The Mother of All Interview Questions
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The Mother of All Interview Questions
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Re: The Mother of All Interview Questions
#2> Does your process involve invention? If so, please describe the three most recent things you have invented and why it was necessary to invent something new.
If you're asked this in an interview, you can't respond "no". If I were being interviewed, I'd hear it as somewhat like "Do you like unicorns, which are awesome? If so, describe your three favorite awesome activities with unicorns."
Which is fine, if you're on one of the teams that likes to innovate, but I'd just suggest that there's probably a more neutral phrasing that might allow a candidate to respond "I prefer to use existing solutions to problems, and here's why". Maybe:
> The last three times you faced a "build or buy (/use open source)" situation, which did you choose, and why?
Which may give you a better grasp of how the employee understands the economics of the situation, rather than just asking him to talk about the last three times he chose "build" given that choice.
Re: The Mother of All Interview Questions
#3This is a great question that requires an answer that is both philosophically and technologically deep
Most articles I've read with a headline like this, the question posed involves an impractical show of technical prowess
Re: The Mother of All Interview Questions
#4> Does your process involve invention? If so, please describe the three most recent things you have invented and why it was necessary to invent something new. If you're asked this in an interview, you can't respond "no". If I were being interviewed, I'd hear it as somewhat like "Do you like unicorns, which are awesome? If so, describe your three favorite awesome activities with unicorns." Which is fine, if you're on…
Your second part is spot on, but the first question is not about the "yes/no" but the "why". Of course we invent, but the question is to find to what extent they are willing to go.
Re: The Mother of All Interview Questions
#5Most of my work in the last 8 years or so involves 'glue' or 'connections'. That is take two (or more) boxes and hook them together into a pipeline. Not sure if that qualifies one way or the other. The work certainly didn't exist before but I'm not entirely sure I'd call it 'invention'. I suppose in the interview suggested, I'd probably answer yes and then go on to describe as much as my NDAs allow...
Re: The Mother of All Interview Questions
#6Good idea. You should try using fewer words to describe it though.
Re: The Mother of All Interview Questions
#7That is a pretty cool question. Aside from ferreting out the mentality of the candidate or team (like are you bio-sciences and need to invent, or are you a CRM software maker and have NIH?), it probably tells a lot about the kinds of problem you're dealing with.
It turns out that I don't invent anything. I discover things that I never realized and perhaps nobody else has realized. Things like commonalities in seemingly different problems, generalized approaches to solving those problems, and other things that are intrinsic to the domain but not necessarily apparent. This is distinct from creating something new in that domain, and I think it's important to recognize that.
update: based on this, I'm going to start asking "Have you ever discovered something?" It really doesn't matter if it's original, but I want to work with the kinds of people who are capable of making discoveries for themselves.
Re: The Mother of All Interview Questions
#8> Does your process involve invention? If so, please describe the three most recent things you have invented and why it was necessary to invent something new. If you're asked this in an interview, you can't respond "no". If I were being interviewed, I'd hear it as somewhat like "Do you like unicorns, which are awesome? If so, describe your three favorite awesome activities with unicorns." Which is fine, if you're on…
The question of bias is an excellent one to ponder. I agree that my phrasing is biased, but so is:
The last three times you faced a "build or buy (/use open source)”
situation, which did you choose, and why?
One of the things I am interested in is places where the invetion-oriented folks didn’t perceive there was a buy/borrow option, because they had bought into a requirement that seemed to necessitate invention.
Re: The Mother of All Interview Questions
#9Most of my work in the last 8 years or so involves 'glue' or 'connections'. That is take two (or more) boxes and hook them together into a pipeline. Not sure if that qualifies one way or the other. The work certainly didn't exist before but I'm not entirely sure I'd call it 'invention'. I suppose in the interview suggested, I'd probably answer yes and then go on to describe as much as my NDAs allow...
Yeah, the language is a little pretentious but I believe that's the sort of invention they're looking for
Re: The Mother of All Interview Questions
#10Good idea. You should try using fewer words to describe it though.
Here is a blog post I wrote in seventeen paragraphs over lunch. Had I more time, I would have written it in seven.