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The Only Interview Question That Matters

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Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#161

Post by maverickmind »

dominotw wrote: post #106
pg wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you are interviewing a kid from south-side Chicago or kid from third world who against all odds went to college? That is exactly the sort of achievement that impresses us, actually. For example, Qasar Younis started life in a house with dirt floors in a village in Pakistan. His family moved to the US, to Detroit, when he was 7. He appears to have worked his ass off from the moment they landed. We funded his s…

> His family moved to the US, to Detroit, when he was 7. This is not an example of someone who is from the third world or from a ghetto. Immigrant parents have strong work ethic which they instill in their kids ( I belong to the club, so I know). I am talking about girls from southside Chicago whose idea of 'achievement' is not getting pregnant by 15.

For the record people "from the ghetto" can have a strong work ethic. My grandmotheer had her first kid at 15,h ad five more, raised them all by herself while putting herself thought nursing school. All of them want to college and live nice middle to upper middle class lives. She retired at 65 as a well respected head nurse. If that isn't "work ethic" I don't know what is.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#162

Post by ScottBurson »

tptacek wrote: post #153
ScottBurson wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good question. I had to think about it a bit -- at the risk of not posting a reply in time for you to see it. I think it's because building great products isn't just a matter of execution. It's also, to some extent, an art. I have trouble imagining someone being effective and competent with absolutely no passion. I will grant, though, that there are competent people who are more passionate, and those who ar…

If you can, in your hiring process, get a decent prediction of effectiveness and competence, and stipulating that passion does not connote effectiveness and competence, is it smart to screen for passion?

Yes, I think it is. Given two candidates of equal competence, I'd naturally prefer the one with the greater passion for the particular kind of work the job would entail. Does that really seem strange?

Of course it gets trickier when the more competent one seems the less passionate. Then it's a question of how much to weight the two dimensions (along with whatever others one is considering). I have no magic formula here; I think it depends on the circumstances.

There seems to be a subtext here that work sample tests give no indication of passion. I don't think that's true; when I've given people programming exercises, I think the craftsmanship of the code (is it well-modularized, well-documented, nicely indented, etc.) is indicative of their passion. Competence, to me, is more about whether the code works.

So yes, I'm using craftsmanship as a proxy for passion, so I suppose next you'll ask, why not just go for craftsmanship? The point we seem to be coming to is that passion is difficult or impossible to measure directly, so why not stick to qualities that are more measurable?

I don't think everything important is easy to measure.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#163

Post by baruch »

tptacek wrote: post #153
ScottBurson wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good question. I had to think about it a bit -- at the risk of not posting a reply in time for you to see it. I think it's because building great products isn't just a matter of execution. It's also, to some extent, an art. I have trouble imagining someone being effective and competent with absolutely no passion. I will grant, though, that there are competent people who are more passionate, and those who ar…

If you can, in your hiring process, get a decent prediction of effectiveness and competence, and stipulating that passion does not connote effectiveness and competence, is it smart to screen for passion?

I'm just feeling we are using the words in different ways. I'm not a native English speaker but for me effectiveness is a term that includes passion. You can be competent in your work but effective at deflecting it (it's painful to work with such people), I believe that if you are passionate about doing the work it will also mean your effectiveness is in the right direction.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#164

Post by eruditely »

geophile wrote: post #66

This? This is the wisdom has has to convey after 36 years of experience? It is just the most obvious thing. I've been asking this question for as long as I've been interviewing, (adjusted as necessary, for kids just out of college, for example).

If you take enough people over articles obviousness space something will be obvious to everyone.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#165

Post by eruditely »

geophile wrote: post #66

This? This is the wisdom has has to convey after 36 years of experience? It is just the most obvious thing. I've been asking this question for as long as I've been interviewing, (adjusted as necessary, for kids just out of college, for example).

If you take enough people over articles obviousness space something will be obvious to everyone.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#166

Post by eruditely »

geophile wrote: post #66

This? This is the wisdom has has to convey after 36 years of experience? It is just the most obvious thing. I've been asking this question for as long as I've been interviewing, (adjusted as necessary, for kids just out of college, for example).

If you take enough people over articles obviousness space something will be obvious to everyone.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#167

Post by eruditely »

geophile wrote: post #66

This? This is the wisdom has has to convey after 36 years of experience? It is just the most obvious thing. I've been asking this question for as long as I've been interviewing, (adjusted as necessary, for kids just out of college, for example).

If you take enough people over articles obviousness space something will be obvious to everyone.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#168

Post by emilis_info »

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.

Thank you for sharing this, peacemaker and FigBug.

This magic-bullet interview question had me depressed and made me feel like a failure. I too have nearly 15 years of professional experience. My last projects that I can show off were 4 and 8 years ago.

I don't feel like a failure anymore. I got a reminder that success depends on blind luck a lot and is rather overrated. Hard work, improvement and patience are still essential.

P.S. I have used both Miranda and ACDSee in the past. They reached my highest criteria for software, that few applications reach – were small, fast, reliable and very useful. I wish FigBug best of luck.

Re: The Only Interview Question That Matters

#169

Post by sytelus »

I've asked this question few time and honestly it's no where close to "the one question" author makes out to be. Lot of candidates drifts on to something very complex, or describe other people's work as theirs, or make up stuff as they go. Plus it totally fails on campus hiring, one-man projects that evolves slowly over time and has legal risk of candidate disclosing sensitive information.

The best interview question, IMO, is still the one that Sergey Brin used to ask: "Describe to me something that I already don't know".

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