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Java interview question

 
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Hi Sam,

I'd like to ask couple of questions regarding your book and getting a Java developer job in general.

What weight do you put on soft skills? The knowledge is important, but it's not everything the developer should hold in my opinion.
Are you aware of any big differences in getting a Java job regarding country? Are there any specifics that you know of?

Thanks,
Tomas
 
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Hi Tomas,
Thanks for the questions!

Soft skills- this is a great question and something I keep emphasising over and over and over. Soft skills are SO INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT! I think on the site somewhere I've said that soft skills can be 75% of the battle. It doesn't matter if you know everything and you're a great coder; if you're difficult to get on with and you don't work well with others then you're not going to get the job. Conversely, you might struggle with some questions, or perhaps be a bit junior, but if you've got great spirit and personality, can explain things clearly and show a clear willing to learn, then that means everything. I remember one interview in particular where the candidate hadn't been doing Java for a while and was a bit rusty, but they were so enthusiastic about programming and desperate to learn that it made a great impression (and they got hired!).

In terms of country, I've not experienced any huge differences. I've worked in London, NY and Hong Kong, and I've worked closely with China. Generally everything is pretty similar in my experience! It's easier to be pickier in London and NY because the job market is a lot more liquid and there's a ton of talent available.
 
Tomas Linhart
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Thanks for answer! And I fully agree. Hard skills are much easier to gain, but the soft skills are a prerequisite for successfull work experience.
 
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IMO, developers have a lot more soft skills than they give themselves credit for. The problem is

a) They usually neglect to present their soft skills in their resume and interview. Soft skills get glossed over

b) An applicant who overemphasizes hard skills brings up a huge red flag. Yes, you don't expect a fresh out of college student to have soft skills. However, if you are 5-10 years in the industry and you fail to mention anything soft you have done, then it's an indication that you don't value soft skills. Which can lead me to believe that you probably don't value other people who have the soft skills. Usually, I don't go let it go this far, and if the person is being too technical, I will start probing him/her on soft skills
 
Tomas Linhart
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That's interesting point, Jayesh. I guess this is some sort of game. Developers are tempted to emphasize their hard skills, because they assume it's what is wanted from them on such position. Personalists are a bit further - they constitute the demand side. So it will take some time, I believe, until aligns.
 
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On the other hand, there appear to be some areas in the world, Asia in particular, where interview questions are focused on language quirks, esoteric and obscure programming tricks, and just downright "clever" but silly "stuff", to put it mildly. Just take a sample of some of the interview questions we get asked about in these forums and you'll see what I mean. Sometimes we can't help but be snarky in our responses either, like "If your interviewer asks that kind of question, just get up and run for your life. You don't want to work with guys like that" or something to that effect. Obviously, that's not a good approach if you're really desperate for a job but then again is the risk of working in a bad environment and/or programming culture really worth it? What would you do in situations like that, Sam? What's are some tactful ways to handle bad interview questions? If there ever was a soft skill that's useful to have, I would think this would be it.
 
Sam Atkinson
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Haha that's a good question, but unfortunately it doesn't have a good answer. My approach usually is just to be direct and call them out on it, specifically asking how they think my ability to answer stupid question X will show my ability to do my job. If you do it and try to be sincere (e.g. to understand their reasoning) it can go ok, but most people will just be confused or surprised.

I know that the answer on here is usually "if an interviewer is asking that then you don't want the job", but genuinely I don't think there's any way around it. If people ask dumb questions there's not much you can do as an interviewee to fix it.

 
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And what happens if you say this sort of thing swaps the two numbers?You can tell it is Java® and not C or C++ or C# because it uses System.out.
 
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