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Worst interview questions for software developers
31–40 of 253 posts
Re: Worst interview questions for software developers
#324. 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…
Agreed. You changed twice last year and you have good reasons, fine. You changed every 6 months for the last 10 years and it is always the others fault? Either you've been really unlucky and I am sorry for you or the blame is not on the others and you may want to ask yourself some existential questions.
Interviews are here to determine if the place is a good fit, on both sides.
Re: Worst interview questions for software developers
#33Worst 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.…
Startups will work you to death if they could. I have zero interest in repeating this again.
Re: Worst interview questions for software developers
#34Questions like #5 are some of my least favorite. I don’t know if it’s only prevalent in the US, but can we stop throwing around phrases like “why are you the best” or “what is your super power”, etc. Not only this makes me cringe, it also leads to an uncomfortable moment since I always reply that I am not the best and don’t have super powers.
Re: Worst interview questions for software developers
#35One 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 starts a conversation with a pissing contest.
Re: Worst interview questions for software developers
#36Worst 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.…
I've laughed in potential employers' faces when they said they expect 50 to 60 hour weeks from their hires. It just reeks of entitlement.
> I've laughed in potential employers' faces when they said they expect 50 to 60 hour weeks from their hires.
Quant finance companies expect employees to work 60-80 hours per week.
But then again, they pay 400-500K USD to 22 year old new grads.
Re: Worst interview questions for software developers
#37I don't understand the animus against Fermi questions. I think they're quite indicative of a candidate's basic abilities, particularly for technical roles.
Re: Worst interview questions for software developers
#384. 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…
Yeah it's ridiculous to think it's a wrong question because you're in a resume competition and a peer is at 4 years per job average and you're at 1. Purely neutrally, for the hiring person, he s faced with a short term guy vs a medium term guy.
If the guy reply "why do you care", then it s def suspicious and the short term guy might be so incompetent he s pushed away and doesnt last more than a year. I d take the guy who seem to survive 4 years most jobs to be safe.
Re: Worst interview questions for software developers
#39Something I find myself doing is saying, “the reason I’m asking X is because Y.” I aim for absolute transparency. This isn’t a game of subterfuge, I’ll leave that part to
HR…
Re: Worst interview questions for software developers
#404. 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…
"I actually come prepared for this question, and have a line to explain each and every job I've departed in reverse chronological order. And I'd be happy to read them off if you'd like. You do? Okay... - VCs merged us with a Chinese acquisition and sent our work overseas - Manager ignored my memos for 5 years and then said "you have no new ideas" to my face in a review - Sales team demanded an emergency prototype and…
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