> “There’s an IC sitting out there who just had an amazing idea for a new feature/product. What happens?”
Man, I bet my answer and my VP's answer to that are gonna be rather different.
Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews
41–50 of 114 posts
Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suppose it depends on the role, but IME as a hiring interviewer, that phase of the interview can important. Do you truly not care to learn anything about the company you will spend the next 2,3,5,10 years with?
For somebody who's unemployed, especially somebody who's been unemployed a while (very common in this market), the main thing you care about is getting employed again. I imagine somebody who's currently employed wants to know that the company is better than the place they're currently at before they'd accept an offer. But sometimes "better" can be a very low bar to clear because their current company might be awful.…
> In other words, evaluating the candidate by their questions is just bias towards those who are already in good situations.
It sucks for the employee, but the unfortunate truth is that filtering for someone who's already in a good situation is actually a really good filter for the employer. As you say, it doesn't necessarily mean there's something wrong with them, but being unable to find a job for an extended period of time—to the point where you'll look for anything and not try to filter workplaces at all—is correlated with undesirable traits. Meanwhile, being steadily employed in a chaotic market and asking questions that show you're not desperate and are evaluating me as a hiring manager are both correlated with positive traits.
Again—not that any specific candidate is problematic or good because of those situations, but you will tend towards better hires overall if you watch those cues.
The hiring process sucks and it sucks that this method of filtering works, but it does work.
Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews
#43“There’s an IC sitting out there who just had an amazing idea for a new feature/product. What happens?” in a company with more than 10 staff, they should talk to a product manager, sorry. you can't build a sustainable company by adding new features willy nilly whenever some dev has a Great Idea.
I don’t like the wording of the question but saying “talk to a product manager” is a red flag answer that would be the exact wrong answer an engineer would be looking for.
A good manager coaches their engineers on how to package (one pager, demo, talking to partners etc.) and present their ideas to get buy-in from leadership, these types of managers are the ones hackers like.
A bad manager is one who gives a dismissive “talk to a PM” answer, who doesn’t coach through the politics/process of the company and simply dismisses your ideas outright. If you hear this type of answer it gives the impression of those “just do your job and keep your head down” sort of workplaces with management that’s bad for growth.
Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews
#44> In every round, the interviewer should leave with the impression that you answered their questions as honestly as possible because you’re looking for the right fit, not just a job. This is precisely what I despise about "job interviews". What you ask in the "Do you have any questions?" section of the interview should be irrelevant. I don't want to have to ask questions when I don't care about the answers just becau…
Yeah. When I’m interviewing folks at my current company, and the Q&A portion begins, I tell them they can ask whatever they want or just reclaim the time; my notes are sealed. More interviewers should operate like that.
You can tell them that, but I don't think I'd believe it as a candidate. I'll assume that every interaction I have with you up until an offer is extended is going to influence your perception of me, whether you're taking notes or not.
Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suppose it depends on the role, but IME as a hiring interviewer, that phase of the interview can important. Do you truly not care to learn anything about the company you will spend the next 2,3,5,10 years with?
For somebody who's unemployed, especially somebody who's been unemployed a while (very common in this market), the main thing you care about is getting employed again. I imagine somebody who's currently employed wants to know that the company is better than the place they're currently at before they'd accept an offer. But sometimes "better" can be a very low bar to clear because their current company might be awful.…
Yes, your current situation does make a difference in what is important to you and which questions you have. And it also influences the balance at the interviewing table. I can imagine that it is frustrating to feel being evaluated against candidates who have the luxery of saying ‘no’ to a new job and can think critically if they want to work at the new place. Sometimes you have more freedom to say ‘no’ then you think. It can make a difference between night and day.
Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews
#46> In every round, the interviewer should leave with the impression that you answered their questions as honestly as possible because you’re looking for the right fit, not just a job. This is precisely what I despise about "job interviews". What you ask in the "Do you have any questions?" section of the interview should be irrelevant. I don't want to have to ask questions when I don't care about the answers just becau…
I suppose it depends on the role, but IME as a hiring interviewer, that phase of the interview can important. Do you truly not care to learn anything about the company you will spend the next 2,3,5,10 years with?
The interesting stuff that will make an employment unpleasant is not going to come out in an interview. That stuff comes out over time. To boot, I can think of quiet a few lies/half truths from interviewers. It is like dating, nobody says they are actually a lazy slob and the codebase is a POS on the first date.
Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews
#47“There’s an IC sitting out there who just had an amazing idea for a new feature/product. What happens?” in a company with more than 10 staff, they should talk to a product manager, sorry. you can't build a sustainable company by adding new features willy nilly whenever some dev has a Great Idea.
“There’s a product manager sitting out there who just had a mediocre idea for some new feature. What happens?”
Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews
#48Treating the interview as two-way is good, and how it should be. A couple points: > When people struggle to answer it you still reap the rewards of letting them know that you’re not just looking for a job, you care about being successful at their company. If you publicize that in a Medium post targeting HN-like audience, aren't you just increasing the number of people will ask that question just to "reap the rewards"…
I think interviewer answer candidly when they care about the candidate actually thriving once they join, instead of spending a "I'm not job hopping" sacrificial year and get out as soon as they can.
Seeing how they react to the current company strategy is a valuable in that respect, and it will be better for both of them bail out during the interviews and not after signing the contract.
Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
For somebody who's unemployed, especially somebody who's been unemployed a while (very common in this market), the main thing you care about is getting employed again. I imagine somebody who's currently employed wants to know that the company is better than the place they're currently at before they'd accept an offer. But sometimes "better" can be a very low bar to clear because their current company might be awful.…
> In other words, evaluating the candidate by their questions is just bias towards those who are already in good situations. It sucks for the employee, but the unfortunate truth is that filtering for someone who's already in a good situation is actually a really good filter for the employer. As you say, it doesn't necessarily mean there's something wrong with them, but being unable to find a job for an extended perio…
> The hiring process sucks and it sucks that this method of filtering works, but it does work.
How do you know this? (That this is not just sampling error, survivor bias, and/or confirmation bias)
I speculate that a good hire is almost random. Context matters as well. I worked with someone that was horrible, to later find out they were the other dev that I was going to work with later on a contract job. The different environment was night and day.
That being said, I do think the signal of a horrible hire can more often than not be detected during an interview. Otherwise, IMO, there is too much noise that it is close to random.
Re: Three questions to turn the table during technical interviews
#50> In every round, the interviewer should leave with the impression that you answered their questions as honestly as possible because you’re looking for the right fit, not just a job. This is precisely what I despise about "job interviews". What you ask in the "Do you have any questions?" section of the interview should be irrelevant. I don't want to have to ask questions when I don't care about the answers just becau…
If you don't have any interest why do you want to work at that organization? You just want a check? That's not a good way to spend half your waking hours during the work week.
Because the answers are likely not reliable anyways. Catfishing is the term.