her:

1) Communication skills (i.e, is this person going to tell me all their problems, or just the one major problem that he/she needs help with)

2) What they view as an accomplishment or challenge

3) How they handle challenges

4) Their ambition (i.e, did they take a leadership position in their accomplishment or did they sit back and let everyone lead the project)

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#58

Post by hippee-lee » Sat, Feb 01, 2014, 5:16 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #40

I see how this one interview question is expansive and sets up a line of followup questions. I don't see why it's a good question. Presume you get an good answer to the question and every followup question. Now tell me this: how much more do you know about how capable the candidate is of doing the job you're hiring for? And, were these questions the fastest, most accurate way of learning that? I submit: no. "What wer…

Perhaps the exact wording of the question is less important than the discussion that follows?

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#59

Post by czep » Sat, Feb 01, 2014, 5:21 PM UTC

FigBug wrote: post #28

tootie wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been a pro for nearly 15 years and the project that I'm most proud of was something i did as an undergrad. Now I'm sad.

Yup, me too. And it's the worst code I've ever written. Miranda IM. Millions of downloads, popular for 14 years. I got bigger than I ever imagined it could. What have I worked on since: ACDZip, ACDSee, Tracktion, EAW Resolution, SPIN Review. ACDSee was a brief success, but the rest - meh.

At least your failed projects have names, mine never even got that far! But seriously, how should you answer the question if the honest answer is something you did 10+ years ago? I could talk about that project all day long, but I can sense a "What have you done for me lately" reaction if all I have to hang my hat on is something that happened when Bill Clinton was President!

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#60

Post by dominotw » Sat, Feb 01, 2014, 5:24 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #20

"What single project or task would you consider your most significant accomplishment in your career to date?" If this is the best question you can ask people, we got really lucky, because this is the essential question on all YC's application forms for events (e.g. Startup School) and has been one of the core questions on the YC application since the beginning.

This is problematic and discriminatory. I hope this doesn't become a trend.

What if you are interviewing a kid from south-side Chicago or kid from third world who against all odds went to college. Is smart and motivated and could be a great asset to your company but never had the exposure to great ideas.

You can argue that she can just say 'Going to college was my most significant achievement' but are you in a position to rationally consider that as a 'significant achievement ' ?

In a age if great socio economic inequality very few people at the top of the society get to have ' significant accomplishment', it is more of an indicator of you socio economic status than your actual capabilities.