Tricks by interviewers..!

[northernladuk]

I would never want to work for any company that practised such bulltulip. You know that if their interview technique is so pathetic the rest of the company practises will be equally so.

Id consider it a lucky escape.

LOL really? Well send me the details of any roles that do this and you walk. I will quite happily apply for them

Wonder if any of the guys on here with these I wouldn't put up with that and walk type responses ever would when it came down to the wire or is it a case of forum gusto!

[minestrone]

When I was doing Engineering a guy went for an interview where he was asked about a machine to put knots in steel bars, the guy went 'oh yes, one of those'.

I learned a lesson from his mistake and if anyone ever talks about something I know nothing about I just say

[doodab]

Whether a contract states this or not, keeping any work from a previous assignment is plain wrong. No other way to describe it.
.

That's misguided IMO.

Sharing it about is wrong. Keeping a copy of documentation so that you can refer to it when they email you six months later with a question is common sense. I ask if it's OK to keep a copy for this reason and I have never had a client say no.

You'll also notice that the the code you write is quite similar from client to client. You can easily create reusable modules that do the common stuff in your bench time (making it 100% your IP), and bring that with you to each role. This approach also fosters good modular design so whatever you produce specifically for the client tends to be of higher quality.

[northernladuk]

Data retention is off topic.. Back to the OP

Keeping data is a moot point with different opinions ovbviously. Bearing in mind our contracts probably had a clause making sure we don't take it, in theory we shouldn't be detabating this topic as it would be illegal. By discussing it and admitting you do is admitting guilt and somethings you get up to are better just kept to yourself IMO...

Back to the OP's question... Tricks in interviews.......

[doodab]

Keeping data is a moot point with different opinions ovbviously. Bearing in mind our contracts probably had a clause making sure we don't take it, in theory we shouldn't be detabating this topic as it would be illegal. By discussing it and admitting you do is admitting guilt and somethings you get up to are better just kept to yourself IMO...

Back to the OP's question... Tricks in interviews.......

Contracts usually have a clause stating that confidential information must be treated as confidential and not be disclosed to a third party and must be destroyed on request. Some state that information must be destroyed at the end of the contract. I have always complied with that, to the extent that I have an industrial grade shredder and on one occasion billed for 2 days of shredding.

On the other hand, if I hand over the code and the client says "can we call you if we get stuck" and I say " yes " and I ask the client "can I retain a copy of the code + documentation for reference" and they say "yes", and the contract doesn't forbid it, then it's perfectly legal and benefits everyone.

[doodab]

Anyway, the best interview trick I ever had.

I turned up for an interview, one of the interviewers meets me and says "oh, such and such is busy, shall we get a coffee", so we sit down and have a bit of a chat about this and that, what I think of product X, product Y (I answer "I haven't used it") and so on for about 20 minutes.

Then we get up and walk back towards the lifts, I am bricking it because I've never had an interview for a proper job before, I fluked my permie job and this is the first interview I've had since I decided to leave, and the chap turns around and asks me when I can start.

So he managed to calm my nerves, suss out everything he needed to know, and make a decision, all without me knowing I was being interviewed. Quite a good trick.

I worked with that guy for several years and I learnt a lot from him.

[northernladuk]

Went to an interview at large multinational for a Service Delivery role. Did a 2 page presentation on my take on service improvement. Decided to ditch the ITIL models and do a quick one of my own. Real world, make it happen type thing.

Went down well, he asked my why I didn't do an ITIL one and I explained anyone can copy it out of the book, I can explain the model to him if he wished or I could show I am aware and can implement it in to a working environment.

Going great this...

Asked me what I thought of Red Badges and why I didn't have it. Went on to explain that I am a doer with 20 years in industry. I read it all but never paid to do it as a contactor (threw some terms in, book names etc to prove). He said yea lot of theory and we proceeded to have a chat about procrastinating about theoretical models and some peoples love of trying to implement this theory to the letter in the real world and how solid experience in ITIL environments much more useful than head full of ITIL. Wow... enjoying this.

Few seconds of silence after my rant and he informs me that he and two other SDM's in the room are all Red Badge...

Holy crap you bastards!!!! Took the bait hook line and sinker. Heart in my boots. I just dissed the umpteen hours of studying to get his beloved badge.

Anyway got offered gig next day so I am guessing I managed to give a balanced 'can do'/'know theory' impression but dam I was lucky!!!!

[TheFaQQer]

I dont think confdientiality is the clause that covers this bit. Most if not all clients will expect you to sign a clause saying anything you create while there is their property. It's too late at night to remember what it is called exactly. Intellecual property, or rights or something. This makes taking ANY documentation home theft doesn't it? You shouldn't have it so disclosing something you shouldn't have isn't a problem.

It has definately been in my past contracts. Whether you could pull it out if a true consultancy based contract I am not sure.

HTH

IPR makes it their intellectual property, not their property. For example, the author of a book has the intellectual property right to the book - that does not make it illegal for me to have a copy of the book. As the author of any documentation, you may waive your intellectual property rights and yet still retain the moral right to be identified as the author of the work (which applies to documentation, code, presentations etc.)

So, no - it doesn't make taking any documentation with you theft. If there is a specific clause in the contract which prohibits you from taking any work with you, then it possibly might be a breach of contract, but not theft.

However, failing the integrity test IMO is unbelievable.

Whether a contract states this or not, keeping any work from a previous assignment is plain wrong. No other way to describe it.

I knew one contractor who would bring a tape full of source with him onsite on the first day of a gig and ask to have it loaded on the system ( those were pre-terminal emulation days ). God knows how he got away with it. I would have had him escorted out the building straight away.

Work you do for a company stays with the company full stop. On the day I come home after a contract finishes, I immidiately delete any notes and documents from my laptop and shred any hard copies that I happened to have brought home during the gig.

Excellent idea - so when the client says "have you done this kind of thing before?" you can tell them "yes - but rather than being able to reuse anything, I'll charge you so that I can reinvent the wheel". I bet your clients love you

Anything that has any reusable value should be reused - not cribbed word for word, or anything like that, but where there is a possibility to save time, energy and money, I would expect my team to do that. There used to be a huge initiative at Oracle consulting to provide samples that could be reused from project to project - why should my business waste time and money when others don't? Burning your experience is, at best, naive.

Keeping data is a moot point with different opinions ovbviously. Bearing in mind our contracts probably had a clause making sure we don't take it, in theory we shouldn't be detabating this topic as it would be illegal. By discussing it and admitting you do is admitting guilt and somethings you get up to are better just kept to yourself IMO...

Never had a contract yet that stopped me doing it - apart from the last one, for the government. That would have been illegal rather than just breach of contract, though, and would have resulted in a visit from large men with big guns in the middle of the night.....

[Darren_Test]

Whether a contract states this or not, keeping any work from a previous assignment is plain wrong. No other way to describe it.
I.

Yes, that's why I refused to give docs first, though it was bit weak refusal. But some how I fallen flat on second bait.

How it happened is during early part of interview I declined to send documents saying I donot keep any docs from ex-clients. But just before the end of one hour tele interview, he put second bait by giving his email ID & just asked me whether he can expect my docs in next half an hour or not..??

It was too difficult to refuse at that point..!!

[TheFaQQer]

Yes, that's why I refused to give docs first, though it was bit weak refusal. But some how I fallen flat on second bait.

How it happened is during early part of interview I declined to send documents saying I donot keep any docs from ex-clients. But just before the end of one hour tele interview, he put second bait by giving his email ID & just asked me whether he can expect my docs in next half an hour or not..??

It was too difficult to refuse at that point..!!

If you keep them, don't deny it!

It's easy enough to justify - "I quite often get clients asking if I can pop back for a couple of days, and they like me to be prepared" / "I don't like having to reinvent the wheel, so have a series of generic documents that I can tailor to meet specific requirements" / "I asked the client if I could retain a copy of the documents so that they can call me with questions"

Then, tell them no they can't have them.

Simples.