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Worst interview questions for software developers

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Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#61

Post by mbg721 »

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.…

"172." "There are only 168 hours in a week." "We expect your family to put in some hours also."

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#62

Post by Volundr »

FabHK wrote: post #57

That is a terrible list. Many of those questions are perfectly fine. 10 - Fermi problems. Good to get an indication of a candidate's problem solving skills. 9,8,7,6 - The candidates's motivation, weaknesses, strengths, plans. What's wrong with that? Evidently, you have to modulate the answers somewhat, but the extent to which you do that well is indicative of your understanding of the job requirements, the competitio…

I actually disagree on 10, I just estimated the population of New York then looked it up and was off by an order of magnitude. Good chance I'd do worse in an interview situation than sitting at home. A few more estimates with errors of this size and we've learned what? I have a poor grasp of US census data? Unless this is a realistic approximation of the kind of thing your doing with this job, the time in the interview would be better spent on a problem within your domain, but that means the interviewer has to spend time coming up with something instead of Googling "interview questions". See also: "why are manhole covers round?" Which is a real question we asked all of our candidates at a previous job right up until I got control of the process (fun fact, invalid assumption. They come in all shapes and triangles are surprisingly common)

But agreed on the rest. OP thinks they are bad, when really they are poorly worded, and they would be better off taking a moment to think what kind of information the interviewer is trying to get at with their questions. Heck if the job involves interfacing with other people the ability to do this can even be an important signal on if the candidate is right for the job. A lot of people are really bad at asking what they are looking for.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#63

Post by Turing_Machine »

FabHK wrote: post #57

That is a terrible list. Many of those questions are perfectly fine. 10 - Fermi problems. Good to get an indication of a candidate's problem solving skills. 9,8,7,6 - The candidates's motivation, weaknesses, strengths, plans. What's wrong with that? Evidently, you have to modulate the answers somewhat, but the extent to which you do that well is indicative of your understanding of the job requirements, the competitio…

> 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 2021 Prius is emitting a high-pitched whine and exhibiting poor acceleration from stop lights. What is the likely cause?" or "This patient has a blood pressure of foo/bar, a creatinine level of blah and has this other symptom blugh. What would be your next step?" If you gave them a Fermi problem they'd probably walk out the door.

Many of these "interview questions" are basically just cargo cult stuff. The company has heard that Microsoft or one of the FAANGs has used some weird-assed question at some point, and thinks that if only they do the same, they'll be the next FAANG. It's a tacit admission that the hiring manager actually has no clue as to how to evaluate a candidate based on metrics that are actually relevant to the job.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#64

Post by necovek »

Volundr wrote: post #60
lr4444lr wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking personally, I always want to give a technically promising candidate a chance to defend his job hopping, but rarely do I hear convincing reasons for sub 2 year stints unless it is something out of their control, like a spouse needing to move for work, or their whole department getting laid off.

I'll just second this based on my experience with software engineers. Most places I've worked your looking at at least 6 months before someone is starting to get enough familiarity with everything involved in the internal ecosystem (both technical and non) to really be productive and probably a year before they're starting to reach the productivity of their peers. So if someone leaves at 2 years you've probably gotte…

I've contributed significant changes in my first 3 months at most jobs. Lack of fit (eg with your manager) can become too much at 5 months.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#65

Post by jemmyw »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #63
FabHK wrote: post #57

That is a terrible list. Many of those questions are perfectly fine. 10 - Fermi problems. Good to get an indication of a candidate's problem solving skills. 9,8,7,6 - The candidates's motivation, weaknesses, strengths, plans. What's wrong with that? Evidently, you have to modulate the answers somewhat, but the extent to which you do that well is indicative of your understanding of the job requirements, the competitio…

> 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…

Do mechanics and doctors actually get asked those questions? I don't think doctors do, they have credentials and references. I'm pretty sure mechanics around here wouldn't get asked that, just references and maybe credentials and "how soon can you start?"

Software is a weird industry where you have to quiz every applicant to make sure they know how to program even though they've been the industry for years, and we seem to get it wildly wrong anyway.

Coincidentally, although I've been offered jobs after doing these kind of interviews and technical tests, I've only ever accepted jobs that are on the basis of "we know you, just come along" and I guess I now don't have any trust in a full interview process.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#66

Post by necovek »

victor9000 wrote: post #35

One 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 star…

"Walked out on this interview" would have been perfect :)

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#67

Post by Turing_Machine »

jemmyw wrote: post #65
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…

Do mechanics and doctors actually get asked those questions? I don't think doctors do, they have credentials and references. I'm pretty sure mechanics around here wouldn't get asked that, just references and maybe credentials and "how soon can you start?" Software is a weird industry where you have to quiz every applicant to make sure they know how to program even though they've been the industry for years, and we se…

You're right that doctors have a well-established credentialing process, but yes, I believe that they are asked questions like that. Or maybe "For a herniated bupkis, some doctors prefer the Bloggs reduction, while others prefer the Quimby resection. Which do you prefer and why?"

There are nearly as many poseurs in mechanics as there are in programming, though. I think reputable shops grill candidates pretty hard. And not with Fermi questions.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#68

Post by jemmyw »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #67
jemmyw wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do mechanics and doctors actually get asked those questions? I don't think doctors do, they have credentials and references. I'm pretty sure mechanics around here wouldn't get asked that, just references and maybe credentials and "how soon can you start?" Software is a weird industry where you have to quiz every applicant to make sure they know how to program even though they've been the industry for years, and we se…

You're right that doctors have a well-established credentialing process, but yes, I believe that they are asked questions like that. Or maybe "For a herniated bupkis, some doctors prefer the Bloggs reduction, while others prefer the Quimby resection. Which do you prefer and why?" There are nearly as many poseurs in mechanics as there are in programming, though. I think reputable shops grill candidates pretty hard. An…

I guess the only doctors I've known are ones going through the state run education and health system and it seems pretty streamlined. You go and work where you're told to based on your educational choices and achievements, there aren't interviews as such. It must be different going into a private health system.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#69

Post by necovek »

rzzzt wrote: post #53
xyzelement wrote: post #10

#10 is a measurement of ability to mentally model and estimate problems. Relevant to engineering ability. #8 measures self-awareness. Many people can answer this question with "I know I could be much better at X and I am working on it" which is what it's about.

Do recruiters have up-to-date information on the number of piano tuners in NYC? How do they verify the answer?

It's never about guessing a correct answer.

Eg. if I guess NYC population is 10M, with every 100th household having a piano, I can guess there are 100k pianos in NYC. If each of them needs tuning once every two years, that's 50k tunes each year. That's roughly 1k tunes each week, which, if a tuner can do 2 a day (5 work days per week), is 100 tuners.

And then it'd be worth comparing to tuning of venue pianos which are tuned more frequently: let's say 10k venues with pianos requiring tuning every month, or 2k tunes a week. So another 200 tuners.

You can also talk about pattern of work instead of market demands (eg most tuners only get 1 tune a week, so we can multiply the number of tuners by 10), just to show off you are ignoring other variables knowingly.

Obviously, each of the guesses has a large error margin, and errors multiply, so you can be off by way more than a single order of magnitude.

But just coming up with things to include in your calculation, and not being scared of exploring such random situations with little data you know, signals some generic problem solving ability.

Eg for a better answer, I now know I need exact number of people and venues in NYC, I need to ask tuners how often are pianos tuned, get some data on how frequent are pianos in homes, how long does a tune take, etc.

While I think I am decent at these questions, and I do believe they signal a very generic problem solving ability, I agree they are terrible interview questions for most software engineering roles, since you rarely hire for such generic ability, and might even get more out of a more specific question/test..

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#70

Post by Volundr »

necovek wrote: post #64
Volundr wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll just second this based on my experience with software engineers. Most places I've worked your looking at at least 6 months before someone is starting to get enough familiarity with everything involved in the internal ecosystem (both technical and non) to really be productive and probably a year before they're starting to reach the productivity of their peers. So if someone leaves at 2 years you've probably gotte…

I've contributed significant changes in my first 3 months at most jobs. Lack of fit (eg with your manager) can become too much at 5 months.

In my last job I completed a project that had been backlogged for months within about two months of starting. It was still about 6 before I really felt like I had my feet under me, and definitely closer to the year mark before I really had a grasp of the full ecosystem and was operating at the level I'd expect to be. Admittedly this was a larger organization with around 10-15 engineering teams all managing services that had to interact. The numbers I mentioned weren't a hard-fast universal rule, more a rough guideline from the environments I've been both an IC and manager in.

I 100% agree lack of fit can absolutely be a reason to leave in < 6 months. One or two of these wouldn't be a concern, however I've seen resumes of people who have been in the industry 8 years, with the average stint being between 6-8 months and none over 2-years. I'll probably pass on this candidate, even if they otherwise look better than my next choice. Sure they might make "significant changes" in the 6 months they are here, but I'll almost certainly be better off in the long run with the person who sticks around long enough to have something resembling deep knowledge of our environment. If they have had a "lack of fit" with that many previous managers, I have no reason to believe I'll be the one they finally click with.

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