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The ideal way to take an interview?

 
Ranch Hand
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I endorse THIS

The origin of this was in ranch's J2ME forum here

Just wanted to know other people's view on THE IDEAL WAY of recruiting a person, so shifted it here.

- Ramy..
[ May 02, 2006: Message edited by: Ramender Mall ]
 
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Nice read ! If i were the guy interviewing some one i would ask some basic questions that require common sense. If the guy is a frsh graduate it would be fun. I can ask him all sorts of stuff. I agree with most of what is written there.
 
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Check the Software Engineering Approach topic for a list of some other Joel On Software favorites.

I tried to "scare" some people (a jolt every now and then is a good thing) in the SCJA forum (Which Certification? ) with that one but it didn't seem to have any impact.
 
Ramender Mall
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Just feel like sharing one interview that I gave some 13 months back.

I was giving that interview as a frehser and the joinees were supposed to work on C#.net.

I went through a written test, and no where in my resume was written that I know C# to any extent. Moreover, I told the interviewer SPECIFICALLY - I have never worked on .NET. He smiles and says "No Issues", and then the first question is - What is .NET framework? I politely reminded him of my little knowledge of that field. Again He smiles and says "OK".
Next question was again some bullshit crap about TYPICAL .NET stuff.
After that interview got over, as obvious as it can be, I was not selected.

BUT, was that my fault?
- I dont think so. (however, this does not mean that I cleared all the interviews where questions made sense , but there fault was mine )

Although the company I was trying to get in, is a reasonable good company, but I still dont know wat did they want?

- Ramy..
 
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Originally posted by Ramender Mall:
Although the company I was trying to get in, is a reasonable good company, but I still dont know wat did they want?



Intevierwing skill is the one area which is most ignored in many companies. If a personn is good technically, it doesn't mean that he is also a good interviewer. In fact this is one area where nobody in your comapny can rate (or doesn't rate) your performance. So a person with bad interviewing techniques keeps on putting bad image of company in front of potentially good candidates as well.

Recently our company oragnised training on Interviewing & Assesment Skills. Main points to emerge out of it were:

1. Some people don't even know how to greet candidate and make him comfortable. By making him comforatable you can extract a lot more information from him.
2. Not going thruough CV properly before interview.
3. Not asking questions focused on critical job requirement.
4. Asking aimless questions like: "Tell me something about yourself ?"
So rather than asking "What makes you think you can sell?"
one should ask "Tell me about the largest sale you made & how you did it?"


Regards,
Jass
 
Rancher
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I'm not disagreeing with of the above, but I would expect knowledge of what .NET is, what its characterizing features are, and what technologies it competes with from any propective developer for my team (even though we are exclusively J2EE). It shows that he takes an interest in things that may not have a direct impact on his work, but that are a big part of the industry.
 
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Joel has a major attitude problem...

In his very first paragraph he says that there are only imposters, loosers, and superstars, and that his technique is guaranteed to find you those few superstars...

"Smart candidates will realize that you are not quizzing them on their knowledge, and they will enthusiastically leap into trying to figure out some back-of-the-envelope answer. "

Idiotic. You ARE being quizzed on your knowledge. Give the wrong answer and/or say you lack the knowledge to answer a question and it's bye bye.
He states after all a bit earlier that he wants only brilliant people (thus people who know everything...).

"Not-so-smart candidates will get flustered and upset. They will just stare at you like you landed from Mars. You have to coach them. "Well, if you were building a new city the size of Los Angeles, how many gas stations would you put in it?" You can give them little hints. "How long does it take to fill up a tank of gas?" "

Stupid example. Not enough data.

"Strong candidates will find a way to persuade you. They will have a whole laundry list of Dale Carnegie techniques to win you over. "Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you," they will say. But they will stand their ground. Hire. "

Maybe true for Joel, but most people you'll face as a candidate will reject you if you oppose their views. Interviewers in general aren't looking for headstrong people but meek lambs to be molded into nice little corporate drones.

"Finally, avoid brain teaser questions like the one where you have to arrange 6 equal length matches to make exactly 4 identical perfect triangles. If it's an "aha!" question, you don't get any information about "smart/get things done" by figuring out if they happen to make the mental leap or not."

Yet earlier on he stated he's doing exactly that when it comes to software and will reject any candidate not making such mental leaps because they're not good enough thinkers...

I read this piece before and though Joel was someone I'd never hire because of his attitude.
Reading it again I know I'd never want to work for any company using such practices...
 
Peer Reynders
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Originally posted by Jeroen T Wenting:
Joel has a major attitude problem...



Oh, oh, here we go flipping the bozo bit.
Granted, Joel's attitude is heavily colored by having worked for Microsoft. This style of interview and the Cult of the Puzzle is historically associated with Microsoft and other companies have started adopting it. At the same time he will criticize Microsoft relentlessly when he feels they are being "stupid" (he has to think of his own business after all).

Originally posted by Jeroen T Wenting:
Interviewers in general aren't looking for headstrong people but meek lambs to be molded into nice little corporate drones.


I think he made it pretty clear that is not looking for those people.

Originally posted by Jeroen T Wenting:
I'd never want to work for any company using such practices...


That is your choice. However that begs the question: You would rather work for a company that is looking for "lambs to be molded into nice little corporate drones?" I wouldn't �
 
Jeroen T Wenting
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neither will I, but I don't want to work for people with egos like his.
 
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