Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Worst interview questions for software developers

fibery.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 253 posts

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#221

Post by astura »

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.…

That was actually a great question for both parties!

They were filtering out people who were not willing to work 50 hours a week

You were filtering out companies who expected over 40 hours of work a week.

The only complaint I have is they should have put hour requirements it in the job posting so you both filtered each other out before it got to the interview stage.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#222

Post by PoignardAzur »

ownagefool wrote: post #130
neilv wrote: post #107

> 4. Why do you change jobs so often (so rarely)? If an engineering candidate's last few positions have all been about a 1-year vest, that's definitely going to be on my mind. I'd prefer to build a coherent, highly-effective development team who can see us through the whole lifecycles of this and successive projects -- not what might as well be fly-by-night gig contractors, tossing less-aligned check-off sprint deliv…

I mean most people will just tell you what you want to hear, but the reality it's usually about the following things: Pay - Almost always, wages don't keep up with your progression, and never with the market. Progression - Not just promotions, but being given the interesting work to run with. Once someone sees you as junior, it's easier to go somewhere else to be treated with a bit more gravitas. Morale - Quite a lot…

Wow. I feel incredibly targeted by that list.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#223

Post by Someone »

karaterobot wrote: post #48

> How do you see yourself in five years? Man, this question. I was asked this question in an interview for a startup. I gave the regular answer that was expected of me. The interview went well, and at the end when the interviewer (who was the co-founder) asked if I had any questions, I turned this around on him: "where do you see [company x] in five years?" He laughed and talked about finding product-market fit and g…

>> How do you see yourself in five years?

> Questions like this have no answer

Is “Retired” ever a good answer to that, even if it’s true?

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#224

Post by necovek »

sdiupIGPWEfh wrote: post #210
necovek wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what this tests for. I have no idea what those values are! I am still able to make guesses to show that I can figure out a bunch of variables that affect the final value. And since I am multiplying data that's off maybe even by few orders of magnitude, errors multiply as well: I am aware of how erroneous input data affects the results too. Is it relevant to software development as a whole? It definitel…

> It tests for that generic and general ability to estimate anything, and to break down any problem. Ability to BS and multiply, more or less. Feels like a waste of a question even for the one asking it! > Yet some people get flabbergasted . . . since they think too much about specifics of each of the numbers they use and how wrong they might be. Basically, they have a hard time of letting go of the inaccuracies :) H…

Being able to tell when highly accurate approach is required and when it is not is as much a quality in a technical profession as being simply accurate is.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#225

Post by [deleted] »

andirk wrote: post #99
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…

That's a fine question. The "what's with this gap in your resume" makes me want to slap someone. I didn't feel like working and I am compensated well for my skillset that you seek hereto, so how about why haven't you taken a break recently, son? Huh? Too busy catching up on the Joneses to keep yourself relevant? Thought so.

[deleted]

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#227

Post by Turing_Machine »

goodpoint wrote: post #139
Turing_Machine wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you that a software engineer needs better problem solving skills than a doctor. Strongly.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#228

Post by Turing_Machine »

Too wrote: post #96
Turing_Machine wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Many software applications actually require estimates and thinking similar to how you would solve Fermi problems. Like, how many disks are needed to backup our database every week with 6 months retention? It's actually a very straightforward equation, but way too often people just trial-and-error or make an assumption out of nowhere, instead of plugging in the disk-size, user-count and growth rate multiplied with siz…

> Like, how many disks are needed to backup our database every week with 6 months retention?

Then maybe ask that question instead?

But even this question is not relevant to the vast majority of programming jobs. It's more of a devops question.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#229

Post by cowthulhu »

tgv wrote: post #160
cowthulhu wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal isn’t to see how close you can get to the correct answer, it’s to see the extent to which you’re able to break down a complex problem you haven’t seen before into steps you can take to solve it.

And are you sure the person on the other side of the table can assess your problem solving skills correctly? That would make them an expert on Fermi-like problems. OTOH, perhaps HR really knows how many civilizations are out there in the universe.

There are no guarantees the other person knows anything, but they don’t need to be an expert to confirm you can break down a problem

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#230

Post by sakibomb »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #157
andirk wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a fine question to chew the fat with, and there _are_ wrong answers, needn't I go in to those. Probably the best answer: even better off, more happy, more fulfilled, and not worrying about where I will be in the next 5 years.

Which would be some of the wrong answers?

I interview people for support roles, when I ask this question it’s to see what their future goals are career wise. If they say they want to be in marketing or something else, I simply ask how they see this job helping them get there. That’s where they can come in with the wrong answer.

If this role can’t help you get to your actual goals, chances are you’ll be looking to leave sooner than later and you most likely wont be as invested.

Post reply on HN