How to conduct an interview?
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I work for a big software services company($6 billion enterprise). I have been asked to conduct interviews for developer and senior developer positions for .net I have some experience with selecting people for my own startup(earlier). I would like to know are there any guidelines which I need to follow to conduct this interview. please let me know about any of your personal techniques you follow to find the best person. Do share any pleasant :laugh: or not so pleasant:mad: experience you had while interviewing.
'Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.' Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)
Ask at least one question you don't expect most people to know the answer. It is valuable to know how someone deals with something they don't know or understand. If they BS you that might indicate someone who lets pride get in the way of getting things done and will not be truthful when you ask for status. If they just say "I don't know" then that's good, but they may not be motivated enough for leadership. If they tell you that they don't know but explain how they would find out, that is the best case scenario. Be careful about some of the typical questions and the preconceived answers. I knew a guy who always asked "How would you solve a maze". The answer he was looking for was recursion. He was completely unprepared for the candidate who said pick either the left or the right wall and stick to it (which is how many people solve corn mazes IRL). Either algorithm could be the best depending on the maze. A lot of other things depend on the culture of your existing team. If someone always putting a curly brace on its own line will start a holy war, then you need people who aren't passionate about style conventions or are passionate in the asme way as your team.
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I work for a big software services company($6 billion enterprise). I have been asked to conduct interviews for developer and senior developer positions for .net I have some experience with selecting people for my own startup(earlier). I would like to know are there any guidelines which I need to follow to conduct this interview. please let me know about any of your personal techniques you follow to find the best person. Do share any pleasant :laugh: or not so pleasant:mad: experience you had while interviewing.
'Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.' Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)
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Is that copyrighted or can I combine it with the cattle prod?
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. or "Drink. Get drunk. Fall over." - P O'H
No, go right ahead. I was thinking of revising the first question with a jab from the cattle prod immediately following the question mark, not giving the candidate an opportunity to answer at all. You know, just to see how they deal with a sudden outside influence and the affects it has on their ability to form a coherent answer and participate in a group discussion.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007, 2008
But no longer in 2009... -
jarajeshwaran wrote:
I would like to know are there any guidelines which I need to follow to conduct this interview.
Wear pants.
No, no, no, you do NOT wear pants. You wear cargo shorts with a butchers coat and apron, covered in blood and carrying Nagy's cattle prod. Why would you want the candidate felling comfortable during this process? How else are you going to find out how the candidate deals with being thrown into a very unusual situation?
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007, 2008
But no longer in 2009... -
I work for a big software services company($6 billion enterprise). I have been asked to conduct interviews for developer and senior developer positions for .net I have some experience with selecting people for my own startup(earlier). I would like to know are there any guidelines which I need to follow to conduct this interview. please let me know about any of your personal techniques you follow to find the best person. Do share any pleasant :laugh: or not so pleasant:mad: experience you had while interviewing.
'Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.' Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)
Believe me, it's strangely liberating and it certainly gives you the upper hand.
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
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Believe me, it's strangely liberating and it certainly gives you the upper hand.
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
The Wise One has spoken!
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
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Ask at least one question you don't expect most people to know the answer. It is valuable to know how someone deals with something they don't know or understand. If they BS you that might indicate someone who lets pride get in the way of getting things done and will not be truthful when you ask for status. If they just say "I don't know" then that's good, but they may not be motivated enough for leadership. If they tell you that they don't know but explain how they would find out, that is the best case scenario. Be careful about some of the typical questions and the preconceived answers. I knew a guy who always asked "How would you solve a maze". The answer he was looking for was recursion. He was completely unprepared for the candidate who said pick either the left or the right wall and stick to it (which is how many people solve corn mazes IRL). Either algorithm could be the best depending on the maze. A lot of other things depend on the culture of your existing team. If someone always putting a curly brace on its own line will start a holy war, then you need people who aren't passionate about style conventions or are passionate in the asme way as your team.
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Believe me, it's strangely liberating and it certainly gives you the upper hand.
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
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T M Gray wrote:
If they tell you that they don't know but explain how they would find out, that is the best case scenario.
That's a little bit silly because how many times can an interviewee repeat "I'd google it"?
JazzJackRabbit wrote:
how many times can an interviewee repeat "I'd google it"?
Gosh, that would be an improvement. So many have "I'll post a question demanding code urgently from CodeProject" on speed dial.
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
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Interviewing can be useful to eliminate bad candidates, but to find good ones I think the only reliable way is to either find someone you already worked with, or get a recommendation from someone you trust. Anyway, when it comes to interviewing my list of advices would be: - Honestly explain them what their job is going to look like; if possible, show them the work area and maybe even a screenshot of your code base. If they are going to be dissapointed, it is much better for everybody for it to happen during the interview than after the person starts working. At a previous job, we hired a senior developer who assumed he would write new code, and then when we gave him bugs to fix he simply refused. - Let them ask questions and give as good answers as possible. Again, you don't want to lure them into something they will regret later. - Ask them a "controversial" question (placement of curly braces is one of my favorites) and see how they react, especially if you disagree with them. - Ask them about previous accomplishments, problems they solved and make sure you understand what was their role in the process. - Most of all: good luck! Both to you and your potental hires :)
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
Ask them a "controversial" question (placement of curly braces is one of my favorites) and see how they react, especially if you disagree with them.
Just curious, what is the purpose of that approach?
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I work for a big software services company($6 billion enterprise). I have been asked to conduct interviews for developer and senior developer positions for .net I have some experience with selecting people for my own startup(earlier). I would like to know are there any guidelines which I need to follow to conduct this interview. please let me know about any of your personal techniques you follow to find the best person. Do share any pleasant :laugh: or not so pleasant:mad: experience you had while interviewing.
'Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.' Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)
Create a comfortable, friendly atmosphere. An interview sucks enough already for both sides already. Ask HR Esp. with a company this size there are a lot of do's and don'ts. bets get a briefing from Human Resources. Let them write code. It is a controversial topic, but after having it doen in one round of interviews, I'd never again hire a developer without. You must must must prepar well, though. Set minimum standards. And never ever settle for less, no matter how badly you need help. Read Joels guide to interviewing. Jeff Atwood has some on writing code, too.
Agh! Reality! My Archnemesis![^]
| FoldWithUs! | sighist | µLaunch - program launcher for server core and hyper-v server. -
No, a story of woe for the kumquat!
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
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Hell yes. I also find that burning my jockstrap while wearing it adds a certain frisson to the interview.
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
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Ask at least one question you don't expect most people to know the answer. It is valuable to know how someone deals with something they don't know or understand. If they BS you that might indicate someone who lets pride get in the way of getting things done and will not be truthful when you ask for status. If they just say "I don't know" then that's good, but they may not be motivated enough for leadership. If they tell you that they don't know but explain how they would find out, that is the best case scenario. Be careful about some of the typical questions and the preconceived answers. I knew a guy who always asked "How would you solve a maze". The answer he was looking for was recursion. He was completely unprepared for the candidate who said pick either the left or the right wall and stick to it (which is how many people solve corn mazes IRL). Either algorithm could be the best depending on the maze. A lot of other things depend on the culture of your existing team. If someone always putting a curly brace on its own line will start a holy war, then you need people who aren't passionate about style conventions or are passionate in the asme way as your team.
T M Gray wrote:
pick either the left or the right wall and stick to it
And you do that by turning in only one direction (Zoolander style). Had that problem in a programming class in college. Though that technique does not work when the destination of the maze is in an island. In that case, recursion would be the better option (I would personally use a flood fill algorithm). I know this example was not the purpose of your post, but I couldn't help but respond. :)
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Hell yes. I also find that burning my jockstrap while wearing it adds a certain frisson to the interview.
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
Wow, bonus man points, both for the audacity in admitting you actually wear one, and for lighting it on fire. Kudos to you my friend!
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
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I work for a big software services company($6 billion enterprise). I have been asked to conduct interviews for developer and senior developer positions for .net I have some experience with selecting people for my own startup(earlier). I would like to know are there any guidelines which I need to follow to conduct this interview. please let me know about any of your personal techniques you follow to find the best person. Do share any pleasant :laugh: or not so pleasant:mad: experience you had while interviewing.
'Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.' Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)
I'm sure others will chime in with the standard interview techniques..so I will add a unique 2 cents... Ask them what their favorite publication is or online forums they like and why. (If they say codeproject.com, they get 1 point)
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Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
Ask them a "controversial" question (placement of curly braces is one of my favorites) and see how they react, especially if you disagree with them.
Just curious, what is the purpose of that approach?
aspdotnetdev wrote:
what is the purpose of that approach
Just to see if they are ready to give up old habbits to fit into a team :)
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I work for a big software services company($6 billion enterprise). I have been asked to conduct interviews for developer and senior developer positions for .net I have some experience with selecting people for my own startup(earlier). I would like to know are there any guidelines which I need to follow to conduct this interview. please let me know about any of your personal techniques you follow to find the best person. Do share any pleasant :laugh: or not so pleasant:mad: experience you had while interviewing.
'Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.' Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)
1: Be armed with information. Not only do you need to know what your company is looking for but you must be able to decipher what the interviewee is looking for. Often they want a challenge, better pay than what they have, or a chance to do something new. Sometimes they want to not feel like they are the lowest form of life on the planet as they do at their current job. It is your goal to make sure they will be the new lowest form of life at your company. 2: Look professional and make notes on their own professionalism. You are trying to find a good fit for your company in case you get stuck with this sack of flesh for years. So you want to look impressive because that first impression means they will always think of you as someone not to be screwed with. If they are at ease in a suit, that means they have experience looking good and that is bad, it is an ego thing. If they look like they wish the collar was 3 inches bigger, hate the tie or can't properly do a double windsor, note it. They will be ill at ease around the suits in charge and so you don't have to worry about someone having better social skills managing to get promoted past you. With women pay attention to if they are attempting to use strategically unfastened buttons or if they seem uncomfortable with their hair. The first indicates they are willing to play the sexual tension/advantage game and so they will possibly be company climbers (heh) and the second indicates they got their hair done simply for this interview. This does indicate a willingness to do what is needed to garner attention or just look good. As with a male, go with the one that is least likely to be promoted ahead of you. 3: Check their skills with things you are familiar with. Yes, you can be clever, but if they are more clever in front of your co-workers, he is more clever when it comes to thinking of people to be in charge of such things. You want questions that a bumbling idiot can manage to open. Get them set up confidently. And then pause for a minute. The smart ones will start to worry that the hardball question is coming. The dummies will preen like peacocks. Throw a tough but not horrible question at them. See what happens. Quick thinkers will have a good response that might indicate how they would solve it even if they didn't know it right that instant. Schmoozes will have a canned response on how to research the issue if they don't know. The decent ones will try to figure it out, realize that won't happen and then talk about research.
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Hell yes. I also find that burning my jockstrap while wearing it adds a certain frisson to the interview.
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
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JazzJackRabbit wrote:
how many times can an interviewee repeat "I'd google it"?
Gosh, that would be an improvement. So many have "I'll post a question demanding code urgently from CodeProject" on speed dial.
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
Maybe someone should write an article describing how to make a web service for that. Maybe with a nice shiny WPF UI.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow