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Worst interview questions for software developers

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Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#71

Post by foreverCarlos »

xwolfi wrote: post #50
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.…

You never put a ceiling: otherwise it makes them believe you work the hours, not the job (I mean, if you care to "win" the job offer). A good response is "there s no hour limit: as long as there s work and the client isnt satisfied, we work. I think it's important to sleep a bit between work day sto stay coherent, otherwise as long as I can". Doesnt matter true or not :D

Hm, I think a counterargument to that is that there is always work, so not sure where that leaves you…

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#72

Post by ikiris »

lr4444lr wrote: post #13
lofatdairy wrote: post #3

>4. Why do you change jobs so often (so rarely)? Am I wrong to think this seems at least somewhat reasonable? Like obviously it's annoying to explain yourself, but it takes time to on-board someone and for them to become productive and it seems reasonable to want someone to stay on long enough for that at least. This naturally applies less to those super engineers you barely need to train and have obvious experienced…

No, you're not wrong, and are even downplaying how seriously disruptive a serial job hopper is to a company. I have without regrets red-flagged numerous well-qualified candidates who were an obvious flight risk at the companies I have worked at, which were always smallish. Now that big tech is contracting its ranks somewhat, this behavior is going to be even more suspect, because they will not have that refuge so eas…

If you want people to stay, pay them more in tune with what they're worth and they will. This isn't brain surgery.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#73

Post by tikhonj »

chronsk830 wrote: post #36
heavyset_go wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Can't speak for most firms, but I interned at Jane Street and this definitely wasn't the case: almost everyone there worked 45 hours/week with a consistent schedule (market hours + a small buffer).

It makes sense: they value people doing high-quality work and avoiding mistakes. Everybody there was also clearly very productive—it was one of my first experiences that convinced me that long hours are actively counterproductive.

I understand other firms in the space (like Citadel) have pretty different cultures, so it's not going to be true for the entire field.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#74

Post by 082349872349872 »

lr4444lr wrote: post #20

It's not a terrible list, but #10 and #4 are fine, IMHO.

#10 is not only fine, but ought to be mandatory. How can you expect anyone ever to "engineer" something if they are not capable of making (and refining) rough estimates?

Sure, often you just have to measure. But I'd much rather work with the person who can get an order-of-magnitude estimate from a 10 minute measure than the person who gets a reasonably accurate estimate but only after taking half a day to set up the experiment.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#75

Post by kthejoker2 »

I offer 5 good "situation / behavior /outcome" (SBO, sometimes called STAR) questions, the key is there aren't objectively "correct" answers, you decide what behaviors you prefer (humility, risk management, bias for action, respect for chain of command, etc) and then select for answers that demonstrate them.

Interviewer tips: listen not just to the answer, but also how do they communicate, do they use deflective or passive language, ask them to elaborate a lot with lots of details (bullshitters are bad at this), let them do all the talking ("why? Tell me more" Or "and then what happened?" are all the additional prompts needed), take good notes

* tell me about a time you disagreed with someone senior to you. (After every prompt ask "How did you handle it" and "what were the results?")

* tell me about a time you failed

* tell me about a time you had too much to do and not enough time do it.

* tell me about a time you solved a problem in a way you were really proud of.

* tell me about a time you felt you were asked to do something that was outside your skillset or comfort zone.

Lots of alternative questions you could ask instead, but again the key is no right answers, and you'll get a lot more signal compared to most questions.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#76

Post by enraged_camel »

foreverCarlos wrote: post #27
cpitman wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like it was actually a perfect question. It made it crystal clear that you and the company didn't see eye to eye on work conditions, and that neither of you would be happy working together.

I would feel grateful for this question. It would allow me to quickly reject this company and move on.

Personally, if the expectation is to work 50 hours a week, then the question to ask them is "OK, do you pay 25% more than the average salary for this position?"

Of course, the only reason you'd ask such a question in the interview is that you have already decided you don't want the job. But the response can still be illuminating/entertaining. :)

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#77

Post by apigalore »

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.…

The recruiter failed his/her job for not being upfront about this.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#78

Post by hinkley »

foreverCarlos wrote: post #71
xwolfi wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You never put a ceiling: otherwise it makes them believe you work the hours, not the job (I mean, if you care to "win" the job offer). A good response is "there s no hour limit: as long as there s work and the client isnt satisfied, we work. I think it's important to sleep a bit between work day sto stay coherent, otherwise as long as I can". Doesnt matter true or not :D

Hm, I think a counterargument to that is that there is always work, so not sure where that leaves you…

There is always someone who will make their lack of forethought into your problem. As long as they can override pushback with a little bit of social engineering they will never learn.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#79

Post by Psychlist »

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…

Nah, software is weird because they so rarely ask people to do anything related to the task at hand. "solve a toy problem without using libraries. Please don't paste off SE/AI".

I prefer to actually think about what I want and devise a problem set to work through with the last candidates. You know, "here's a simple TCP server with a minor bug in the handler for one packet. Let's fix it". Real job: here's a 100k LoC server. Add a report/packet type/etc or fix a bug...

Uses up my time as well as theirs, but shows me a lot about how they work as well as what they'll be like to deal with.

Re: Worst interview questions for software developers

#80

Post by xedrac »

lofatdairy wrote: post #3

>4. Why do you change jobs so often (so rarely)? Am I wrong to think this seems at least somewhat reasonable? Like obviously it's annoying to explain yourself, but it takes time to on-board someone and for them to become productive and it seems reasonable to want someone to stay on long enough for that at least. This naturally applies less to those super engineers you barely need to train and have obvious experienced…

I felt this point was very out of place on that list. I've interviewed so many people that had an average tenure of 6-9 months across many different jobs. In my field, if someone only stays for 6-9 months, then it was a complete waste of time. I suppose I could just outright reject the candidate without letting them explain, but that seems to be worse than just asking the uncomfortable question.
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