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My favourite interview question (2006)

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Re: My favourite interview question (2006)

#91

Post by [deleted] »

napoleond wrote: post #87
wvenable wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you hit on a much better question! Just ask "are you passionate about programming?" and then ask them to defend their answer. If they code arduino robots in their spare time or simply love solving people's problems at work they have to convince you either way. That's so much better than trying to gauge their passion with a presumptive question.

The problem with phrasing the question that way is that it's way too open-ended (and likely to make the candidate regurgitate the same BS from their cover letter, which is not the point). An interviewer's job is to make it as easy as possible for the candidate to prove themselves. If they don't have side projects, that's fine--there are other questions that will hopefully provide similar information (ie. "What projec…

[deleted]

Re: My favourite interview question (2006)

#92

Post by hagmonk »

discardorama wrote: post #90
hagmonk wrote: post #56

So I tried a new approach inspired by this kind of interview question. In a nutshell: it aims to simulate the interactions you'll have with the candidate when they receive their first project, without the time burn of a full pair programming day. 1) determine the system the candidate will design. It should be an internal system or an internal oriented problem, not an external thing like Monopoly or URL shortening ser…

This is probably doable if you're interviewing 1 candidate a week (or one in 2 weeks). Most tech companies run through several candidates a week; and finding engineers/designers/managers who will play along with your question will be very difficult. I've been to interviews where they didn't know I was coming that day; where interviewers failed to turn up; where wrong interviewers showed up; etc. etc. Basically, inter…

I know where you're coming from there. It depends on the company. I think hiring is the most important thing a company does, so it's really critical to get everyone wanting to participate. I'd suggest that most push back folks get is because people generally dislike having to interview - they are tired of meeting lots of B grade candidates and even a few hours a week feels like a drag.

Having said that, there are ways to offload. There's a biotech startup (I'd have to dig for their name, I remember they did all their coding in mathematica) that described their hiring process to me. Hopefully I'm not messing up the details too badly.

I recall one guy who went through it said it was way more stressful than his final year university exams. They tested candidates, all candidates, on physics, math, chemistry, biology, computer science, and more. Candidates were given projects in each area, and a week to complete all of them.

It was deliberately structured so that there was no possible way that anyone could humanly complete the entire set of tests, much less while also working a full time job. This was deliberate, so that they could observe how candidates chose to prioritize. They also wanted to give people more than they could do to stimulate a "by any means necessary" approach they knew would be required in the actual job.

Finally, it also caused a lot of people to say "erm, no thanks. That's a ridiculous amount of work", which they rationalized as being a good test for candidates who saw a mountain of work and then baulked.

Not sure if I'd use a technique like this myself, but I found the idea interesting!

Re: My favourite interview question (2006)

#94

Post by stevebot »

sfbushstreet wrote: post #44
serve_yay wrote: post #11

I once got a similar question, but with Battleship. I don't really enjoy these high-level design things, they seem silly and irrelevant to me, but I can see how someone with different interests would like it. (That particular place made me an offer, I'm not doing sour grapes.)

If you practice ALL of these questions for at least TWO passes: https://oj.leetcode.com/problems/ , you can get a software engineer role in at least one of the famous tech companies, e.g., facebook, linkedin, google, amazon, microsoft, ... Nowadays, very very few companies innovate in recruiting. I've interviewed with most "hot" companies, and I can find most interview questions (>90%) from https://oj.leetcode.com/pr…

heh not sure if this is true, or just some self promotion maybe?

Re: My favourite interview question (2006)

#95

Post by chronomex »

danso wrote: post #3

Probably should have checked before posting...this was discussed 4 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2062889 (so I guess it's eligible for re-discussion) I stumbled across it doing a Google search for "interview question elevator design"...I haven't been asked in a technical interview about how I would implement the logic for an elevator controller, but I heard about the question second-hand at a colleg…

There's a whole introductory text about this problem space, "The Vertical Transportation Handbook"[1]. If you can get your hands on a copy of it, you'll probably be there for a while. :)

[1] http://www.worldcat.org/title/vertical-transportation-handbo...

Re: My favourite interview question (2006)

#96

Post by malkia »

alangpierce wrote: post #70
malkia wrote: post #5

The problem with this question is that if you've asked someone who's played Monopoly a lot, also the old DOS version, and the latest EA versions - he/she might stick to concrete implementations and go in details how it could be done (since it's out there). http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/895/Monopoly+Deluxe.html http://www.textmodegames.com/download/monopoly.html And here complete list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

You would probably also get the opposite problem: I bet some people (particularly international candidates) have little to no experience with Monopoly, and the question would be unfair to them. If the goal is to start with their vague understanding of the game and see what gaps they fill in and what assumptions they make, then it doesn't work very well if you have to explain the game from scratch. It also takes quite…

Yup. Asking poker, bridge, santase, chess, etc. rules at interview is tricky.

Re: My favourite interview question (2006)

#97

Post by cunac »

napoleond wrote: post #85
acheron wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh huh. "We want passionate people!" is usually code for "we're going to pay you less".

No. I mean, if that's the case then obviously just walk away but when I say I want passionate people I mean I want people who view programming as a super-power and are still excited by that idea.

that is just funny. Programming is same as other things, some people excel some people suck at it. Nothing super power there. Sure it helps a lot if you do what you like but passion is too strong word for that. And as other comment, in my experience when they ask for passion it equates free work , meaning more hours and same pay.

Re: My favourite interview question (2006)

#98

Post by cunac »

pearjuice wrote: post #33
supsep wrote: post #18

I beg to differ, Monopoly can be done using 'simplistic' object design. An array is the monopoly map, a user is an object and the bank is a singleton. Done.

supsep, you are a great candidate but unfortunately you don't seem that great of a fit for our Abstract Enterprise Java culture. I am sure there are a lot of other companies who adhere to your mindset!

true, some of us prefer real money (enterprise money) and some startup options (monopoly money). Go figure which one will feed you :-)

Re: My favourite interview question (2006)

#99

Post by Iftheshoefits »

overgard wrote: post #71
napoleond wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your friend is an exception. I've met a few, too, but the majority of top-tier programmers I know program outside of work. I'm not talking about "hackathons" and shit like that, or github profiles--usually just personal projects for practical or amusement (often both) purposes. Heuristics are, unfortunately, quite valuable in hiring scenarios, especially for start-ups. It's also just much more fun to work with people…

>It's also just much more fun to work with people who love programming, and an easy way to tell (even if it's susceptible to a few false negatives like your friend) is to find out if they program in their own time. The thing is though, you can love programming and find that 40 hours a week of it is more than enough. I think what you'd find with this heuristic is that it tends to favor young people. It's a lot easier…

That's an implicit point of using the heuristic. It's a kind of dog whistle in the context of ageism in the tech industry.

Re: My favourite interview question (2006)

#100

Post by pc86 »

whyaduck wrote: post #80
pc86 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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.

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.
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