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I was rejected because I told my interviewer I never make mistakes

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Re: I was rejected because I told my interviewer I never make mistakes

#31

Post by koliber »

My favorite interview question is “What have you changed your mind about in the past 6 months?”

Usually it leads to a short and interesting conversation, either about their answer, or about change mindset in the meta level. Sometimes there are people who refuse to answer, evade, or give an answer that blames someone else for something. This is a big red flag.

You can’t learn if you think you know everything. If you never change your mind, you’re not learning and growing.

If someone told me they never make mistakes I would take it as a joke at first. If they insisted like the person in the post, the interview would end shortly.

Re: I was rejected because I told my interviewer I never make mistakes

#32

Post by _moof »

theonemind wrote: post #30

I don't find it that strange for someone to claim they never make mistakes. However, I would press for details as to why they never make mistakes. They probably don't take many risks, or work on the same or repetitive stuff for a long time, or don't consider "forced errors" mistakes, like a client gives you a bad spec and you implement it and they get mad. You could consider that you made a mistake in not pressing on…

It's either delusional or naive to think you never make mistakes. Everyone does.

Re: I was rejected because I told my interviewer I never make mistakes

#35

Post by [deleted] »

buffington wrote: post #21
dmd wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who interviews people… definitely not a troll. There are SO MANY people like this and they’re so incredibly sure that they’re right that they absolutely DO write letters like this, because they’re SURE they’re going to be told they’re right.

I've interviewed hundreds of people, possibly closer to 1000, and can confirm: there are actually people like this. I once asked a candidate how DNS worked. It's something that even junior candidates for this role should have known, but this candidate tried to insist that "DNS worked because of the DOM" (as in, the browser DOM). When asked to clarify, and given plenty of chances to save themselves, they continued to…

[deleted]

Re: I was rejected because I told my interviewer I never make mistakes

#36

Post by [deleted] »

theonemind wrote: post #30

I don't find it that strange for someone to claim they never make mistakes. However, I would press for details as to why they never make mistakes. They probably don't take many risks, or work on the same or repetitive stuff for a long time, or don't consider "forced errors" mistakes, like a client gives you a bad spec and you implement it and they get mad. You could consider that you made a mistake in not pressing on…

[deleted]

Re: I was rejected because I told my interviewer I never make mistakes

#37

Post by jfengel »

I do really like the idea of "Tell me about a mistake you made?" rather than "What is your greatest weakness?"

The latter is begging them to lie to you. I cannot imagine what answer it is they're hoping for. Some weakness that's bad enough to seem honest but not too bad to hire?

But asking about mistakes can tell you a lot:

* It shows that you understand the complexity and difficulty of real development.

* How do you go about solving problems?

* How will you react to other people's mistakes?

* Most importantly, it's an opportunity to tell a story. Communication skills, not just facts.

Re: I was rejected because I told my interviewer I never make mistakes

#38

Post by foofie »

JohnFen wrote: post #9
pavel_lishin wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She told me she had a technical background (although she had been in management 10 years so it’s not like her experience was even relevant) I want to say that this is absolutely troll behavior, but there's actually dingdongs who think like this - and who say things like this! - in the real world. But yes, if I read this on reddit's r/aita subreddit, I would assume this was mid-grade fiction.

I participated in a team interview a few months back with a candidate who had about 3 years of experience and an outsized opinion of his abilities. Immediately after he had clearly demonstrated that he wasn't as skilled as most people would be with three years of experience, he straight up declared himself to be a "senior software engineer". To experienced, working devs. My team exhibited an amazing ability to avoid…

> he straight up declared himself to be a "senior software engineer". To experienced, working devs.

Might it be possible that the candidate was trying to upsell his skillset? If there is any venue where this pays off, a job interview is precisely it.

Re: I was rejected because I told my interviewer I never make mistakes

#40

Post by dr_kiszonka »

buffington wrote: post #21
dmd wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who interviews people… definitely not a troll. There are SO MANY people like this and they’re so incredibly sure that they’re right that they absolutely DO write letters like this, because they’re SURE they’re going to be told they’re right.

I've interviewed hundreds of people, possibly closer to 1000, and can confirm: there are actually people like this. I once asked a candidate how DNS worked. It's something that even junior candidates for this role should have known, but this candidate tried to insist that "DNS worked because of the DOM" (as in, the browser DOM). When asked to clarify, and given plenty of chances to save themselves, they continued to…

Since you are so experienced in this area, I am wondering about candidates on the other end of the spectrum. When asked about my greatest weaknesses, I could easily list at least 10. What kind of answers to this question would you expect from good candidates?
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