Interviewing candidates
ericlippert.com
Interviewing candidates
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Re: Interviewing candidates
#2This is almost exactly the template that I apply to my own interviewing. However, I switched away from asking about a project on the candidate's resume because I found that that question - specifically meant to put people at ease - did not in fact put them at ease.
Instead, I found that people became surprisingly flustered - including one who said that "like a lot of things on there, it sounds cooler than it is" and went on to question his own commitment to the field. I asked about the project because it sounded awesome, and, when I pressed him to please tell me about his role, it was awesome.
I think that many people are not prepared to discuss every item on their resume. I don't think that's great, but I don't want to base a large amount of my decision on that fact. This question threw them off for the rest of the interview, so I've stopped asking it.
Re: Interviewing candidates
#3I feel like this is how everyone thinks they interview candidates, and that it doesn't really work. I wrote about this at length, specifically so I wouldn't write the same long HN comment every time this comes up. :)
Re: Interviewing candidates
#4This is almost exactly the template that I apply to my own interviewing. However, I switched away from asking about a project on the candidate's resume because I found that that question - specifically meant to put people at ease - did not in fact put them at ease. Instead, I found that people became surprisingly flustered - including one who said that "like a lot of things on there, it sounds cooler than it is" and…
That's interesting feedback, thanks. I have found that most of the time people are happy to talk about their work, but I have also encountered the flustered reaction you describe.
Re: Interviewing candidates
#5I feel like this is how everyone thinks they interview candidates, and that it doesn't really work. I wrote about this at length, specifically so I wouldn't write the same long HN comment every time this comes up. :) http://sockpuppet.org/blog/2015/03/06/the-hiring-post/
Thanks for writing that up; really interesting stuff. I agree with many of the critiques you make. I suspect that it may be easier to get the sort of standard process you describe implemented in a relatively small organization that has a relatively consistent set of products and commensurate challenges than in a large, diverse organization like Microsoft, where I learned to interview. The Microsoft interviewer has the challenge of finding candidates that are good both for the specific team they're interviewing for, and also have the general skills necessary to work with other teams in the future. As you say, it's a hard problem.
Re: Interviewing candidates
#6I feel like this is how everyone thinks they interview candidates, and that it doesn't really work. I wrote about this at length, specifically so I wouldn't write the same long HN comment every time this comes up. :) http://sockpuppet.org/blog/2015/03/06/the-hiring-post/
I appreciate that you're tired of writing the same comment over and over, but I'd really appreciate your going into some depth about what "this" is that you're referring to and how it contrasts with your approach. It seems like the original article describes a very scripted, standardized interview that tries hard to put the candidate at ease. If you were to condense your article into a sort-of "Joel test" for interviews, I imagine that this process would score reasonably well.
Re: Interviewing candidates
#7I feel like I follow this template as well. Except, I like to add a small self assessment at the beginning of the interview. Like:
Q: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being low) how do you rate yourself on "Programming Language Du Jour"?
I also like to ask for them to choose a project in the past to talk about, because then it's easy to see what they are passionate about. Or easily tell if they are choosing to talk about something because they think, you think, it's cool.
Re: Interviewing candidates
#8I feel like this is how everyone thinks they interview candidates, and that it doesn't really work. I wrote about this at length, specifically so I wouldn't write the same long HN comment every time this comes up. :) http://sockpuppet.org/blog/2015/03/06/the-hiring-post/
I appreciate that you're tired of writing the same comment over and over, but I'd really appreciate your going into some depth about what "this" is that you're referring to and how it contrasts with your approach. It seems like the original article describes a very scripted, standardized interview that tries hard to put the candidate at ease. If you were to condense your article into a sort-of "Joel test" for intervi…
It's based on the assumption that it's reasonably possible to put a candidate so at ease that they can solve interesting programming problems in front of an interviewer. But in-person interviews are inherently hostile, if for no other reason that they're timed and adversarial. It's better that we jettison the entire notion that they can be a venue for demonstrating programming ability.
I'm not opposed to interviews. I just think you need to factor out the programming from them.
Re: Interviewing candidates
#9I feel like I follow this template as well. Except, I like to add a small self assessment at the beginning of the interview. Like: Q: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being low) how do you rate yourself on "Programming Language Du Jour"? Then I can see if their self assessment is inline with mine. Which can help in reviewing the resume. I also like to ask for them to choose a project in the past to talk about, because then…
I was asked by a hip, happening, popular web-app related startup to rate myself in C++.
I pointed out that Bjarne Stroustrup rated himself 7 out of 10 once. I wasn't as good as him, and I wasn't nearly as good as him, which left me the field of 5 and below.
I can guarantee that some ham-fisted chancer who'd flicked through the "Teach Yourself C++" chapter summaries put himself down as an 8, though.
Re: Interviewing candidates
#10"Red flags often surface at this point. I’ve had candidates with PhDs in computer science, for instance, who did not know that on a 64 bit architecture, pointers are 64 bits wide."
Because learning 64-bit architecture is impossible for somebody that have proven that they can learn a field, perform research, and successfully write and defend a dissertation? '32 < 64' is beyond them?