Re:Why we don't hire programmers based on puzzles and tricks
by marshray on Friday February 22, 2013 @08:33PM
(#5268094)
Back in my early 20's I applied for a job (which I was basically invited by the manager to apply for) and was extremely nervous in the interview. I got the job and turned out to be one of the most experienced in the department. They later asked me why I was so nervous in the interview, I said I thought I just really wanted the job.
I've come to enjoy technical interviews. How often do you get to spend a whole day talking one-on-one with people in your field who you can learn something from? I enjoy giving technical presentations to groups of 1000 people or so and been not nervous at all. But I have to keep water with me because some reflex makes my mouth get really dry. So I'm fine with public speaking (the most commonly cited phobia).
On the other hand, the prospect of sitting down to pay a bunch of paper bills or do taxes makes my body want to hyperventilate. If, in a place where there are only people around I know well, and I remember an event in my past that involved a social interaction in which I acted suboptimally while at the same time someone is crinkling a plastic bag, I will startle to the point of crying out "Aah!". It's true :-)
My only point here is that people are complex critters who change with time and environment. So attempts to think of others as a box of predictable glands and cortexes (cortices?) can easily turn into a pseudoscientific projection of one's own preconceptions. (I find it very helpful when thinking about myself, however.)
Has anyone ever tried asking candidates to design their own interviews?
I've come to enjoy technical interviews. How often do you get to spend a whole day talking one-on-one with people in your field who you can learn something from? I enjoy giving technical presentations to groups of 1000 people or so and been not nervous at all. But I have to keep water with me because some reflex makes my mouth get really dry. So I'm fine with public speaking (the most commonly cited phobia).
On the other hand, the prospect of sitting down to pay a bunch of paper bills or do taxes makes my body want to hyperventilate. If, in a place where there are only people around I know well, and I remember an event in my past that involved a social interaction in which I acted suboptimally while at the same time someone is crinkling a plastic bag, I will startle to the point of crying out "Aah!". It's true :-)
My only point here is that people are complex critters who change with time and environment. So attempts to think of others as a box of predictable glands and cortexes (cortices?) can easily turn into a pseudoscientific projection of one's own preconceptions. (I find it very helpful when thinking about myself, however.)
Has anyone ever tried asking candidates to design their own interviews?