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The worst job interview I ever had

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Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#331

Post by the_af »

raincole wrote: post #266
shantnutiwari wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" but the interview engine is already running at full speed:" I dont know if this is a recent thing, but I had a similar thing where an interviewer was racing forward, and would only accept the answers he had in mind. In Python, he asked me how to search for substring. I was thinking but he started hurrying me. So I said regex and started writing a regex. "No, there is an inbuilt method" I couldnt remember the method…

He was being rude, but I'm equally baffled by your description. It was very weird that you couldn't figure out which method is to search for substring when you have access to google search. And it was triply weird that when he already said he wanted the non-regex way and you insisted on that.

I think there's zero excuse to be rude to candidates, and the 101 of interviewing is to make it as comfortable as possible for the candidate and not hurrying them up when they are thinking (which wouldn't rememble real work anyway, those aren't the typical time pressures one usually finds on the job... usually). You want them to succeed and not trip up; if anything because it means no more conducting interviews for you! Also, basic human decency.

That said, really... finding a trivial python function using google search, that is a real life work skill. It's 100% real and not made up for interviews. I guess these days one would ask the LLM, too. The only artificial thing was the time pressure which, granted, complicates things needlessly, but other than that, the fact the candidate didn't come up with an answer is still a red flag. (I wouldn't disqualify them just for this, but maybe there were other red flags already?).

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#333

Post by ludicrousdispla »

zeafoamrun wrote: post #185
gobdovan wrote: post #173

I always wanted to tell the story of my weirdest interview. It's bad in a different way from OP's. This was for a "Machine Learning Engineer" contractor position. - Hi, I'm gobdovan. How are you? says I. The interviewer doesn't bite: - How many prompting techniques do you know? (ok?..) After a couple confused seconds, I respond with 2-3 techniques and ask if I should explain them, but the interview engine is already…

Holding up a cardboard board in a video interview? This is so deranged.

I wonder if the letters were hand-written or cut and pasted from several magazines.

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#334

Post by thinkharderdev »

TurdF3rguson wrote: post #26
cbdevidal wrote: post #23

Beats my worst interview. For some reason I mentioned that I like reading. The guy then demanded to list the last ten books I read. I just named ten random books that I had read at some point in my life, even in childhood. Pretty bizarre. Glad I didn’t get that job.

I mean, what's the cutoff for something like that. The last book you read seems innocent enough. The last 3? No red flag yet... 10 though is kind of a lot.

Honestly asking for any specific number is a deeply weird and off-putting question to ask.

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#335

Post by haspok »

gobdovan wrote: post #173

I always wanted to tell the story of my weirdest interview. It's bad in a different way from OP's. This was for a "Machine Learning Engineer" contractor position. - Hi, I'm gobdovan. How are you? says I. The interviewer doesn't bite: - How many prompting techniques do you know? (ok?..) After a couple confused seconds, I respond with 2-3 techniques and ask if I should explain them, but the interview engine is already…

I had such an interview once. The recruiting agent explained to me beforehand that this is kind of a "stress-technical" interview, supposed to test my real knowledge as I would have to answer the questions without thinking, almost instinctively.

My interview happened on the phone while I was commuting on a crowded train, and was extremely successful - at the end, we both agreed that we were not looking for each other :)

This was back when leetcode was just coming in full swing (early 2010s), which since then replaced it completely. I think the (startup - coincidence?) company that was trying to hire simply didn't have the money to pay for a leetcode hosting service, a phone call costs nothing after all, only time...

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#336

Post by rambambram »

ordu wrote: post #327
teiferer wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard to claim the moral high ground if you do eye for an eye. Always be nicer than the other side. Even for practical reasons. If they think you are a prick, the blast radius can be substantially wider than this specific interview. And for what? The lulz? I'm not saying to accept rude behavior, but one can leave such situations without being rude back or making a scene.

> Hard to claim the moral high ground if you do eye for an eye. I do not claim the moral high ground. My moral is more flexible, than just "an eye for an eye" or "be nicer than the other side". I can do any of that depending on a situation. I'm starting any communication with the latter, it is a consequence of my upbringing, but if it doesn't work I may do anything. I want to note, I know that "be nicer than the othe…

Beautifully spoken, you take the words out of my mouth.

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#337

Post by mettamage »

I had something similar to OP. "What was the worst fight you've ever had in your life?"

I asked "you want me to answer that honestly?"

"Yes"

So I did. It was from when I was seven.

They didn't proceed forward with me. But quite frankly, I wouldn't have proceeded forward with them either.

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#339

Post by elzbardico »

dnnddidiej wrote: post #166
elzbardico wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would go by something like: "The industrial society and its future" - Theodor Kaczinski. "The communist manifesto" - Karl Marx. "Rules for Radicals" - Saul Alinsky "Hitler's War" - David Irving "The Souls of Black Folk" - W.E.B. Du Bois "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" - Tom Pickety "Las venas abiertas da America Latina" - Eduardo Galeano "The question of Palestine" - Edward Said. "Grapes of Wrath" - John Stei…

Non zero chance you make a friend by citing the list! Or you get the boot. Especially when the Atlas Shrugged reading startup founder is deciding.

Oh, read this one too.

The funny thing is that I consider myself pretty much a conservative. But I am a small c Conservative, I distrust big corporations, big military, imperialism, and as a catholic, I abhor social darwinism. Of course I want my moral values to be the values of the society where I live in, but I prefer a world where this happens by evangelization, persuasion instead of cohercion.

I believe in private property, but I also believe that ultimatelly we are all children of God, so all us should partake in the world God has given to us, and everyone of us should have a job that give us dignity and purpose, access health care, health foods, a roof over our heads, a warm and inclusive community and a lot of second chances.

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#340

Post by the_af »

I hate to victim-blame because it's wrong, uncalled for, and also everyone has these kinds of lapses of reason and trip up. It happens to all of us.

That said, these job interviews aren't therapy sessions; they are roleplaying games where everyone must understand the rules and just pretend, so when they ask you "what's your biggest flaw" the only valid answer is "I'm too much of a perfectionist".

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