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I started with a SQL question. He said "that's a dumb question."

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Re: I started with a SQL question. He said "that's a dumb question."

#21

Post by bgwalter »

more_corn wrote: post #17
bgwalter wrote: post #12

Calling someone a "disagreeable asshole" just for saying that something is a dumb question is a bit strong. So he went out for challenging management on an internal document and he was 100% correct according to that tweet. Seems to me that the actual assholes are still employed in that company. Perhaps he was just hired to fix the mess. Once the job was done, he was no longer needed.

Telling the interviewer that his first question is stupid is a sign of a disagreeable asshole. Now granted, you can push back about questions irrelevant to the job but asking candidate for a data engineering role a MySQL question is fair game. And even if it were irrelevant you’d want to frame it better. I’ve pushed back twice. Once the interviewer apologized (you’re right that’s not really relevant to the role) the…

However inappropriate the reaction to the SQL question may be, tweeting in a thinly anonymized manner about the incident is worse or perhaps even illegal.

As for management, perhaps we should coin the term "agreeable assholes" as a neologism for Machiavellian.

Re: I started with a SQL question. He said "that's a dumb question."

#22

Post by sandinmyjoints »

remram wrote: post #20

Asking dumb questions has become one of my moves in interviews. This is to expose LLM users, as LLMs are extremely unlikely to answer a "how do I do X" question with "you shouldn't do X", or "how would you replace Y" with "you should keep using Y". I guess now I have an additional reason to ask, so that I can screen out the assholes that will say it's a dumb question...

What interview format are you using that a candidate could be using an LLM during it?

Re: I started with a SQL question. He said "that's a dumb question."

#23

Post by elijaht »

sandinmyjoints wrote: post #22
remram wrote: post #20

Asking dumb questions has become one of my moves in interviews. This is to expose LLM users, as LLMs are extremely unlikely to answer a "how do I do X" question with "you shouldn't do X", or "how would you replace Y" with "you should keep using Y". I guess now I have an additional reason to ask, so that I can screen out the assholes that will say it's a dumb question...

What interview format are you using that a candidate could be using an LLM during it?

Anything not in person?

Re: I started with a SQL question. He said "that's a dumb question."

#24

Post by cluckindan »

sandinmyjoints wrote: post #22
remram wrote: post #20

Asking dumb questions has become one of my moves in interviews. This is to expose LLM users, as LLMs are extremely unlikely to answer a "how do I do X" question with "you shouldn't do X", or "how would you replace Y" with "you should keep using Y". I guess now I have an additional reason to ask, so that I can screen out the assholes that will say it's a dumb question...

What interview format are you using that a candidate could be using an LLM during it?

There is software that sends video call transcripts to LLMs and shows you answers in real-time.

Re: I started with a SQL question. He said "that's a dumb question."

#25

Post by owebmaster »

millzlane wrote: post #13

It's not my . Has been my mantra lately. If I mention that a quarterly update cycle for mission critical software is too long in the context of security and the desktop enginners don't agree...I just repeat my mantra. I did recently develop a fix to a stupid bug a company said was working as expected. So I don't always stick to the mantra. But I'll disagree once. But then I commit to whatever management wants no matt…

> But then I commit to whatever management wants no matter how boneheaded.

This is always the right thing to do when you decided to sell yourself as a cog of a bigger machine. Some times, management is right and the know-it-all engineer isn't.

Re: I started with a SQL question. He said "that's a dumb question."

#26

Post by JKCalhoun »

senthil_rajasek wrote: post #3

Moral of the story, you can be a star but still have to "work with" your managers.

Possible engineer was filtering the places he would want to work at.

Any place that fires me for calling bullshit — I would not want to work at anyway. Sayonara!

Re: I started with a SQL question. He said "that's a dumb question."

#27

Post by recursivedoubts »

bgwalter wrote: post #12

Calling someone a "disagreeable asshole" just for saying that something is a dumb question is a bit strong. So he went out for challenging management on an internal document and he was 100% correct according to that tweet. Seems to me that the actual assholes are still employed in that company. Perhaps he was just hired to fix the mess. Once the job was done, he was no longer needed.

found the disagreeable asshole

(I'm a disagreeable asshole)

Re: I started with a SQL question. He said "that's a dumb question."

#29

Post by Freedom2 »

remram wrote: post #20

Asking dumb questions has become one of my moves in interviews. This is to expose LLM users, as LLMs are extremely unlikely to answer a "how do I do X" question with "you shouldn't do X", or "how would you replace Y" with "you should keep using Y". I guess now I have an additional reason to ask, so that I can screen out the assholes that will say it's a dumb question...

Last time I said "you shouldn't do X" in an in person interview, I failed and the feedback was "candidate was not cooperative with the interviewer".

So even if the candidate is not using an LLM, the interview process is so messed up now that people willingly go along otherwise they may be rejected for, you know, actually stating what their experience was like.

Funnily enough, that was a YC funded company that I was interviewing for, and I expected a lot better.

Re: I started with a SQL question. He said "that's a dumb question."

#30

Post by danielheath »

sandinmyjoints wrote: post #22
remram wrote: post #20

Asking dumb questions has become one of my moves in interviews. This is to expose LLM users, as LLMs are extremely unlikely to answer a "how do I do X" question with "you shouldn't do X", or "how would you replace Y" with "you should keep using Y". I guess now I have an additional reason to ask, so that I can screen out the assholes that will say it's a dumb question...

What interview format are you using that a candidate could be using an LLM during it?

Video call?
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