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Worst interview questions for software developers

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Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#131

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

IncRnd wrote: post #6

4. Why do you change jobs so often (so rarely)? How does that matter? If I am a match for the company in terms of qualifications and personal qualities, how will my job history and reflection help? I changed jobs every year or so. Is that “often” or “rarely”? What’s wrong with changing jobs frequently? It is actually important to ask this of a candidate who seems to frequently change jobs. A hiring manager may not wa…

> It is actually important to ask this of a candidate who seems to frequently change jobs.

It seems very inaccurate to judge that probability purely on past performance, which is likely to be just a handful of data points.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#132

Post by curious-im »

andirk wrote: post #102
curious-im wrote: post #85

Most of the questions by themselves are not stupid, it looks like the author just used them for the wrong reasons. It's more of a HR questions and as a manager he can leave it to recruiters. Many years ago I worked in HR, here's this questions as recruiters see them: 9. Trying to understand persons motivation for the job. For culture fit, for position, etc. Not a'ways 'i love it and that's my sole interest in life' i…

The whole how many dogs fit in to a clown car is truly a waste of time and a relic of the original Google interview questions that everyone beat off to. Value your prospect's time and ask relevant questions even if they are weird. But don't think you/they, Mr. I Just Thought of A Fun Question With No Way of Discerning If The Answer is Sufficient Or Not, are going to create some existential divide between the good can…

I feel the same about them. And about algorithm questions for some positions also. I understand all this "we want to see how you solve the problem" argument, but... 99% of the time I will solve a very different problems.

I learned to value good interviews. And I'm not afraid to stop and quit interviews that I don't like. If you don't like questions and don't want to participate, act like an adult - explain you are not interested and save time for both parties involved.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#133

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

rdoherty wrote: post #23

Worst one I got recently was "What is your perfect number of working hours per week?" I said 40 and the interview process was ended early after the CEO said "oh we put in 50 per week because we know it takes extra effort for a startup". I expanded on how 40 is what works for me, interview got very cold after that. I felt pretty incredulous after that. Especially when the recruiter asked if 40 was a hard requirement.…

Sounds like you dodged a bullet there! If the question is specifically about work for someone else, that they decide you do, I'd be suspicious of anyone answering anything other than "zero".

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#134

Post by europeanguy »

FabHK wrote: post #37

I don't understand the animus against Fermi questions. I think they're quite indicative of a candidate's basic abilities, particularly for technical roles.

Most coders are bad at thinking with numbers, and so bad at answering these type of questions. So, instead of improving themselves, they invent reasons why the questions are bad.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#135

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

cpitman wrote: post #24
rdoherty wrote: post #23

Worst one I got recently was "What is your perfect number of working hours per week?" I said 40 and the interview process was ended early after the CEO said "oh we put in 50 per week because we know it takes extra effort for a startup". I expanded on how 40 is what works for me, interview got very cold after that. I felt pretty incredulous after that. Especially when the recruiter asked if 40 was a hard requirement.…

Sounds like it was actually a perfect question. It made it crystal clear that you and the company didn't see eye to eye on work conditions, and that neither of you would be happy working together.

It's the fact that they're trying to trick you that I'd object to. Why not "we do a standard 50-hour week, how do you feel about that?"?

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#136

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

foreverCarlos wrote: post #46
buggy6257 wrote: post #2

Depending on where you are, questions 1 and 3 are just straight up illegal. No interviewer in the US would dare ask about vices or your family situation unless they don’t mind shelling out lawsuit settlements to everyone they interview and decline to hire.

Question #3 offers a great opportunity to make the interviewer feel very uncomfortable. Tell them your bad habit is sticking boogers on your keyboard.

"My bad habit is hacking into the personal computers of interviewers who decide not to give me a job."

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#137

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

victor9000 wrote: post #35

One of the most ridiculous questions I've encountered was asked by a manager on the Alexa team. First question in and this guy sneers at me and says tell me the smartest thing you've ever done. Hmmm... what? To say this rubbed me the wrong way is an understatement. I knew immediately that I would loathe reporting to someone so egotistical, so it went downhill from there. I'm just never going humor to someone who star…

"Learnt to feed myself" would probably be my answer.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#138

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

pipeline_peak wrote: post #81

> 4. What’s wrong with changing jobs frequently? This blog post is pretty self congratulatory. We get it, employer bad -> employee good. The fact of the matter is, they are investing in you. It often costs more to hire frequent replacements than one long-standing employee. I’ve been places 9 months, 6 MONTHS, this question drives me up the walls. At the back of my head, I never once thought, “I don’t deserve to be as…

I guess if the employer is willing to tell you how often they sack people, there's at least some give and take.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#139

Post by goodpoint »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #63
FabHK wrote: post #57

That is a terrible list. Many of those questions are perfectly fine. 10 - Fermi problems. Good to get an indication of a candidate's problem solving skills. 9,8,7,6 - The candidates's motivation, weaknesses, strengths, plans. What's wrong with that? Evidently, you have to modulate the answers somewhat, but the extent to which you do that well is indicative of your understanding of the job requirements, the competitio…

> 10 - Fermi problems. Good to get an indication of a candidate's problem solving skills. Well, you could ask them to solve a problem that might realistically come up on the job. There are a lot of professions that require problem solving, but they don't use Fermi problems. Interviewees for car mechanic or doctor positions don't get asked how many piano tuners there are in Chicago. They get asked questions like "A 20…

> Interviewees for car mechanic or doctor positions

Because those are different jobs. A good software engineer must be able to reason around all sort of real world problems. Software does not exist in a vacuum.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#140

Post by lr4444lr »

drewcoo wrote: post #114
lr4444lr wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you're not wrong, and are even downplaying how seriously disruptive a serial job hopper is to a company. I have without regrets red-flagged numerous well-qualified candidates who were an obvious flight risk at the companies I have worked at, which were always smallish. Now that big tech is contracting its ranks somewhat, this behavior is going to be even more suspect, because they will not have that refuge so eas…

> when he gets bored at my workplace And that! That is the problem to deal with. Or just don't hire the bastard. Your choice.

There's a nugget of truth in what you're saying: it is a valid expectation that knowledge workers be adequately stimulated. But we're not gonna start adding the latest flavor of NoSQL just because it's been popular for 4 months in the tech blogosphere.
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