Re:Finance world in the dark as Bloomberg terminals go offline
by bbgtoreuters on Friday April 17, 2015 @10:45AM
(#9394598)
Not GJ, but yes, a senior manager who asked similar questions. The getting angry at the answer bit is interesting - I gave an answer to one question that was obviously even better than the canned answer he was expecting, he actively ground his teeth a moment or two, like he was being shown up in front of the junior colleague, and at first refused to discuss the question until I pressed the point.
I have friends still working at BBG, so I get to hear the current interview stories, and it seems things have not really improved.
The most memorable part was:
GJ: Name three examples of defensive programming.
Me: I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with the term; could you define it?
GJ: You know, defensive programming.
Me: I've not heard the term, but maybe I know it by a different name; could you describe it?
GJ: No, let's move on.
Later, I looked it up. He just meant things like `if (p == NULL) return False;`. I knew the concept well, and could've spoken about it intelligently and effortlessly, except I had never heard that particular name for it.
Oh, I just remembered another exchange between us:
GJ: What's the difference between a segmentation fault and a bus error?
Me: [perfect explanation]
GJ, seeming disappointed that he hadn't stumped me: Oh, someone already asked you this, huh?
Me: No, I know this, because once when I was in college--
GJ: Come on, you looked this up before, didn't you?
I wasn't sure how to respond -- I mean, yes, technically I did look it up, once upon a time. How the hell else would I know, derivation from basic axioms?
Anyway, I got the job, but I wouldn't be surprised if this other person was interviewed by the same guy and it left a bad taste in their mouth, too. As a senior manager, he probably interviewed 500 candidates a year.