I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
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I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
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Re: I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
#2> Anyway, there was only 1 proper solution to this: I had to answer what they thought was correct.
I think it was a poor solution. There are ways to respectfully disagree.
"I really think I'm right on this one. Since it's a question of facts, not opinion, we could easily verify it later."
Did the author know they were hired because they didn't rock the boat, or despite of it?
If I were hiring someone, I would want to know I'm hiring someone who can argue politely for what they think is right, and not see the argument in the context of "winning or losing", but in trying to find the best way forward.
Re: I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
#3Give them what they want and leave yourself an out:
"As an analogy, perhaps one could view..."
Two months later when that person runs across the wiki article:
"Ah, right that's why I said as an analogy perhaps one could view it that way. I thought you knew?"
Re: I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
#4I hope it was not Boeing ;)
Re: I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
#5> Anyway, there was only 1 proper solution to this: I had to answer what they thought was correct. I think it was a poor solution. There are ways to respectfully disagree. "I really think I'm right on this one. Since it's a question of facts, not opinion, we could easily verify it later." Did the author know they were hired because they didn't rock the boat, or despite of it? If I were hiring someone, I would want to…
> Since it's a question of facts
Is it?
I think it's an opinion.
How would you empirically test if the answer was right or wrong? What's on Wikipedia is also someone's opinion, isn't it? What's in a book that Wikipedia references is again someone's opinion.
If you can't write a program or other set of instructions to test it... it's an opinion.
'How does Dr Foo say that MVC maps to database-server-client?' would be a question of fact though.
Re: I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
#6A job interview is also you judging the company and people you’re applying to join. If you feel the team lead can’t handle you answering questions honestly because it might reveal one of his or her blind spots, that’s not a great sign.
Re: I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
#7> Anyway, there was only 1 proper solution to this: I had to answer what they thought was correct. I think it was a poor solution. There are ways to respectfully disagree. "I really think I'm right on this one. Since it's a question of facts, not opinion, we could easily verify it later." Did the author know they were hired because they didn't rock the boat, or despite of it? If I were hiring someone, I would want to…
That’s entirely reasonable, but people aren’t reasonable. When ego is involved, even a polite argument may appear as a personal attack.
Re: I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
#8> So I decided to start by giving the correct answer, and see how he responded. I explained “The model-view-controller is a software pattern, and so resides inside the written code. Since in most cases, this code only runs on the application tier, …”. But then I saw him frowning, and so knew this was not the answer the was expecting. So I continued:
This is a great cold reading technique that works in magic tricks too.
You have some trick where someone needs to pick from 10 cards. And your patter goes something like "Picture the card in your mind. Ace of hearts. Ace of hearts" If they give a big reaction then you've found their card and performed a miracle. If not then you just continue "Of course, that's just an example..." and continue the patter throwing out other hints. Of course, it's tough to make this your only trick but it can really elevate a good trick to amazing.
Great example at 1.50 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI5-NDiY7IM
Re: I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
#9Heh. Happens all the time with tests and questionnaires, the choice is always frustrating:
* "Does the author really mean what they are asking? Are the mistakes in the phrasing or corner cases intentional, meant to catch me, test my deep knowledge?", or
* "Is the author just not very good with logic / not thinking this through?"
I go with the latter in "soft social" contexts. Never regretted it yet.
This saved my hide recently in June, when I had to undergo a mandatory psychological examination for my gun license permit. Serious official stuff, with my permit on the line… And the "serious" psy-test was exactly as "robust" you'd expect from the field of psychology.
I answered the way I figured the test author construed the questions (= what they likely meant to ask), not what they actually asked. Easy pass.
Re: I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)
#10> Anyway, there was only 1 proper solution to this: I had to answer what they thought was correct. I think it was a poor solution. There are ways to respectfully disagree. "I really think I'm right on this one. Since it's a question of facts, not opinion, we could easily verify it later." Did the author know they were hired because they didn't rock the boat, or despite of it? If I were hiring someone, I would want to…
knowing how many people can't take disagreement well, I don't think this was a poor decision, practically you can't just trust everyone to have a good head on their shoulders, when you just want a job to survive or get your foot in the door, you can't be picky with who you work for.